Man and Woman were Formed by their Gracious CREATOR for each Other; and in an union between them, when founded in congenial minds and reciprocal affection, cemented by purity and perfected in piety and the true faith, as it is in JESUS, the highest and most enduring state of earthly happiness is experienced. And though in the early ages of the World a plurality of Wives seems to have prevailed, a custom which does not appear to have been expressly Forbidden by The DIVINE Law since it contributed to The Purpose of quickly Peopling the Earth, yet now that that cause no longer operates, and, coeval at least with the introduction of Christianity, that custom has been discontinued, and under The Gospel Dispensation a Husband is restricted to one Wife; the effect of that Limitation is to increase a thousand-fold the happiness of the hearts' union between them, and to shut out the occasion for jealousies and bickerings and divided and diminished affection, to which polygamy so generally gives rise. The solemn pledge, made at the Altar, of mutual fidelity, kindness and forbearance, should, during the continuance of wedlock, never be absent from the remembrance, nor cease to operate as fully at least as at first; and the effects of conjugal attachment and good faith, under a sense of religious obligation, will be visible in all the relative and associated duties of life, shedding a delightful serenity and charm over the Soul, and administering a practical lesson of counsel and encouragement around. The Offspring of such an Union should imbibe the gracious influence, and through them it may extend itself to many succeeding Generations. Whatever, therefore, tends to interrupt this harmony, whether it be the seducing arts of profligate licentiousness, working almost imperceptibly but gradually on the weaker mind to draw it from the paths of peace to the ways of the Destroyer; or whether it be that the solemn engagement with GOD be broken and the law of Man trampled on through the power of unrestrained passion; whatever is the cause, the Promoter of it is the Perpetrator of a most grievous sin, baneful in its effects, both as destructive of individual and social happiness, productive of disease and

penury and wretchedness here, and as most imminently endangering the everlasting interests of those yielding to such impure courses. And as the corruption of the heart alienates the Affection of GOD and defeats His Efforts of Mercy to Save us, we should avoid or check every impulse to illicit intercourse or fornication, and especially the crime of adultery; checking every thought and desire tending to so fatal an indulgence, remembering that, He, Who Looketh upon the heart, and Knoweth what is in Man, and Judgeth thereby, hath emphatically Said, that 'he, who looketh on a Woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart.' By Man therefore and by Woman also the natural affections should be so regulated and conscientiously indulged in, where the Laws of GOD and Man sanction the indulgence; and so sacredly restrained both for Godliness and Righteousness' sake, where no such authoritative warrant is given, and which a more becoming desire for and devotion to Spiritual enjoyments are calculated to promote, and through the Purifying Grace of The HOLY SPIRIT are capable of effecting, as that inordinate concupiscence, lasciviousness, fornication and adultery may not only be avoided in the act, but be dismissed at once with firmness and disgust from dwelling in the mind. And easy will be found and full of delightful reflection this united conquest of Reason and Religion, if instantaneously roused to oppose any insurrectionary ravages of lustful propensities. But if their aid be not promptly sought and applied, and the evil suggestion be entertained, though with the intention of suppressing it ere it ripen into action, it gradually so fastens on the mind, presenting to it so intoxicating a draught of deceiving pleasure, as eventually to inflame the passion to madness, and impelling to seek for gratification at any cost or sacrifice. Knowing therefore that GOD, through the Intercession of His SON, in Compassion to our infirmities, Freely Offereth us His Grace to Fortify us against the weaknesses of the Flesh, as well as against the vanities and false lures of the World, and the wiles of the Devil, let us seek unto Him in such peculiar time of need, and implore the Agency of His

SPIRIT to Induce us to keep This Law both in its letter and in its spirit! And if our hearts condemn us, as having already trespassed against it, let us recollect that GOD, Who is Greater than our hearts, cannot but Condemn us also, and will, in the Undeviating Course of His Justice, most signally Punish us, if we do not turn from the evil of our ways, and repent us of our sin, and acknowledge our transgression, and seek unto Him for Forgiveness in humility and Self-condemnation, trusting to the Atoning Sacrifice of The SON of GOD Offered on our behalf, and imploring the Grace of The HOLY SPIRIT to Purify and Regulate our thoughts and desires, and regenerate our Souls by Conforming them to The DIVINE Will. And may we render all the recompence we can for any injury or contamination which Others may have experienced from us! And after the Exemplary Forbearance of The Blessed JESUS when on Earth, Who would not Judge or Accuse her who was brought before Him as an Adulteress, on the condition of her not sinning any more; so may we use forbearance and lenity towards the Persons of penitent Offenders, remembering that in the Judgment to Come we shall All need The SAVIOUR's Intercession with The FATHER, not only for Pardon of all the evil of our Lives in thought, word, or deed, but His Reconciliation towards us to Admit our Immortal Spirits into the Habitations of His Holi-The Priest then delivers the Eighth Commandment

ness.

