ercourse with the Deity. "Who shall ascend unto the hill
of the Lord, or who shall stand in his holy place. He that hath clean
hands and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor
sworn, deceitfully."--"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see
God."

Such declarations challenge the assent and absolute conviction of every
sound understanding. Are we, as responsible creatures, placed in
immediate relation to a great moral Governor, a being of infinite purity
and boundless perfections:--Is the structure of our bodies, and the
still more wonderful fabric of our minds, alike the work of his
hand:--Then it is impossible to put away from us the impression,--that
each movement of these minds must be fully exposed to his inspection. It
is equally impossible to repel from us the solemn truth,--that it is by
the desires, the feelings, and the motives of action which exist there,
that our condition is to be estimated in his sight,--and that a man,
whose conduct to his fellow-men does not violate propriety and justice,
may be in a state of moral degradation in the eyes of him who seeth in
secret;--"for," says the sacred writer, "man looketh on the outward
appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart."

There cannot, therefore, be an inquiry of more intense interest, than
what is that condition of the heart and of the mind which every man
ought to seek after, when he considers himself as exposed to the
continual inspection of the Almighty. It may, perhaps, be briefly
referred to the following heads.

I. A habitual effort to cultivate a sense of the divine presence,--and
a habitual desire to have the whole moral condition regulated by this
impression. It implies, therefore, sacred respect to the character of
the Deity, and is opposed to every kind of profaneness, or aught by
which one might weaken, in himself or others, the reverential feeling
due towards the character, and even the name of the Almighty. This must
be extended, not to the outward conduct alone, but to the desires and
affections of the heart. There is a state of mind formerly referred to,
in which a desire, which the moral feelings disapprove, may not be
followed by volition; while the desire is still indulged, and the mind
is allowed to cherish it with some feeling of regret, or even to
luxuriate with a sense of pleasure in the imaginary gratification. In
the same manner, a malevolent affection to our fellow-men may be checked
from pr