Parochial and Plain Sermons

YPOCRISY is, serious word. We are accustomed to consider the hypocrite as a hateful, despicable character, and an uncommon one. How is it, then, that out ]31essed Lord, when surrounded by au innumerable multitude, began first of ail, to warn His disciples against hypocrisy, as though they were in especial danger of becomlng like those base deceivers, the Pharisees? Thus an instructive subject is opened to out consideration, whieh I will now pursue. I say, we are'accustomed to consider the hypocrite as a character of excessive wickedness, and of very rare occurrence. That hypocrisy is a great wickedness need hot be questioned; but that it is an uncommon sin, is hot true, as a little examination will show us. For what is a hypocrite? Ve are apt to underst.and by a h)Tocrite, one who makes a profession of religion for secret ends, wîthout practising what he professes; who is malevolent, eovetous, or profligate, while he assumes an outward sanetity in his words and eonduct, and who does so deliberately and without remorse, deeeiving others, and hOt af all self-deeeived. Sueh, man, truly, would be a portent, for he seems to disbelieve the existence of a God who secs the heart. I will hOt deny that in some ages, nay, in all ages, a few sueh men bave existe& But this is hOt what out Saviour seems to bave meant by a hypocrite, nor were the Pharisees such. The Pharisees, if is truc, said one thing and did another; but they were hot aware that they were thus inconsistent; thçv deeeived tkemsel«es as well as others. Indeed, if is hOt in human nature to deeeive others for any long rime, without in a measure deeeiving ourselves also. And in most cases we eontrive to deeeive ourselves as mueh as we deeeive others. The Pharisees boasted they were Abraham's ehildren, hOt af all understanding, hOt knowing what was implied in the terre. They were hOt really included under the blessing given to Abraham, and they wished the vorld fo believe they were; but then they also themselves t/wug]tt that they were, or, af least, with whatever misgivings, they were, on the whole, persuaded of if. They had deceived themselves as well as the world; and therebre out Lord sers before them the great and plain truth, whieh, simple as it was, they had forgotten. "If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham 1.,, This truth, I say, they had forgotte»;—for doubtless,

 6 Professiolt wit/zout Practice. they once knew if. There was a rime doubtless, when in some measure they knew themselves, and wlmt they were doini. When they began (eaeh of hem in his turn) fo deeeive the people, they were zog, af the moment, se/f-deeeived. But by degrees hey forgot,— beeause they did no eare fo regain i in their knowledge,—they forg'ot that o be blessed like Abraham, they must be holy like Abraham; hat outward eeremonies avail nothin without inward purity, tha their thou'hts and motives mus be heavenly. Pa of heir duty they altoether eeased to know; another part they migh still know indeed, but did hot value as they oug,'ht. They beeame ignorant of their own spiritual condition; if did no eome home o hem, tha they vere supremely influeneed by worldly objeets; that zeal for God's service was but a seeondary prineip]e in their conduet, and hat they loved the praise of men better thau God's praise. They went on merely talking" of relifflon, of heaven and hell, the blessed and the reproba.te, till their diseourses beeame but words of course in their mouths, with no true meaning attached fo them; and they either did not read Holy Scrlpture af all, or read it wlthout earnestness and watchfulness to get af is real sense. _Accordingly, hey were scrupulously careful of paying tithe even in the least matters, of mint, anise, and cummln, while they omitted the weightier matters of the Law, judgment, mercy, and faith; and on this account our Lord calls hem "tlind guides,"-not bo]d împious deceivers, who knew that they were false guides, but tlitd . Again, they were 5litd, in hlnking that»  hatt, xxiiL 24. Luke xi. 3952.

