96 Galatians, Iii. 19. [2064.

it is done in heaven ? Nay, who has come near this standard ? Who has ever come up to it for so much as one day in his whole life ? Again, if we look at the duties of the second table, wherein men are par- ticularly ready to vaunt themselves as innocent, where is there one who has fulfilled all that is re- quired of him, as a husband or wife, as a parent or child, as a master or servant, as a magistrate or sub- ject ? Were we to trace the line that is required in all the different relations, and compare our conduct with it, who must not acknowledge that his trans- gressions have been multiplied, even as the hairs of his head, and as the sands upon the sea-shore ? If we come to the tempers and dispositions that we have exercised, and to the thoughts that we have harboured, and consider the interpretation which our Lord himself has put upon them, who amongst us must not blush to lift up his eyes unto heaven, and be ashamed and confounded in the presence of that God who searcheth the heart ? We are not sufficiently observant of the desires which break not forth into outward acts : but God notes them all, and imputes them to us as transgressions of his holy law. But, in truth, if we look at our words and actions, we shall not find ourselves so blameless as we are ready to imagine. For, where our own interest has stood in competition with our neighbour's, who has not felt a leaning to self? Who has, in all things, viewed his neighbour's claims with the same impartiality that he would a competition between others, in which he had no interest ? And, in speaking of our neigh- bour, especially if he have shewn himself adverse to us, who will venture to say that he has at all times evinced the same candour and charity as, in a change of circumstances, he should have judged due to him ? We may not be conscious of having been under an undue influence in these matters : but, when we see how all are affected around us, we may be sure that we have felt the general contagion, and been but too deeply imbued with the spirit of infirmity that pervades our fallen nature. And what