That the most explicit and best executed laws in defence of property are daily trampled under foot is a sufficient illustration of the dangerous activity of this principle, and of the extremes to which the indulgence of it, in smaller degrees, may imperceptibly conduct us.

There is, however, a wide field for the mischievous exertions of this principle, even within the limits to which the prescription of human laws confines it. Besides producing, on the character of individuals, effects which reach into eternity, it may be inflicting on society an endless train of evils, of which no law can take cognizance; and encouraging and strengthening dispositions which no human authority can control, nor human penetration detect.

In this view of the matter, we perceive the necessity of a divine injunction,-an injunction coming from Him who searches the heart, who has authority over the subtlest motions of the spirit, and treasures up, against the scrutiny of the last day, the records of every moment.

Such is the commandment now under our review: addressing the conscience, and requiring every thing that is necessary for the government of the selfish principle. As this principle is an original part of our constitution, it is right to preserve it in what may be called a healthy state of exercise; it is necessary to fortify it against the evils arising from disappointments and failures;-to lessen the number and the force of the temptations by which it is commonly seduced; and to preserve it in proper balance, by calling into vigorous operation the principles which are its natural counteractions.

In the first place,To preserve the healthy exercise of a principle, which becomes sinful by its excessive activity, and which, from the depravity of our nature, is constantly breaking forth into excess, it is necessary to possess and to cultivate habits of diligence.

Our nature is formed for action; every capability

we possess seems fitted for serious persevering application. We may see both the motives and the fruits of diligence in the primeval employments of man,-in the peculiar condition to which we have been reduced by the apostacy,- in the complex system of mutual dependence, with all the interests arising from it, which runs throughout the whole framework of society, in the natural wants of man universally, and in the artificial wants which civilization has created,-in the arts and conveniences, the securities and pleasures which, in the march of improvement, have enriched and adorned industrious communities.

By placing men in such circumstances, the providence of God has supplied them with sufficient motives for exertion; has afforded opportunities for calling forth all the wisdom and prudence, all the energy and perseverance, by which the human faculties are quickened and exalted; and, by connecting the sober and conscientious improvement of these advantages with the assurance of his own blessing, has stamped on the meanest walks of human industry a dignity transcendently superior to the inglorious luxury of courts.

Such is the structure of our minds that they will be busily employed; their powers must either be lavished on trifles, or perverted to the most abandoned pursuits, if not steadily devoted to those avocations which combine the happiness and respectability of the individual, with the interests of an extended circle. In these avocations there is ample scope for the play and the gratification of the spirit of acquisition.

Choose your avocation, then, if it is in the power of your choice, with a prudent regard to your own interests, and to the claims of honour and religion; and, having entered on it, pursue it in humble reliance on the blessing of God, and with a desire to promote his glory.

Ever regard idleness as ruinous to your prospects,

discreditable to your character, a corruption of your associates, and highly offensive to God. "Be not slothful in business. Whatsoever thine hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might." Remember, that while it is God "who giveth you power to get wealth,"while his "blessing maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it,"-"the hand of the diligent maketh rich, it shall bear rule,—his soul shall be made fat, and he shall stand before kings."

It were easy to expatiate on the advantages of diligent application to the common affairs of life, in the station which the providence of God has assigned us. We might instance its analogy with the habits of the intelligent universe,-its indication of a noble and aspiring quality in the human mind,-its connexion with the purest and highest purposes of our existence, the discipline by which it conduces to our mental and moral improvement, the restlessness, fickleness, and remorse, necessary attendants on idleness, from which it exempts,-the thousand personal and social degradations to which it is a most effectual antidote,--together with the sweet satisfaction arising from the very exercise of our faculties, -and the happy consequences, throughout a wide sphere of interests and enjoyments, with which God is pleased, in general, to succeed the undertakings of honourable industry.

But we consider the diligent discharge of the duties of our calling as enforced by this commandment, because of their influence on the selfish principle, bringing it into vigorous activity; pressing it into the service of the general good; and imposing on it those restraints which, though sometimes irksome, are always salutary and always needed. Neglecting to bring this principle under such an influence, instead of weakening, strengthens it; suffers it to be misled by the day-dreams of the fancy, or infuriated by the wildness of the passions. How quickly may every sentiment of honour and integrity be eaten out by the rust of idleness! How

closely allied, in all the ranks of society, are extravagance and cupidity, the love of dissipation with the abandonment of every honest principle! Employment, then, for your own support, and the supply of your family, or, if Providence has placed you above the need of this, for promoting, on a smaller or larger scale, the good of your neighbourhood, your country, and the world,-is absolutely necessary. The regulation of your own mind requires it; the claims of society require it; the true dignity of your nature requires it; the authority of God, to whom an account of your time, your influence, and your opportunities must be given in the judgment, requires it.

There is a striking passage on this subject in the book of Proverbs: "The way of the slothful man is as an hedge of thorns; but the way of the righteous is made plain." In the contrast of sloth and righteousness there is implied a very alarming crimination of the character of the slothful. His conduct is regulated, not by what is right, but by what is soothing or gratifying, congenial to his taste, or suited to his convenience. He possesses not that force of principle which will grapple with temptation, under the urgencies of want or the impulses of desire. Exposed, as all his fellow-creatures are, to the contingencies of life, he is unprepared for "the evil day." Surrounded by real or imaginary difficulties, he steps with fearfulness and trembling. With no conscious rectitude, no sacred regard to obligation, no distinct and settled plan of life before him, he has no inward vigour to sustain him in the turmoil of struggling inclinations; and his course is, therefore, as dangerous and distressing as it is immoral. "But the way of the righteous is made plain." He can meet difficulties, he feels that he must not shrink from them. He knows how his principles and his obligations require him to act. His conscience, enlightened by the Scriptures, arbitrates between the claims of interfering interests. His habits of indus

trious application have given him an energy of spirit which enables him to persevere, trampling with unconcern on the apparent impossibilities which appalled his neighbour, and walking with the firmness of unbending honour on the level path from which the other recoils with shuddering.

It is not wonderful that so much importance should be attached, in the Scriptures, to habits of diligence. They teach us, it is true, the pre-eminent value of spiritual views and "spiritual blessings;" exhorting us to "seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; to labour not for the meat that perisheth, but for the bread of eternal life; to set our mind on things above,"-arousing us by the thrilling question, "What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" But gross indeed must be our delusion, if we suppose these exhortations require us to abandon the engagements of the present life, or that they even countenance the presumption that would resign to Providence the cares belonging to the faithful discharge of secular duties. This presumption is as offensive to God as its opposite extreme, distrust. This abandonment of secular duties may be quite as repugnant to the genius of Christianity as the most blind and plodding worldliness.

It is not in destroying, but in purifying the principles of our nature that divine grace displays its power. Christianity derives her honours, not from the contemplative and abstracted solitary, but from the laborious mechanic, the faithful servant, the upright merchant, the conscientious statesman.

The apostle, then, was not stooping from the elevation of his grand commission, when he said to the Ephesians; "Let him that stole steal no more; but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may give to him that needeth." Nay, we might ask,-When was the dignity of the gospel more illustriously embodied in the conduct of this sublimest of men, than when he