themselves in self-esteem, self-preference, self-righteousness, and self-dependence ; and, when full of these hateful disposi- tions, they will be " thanking God (with the Pharisee) that they arc not as other men^," and will, in the habit of their minds at least, say to a repenting publican, " Stand off; come not near to me; T am holier than thou''." Of these St. Paul says, that " they havetheformofgodliness,but deny the power thereof''. "]
3. Of the unsound professor —
[No one stands higher in his own conceit, than the person who has learned to talk about the Gospel, but not to practise its precepts. Because he has a zeal for some religious tenets, or for his own particular party in the Church, he is ready to conclude himself a true, perhaps an eminent, Christian ; though his religion is seated altogether in his head, and has never descended to his heart. He never stops to inquire into his spirit and conduct, or to examine whether his tempers and dispositions accord with those of Christ. It is highly probable that he is guilty of very shameful neglect in many of his social and domestic duties : as a master he is proud and imperious ; as a servant, inattentive and impatient of rebuke ; as a parent, remiss in the instruction of his family ; as a child, wilful and disobedient to his parents ; in conversation, censorious ; in dealings, unfaithful ; and in the whole of his demeanor, con- ceited, forward, petulant, morose. Yet behold, this man, because he can talk about religion, arrogates to himself the title of good. Truly this man, whatever he may think of him- self, belongs to " the generation that are pure in their own eyes, but are not washed from their filthiness '^." He " pro- fesses to know God; but in works denies him®."]
But however common a profession of goodness may be, it must be confessed,
II. That a life suited to this profession is very rare —
We have seen what opinion we should form of the world, if we implicitly received men's record of them- selves. But, if we apply to those who have been most conversant with the world, what shall we think of it then ? Will they not tell us, that scarce any man is at all to be trusted, where his own interests are at stake : that it is scarcely possible to have dealings in any branch of commerce without meeting with numberless frauds and impositions : and that, if you rely on men's professions of disinterestedness
a LukeXviii. 11. »» Isai. Ixv. 5. <= 2 Tim. ii. 5.
'' Prov. XXX. 12. e Tit. i. 16.