cannot paraon; and that is the sin which contemns offered mercy, and tramples upon Christ and his salvation, to the last. O may God incline your hearts no longer to oppose your own salvation, and to his name be the praise. Amen!

SERMON XV.

CONSCIOUS INTEGRITY A PRESERVATIVE FROM

EVIL.

PSALM XXV. 21. Let integrity and uprightness preserve me.

It is a narrow and miserable policy to expect to be the gainers by doing wrong. It shows very little acquaintance with the government of God, and no confidence in God himself, ever to persuade ourselves that it is unsafe to do that which is right, or better, or happier to neglect our duty than to perform it.

It is stated of the Prince of Condé, a zealous Protestant, that having received a message from Charles IX., the King of France, to choose one of three things,— either to attend the mass, or be put to death, or suffer perpetual banishment,--he replied, "The first, God helping me, I never will choose; but for the other two, I leave it to the choice of the king." To do right sometimes requires great self-denial, and greater sacrifices than men are willing to make. Reputation, property, the loss of employment, and of places of honor and profit, and the loss of friends, are sometimes jeoparded by unflinching and unblemished integrity. Men, for the most part, sit down and make their calculations in order to ascertain whether it is safer for them to follow the dictates of an enlightened conscience, in the performance of whatever their duty leads them to perform,

or to pursue the opposite course, and leave it undone. Yet we think we shall be borne out in the declaration, that they never injure themselves so much, as when they swerve from the path of strict rectitude and integrity; and never so hazard their influence, their good name, their property, their friends, and the good-will, confidence, and kind offices of their fellow-men, as by a loose and dispirited morality.

It is a beautiful thought of the Psalmist, "Let integrity and uprightness preserve me!" If a man cannot be safe in doing what is right, he had better expose himself to danger; because an approving conscience and an approving God, are worth more to him than all the temporary inconvenience and suffering to which he may be subjected for doing what is right. There is, in the long run of human affairs, no such security in the world, as is found in a man's conscious integrity. Be he ever so wise, his superior wisdom and discretion are not half so sure a safeguard as his integrity. Be he ever so rich and honorable, his wealth and station can never throw such a shield about him as his integrity. He is never so much at ease, and never feels that he has so little cause for suspicion and watchfulness, as when he has the high and honest consciousness of personal integrity.

This is a most enviable state of mind. And it is one which may be enjoyed. It is alike attainable by the rich and the poor, by the wise and the unwise, the base and the honorable, seamen and landsmen. And it is attainable by a very simple and intelligible way; and that is, by the performance of acknowledged duty. It is this, this firm integrity, this strong and bold adherence to what is right, that puts a man beyona

the reach of danger. Such a course of conduct may seem to be hazardous; it may indeed be attended with temporary inconvenience, and even suffering; yet is it in the end always the safe course,-the only safe course for time and eternity.

But what is integrity? It must be something more than a name, a notion, a fancy. There are very false notions of it in the world; some men and some nations deem that to be right, which other men, and other nations, deem to be wrong. The maxims of a world that lieth in wickedness, the laws and customs of society; the usages of merchants and mariners are not always the safe rule of right. There is but one rule, and that is the word of God; what that requires is right, what that forbids is wrong. This rule is equally applicable to all beings and all worlds, to all nations, all climates, all seas, and all men.

With the Bible in their hands, it is no difficult matter for men to come at the knowledge of what it requires, and what it forbids. A well-informed conscience and an honest heart, will always direct them. I say, a well-informed conscience, and an honest heart; for without both of these, they will be very apt to go astray. They never act right in doing that which is contrary to the dictates of their own conscience; nor, in following the dictates of their conscience, do they act right unless they follow these dictates from an honest and right heart. Conscience may be perverted and biassed; and there are not wanting instances in which some sin fearfully from the impulse of a misguided conscience. Conscience, in order to be a safe guide, must be under the direction of a right heart, and a right spirit. It is only right-hearted men who can always

trust to their consciences to guide them. Conscience is a stubborn thing, and if under the controlling influence of a wicked heart, is sure to make shipwreck of a man's integrity. It is not a true chart alone that conducts the mariner to his destined port; his compass must be true, and its aim steady and single to the pole. It is not enough that the ship obeys her rudder; her sails must be spread to the wind, and a favorable breeze must blow. A wrong heart is to human life what an adverse current is to the ship's course. She may head her true course, and seem to promise a safe voyage, while a subtle and unobserved current is driv-> ing her to the lee-shore. So the impulse under which a man acts, the stray current of his own feelings and spirit, are always to be taken into the account when he sits in judgment upon his integrity. When men act from an honest conscience, and a holy Christian spirit, they always act right, and are approved of God.

Such integrity is safe; and, in the final result, it will always be found to be the only true and safe course.

Consider a moment the force and clearness with which this thought is established by the word of God. "He that walketh uprightly," says the inspired author of the Book of Proverbs, "walketh surely." "Thou wilt keep him," says the Prophet, "in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee." "They that trust in the Lord," says the Psalmist, "shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth forever." It is the voice of Divine Wisdom which says, "Whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely." And the Apostle Peter, addressing the saints that were scattered abroad in a dark, corrupting, and persecuting age of the world, says to them, "Who is