FAST DAY SEBMON REVIEWED. • 29 



half-way house on the road to heaven ; and men who derive 

 their incomes from lottery money and usury are suspected 

 by some people of being not altogether -indifferent to the 

 trickery of this world ! I am not speaking censoriously, 

 but rather by way of comparison and illustration. I may 

 well leave the work of censure to preachers who are content 

 to compound for their silence on the sins of those from 

 whom they derive their means of liberal support, by at- 

 tempting /to lash what they believe to be the sins of 

 strangei-s ; and who, in their curious zeal, are prone in this 

 work to display a larger share of ignorance than knowledge 

 of the great world outside of their sphere, and more of un- 

 charitablenesss than of both the other qualities. 



While "lying lips are an abomination to the Lord;" 

 while the " lie of cowardice," the " lie for amusement," the 

 "lie of malice," and the "lie of self-interest," are both dis- 

 graceful and abominable, so, too, the lie that lurks beneath 

 a smiling front, the lie that is often unconsciously secreted 

 behind our pretensions, our motives, our wishes, or our acts, 

 is equally heinous in the sight of the Great Searcher of 

 hearts ! This secret lie — the lie given to ourselves, to our 

 professions, to our better nature — this great and fearful 

 innate paradox in man's composition, is too often forgotten 

 when we descant upon the shortcomings of. others ; while, it 

 is rarely, if ever, recognized in our own individual making 

 up ! 



I have already pointed out that the reverend Mr. Hunt- 

 ington was not justified in citing this book in illustration of 

 his " lie of self-interest," because what is therein set down 

 8* ■ 



