the esteem in which they may be held, must not these persons, to say the least, have many secret misgivings, or rather, if they consider at all, must they not know that their hearts are not right with God ? We may see the character of such persons drawn to the life by the Apostle Paul : all their high pro- fessions and evil practices are exhibited in contrast with each other, and stand as a monument of the wickedness and deceit- fulness of the human heart'1.]
3. That which, though hid from ourselves, is known to God.
[It is but too possible for persons to " seem to be reli- ligious," and to think themselves so, at the very time that they are under the influence of some habitual evil, which proves that they " deceive their own selves, and that their religion is vaine." The characteristic mark of the true Christian is sincerity: he is "an Israelite indeed, and without guilef;" attending to all the commandments equally, without partiality, and without hypocrisy g. But the persons we refer to are partial in every part of their duty. Their repentance is partial: they mourn, not so much for sin, as for the consequences of their sin ; nor yet for the consequences, as they respect God and his honour, but only as they respect themselves and their happiness. Even in relation to themselves, they are not grieved that sin has defiled their consciences, and hardened their hearts, but only that it has injured their character, or brought guilt and misery upon their souls. Their faith also is partial : it has respect to Christ as a Priest to atone for them, but not as a King to rule over them : it receives Christ for righteousness, but not for sanctification. Moreover, whilst they profess to trust in God for spiritual blessings, they cannot stay them- selves upon him for temporal things, but are as ready to sink under their trials, as if they knew not from whence they came, and to give way to despondency as if they had no God to flee unto. Their love too is partial : it is confined to those of their own sect and party, and knows little of that expansive bene- volence which was so exemplified in the Lord Jesus, when he laid down his life for the whole world, not excepting even his bitterest enemies. Moreover, their zeal is also partial : it is ardent in some things ; in one it is violent against superstition and forms of man's appointment ; and in another it exclaims against schisms, and heresies, and divisions : but it finds no scope for exercise in things which would bear upon their own peculiar habits : it is active enough in things that gratify their feelings, and that tend to exalt their character, but slow to
d Rom. ii. 17—23. c Jam. i. 26. f John i. 47.
e 1 Tim. v. 21. Jam. iii. 17.