ration of your Redeemer's death, thus proclaiming in the most decisive manner that you regard yourself on the Lord's side. But after all, those who saw that you were an idolater before, see that you are an idolater still; no one can listen to your habitual conversation, no one can notice the tenor of your daily conduct, without perceiving that the world has the throne within. Your name stands as fair on the church-record as any other; but those who witness your deportment would require other evidence of the fact than that furnishes. You are regularly in the church, and here, perhaps, you may seem devout; you are regularly at the communion table, and there is nothing in your appearance there to indicate that your heart is not full of the love of Jesus Christ but the truth is, you are playing the worldling both in the one case and in the other; you worship the golden calf, not only at the foot of mount Horeb, but at the foot of mount Calvary also. In a word, you are professedly in covenant with God, but really in league with the world; professedly a follower of Christ, but really a worshipper of Mammon. Is not this idolatry, equal at least to that which the Jews exhibited in the case we are contemplating?

III. The guilt of the Israelites in making and worshipping the golden calf was not a little enhanced by the peculiar circumstances under which the sin was committed; and there is a corresponding aggravation from a similar cause attending many of those idolatrous attachments which are often witnessed in our day.

It would have been bad enough for the people of Israel to have been guilty of this sin on any other spot than at the foot of Horeb: had it occurred while they were yet under the dominion of Pharaoh, and constantly in contact with the various forms of Egyptian idolatry, it would certainly have been less remarkable; though even in that case, inasmuch as they had knowledge of the true God, it would have been without the semblance of a valid excuse. But from the time that they had cut loose from the Egyptian tyrant, they had been the witnesses of an uninterrupted miraculous agency it was by a miracle that they had been conducted to the spot where they then were; a few days before they had witnessed that tremendous manifestation of Divine power which proclaimed that God was on the mount; and at that very moment their illustrious commander, as they perfectly well knew, was, almost within speaking distance of them, holding high intercourse with Jehovah as their representative and organ. The circumstance then that aggravated their guilt was, that the sin was committed while they were, I had almost said, in very contact with Deity. Every thing around them told of the Divine presence; every thing that they saw and heard was adapted to dissuade them from this impious outrage. And yet they heeded it not: they became idolaters, gross idolaters, within the sound of Jehovah's voice, within the very blaze of his glory.

tion, aid and quicken its growth. True religion elevates, ennobles, and purifies all the human faculties.

So far is the devout Christian from shutting his eyes to the beauties of nature, or turning away his ear from its sweet harmonies, that the more devout he is, the more he enjoys them all. He sees the wisdom, power, and goodness of God in every thing around him, as he never saw them till he was brought out of darkness into marvellous light; and lifting up his eyes to the sparkling heavens, "looking through nature up to nature's God," he exclaims, "My Father made them all."

So of intellect, perceptions, and pleasures. If man were not endowed with a rational soul, he could have no religion at all; for he could have no knowledge of the great and glorious truths which lie at the very foundation. But the truly regenerated man sees moral relations with a peculiar clearness. There is more of intellect, more of well-balanced reason in his convictions than there ever was before; for the eyes of his understanding, which sin had blinded, are enlightened by the Spirit of God. The essential difference, in this respect, between his present and former state, is that then his religion was at best a cold speculative orthodoxy, with which the heart had nothing to do, but now his intellect is warmed and enlightened by Divine love.

So again of imagination. The religion of the heart does not destroy this faculty, nor refuse its alliance. It only sanctifies it, and holds it in check with a golden thread, as it were, when it would run wild and mock the mind with mere airy conceits. I can see no reason why imagination, under the control of perfect holiness, may not be a source of pure enjoyment in heaven, as I am sure in the present world it may be one of the handmaids of religion, though it can never be a substitute for it.

And conscience, certainly, is a most watchful supervisor of our religious thoughts, words, and actions. Though yielding to its remonstrances, and doing many things to appease its troublesome importunity, is no certain evidence of piety, on the other hand, stifling its honest voice is a proof of the contrary. The most devoted Christians are the most conscientious men. A good conscience is an essential part of true religion, while at the same time it can never be a substitute for right affections of the heart. However wide awake the conscience may be, in the absence of holy love there is no meetness for the kingdom of heaven. Beyond a doubt, the consciences of the wicked will be more active and goading than ever in the world of despair.

So again, although the social affections are not saving, nothing purifies and sweetens them like true religion. It makes men better and happier in all the endearing relations of life. These affections, even when unsanctified, act a most important part in families,neighborhoods,and larger communities. Human existence would be intolerable, and I may add, impossible, without them.

the Israelites illustrate a general principle of his administration? I know that the devotee of wealth sometimes retains his wealth, till it drops away into other hands because death has palsied his own. I know that the man whose course through the world is an unbroken and successful strife for worldly honor, sometimes finds his laurels as flourishing as ever up to the moment of his entering the dark valley. I know that the sensual, and the pleasure-loving, and the splendor-loving, sometimes imagine an undiminished brightness in their prospects, till, as if in the twinkling of an eye, a thick darkness falls upon their path, which proves, alas! to be the darkness in which the monster comes to do his work. But, after all, I appeal to you whether any thing is more common than for God to come and burn your idols before your eyes, and then mingle the dust of them in your very drink? Have you not found that the things of earth in which you have trusted have often proved as deceitful as the meteor; that the cup of pleasure, of which you expected to drink till you were satisfied, has sometimes been dashed from your lips and a cup of gall substituted in its place? How often have I heard the fond parent, whose heart has been bleeding under the loss of a beloved child, exclaim, "Oh! it was my idol; I trusted in it; and now that it is taken from me, whither shall I look for consolation ?" I am speaking of the destruction of idols as a punishment: it is so in one sense, but in another it is a blessing; for any thing that transfers the affections from the creature to the Creator is a blessing, even though it be the withering of the best and the last of our earthly hopes.

