Third Sabbath—Morning.

BEHAVIOUR IN GOD'S HOUSE,

"Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools; for they consider not that they do evil."-Eccles, v. 1.

THE temple of Solomon was God's house, and every place set apart for the worship and service of God may be called His house. It is called the house of God, because it is occupied by His people, and devoted to His service. They love the habitation of His house. It is so called because He has promised to be graciously present there, "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world." And it is so called, because many have been born, and nursed, and prepared there, for the house "not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."

Youthful reader, it is thy duty to go to the house of God: "Let us not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is." Say not, I can read my Bible at home, for one duty should never take the place of another. Christ has commanded the gospel to be preached to every creature; every creature is, therefore, bound to hear it. The gospel table is loaded with food for the soul. Why should not I be always present to partake? Why should inflict starvation on my soul, while within reach

of plenty?

Besides, the good of others requires me to go. Some are following a multitude to do evil, but I should follow the multitude to do good, and be an example to others of welldoing.

Our deportment when there should be serious: "Keep thy foot." The place, though not sacred, is devoted to sacred purposes. God said to Moses, "Put off thy shoes from thy feet," and this teaches us that, when we are in the sanctuary, we should feel that we are in the presence of God. We should reflect on where we are, and what we are doing. A heathen philosopher recommended his pupils to imagine that some distinguished person was always looking at them, and this would help them to conduct themselves properly. But what is the eye of man to the eye of God? "Thou, God, seest me." Thou seest me in the dark as well as in the light; by night as well as by day; and thou seest me especially in thy house, where thy glory and my soul's salvation demand my whole attention.

Our duty when in God's house is, "Be ready to hear." We should hear with attention. It is God that speaks to us. When men speak to us, common politeness requires us to listen to them, and shall we not hear attentively what God the Lord shall speak? We should hear with patience. The value of the soul, the importance of the truth, the uncertainty of life, and the pro

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bable nearness of death, require this. We should hear readily and anxiously. How readily does the sick man listen to the instructions of his physician regarding his means of cure! How readily does the litigant attend to the advice of his agent! And shall we not, under a deep sense of our need, devour divine truth, and subject our hearts and conduct to its influence?

We should avoid foolishness in God's house. If we imagine that our bodily presence there is enough, what is this but offering the sacrifice of fools? If we are thoughtless and inconsiderate while there, what is this but solemn mockery? If we hear not for salvation and for eternity, what is this but adding the guilt of inconsideration to all our other sins? Let us present to God, in His house, the sacrifice of a broken and a contrite heart, and He will accept it on the ground of Christ's sacrifice, and fill us with the oys and hopes of salvation.

"One day within the place,
Where Zion's God is seen,
Is sweeter than ten thousand days
Amidst the tents of sin,

My willing soul would stay

In such a frame as this;

And sit and sing herself away
In everlasting bliss."

EARLY DEPRAVITY.

"The imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth."-Gen. viii. 21.

It is very remarkable that the reason assigned for the destruction of the old world by the flood, is here brought forward as a reason for pity and mitigation of punishment. The flood was sent because " every imagination of the thoughts of man's heart was only evil continually." Man's actual transgressions proceeding from a wicked heart, cried for vengeance, and the result was fearful and overwhelming; but in this passage there is no reference to actual transgressions. It refers to inward depravity-depravity born with him-depravity from his youth, and for this God pities him, and lessens his punishment.

Man's heart is the seat of the affections and passions; such as love, enmity, joy, and grief. It is sometimes used to denote the understanding, hence, "an understanding heart," "wise in heart." It is sometimes used for the will, "The hearts of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." In general, however, the heart is used in Scripture for the soul and all its powers, such as the understanding, conscience, will, affections, and memory. It is the inner man, the seat of good or evil, which God alone can know and

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try. If it is not right with God, then all is wrong. If it is not influenced by His word and His love, it is little worth, yea, it is only evil continually.

The imagination of the heart is evil. The "imagination "here means the motions or desires of the heart. The heart and its motions are evil in all. It loves evil, it thinks evil, it originates evil, and its devises evil. "Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies." The amiable and the unamiable, the moral and the immoral, the refined and the uncultivated, have, without exception, evil hearts. So deceitful is the heart, that no man can search it or know it. It is a dark dungeon, and an unfathomable abyss, and no eye but God's can penetrate its deep recesses. It is so evil that it cannot be improved, and so desperately diseased that it cannot be cured. It resembles a broken bell, or a broken mainspring of a watch, which cannot be repaired, but must be made anew. "Create in me, O God, a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me." Where, then, must religion begin? Just where depravity begins. I must reform my life, but this reformation must begin at the heart. In this matter I must not try to please men, but God, for man looketh at the outward appearance, but God looketh at the heart.

It is evil from his youth.-"Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive

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