Look again at the brow of the flanderer, and you will fee another title of infamy-that of coward. He dares not fay to the face what he fo freely utters behind the back. Thus he bites the back. He resembles a fnappish dog often feen in the streets, running after passengers, and biting their heels. Furthermore, the flanderer is in the fight of God a murderer. He must neceffarily hate the perfon flandered; but "he who hateth his brother is a murderer." Injury is added to hatred, which renders the case worse. Reputation is more precious than life. Thus the man or woman who makes or vends a flander, must be known and read of all men as a liar, coward, thief, and murderer.

The flanderer's tongue is a four-edged fword. It wounds the hand of him who uses it; it wounds the ears of those who liften to it; it wounds the heart of him who is the object of the thruft; it ftrikes at the throne of God, and breaks his law. Slander excludes the miferable perpetrator from the kingdom of heaven. "Who fhall dwell in thy holy hill, O Lord?" "He that backbiteth not with his tongue." Death and life are in the power of the tongue. A wholesome tongue is a tree of life; a polluted tongue is a upas of death. It may be warmed with a feraph's flame, or set on fire of hell; a world of iniquity, or a univerfe of good; an unruly evil full of deadly poifon, or a wellordered system, tranfmitting the bleffings of an endless life. Therewith blefs we God even the

the Father, and therewith curse we men made after the image of God.

The Jewish Rabbis tell the following story: "A certain man sent his fervant to market to buy fome good food. The fervant returned, bringing with him fome tongues. Again he fent the fame fervant to buy fome bad food. The fervant again brought tongues. The mafter faid, What is the reason, that when I fent you to buy good and bad food, you brought tongues?' The fervant answered, "From the tongue both good and evil come to man. If it be good, there is nothing better; if it be bad, there is nothing worse.""

"The tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt; for the tree is known by his fruit."-MAT. xii. 33. "Every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and caft into the fire."— MAT. iii. 10.

THE TREE OF EVIL.

Here, in dread filence, on the blighted heath,
Behold! the Tree of Evil, and of Death;
No heavenly breeze throughout the region blows;
No life of Love exifts where'er it grows;
No flowers of Hope around it ever bloom;
No fruit of Faith e'er yields its rich perfume;
Fell Unbelief strikes deep its deadly root;
The branches bend with moft pernicious fruit;
The Pride of Life, and Fleshly Lufts hang there,
Emblems of mifery, anguish, and despair.
Two men employed in different ways you fee,
To rid the groaning earth of this bad tree :
One, only lops a branch juft here and there,
That makes its neighbour more productive bear;

The other, by experience taught to know,
Aims at the root his well-directed blow ;
Blow after blow through the wide heath refound,
And with a crash, it falls and fhreds the ground.

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THE Tree of Defolation ftands alone upon the blafted heath. It fheds its baleful influence far and wide. No dewy meads, nor graffy plains, or verdant lawns, are feen around; no blushing fields, waving luxuriantly the golden ear; laughing flowers beftudding the earth with their ftarry gems; nor spicy groves breathing the odour of delight can live or flourish here. The lowing kine, the bleating, fleecy tribe, the choral fongfters of the woods, are never heard; here, in these regions, eternal filence reigns. This corrupt tree is altogether of a poisonous quality. Its roots, bark, branches, leaves, and fruit, are all poison.

Two men are seen at work upon the tree; their object is to deliver the country from fo great an evil. The one on the right hand has been employed many years, without effecting anything; he merely lops off a branch here and there: this only adds ftrength to the remaining branches, and makes them more fruitful; meanwhile, the excised limb fprouts again. The one on the left, more wife, wants to cut the tree down; to this end, he comes prepared with a good sharp axe; he directs his blows at the root of the tree; blow follows blow in quick fucceffion, every ftroke tells, and foon the monster tree lies proftrate on the ground.

The Tree of Evil is an emblem of an evil heart; the bad fruit, of a bad life. The unconverted man fheds a deleterious influence all around him. In his foul there is a lack of fpiritual graces; faith, love, hope, peace, joy, longfuffering, are all wanting. A fpiritual death exifts. Unbelief is the poifon that corrupts the heart. Thoughts, words, actions, are all poifoned. Faith is put for the whole of religion, and unbelief for an ungodly life. Hence it is faid, "He that believeth fhall be faved, &c.

The fruit of the evil heart is the pride of life, i. e., a love of the honours and glories of the world; the luft of the flesh, i. e., intoxicating drink, gluttony, and adultery, and the various pleasures of fin; the luft of the eye, i.e., love of fine drefs, fine furniture, and the vanities of this life. He spends his wretched strength for naught, who labours to reform his outward conduct only. He may make a good Pharifee, but he will never make a Christian. His heart ftill continues "deceitful and wicked." "First make the tree good, and the fruit will be good also."

He alone is the wife man who "lays the axe at the root of the tree;" who ftrikes at unbelief; who believes the truth as it is in Jefus. He prays with David," Create in me a clean heart, relying on the promise of God, "A new heart will I give unto you." Thus he is "created anew in Chrift Jefus unto good works." "He has his fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life."