had thev lived in their fathers' days, they would noç have killed the prophets as their fathers did. They did not know themselves; they had unawares deceived themselves as well as the people. Ignorance of tiroir own ignorance was their punishment and the evidence oftheir sin. " If ye were blind," our Saviour says to them, if you xvere simply blind, and conscious you were so, and distressed af if, "ye should have no sin; but now ye say, We see,"w they did not even knoxv their blindness— "therefore your sin remaineth ." This then is hypoerisy;—hOt simply for a man fo deceive others, knowing all the wllile that he is deceiving them, but to deceive hlmself atd others at the saine time, to aim at their praise by a religious profession, without percelving that he loves their praise more than the praise of God, and ttmt he is professlng far more than he practises. And if this be the true Scripture meaning of the word, we bave some insight (as it appears) into the reasons which induced our Divine Teacher to warn His Disciples in so marked a way against hypocrisy. An innumerab]e multitude was thronging Him, and His disciples were around Him. Tvelve of them had been appointed to minister to Him as His especial friends. Other seventy had been sent out from Him with miraculous girls; and, on their return, had with triumph to]d of their own wonderful doings. All of them had been addressed by Him as the salt of the earth, the light of the world, the children of His kingdoln. Tkey vere mediators between Him and fhe people a.t large, introducin. fo His notice the sick and heavy-ladeu. And now they stood by Ilim, partaking in tIis popularity, perhaps glorying in their connexion with the Christ, and pleased tobe g,'azed upon by the impatient crowd. Then it was that, instead of add-essiug" the multitude, IIe spoke first of all to His disciples, saying, " Beware of the leaveu of the Pharisecs, which is hypocrisy;" as if He had said, " What is the chief sin of Iy enemies and persecutors? hot that they openly deny God, but that they love a profession of religion for the sake of the praise of men that follows if-. They like fo contrast themselves with other men; they pride themselves on being a little flock, fo whom lire is secured in the midst of reprobates; they like to stand and be admired anaid their religious pertbrmances, and think fo be saved, hot by their own personal holiness, but by t.he faith of their father Abraham. Ail this delusion may eome upon you also, if you forger that you are hereafter fo be tried one by one af God's judgmentseat, aecording to your works. Af present, indeed, you are invested in Iy greatness, and have the credit of teaching and holiness: but ' there is nothing covered that shall hot be revealed, neither hid, that shall hot be known,' af the last d,ny." This warning against hypocrisy becomes still more needf'ul and impressive, fi'om the greatness of the Christian privileges as contrasted with the /Iewish. The Pharisees boasted they were Abraha.mis children; we have the infinitely higher blessing which fellowship with Christ imparts. In our infancy we have all been gifted with the most awful and glorious tifles, as children of

Profcssioz without Pvctice. I -9 God, members of Christ, and heirs of the kingdom of heaven. We have been honoured with the grant, of spiritual influences, whieh have overshadowed nd rested upon us, making" out very bodies temples of God and when we came fo years of discretion, we were admitted to the mystery of a heavenly communication of the Body and Blood of Christ. What is more likely, eonsiderinff our perverse nature, than that we should neglect the duties, whilc we wish fo retain the privileg-es of out Christian profession? Our Lord has sorrowfu]ly forett, ld in His parables what was fo happen in His Chureh: for instance, when He compared it to a net which gathered of eve T kind, but was hot inspeetcd till the end, and then emptied of ifs various contents, good and bad. q'ill the da 3, of visitation the visihle Church will ever be fidl of sueh hypocrites as I have described, who live on under ber shadow, enjoying the name of Christian, and vainly tancying they will partake ifs ultimate blessedness. Perhaps, however, if will be granted that there are vast numbers in the Christian wodd thus professing" without adequately praetising; and yet denied, that such a case is enough to constitute a hypocrite in the Scripturc sense of the word; as if a hypocrite were one who professes himself to be what he is hOt, wih ome ba,I moice. IL ma.y le urged that the Pharisees had an end in what they did, whlch careless and formal Christians have hot. But consider for a moment.; what was the motive which urged the Pharisees to their hypocrisy? surely that they m:.g'ht be seen of men, have g'lory of men . OEhis is out Lord's owal account of them. Now  lat. ri. 2. 5.