But Moses did more than put the idol out of the way: he instituted a terrible work of death in respect to the idolaters. The command to the sons of Levi was, that they should "put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor;" and we are told that "the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses; and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men." If you say that this was a severe punishment, we answer that even Moses was not responsible for it; for it was ordained immediately by Jehovah, and the order for the execution of it which Moses gave was prefaced with "Thus saith the Lord."

It happens, not unfrequently, that men who persevere in idolatrous attachments, especially amidst signal demonstrations of their worthlessness, not only have their idols broken or burned before their eyes, but are subjected to other and more terrible marks of the Divine displeasure. Sometimes God performs a mighty retributive work in the sinner's bosom through the power of conscience, and months and years of unmitigated inward torture seem to change life itself into a living death. Sometimes persons of this character are cut off in so sudden and striking a manner,

that, though we may not venture to say it, we can hardly suppress the conviction that there is something judicial in the circumstances of their death. And though we cannot follow them beyond the vail, though we cannot see those fires of Divine wrath which were typified on the burning mount, and which act with an allpowerful and yet an unconsuming energy upon the immortal soul, still we do know that in that invisible world God reigns in all the terrors of his justice; that there is suffering there, such as it has not entered the mind of man to conceive; and that the measure of suffering is meted out according to the measure of aggravation by which a sinful course has been marked. It was a terrible hour when the sons of Levi addressed themselves to that work of death in the Israelitish camp; when they went round from gate to gate, leaving their companions as they passed writhing in the last agony but even that scene, terrific as it was, were not wor thy to be considered in comparison with those invisible retributive scenes, in which God's justice has its more immediate and com. plete operation. I refer you to God's own Word for a description of the woes which he has treasured up for those who secure no portion beyond the world; and he who can read that description and remain unmoved, must have nerves of iron, and sinews of brass, and an adamantine heart, that will withstand every thing but the fire of God's wrath kindled in his soul.

And now, who of you will be contented to cling to the riches of earth, and let go the riches of heaven; to seek the honor that cometh from man, and to sacrifice that which cometh from God only; to live and die lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God? You are satisfied with this course now; but, as rational beings, you are bound to consider also the future; and dare you set yourself to inquire where this course will end? Especially, dare you ask this question in consideration of the fact that you are holding fast to the world, when heaven and earth are engaged to detach you from it; when Justice is calling to you from the mount of fire, and Mercy is calling to you from the mount of blood, and both charging you to cast away your idols? I may say with confidence in respect to all of you, even the youngest, that, a century hence, the world cannot reach out its hand to you to help you in any thing; you must have inward resources then in a renovated nature, and in the love of God filling and satisfying your soul, or you will be miserable. Wherefore, I pray you, act the wiser part. Instead of limiting your views to this fleeting hour of existence, take in the future, the whole future, the eternal future. There are a thousand voices charging you to forsake your idols, and to make Jehovah your portion; and if heed ye them not, marvel not if even those who sinned and fell at the foot of Horeb should meet you at last with fiend-like exultation, that you have found a lower place in the abyss of despair than they.

they profoundly worshipped, recognizing it as the god which had brought them out of the land of Egypt. The living and true God, who was the witness of this strange scene, apprised his servant Moses of what was passing among his people; and but for the respect which He paid to his intercessions, He would have consumed them at once in his righteous displeasure. Moses forthwith descended from the mount; and as he approached the camp, he found them actually engaged in their idolatrous worship-in dancing before the idol. His first business was to destroy the idol itself; his next was to punish the idolaters. He charged the sons of Levi to go forth from gate to gate through the camp, slaying every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor, throughout the camp, till the offenders should all have expiated their crime with their blood. And this work of death was straightway accomplished. It was, indeed, a fearful punishment; but it was a fearful crime, and a crime committed under fearfully aggravated circumstances, which drew it upon them.

Let us see what instruction we can gather from this impressive portion of sacred history.

I. The circumstances of the Israelites at Horeb were strikingly analogous to the circumstances of a large portion of mankind at the present day; and that in two respects.

In the first place, the Israelites had witnessed to a terrific display of the Divine character: particularly the attributes of sovereignty, and justice, and holiness, and truth, had been set forth in the most impressive manner, so as to come in contact not only with the thoughts, the feelings, but the very senses. The lightning, the thunder, the earthquake, each always tells of the Divine majesty; but in this case, these were miraculous signals of the Divine presence: the Creator was using his own elements to testify to the world of his own purity and greatness. Now I say there is something quite analogous to this in the experience of many at the present day; I may say, in the experience of most at some period or other, especially of those who live under the sound of the gospel.

The world in which we live is a world of graves; a world of desolate and bleeding hearts; a world which has been undergoing a baptism of tears ever since it became the dwelling-place of moral evil. And if some have a greater share of sorrow than others, yet none are entirely exempt; and even in those cases in which there are the fewest external demonstrations of woe, it is still true that the heart knoweth its own bitterness. I know that, in saying this, I speak to the experience of every one of you: for you have at some time or other, and in some form or other, had the bitter cup at your lips; and whether you have been sensible of it or not, you have, on every such occasion, been standing within sight of mount Horeb; you have witnessed to a direct