tachment to his cause, be the proof of your love and gratitude. So shall he guide you safely through the pilgrimage of this world, to the holy city above. There shall he "feed you, and shall lead you unto the living fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away all tears from your eyes."

K

130

DISCOURSE IX.

COLOSS. iii. 23.

And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as to the Lord, and not unto men.

A VERY considerable restraint is imposed upon the conduct of men by a regard to their own safety and convenience in this world. Not a few feel within their breasts the ragings of lust, envy, avarice, ambition, malice, revenge, or rapine; and would delight to gratify these passions in their full scope, were they not deterred from it by the dread of losing property, reputation, or life. Some who are called by the world " very good and very honest men;" who are kind, industrious, benevolent, and honourable; who pass gently through life, enjoying a full share of respect and confidence; even some of these are all the while playing a part-mere hypocrites, who fear not God, nor regard man, except so far as is agreeable to their own private interest.

Nay, my hearers! this sad degeneracy of human nature does not stop here; for it is found even among Christians: and the most pious are sometimes actuated by motives which they would blush to acknowledge before the world. So true it is, that all morality is defective without piety toward God; and that a fair external decorum may exist, as the pharisaical righteousness of old, beautiful perhaps to the eye, but, like a whited sepulchre, concealing a mass of death and putrefaction. The fact is, there is no right conduct; none that is acceptable in the sight of God; none that is worthy of our confidence and love, but what proceeds from a heart renewed and sanctified by the Holy Spirit. And so long as we direct our intercourse among our fellow-men merely by what are called the rules of common honesty and morality; so long as we keep out of view our allegiance to the dread Sovereign of the universe, in the most minute concerns and duties of life; so long, in fine, as we remain unrenewed in the temper of our minds, and neglect to act from a principle of love to God, and to the souls of those around us; so long, let our external deportment be what it may, we are building our hopes of safety upon the sand, and have reason to fear lest we meet with final and irremediable destruction. These solemn truths are every where

inculcated in Scripture; but in no part of it more explicitly and forcibly than in our text: "Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as to the Lord, and not unto men." While we attempt to discover the true import of this command, may the Spirit of Truth enable us to examine ourselves most faithfully, to see whether we do indeed recognise its authority, and conform our conduct to its holy requisitions!

I propose to consider very briefly, 1st, The circumstances under which the words of the text were written, and the character of those to whom they were addressed: 2dly, To examine the nature of the command which they contain; and, 3dly, The extent of this command.

I. Let us consider the circumstances under which the text was written, and the character of those to whom it was addressed.-St. Paul was visited, near the close of his first confinement at Rome, by Epaphras, a member of the church planted at Colosse. From him the Apostle learned the condition of the Christians in that large and flourishing city. They had, most probably, received the rudiments of the religion of Jesus from Paul himself, and were converted, by his preaching, to the faith. He felt, no doubt, a lively interest in their welfare. He saw them like

a handful of corn upon the top of the mountains; a weak and defenceless band in the midst of a

vast pagan people. To animate and encourage them in their Christian course, and to guard them against falling into error and temptation, he sends them the Epistle from which the text is taken. In drawing it to a close, he is mindful to enjoin upon them the importance of a strict attention to all the duties which they owed to their fellow-men: for he well knew that the religion which he taught was a religion of kindness and love, serving not only to prepare men for the future world; but also, in this, enabling them to adorn their several stations and conditions in life, with the graces of an honest, upright, and benevolent demeanour. In this advice he did not overlook the lowest of his fellow-Christians. "Servants," says he, "obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eye-service, as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God and whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as to the Lord, and not unto men, knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance; for ye serve the Lord Christ." The persons thus addressed were slaves; subject, no doubt, some of them to the tyranny of austere and cruel masters. Their occupation was of the most servile kind, Yet the Apostle is careful to teach them, that it