130 Profcssion without Practice. who will say tha the esteem and fear of the woBd's judgmen, and the expeettion ofworldly advant.qges, do no a presen most powerfidly influence the generality of men in heir profession of Christi:miy? so mueh so, tha if is a hard marrer, and is though a grea and noble ae for men who lire in the publie world fo do wha they believe fo be heir duty fo God, in a straightforward w.qy, should the opinion of soeiety a.bout i happen fo run eounter fo them. Indeed, there hardly has been a rime sinee he Aposfles' da)', in whieh men were more likely than in this age fo do their good deeds to be seen of men, fo l:y ou. tbr hmnan praise, and herefore fo shape [heir actions by the world's rule rather than G-od's will. We oug'h fo be very suspieious. every one of us, of the soundness of our faith and virtue. Le us eonsider whether we should ae as strietly as we now do, were the eyes of out aequaintance a.nd neighbours wihdrawn from us. Not tha a regard to the opinion of others is a bad motive; in subordination to he fear of God'sjudgmen, it is innocen and allowable, and in many cases, duty to a(hni if; and the opportunity of doing so is a gracious gift given from God to lead us forward in the right wa.y. But when we.prçfêr man's fallible jvdgment fo God's unerring command, then it is we are wrong,and in wo ways; both beeatse we prefer it., and becatse, being fallible, it will mislead us  and what I ana asking, you, my brethren, is, no whether you merely regard man's opinion of you (which you ough to do), but whether you se if belote God's judgment, which you assuredly should hot do, and which if you do, you are like the lharisees, so fi.:r as to be hypocrites, thouh you may hOt go so far as they did in their hollow self-dcceivin, ways. 1. That even decently couductcd Christians are most extensively and fearfull" ruled by the opinion of society about them, instead of livin$ by faith in the unseen God, is proved to my mind by the following" circumstance;—that according as their tank in lire makes men independent of the judgment of othcrs, so the profession of reg'ularity and strictness is given up. There are two classes of men who are withdrawn fi'om the judg.ment of the comnmnity; those who are above it, and those u ho are below it;the poorest class of all, which bas no thoug'ht of maintainin itself by its own exertions, and has lost shame; and what is called (to use a word of this world) high fashionable society, by which I mean hot the rich nccessarily, but those among  the rich and noble xvho throw themselves out of the pale of the community, break the ries which attach them to others, whether above or below themselves, and then lire to themselves and each other, their ordinary doings being" unseen by the world,t larg'e. Now since it happens tha these two ranks, the outlaws, as they may be called, of public opinion, are (to speak generally) the most opeuly and daringly proflig'ate in their conduct, how much may be thence inferred about the influence of a mere love of reputation in keeping" us all in the right way! It is plain, as a nmtter of fact, that the great mass of men are protected from gross sin by the forms of society. The received laws of propriety and decency, the prospect of a loss of character, stand as sentinels, giving" the alarm, long before their C]zrislia principles have rime to act..K g i 3 - P'ofi'ssioz withoztt But anaong • the poores and rudest elass, on the eontary, sueh arifieial safeguards ngains crime are unknon; md (observe, I say) iL is amont' them and tha other elass I have ment.ioned, that vice and crime are most frequent. Are we, there./bre, bett.er t.han t.hey? Seareely. Doubtless their temptations are greater, whieh alone prevents out boa.sthg' over them; but, besides, do we no ratler a.in from the sig'h of their more seandalous sins a g, rave lesson and an urg'ent warnin. for ourselves, a eall on us tbr hones self-examination? for we are of the saine nature, with like passions with hem; we may be bett.er than they, but out mere seeming so is no proof that we are. q'he question is, whether, in spire of out greater apparent virgue, we should hot fitll like them, if the restrain of soeiety were withdrawn; i.e. whether we are nog in the main hypocrites like the Pharisees, protssing t.o honour God, while we honour IIim only so thr  men require i of us? 2. Another test of being" like or unlike the Pharisees may be menioned. Out Lord warns us aainsg h3"poerisy in hree respeets,in doing" out altos, in prayin, and in fasing'. '" When thou doest thine altos, do hot sound a trumpeg belote ghee, a.s the hypocrites do in the syna,'ogues and in the streets, that ghey may have g'lory of men.... When lmu prayest thou shal hot be as fle hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing-in the synagogues and in the eorners of he streets, tha hey may be seen of men.... Vhen ye fas, be hot, a.s the hypocrites, of a sad eountenanee, for ghey disfi8-ure their faces, that they may appear unt.o men to fitst '."  M:tt. 'i. 2—16.

