the New Jerusalem, "there shall in no wise enter anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie." If a man says, I must tell lies, at all events I cannot afford to tell the whole truth, I must sometimes hold a candle to the Devil. Well, then, it is my duty to tell that man that he must go to the Devil, and that there's nothing else for him.

Tell the truth to yourself, tell it to your neighbor, tell it also to your God. God knows the truth, for to him "all hearts are open, all desires known, and from Him no secrets are hid." Not by way of giving him any information are we to tell the truth to Him, but as one mean of obtaining pardon. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Now here it is that we see the deep meaning of this proverb, and perceive how by telling the truth we shame the Devil. It would be the Devil's glory to keep upon us the burden and defilement of our sins, and so to secure our eternal ruin. Now, when we confess our sins, what is this but telling the truth to God? and on doing this, we have the promise that He will forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So, by telling the truth, telling it to God, in free, full, penitential confession, we deprive the Devil of his victory, we disappoint his hopes, we are freed from that condemnation into which he thought to bring us; and so he is shamed, and gnashes his teeth with rage, when a man tells the truth to God. Yes; tell it to Him who promises to forgive, to cleanse, to saveand who, by the death of His Son, has made provision for the pardon of all who confess their faults. Tell God

the truth, however that truth may tell to your own discredit; however shameful may be the facts confessed, keep nothing back, attempt to justify nothing, to excuse nothing; take to yourself your full share of blame, don't strive to make out a good case for yourself; God knows all. Do you honestly tell Him all; and let your confession tally with His knowledge of what ought to be confessed.

And now you will say, perhaps, that the telling of the truth requires great sacrifices to be made; and I admit that it does, and that in all ages it has been so. But the sacrifice you may have to make is as nothing, compared with those which have been made by others. For the truth's sake, men have submitted to every kind of hardship, insult, and suffering. "The goodly fellowship of the prophets, the glorious company of the apostles, the noble army of martyrs," were all men who "told the truth, and shamed the Devil." They suffered the loss of all things, and sealed their testimony with their blood, because they would tell forth God's truth, and put the spirit of falsehood to shame. Nay, more (I say it with reverence, but with confidence in the truth of what I say)--this was what Christ did upon the earth; he told the truth and shamed the Devil. By the manifestation of the truth he inflicted on the Devil's kingdom a blow, under the effects of which it is still staggering, and will stagger, to its fall. Sacrifices for the truth! consider what sacrifices have been made, and how you honor the men, and cannot but honor the men, who made them, and thereby proved themselves the noblest of our race. They told the truth, knowing well what the consequences would be

-that their truthfulness would lead them to poverty, to prison, to the rack, and to the flames. They made their choice, and we approve their choice; and, however unwilling to imitate their example, we feel that they acted wisely, and well. And now, if homage to the truth demands some sacrifice, let us not complain, let us not shrink. I admit that it may be inconvenient to tell the truth; but we must bear with the inconvenience. I grant that it may be a pecuniary loss to tell the truth; but we must endure that loss. It is very possible that great gain might arise from some deceptive practice; but that gain is the wages of sin, and must not be coveted. "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" It is the way of the world not to speak the truth; but we must not follow a multitude to do evil. No apology is more common than this. The sanction of custom is pleaded for practices that are utterly inconsistent with truth; but no man of common sense can urge this plea, without knowing perfectly well that it is absurdly false. Two blacks cannot make one white; two million blacks cannot make one white. Custom may give laws to dress, and regulate the usages of etiquette; but custom, however ancient, and however widely recognised, can never make wrong right, can never justify, or in the least degree extenuate, a lie. Let us have faith in truth, and trust it at all times. If falsehood offer you gold, and truth can't afford you a copper; if falsehood would conduct you to a palace, and truth lead you to a hovel-still, if you would live honorably and die peacefully, choose the truth for your friend and guide. "Buy the truth," says Solomon,

"and sell it not." Let it be yours, whatever it costsmany men have bought it with their lives-and don't sell it for all the riches and pleasure that falsehood can command; you might as well sell your soul at once. I know that the truth is sold-sold in all the markets in the world; it was sold yesterday, and it will be sold again to-morrow. It is sold by every man who tells a lie, who equivocates, who keeps back any part of the truth which it is his duty to make known. It is sold by words, it is sold by gestures; it is sold by silence as well as by speech, by innuendo as well as by bold statements; it is sold at all prices. One man-a merchant, perhaps― won't sell it for less than £100; another-a free, independent elector-will sell it at a polling-booth for the price of a glass of gin. Buy the truth; you will never repent of your bargain, however great its cost; but if you sell it even for a throne, you'll be a loser. "Let the clock of the tongue be set by the dial of the heart," and let the dial of the heart be shone upon by the Sun of Righteousness. Then you will know the truth, you will love the truth, you will tell the truth, and put the Devil to shame. And hereby you And hereby you will prove yourselves brave men; for, to speak the truth under all circumstances, and in the face of all risks, requires more courage than is demanded on the field of battle. Of all the valiant men in the world, let him be chief who dares to tell the truth!

LECTURE XVII.

THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT.

Ir is very generally felt that the subject which I have selected for this afternoon's lecture, is one, the public exposition of which is sternly forbidden by the laws of propriety and the principles of modern refinement. Probably the discussion of such a topic will be most vehemently objected to by those who are conscious of having violated, if not the letter, the spirit of this law; for prudery is generally nothing more than impurity in a cloak; and "ill-deemers," says the proverb, "are commonly ill-doers." If, however, we are to be guided, not by simpering sentimentalists, but by the greatest teachers of religion and morals that the world has ever seen, we shall not shrink from openly speaking of the sins prohibited by the Seventh Commandment. For this, we have the authority and example of Moses, who, again and again, in those laws which he was divinely commanded to proclaim, forbids all manner of uncleanness. Solomon, too, in his Proverbs, takes care that this subject shall not pass unnoticed; and if he had passed it by, the credit which he has received for extraordinary wisdom would be very considerably shaken. The Apostle Paul goes still