unabashed. Covetousness is the only sin which is tolerated in the Church. A professing Christian dare not be grossly immoral, but he dare be covetous. As the loss of one of the five senses renders the others more acute, so, the giving up of the common and grosser forms of vice, by some persons, when they become members of the Church, imparts to this darling sin a tenfold power. And while men of the world commit all sins without restraint, covetous members of the Church concentrate their corrupt nature upon this one. Hence it becomes intense, absorbing. The moral power of the Church is lowered, her energies are crippled, and multitudes bow down before the shrine of Mammon. Bunyan tells of some pilgrims, who, on their journeying to the Heavenly City, were induced to turn aside from their road, to look at a silver mine, recently discovered in a little hill called "Lucre." "Now," says the great dreamer, "whether they went down therein to dig or were choked by the fumes that arose from the bottom, I know not. But they were never heard of afterwards." O Christian, beware of "covetousness, which is idolatry." Let the case of the rich young man, "who went away sorrowful, because he had great possession "—let the fate of Achan, who "perished not alone in his iniquity"-of Judas, who sold his Master "for thirty pieces of silver "-of Ananias and Sapphira, who "kept back part of the possession" and "lied unto the Holy Ghost," serve as solemn warnings of danger.

INFLUENCE.

"For none of us liveth to himself.-Romans 14:7. Human beings are linked together by indissoluble ties. They are virtuous or vicious in groups. They rise and fall in masses. Every one is surrounded by a species of atmosphere. This atmosphere others breathe, and by it others are affected. Hence, the impulse given either to truth or error, by a single individual, may be felt throughout a whole nation, and affect unborn generations: "For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself." None can isolate himself from his race and move on in an independent sphere. On the contrary, we are continually radiating images of ourselves, which others see and others feel. All men have an influence. The good and the bad have each an influence. How do bad men acquire their influence? 1. Precept gives them influence. They lead others to do wrong, by teaching to do wrong. This is done much more extensively than many suppose. Without boldly advocating palpable errors or admitted crimes, at which the moral sense of the community would be shocked, bad men often gain their object by a method less obvious but not less effectual. They inculcate a lax but plausible system of morality. They talk lightly of the sanctions of the Divine law, and thus weaken its hold on the hearts of the young. They talk disparagingly of conscience, and represent its secret admonitions as

the effects of an early education or the offspring of a morbid sensibility. And thus their associates, ere they are aware of it, have imbibed a poison more deadly than the viper's tooth. The moral sense is blunted. The distinction between right and wrong is obliterated. Corrupt principles of action are instilled, and vice is soon practiced instead of virtue. How plausible and how smooth-tongued is often the teacher of error! He professes a profound reverence for truth. None more rigid in contending for principles than he. He would sooner cut off his right arm than teach a falsehood or advocate a crime. And while he dare not openly attack the gates of the citadel, he, in his way, slyly undermines the foundations. He secures the outposts, bribes the sentinels, and, by allaying all suspicion, more effectually gains an entrance. Vice is always more dangerous when clothed in the garb of virtue, and the errorist when arrayed in the panoply of truth. The most successful knaves come thus disguised, as smooth as razors dipped in oil, but as sharp.

2. Example gives influence. Wicked men usually accompany their sophistical reasonings by a corrupt practice. This gives authority to their precepts, and renders them tenfold more dangerous. They who are at first shocked at a bad man's principles may insensibly fall in love with his example; and, following at first at a respectful distance, may gradually approach nearer, until at length they become his bosom companions, hist obsequious imitators. For it is not the example of the most vicious and abandoned which is the most corrupting. The drunkard who wallows in the mire may be abhorred, while the more temperate drinker may have a host of imitators. The bold blasphemer may be viewed as a public nuisance, while the polite skeptic, the gay sportsman, the accomplished man of pleasure, may have

troops of friends and give tone to the whole community. Some serpents are gifted with the power of fascination. They first charm their victim ere they strike their fang. And so it is with some men. Their example is a gilded one. They attract by their manners, they win by their eloquence, they overawe the censures of the good by their popularity and wealth. And at last, when they die, a vast multitude of the young, the amiable, and the inexperienced will rise up in the judgment and heap curses on their heads as the authors of their ruin.

3. Age gives influence. The precepts and example of an old man, whether upon the side of vice or virtue, always have more weight than those of a younger one. An old man has lived longer. He has had more experience, and is better acquainted with the world. His gray hairs are reverenced. He has more authority. He has his family circle and connections around him. While, then, it is true that "one sinner destroyeth much good,” this is peculiarly true of an old sinner. Here you behold the case of one, the combined influence of whose entire life has been polluting a whole family and a whole neighborhood. The companions of his youth, the children and associates of his riper years, as well as the familiar companions of his declining days-a large multitude, have all been breathing his corrupting atmosphere, have been inhaling the slow poison of his contaminating influence.

4. Exalted station gives influence. When the fountains are corrupt, the streams are always impure. Rulers have an influence which the people have not. Public men frame our laws, and are the models by which multitudes shape their opinions and their conduct. Wide and fearful, then, is the prevalence of vice, when public men are corrupt. They send forth streams of impurity to the extremities of the land, corrupt the fountains of

justice, and bring a whole nation under the curse of Heaven, causing thousands to perish in their sins, like the vessel freighted with a precious cargo of human life, which is dashed against the rocks through the negligence of a drunken pilot, and all go down together.

5. The domestic relations give influence. Yea, this is the chief source of influence. It is here, where almost all that is good or ill in human life has its origin. It is around the domestic hearth that piety and every noble virtue begin to grow. It is by the domestic fireside that youth are trained up to be their country's ornament or their country's scourge. It is from the family that heaven and hell are peopled. If rulers have an influence over the people, parents exert a tenfold greater influence over their children, husbands over wives, and brothers and sisters over each other. As is the parent, so is the child. As are the associations of early life, so are the sentiments of riper years. If parents sow the seeds of piety, inculcate principles of goodly living, "allure to brighter worlds and lead the way," children are almost sure to follow. But if parents inculcate no good sentiments, crush no vicious propensities, set no godly example, use no efforts to ward off those countless unhallowed influences which prowl around the domestic enclosure, how, under such circumstances, can piety obtain a lodgment in the youthful bosom? You might as well expect roses to bloom upon a mountain of snow. Such are some of the causes of that mysterious power which every human being, even the humblest, is continually exerting over the circle in which he moves. Every utterance of the lips, every action of the life, the whole force of example, the station occupied, the relation sustained, whether of ruler, friend, teacher, parent, husband, wife, or child, is casting an image upon some fellow mortal, and is influencing him for good or evil. It