low him; and if Baal be God, follow him. But to halt between two opinions marks the feebleness of present indecision, and will only conduct to future ruin.

Yet it is not from all intercourse with the world that lieth in wickedness that the authority of Jesus Christ prohibits you. For then, as saith the apostle, ye must needs go out of the world. But in your separation from it you must show a character which the world never forms, and cannot understand; must show that while you are in it you are not of it-that you do not love it-that your commerce with it is of pure necessity, and that you are going rapidly as time can carry you to that glorious home, where it shall never more show its face. You must be separated from and have no communion with those things which distinguish the world from the redeemed of the Lord, and which qualify you for the career of that graceless society whose steps take hold on hell, leading down to the chambers of death.

1. There must be a renunciation of the maxims of the world.

These maxims, without exception, centre in the creature, and are bounded by time. There is not one of them which regards an immortal destiny. Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die, is the sum of its philosophy. And were it true-did the spirit of man, like that of a beast, go down

course.

ward-there is nothing to arraign its wisdom nor to demonstrate the prudence of a very different But if, on the contrary, we are immortal beings, than which nothing can be more certain, then to have all our principles of action shaped only to the requisitions of a mortal life, is the extreme of folly and madness; and the farther we can be from so great a delusion, the better for us. Now for example:

It is one of the maxims of the world, that if we are virtuous, i. e. if we render to every man his due, cultivate the mild and beneficent affections, do good actions, and are free from gross iniquities, it is enough. No more will be required of us by God himself, and we may sit down at our ease in the calm and undisturbed hope of unquestioned bliss.

Brethren, let me deal very plainly with you on this point, for it is in reality the rock on which a great portion of men make shipwreck of their souls; and I would observe that it confines all your accountability to the second table of the law, leaving the first, all your duties and your relations to God, unprovided for. Who knows not that amiable and beneficent tempers are an essential part of the religion of our Lord Jesus Christ? But who knows not that, separated from the connection under which his word has placed them, torn asunder from supreme love to God from which he has made them to spring, they are at best but a

milder form of rebellion against him? How often must you be reminded that mutual acts of kindness, the various good offices of life, are simply necessary to the existence of society among rebels, and that the man who may be most distinguished for them may himself be the most obnoxious rebel among the whole, and may be condemned for abetting and encouraging others in their rebellion? Was such a plea ever of any value before the tribunals of men? Has it not appeared that the most humane, beneficent, and even righteous among a band of transgressors, was himself a principal culprit? And did the abuse of these good qualities in the service of rebellion for one moment arrest the most condign punishment? And shall we impute to the perfect governinent of God a blunder which cannot find a place among the imperfect governments of men? Besides, what becomes of the rights of God your Maker? Where is the obedience to the first and greatest commandment, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind? Is this to be trodden under foot with impunity? Are Are you to go all your lives long forgetful of the infinite good, and when called to account escape under the pretext that you were kind to rebels like yourself? Never to bestow a thought upon the eternal world, and to step as a matter of course into all its blessedness? Never to

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have any concern about glorifying God here, and to be taken up from the mire of your pollutions unpardoned, unwashed, unsanctified, into the full possession of his glory hereafter? O more than sottish! Who hath bewitched you, children of men? And do I not speak to many, who, with the gospel of salvation freely and fully proclaimed in their hearing, have yet no other hope of divine acceptance than this absurd and stupid lie? Believe not the world. Her theology is not for sinful man. To behave decently on earth is no passport for heaven. It may do well enough among the blind and clumsy judges here, but will infallibly be detected by the keen-eyed righteousness beyond the grave. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; but except a man be born of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Hope for no change, for no mitigation. If the Lord Christ speaks true, you shall find, when there is no rectifying mistakes, that every man of you who has all that the world pronounces enough, and has no more, will be forever shut out from the kingdom of God.

2. Where the world cannot succeed in expelling religious sensibility altogether, there is another maxim calculated to neutralize its power and render it ineffectual: "You need not be so strict; this great precision only does harm; it makes religion unamiable, and yourselves odious. Why cannot

you enjoy in moderation and with dignity the innocent freedoms which form the zest of society, and not put on that sombre air, and keep at so chilling a distance from all the relish of life?"

In this way do men contrive to make void the law of God by their manner of representation. To fear God and do his will, is "strictness" and "hurtful precision." To preserve tenderness of conscience, is to be "unamiable and odious." To follow the multitude, is to " enjoy with moderation and dignity only innocent freedoms ;" and to avoid all appearance of evil, is to have "a sombre air and to keep at a chilling distance from the relish of life." So they wrap it up. To make short work of all these fair words and false pretences, do those who use them really love the law of God? and is it only against extravagant and fanatical excesses that they set their faces? Or is their opposition in very deed pointed at all that holiness without which no man shall see the Lord? Is it not precisely the image of God which they cannot endure, and his authority which they would gladly set aside? Would they not rob you of all the comforts of a good conscience? of all the sweets of a peaceful walk with God? and persuade you to exchange them for the giddy whirl, for the idiot laugh, for the midnight debauch, and whatever belongs to that mental and bodily dissipation which is like the crackling of thorns under a pot, noisy for a moment