Here let us ask ourselves, first about our altos, whether we be hot like the hypocrites. Doubtless some of our charity must be public, for the very mentioning out naine encour,qges others to follow our example. Still 1 ask, is much of our ch,qrity also 2rirate? is as much private as is public? I will hot ask whether much moïe is done in secret than is done belote men, thou,h this, if possible, ought to be the c,qse. But,qt le,qst, if we think n the first place of our public charities, and only in second of the duty of private ahns-giving, are we not plainly like the hypocritlcal Pharisees? The manner of our2rayers will supply us with a still stronger ¢cst. We are here assembled in worship. It is well. Have we really been pra.)-ing as well as seeming to pray? have our minds been actively employed in trying" to form in us the difficult habit of prayer? Further, are we as regular in praying" in our closet to our Father which is in secret, as in public ? Do we feel,qny great remorse in omitting our morning and evening" prayers, in saying them hastily and irreverently? And yet should not we feel excessive pain,qnd shamc, and rightly, af the thought of having" committed any o2et impropriety in church? Should we, for insta.nce, be betrayed into laughter or other light conduct during" the service, should we hot feel most acutely ashamed of ourselves, and consider we had disg, raced ourselves, notwithstanding our habit of altogether forgetting the next moment any sinful carelessness af prayer in out closet? Is not this to be as the Pharisees?

 34 _P'ofcss[oz wit,o¢t! _Prcwt[ce. Take, again, the case of fasting. Alas! most of us, I fear, do nog think af all of fasting'. We do hot even let if enter out thoughts, nor debate with ourselves, whether or nog ig be needful or suitable for us fo fast, or in any way mortify out flesh, gell, flis is one neglect of Christ's words. But again, neither do we disfigure our outwa.rd appc.rance fo «ee» fo fast, which the Pharisees did. IIere we seem fo dilTer from the Pharisecs. Yet, in truth, this very apparent difference is a singular confirmation of out real likeness t( them. Austerity gained them cl'edit; it would gain ts none. It would gain us little more than mockery from the world. The age is changed. In Christ's rime the show of fasting" ruade men appcar saints in the eyes of the many. See then what we do. We keep up the outward show of almsgiving and public worship, —observances which (if so happens) the world approves. We bave dropped the show of fasting', which (it so happens) the world at the present day derides. Are we quite sure that if fasting- were in honour, we should hot begin fo hold fasts, as the Pharisees? Thus we seek the praise of men. But in all this, how are we, in any good measure, following God'« guidance and promises?

