enthrals the mind from the bondage of other masters, by making it true to the one sole Master, whose service is perfect freedom. What viewed in one light, is love-viewed in another, is godly fear. Love constrains-fear restrains. They are but different aspects of the same principle. If there be genuine love of God, there cannot fail to be a holy fear of offending Him. This fear of the Lord is therefore "the beginning of wisdom;" the guardian of holiness; the zeal of adoption.

Would that the power of this principle pervaded the mercantile world! How mighty would be its working! How much is it needed! Examine the morals of that world in the light of Scripture; and, even in our own distinguished land, they will be found fearfully faulty. True, there is much that is honourable and of good report amongst our merchant princes; true, our country contrasts favourably in its commercial character with other lands, so that Britain enjoys the confidence of the earth as no nation besides enjoys it; and marvellous is the amount of property consigned to our gigantic traffickers, simply on the strength of their honour and integrity; yet, if you penetrate into the recesses of commerce, you frequently detect a low and shifting standard of equity-you discover that a thousand practices are connived at, and pass current in business, which, when weighed

in the balances of the sanctuary, are found utterly wanting.

Taking the morality of the commercial world at the highest, how much of it is genuine? What amount of the fear of God enters into its composition? If men are upright in their dealings, merely because they have a selfish conviction that honesty is the best policy, and that fairness will answer better than fraud; or if they act justly, simply from a sense of honour, from a pride which raises them above being guilty of a low and disgraceful transaction; or if, to ascend higher in the scale of unrenewed virtue, they do right because they instinctively recoil from all that is base and equivocal, from whatever would degrade and disturb their mind; then all their imposing array of mercantile virtues, however lovely in the eyes of men, who can look only at the outward appearance, however meriting the meed of human admiration and praise, are, after all, of the earth, earthy, hollow at the core, unprofitable in the sight of God. The stamp of such coin is the stamp of the world; the stamp on the coin which will be current in heaven, is the image and superscription of the King of kings. However, therefore, our merchants may plume themselves on their mercantile character, their punctuality in their promises, and their exactitude in their engagements; yet if, in all this, they are

only offering sacrifice to self as their idol; if their highest aim is to maintain their own unblemished reputation, or their own uncompromised self-respect; and if, in all, they have no eye to the record on high, to their Master in heaven-then it must be said of them, in the face of all their excellency, and notwithstanding their name and fame amongst their fellows, that they have their reward; that in the sight of God they are no better than painted sepulchres, or trees whose fruits, whilst fair to look upon, only need to be grasped, in order that, like the fabled apples of Sodom, they may be crushed to ashes. Of their virtues, as of the offerings of Israel in ancient times, God may indignantly ask, "Did ye them at all unto Me, even unto Me? saith the Lord."

Tried by this touchstone, the morality of many who stand highest in the commercial world would prove but shining dross; and if they are buoying themselves up with the notion, that what man has approved God will not condemn, how frightful the disappointment, how crushing the confusion, which must await them in the day "when the secrets of all hearts shall be revealed!" Yet "why, even of themselves, do they not judge that which is right?" for they cannot deny that what is not done unto God must be done unto some other master; and that such other master must be an idol and usurper, be

cause he occupies the temple and the throne of their Creator and Redeemer. What, then, are their secular virtues but splendid idolatries, specious acts of disloyalty to God? Do not these very men condemn themselves? Do they not betray the partiality and earthliness of their morality? For whilst they are so scrupulous about defrauding men, how unscrupulously will they rob God-rob him of the devotions of the closet, rob him of the services of the Sabbath, rob him of the ordinances of the sanctuary, rob him of the homage of the heart? They "render to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's;" whilst they withhold from "God the things that are God's." Their very religion is human. "Their fear towards God is taught by the precept of man." They try to keep the commandments of the second table of the law, so far as the letter goes; but neither in the letter nor in the spirit do they attempt to keep the commandments of the first. Thus, by their conduct, they show that they look upon the duties which relate directly to God, as far less binding than those which relate more immediately to man; and that they conceive that, whilst they would incur heavy blame by violating the former, they may with impunity set the latter at nought. Can such ungodly morality be mistaken for holiness? Can it be imagined that faithfulness towards man will be accepted as a substitute for loyal

ty towards God? Is it to be endured that men should recognise the claims of justice, of gratitude, and of fidelity towards their fellows, yet turn a deaf ear and a faithless heart towards the claims of their Creator, Preserver, Redeemer, and Judge? The very fact, that they thus acknowledge human ties, whilst they disregard those which are divine, serves to make their guilt the more palpable, if it will not serve to enhance their condemnation. How much, therefore, is it to be feared, that many who stand high in credit and confidence here, will hereafter be overwhelmed with shame, when they see the books opened, and find when too late that they are bankrupt for eternity? What will they answer when God rises to judgment-what will they say when He shall arraign them?

As it is the fear of God alone which can impart to mercantile morality intrinsic worth, so it is that principle only that can insure to it strength, stability, and universality. Even the virtuous qualities which exalt a man in the commercial world, must lack reality and consistency when they rest on a lower ground. Hence, it is no uncommon thing to find a man who was at one period distinguished for his honor and integrity, at another period of his life making utter shipwreck of character; whilst his barque glided along in smooth water, and his sails were filled with prosperous gales, he