them that every thing, even to the falling of a sparrov^, is under the direction of the first Great Cause, who alone is worthy to be regarded with either fear or love. At the same time let your confidence in God be humble, without ostentation before men, and without unhallowed boldness before God. Then may you expect to be preserved from all dangers; and both the Church and the world will be edified by your example.]
Matt. XV. 7 — 9. Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people dr aw eth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips ; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
IN the present day, there is very httle of super- stitious observance in the world, and still less of Pharisaic hypocrisy ; except indeed in the Church of Rome, which is still unhappily a compound of them both. Yet these do exist even amongst Protestants: and the declaration, which in the first instance was delivered, not as a prophecy respecting future ages, but as a reproof to the Jews, in Isaiah's time"*, and which our blessed Lord afterwards applied as a pro- phecy respecting the people of his day ; that decla- ration, I say, may well be considered as applicable to us, so far as our habits accord with those of the Jews in the two fore-mentioned periods. Let me, then, state to you, as it is my duty to do,
I. In whom this prophecy is fulfilled —
Granting that, in many things, we differ from the Pharisees, to whom our Lord applied these words, yet is the prophecy fulfilled at this day by,
1. Those who satisfy themselves with mere formal worship —
[The house of God is, on the whole, well attended in this land: and in many private families is the worship of God ob- served. But where shall we find any thing but a mere lifeless
a Isai. xxix. 13.