SERMON VI. 1 PETER V. 8. BE SOBER, BE VIGILANT. HAVING considered your Duty towards God and your Neighbour, it remains that I call your attention to your Duty towards Yourselves. The proper understanding and practice of this Duty are absolutely necessary to the observance and discharge of the other two. If a man does not believe in, and fear, and love God, he will feel no restraint from doing his neighbour wrong, nor impulse to do him good; neither will he be induced to rectify the obliquities of his own mind, and control the intemperance of his own passions. If he does not love his neighbour, he cannot have any regard or reverence for the commands of God, and must, in the violation of this duty, frequently yield to the suggestions of an evil heart, and transgress the limits ་ of Christian morality. And, again, if he will not conform to the rules of temperance and virtue, he must live in a constant disobedience to the divine laws, and be continually infringing that love and charity, which are due to his neighbour. It being evident, then, that there is an intimate and indissoluble connexion between these three duties, I proceed to point out in what your Duty to Yourselves consists. * In the first place, it is necessary to watch and control your thoughts. The heart is the source whence all evil arises. Our Saviour says, "From within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness." And again, "A good man, out of the good treasure of his heart, bringeth forth that which is good; * The reader will perceive, that in this Discourse I have profited by Dr. Blair's Sermon " On the Government of the Heart." + Mark vii. 21, 22. Luke vi. 45. and an evil man, out of the evil treasure of his heart, bringeth forth that which is evil; for of the abundance of the heart, his mouth speaketh." As, therefore, the skilful physician attempts to remove a disease by applying the remedy to its cause, so should we endeavour to destroy sin by assailing it at its source. It is manifestly impossible altogether to prevent bad thoughts from rising in the mind. Although we have, to a certain degree, a command over our thoughts, and may increase that power by obeying the suggestions of right reason, and the precepts of Religion; yet so quick is their motion, and so rapid their transition, occasioned too by circumstances over which we have little or no control, that we cannot regulate the mind in such a manner, as entirely and at all times to prevent its receiving such only as we please. The best men are occasionally disturbed by the sudden intrusion of bad thoughts. This inability on our part arises from several causes. First, our nature is corrupt from the beginning. There is in it a certain prone ness to evil, a curiosity to pry into the mysteries of sin, an inclination to taste the forbidden fruit. Hence many images are presented to the mind, which, if not instantly suppressed, inflame the passions and incite to transgression. In the next place, Satan, anxious to detach us from our allegiance to God, and always watching opportunities to ensnare us in his toils, is constantly exerting his powers of temptation to draw us into evil, and throwing objects in our way, which, as they meet the senses, and address the affections, the mind cannot help perceiving; and that which we thus perceive must, for a moment at least, engage our thoughts. Hence, as Satan never concerns himself about us but to deceive and betray us, and as he has the power granted him of endeavouring to seduce us from our duty, many evil imaginations will arise in our hearts, whether we choose or not. Again, as there is much wickedness in the world, and which does not even seek the decency of concealment, we are often obliged to hear and see many things, |