We see, then, how seasonable is our Lord's warning" to us, His disciples, first of al], to bcware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy: professing" without praetising,. He warns us against if as leaven, as a subtle insinuating' evil whieh will silently spread itself throughout the whole &araeter, if we surfer it. I-Io warns us, His.disciples, lovingly eonsiderate for us, lest we make ourselves a seorn and derision fo the pro- ane multitude, who throng" around fo gaze euriously, or malevolently, or selfishly, af IIis doings.:Theff seek Him, hot as adoring" Ilim for IIis miracles' sake, but., il" so be that they ean obtain any thing  ff'oto Him, or ean please their natural fastes while they profess to honour Him; and in rime of trial they desert Ilim. T1)ey malte a ffaha of godliness, or a fishion. So IIe spea.ks not o tltem, but to us, His little floek, ttis Church, o whom if has bee;a His Father's good pleasure to give the kiuffdom'; and He bids us talce heed of idling, as the Pharisees did before us, and like them comin short of out reward. He warns us that the pretenee ot" religion never deeeives beyond a little rime; that sooner or later, "whatsoever we have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the lig.ht, and that xahich we lmve spoken in the car in closets, shall be proelaimed upon the housetops." Even in this world the discovery is offen ruade. A man is brought into temptation of some sort or other, and having no roof in himself falls away, and gives occasion to the encmies of the Lord to blaspheme. ',*ay, this will happen fo him without himself bein aware of it; for thou-h a man begins to deceive others before he deceives himself,)'et he does hot deceive them so long" as he deceives himself. Their eyes are at lcnth opeued fo him, while his own continue closed to himself. The world sees through him, detects, and triumphs in detecting, his low motives and secular plans and artifices, whi]e he is but ver)" faintly sensible of them himself, mueh less l:as a notion that others clear]y see them. And thus he will go on professin the highest principles and feelings, xvhile bad men seorn him, and insult truc religion in his person. Do hOt think I ara speaking of one or two men, when I speak of the seandal whieh a Christian's ineonsistency bring's upon his cause. The Christ.tan wor]d, so ealled, what is if praetically, but  witness for Satan rather tlmn  witness for Christ? Rightly understood, doubtless the ve, T disobedience of Christians witnesses for Ililn who will overeome whenever IIe is judg'ed. ]3ut is there any mdecaled prejudice gainst religion so great as that whieh is oceasioned by the lires of ifs professors? Let us ever remember, that ail who fo]low God with but a half heart, strenthen the hands of His enemies, give cause of exultation to wieked men, perplex inquirers after trut.h, and bring reproach upon their Saviour's naine. It is a known face, that nnbclievers triumphantly maintain that the greater par of the Eng'lish peoFle is on t]eir ide; that the disobedience of professing Christiaus is a proof, that (whatever they sy) yet in their hearts they are unbelievers too. This we ouroelves perhal)S bave heard said; and said, hot in the heat of argument, or as a satire, but in sober earnestness, from real and full persuasion that if is true; that is, the men who bave east off their Saviour, console themselves with the idca., that their nelghbours, though too fimid or too indolent, openly fo do so, ye in secret, or at least in their real eharaeter, do the saine. And witnessing" tlfis general ineonsistency, they despise them

Profcss;oz withoM Prad;cc.

as umnanly, cowardly, and slavish, and hate religion as the orlg'in of this dcbasement of" mind. "The pcople who in this country call themsclves Christlans (says one of" these men), with few exceptions, are uot believers; and every man of" sense, whose blgotry has not blinded him, must sec that persons who are evidcntly devoted to worhlIy gain, or worldIy ranities, or luxurious enjoyments, though still preserving" a little deeetey, while they 2retend to believe the infinitely momentous doetrines of Christianity, are pertbrmers in a miserable ftree, whieh is beneath eontempt." Sueh are the words of an open enemy of Christ; as fhough he fclt he dared eonfess his unbelief, and despised the mean hypoerisy of those arouud him. His argument, indeed, will hot endure the trial of God's judgmeut af the last day, for no one is an unbeliever but by his own fault. But though no excuse for him, if is their eondemnation. What, indeed, will they plead before the Throne of God, when, on the revelation of all hidden deeds, this reviler of religion attributes his unbelief in a measure to the sig'ht of lheir ineonsistent eonduet? When he mentions this action or that eonversation, this violent or worldly eonduet, that eovetous or unjust transaetion, or that self-indulgent life, as partly the oeeasion of his falling away? "Woe unto the world (if is written), because of scandais; for it must needs be that seandals corne, but woe to the man ty wAom the scandal cometh !" Woe unto the deceiver and self-deceived! " His hope.,hall lerish; his hol»e shall be cut off, and his trust shall be a spider's web: he dmll lean upon his house, but il shall hot stand; he shall hold il fast, but il shall hot cndurel.'' God give us grace to lice ff'oto this woe while we have time! Let us examine ourselves, to see il" there be any wicked way in us; let us aire al obtaining some comfortable assurmce that we are in the narrow way that lcads o lire. And let us l)ra3" God fo cnlighten us, and to guide us, and to give us the will to please Him, and the power.