Thou shalt not Steal!

And the People add

LORD, Have Mercy upon us; and Incline our hearts to keep This Law!

To take either forcibly or stealthily from Another that which is his, is an act of injustice and an infraction of the law of Man, as well as against the Mandate of GOD. But against the spirit of This Commandment there is not only a disposition to offend, but a very general and widely spread inroad upon its essential principle: for what difference substantially is there in the condition of the heart and in its impulse to action,

whether property be taken by positive robbery, (which is not necessarily accompanied by force, and against which there is the two-fold guard of Public law and Individual defence,) or whether it be taken by unsuspected imposition, by dishonest dealing in false representation, by undue measures or weights, by inadequate quality, or by any suppression of Truth. As a false balance is an abomination to The LORD, so is every transaction in Human intercourse that is not founded in sincerity, and will not stand the test of Public scrutiny before Angels as well as Men. In the contemplation of our own nature before practically acquainted with its follies and its vices, could such a state be supposed, it would not be thought · possible that Man, so exalted and ennobled in his Formation as an Immortal and intellectual Being, Placed in this lower World for a few precarious years to prepare himself, amidst the Unfailing Offer of DIVINE Help, for the endless Life to Come, and having Set before him the Inestimable Treasures of Perfect and Unceasing Joys in the Visible Presence of the Glories of The Great REDEEMER'S KINGDOM, should hazard his attaining so Great a Prize for anything or all that this World could give, much less for the little, paltry, despicable gains of a low and debasing system of fraud or plunder aimed against his Fellow-Creatures; every act of which will be fully revealed at the Day of Judgment; a Day which virtually will present itself on the day of death: and GOD, Whose Favours are despised and His Commandments set at nought, may, by the Sudden Fiat of His Will, Call the rebellious Soul, in the very exhibition of its evil practices, before Him, and Deal out His Judgment in Justice without Mercy, where neither mercy nor justice had been observed. How will Self-condemnation then confound, and Self-execration then agonize the Soul, when reflecting on what it has lost, and for how poor and fleeting a gratification! Then will Earthly riches, dishonestly amassed, and which even in the possession damped the pleasure with apprehension and accusation, when it is too late by repentance and restitution to repair the evil, be seen in their true light, and be justly appreciated

as worse than the most abject poverty, having more than beggared their Owner through all Eternity, and left him to all the horrors of Spiritual famine and want and nakedness and woe, the Outcast of Heaven, and the Associate of the Damned, ruing his irretrievable folly, and finding no palliative but the contemplation of GOD's Justice in His Dealings with the Reprobate. In all stations of life, in Professions, as well as Trades, in him that is served, as in him, that serveth, in all occupations, whether wholly or principally mental or bodily, the principle of honesty should govern Human actions, equally from the love, as from the fear of GOD; and then, though Poverty may present itself, yet it will be accompanied with the Sustaining Assurance of DIVINE Favour in the Gift of Contentment and of Exhaustless Happiness amidst the Treasures and Glories of A SAVIOUR's Favouring Countenance in the Life to Come.. -Beautiful as is the economy of inanimate and instinctive Nature, how much more beautiful would be that of the Nature of Man, the exalted Head of this lower World, were all his ways directed by Righteousness and the reverential fear of his Great and Gracious CREATOR and Universal BENEFACTOR! did he render to every One his due, honour to whom honour, custom to whom custom, tribute to whom tribute, and truth and Christian love towards All! How calm and delightful would be his passage through the fleeting and uncertain period of his continuance here, and how full of hope and of all consolation would be his views of the Life, that awaits him beyond the grave, through the liveliness of his faith in the Love and Merits and Mediation of The SON of THE MOST HIGH, as his SAVIOUR. May All who have transgressed This Commandment, and perhaps None have in all respects fulfilled It, think, without further delay, of the error of their ways, and from The FOUNTAIN of Mercy supplicate the Gift of Grace that such evil dispositions may be henceforth rooted up out of the Soul, and that in singleness and integrity of heart they may hereafter live as becomes Beings, to whom in the Mystery of DIVINE Love, through That SAVIOUR's Intercession,