HebN'w prince, banished from home and kingdom, and with hie proepeote for the future dnrkened thereby, might well have longed to return, prayed to God to reetore him, end ,•owed that, if hie prayer were answered, be would make som8 singular demon~tration of his gratitude. .AbB&lom most likely lied when he said he bad so vowed, 88 well 8B offered the sacrifices only as a cloak of wickedness. 'l'he counterfeit however, illustrates the genuine; and in this case suggests that in great trouble w~ i,bould seek relief and deliverance from God; that earnest prayer may be accompanied by promi~es of speciRl acts of thanksgiving, and that, when deliverance comes, we should rorupulously pe1form the vows we have uttered (see Ps. I.xvi. 13, et seq.). 2. TM motivesfrom which they proceed. These are as va.rious as the objects which men punme, and the attainment of which they think may be furthered by the appearance of piety. In .Absalom the ultimate aim was the throne; the intermediate were the concealment from David of his purposes, the obtaining of leave of absence from Jerusalem, and opportunity for assembling his partisans and others around him, and maturing bis plans with them, before striking the decisive blow. Hypocrites some- times pretend to piety in order to conceal their wickedness and practise it without suspicion; sometimes with a view to gain (Matt. xxiii. 14); sometimes to obtain credit for virtues they do not possess (.Acts v. 1-8), and secure praise from men (Matt. vi. 2). In times of persecution the object may be to avoid penalties; and any measure of favour shown to the professors of a particular creed, or of disability imposed on others, is a direct incentive to hypocrisy. How much do they promote hypocrisy amongst the poor who administer their charity in the form of "doles" given away after public worship, or carefully limited to those who attend particular religious services I Again, the hypocrite may pretend to a religion he does not possess, in order to obtain customers in his business from religious people, or to ingratiate himself with his piously disposed fellow-citizens, in order to obtain a seat in the town council, or in parliament, or other position in public life. How many large gifts to churches and chapels might be thus accounted for! Or the motive may be to secure the favour of parents, uncles, or aunts, with a view to a good place in their wills. Or, again, the forms of religion may be kept up because it is the habit of respectable society, without any real attachment to religion. Nor must we omit another motive. Piety may be seen to be necessary to secure deliverance from bell and admission to heaven; and, in total ignorance of the nature of piety, its forms may be adopted with that view. But this is rather formalism than deliberate hypocrisy. The two run into each other. It. follows that hypocrisy is a sin most likely to be committed where real religion is prevalent and honoured. .Absal.om would not have pretended to piety if his father bad not been religious; and when and where religion is disregarded, no one would think of professing it from unworthy motives. Though, to be sure, the general prevalence of formal religion may present the same temptation as that of real godliness. When, however, ungodliness and vice prevail in the neighbourhood or the circle in which a man moves, he may pretend to be worse than he is from motives similar to those which induce others to pretend to be better than they are. II. THEm ENOE.HOUB WICXED:sEBB A.ND BURE DOOM. 1. They evince such knowledge of tl,c nature, grQ'IJ,nds, and 0Uigatio1U1 of piety as enhances the guilt of their impiety. 2. They inS'IJ,lt God. By offering him what is worthless as if it were precious; and treating him as if he were unable to distinguish between the real and the unreal, or did not care, so long as his creatures pay homage to him, whether it be with the heart or not. 3. They deceive and defraud men. Imposing upon them with a mere appearance of goodness; inducing them to honour what is detestable and reward the unworthy; and diverting from genuine goodness its due notice and reward. 4. They seriously injure those who are guilty of them. They eat like a canker into the moral nature. A 11ingle act of hypocrisy aftects injnrionsly the whole character, and throws suspicion on all that looks good. Habitual hypocrisy tends to destroy the possibility of sincere goodness, and to render salvation impossible. 5. They deserve and ensure "the greate_r damnation" (Matt. xxiii. 14). It is impossible that the imposition can last or ulti- mately be b1.1ccessful. It will be exploded, exposed, and punished in the great day of rcvelatic,n and judgment (1 Cor. iv. 5).--G. W.
l' er. '1.0.-.A. f areweU u1-es6ing. "Mercy and truth be with thee." Times of adversit, OR. X\r, 1-117,) THE SECOND BOOK OF SAMUEL.