ligious life. Consider well the reasons which support your obligations to pursue it. Let not the genuine, the only solid, and time-defying basis on which to erect the steady purposes of piety and virtue, remain unseen or disregarded by you. Establish your resolutions to forsake sin, on the essential demerit of sin; its intrinsically odious and deleterious qualities; its perfect incompatibility, whilst unrepented of and unrenounced, with comfort, tranquillity, and hope in this world, as well as with the joys of the Divine Presence in Heaven. Establish your resolutions to follow holiness, on its essential beauty and-worth; its intrinsically lovely and beneficial qualities; its infallible tendency towards present peace, and future and everlasting glory. Keep in view the diligent and laborious exertions necessary in the prosecution of a religious life. Form your designs deliberately and providently; and count well the cost of Christian obedience, before you enter upon the profession of a sincere attachment to it.* Abjure that indecision of mind which is so apt to be occasioned by different and opposing views of things. "No man can serve two masters." No man can walk with a firm and determined step, who "halts between two opinions." "A house divided against itself, cannot stand.". It was wisely, as well as prophetically said by the patriarch Jacob of his son Reuben, "unstable as water, thou shalt not excel." Tamper not incautiously with those incentives and provocations to sin, which the world and its ruler, aided by the corruptions of the heart, are so forward to offer. Neglect none of the instituted means of grace, whether publick or private. "Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some is." "Take heed how ye hear." "Search the scriptures; for in them ye have eternal life; and these are they which testify"§ of Jesus, of his doctrines, and his great salvation. "Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving."|| Seek, in a devout attendance

See Sermon 24. Heb. x. 25. Luke, viii, 18. § John, v. 39.

Col. iv. 2

on the holy communion, divine grace to "stablish, strengthen, and settle you" in holy habits.

Contemplate the vanity of the world, and its inability to make you happy; the dignity of your immortal spirits; the continued presence and inspection of Almighty God; and the awful importance of that eternity, on the borders of which you stand, and which will be to you happy or miserable, according as you improve or neglect the advantages of the present state. Habituating yourselves to such contemplations, they will, at length, become interwoven with your very springs of action. They will operate as a restraint upon sensual propensities, and a protection against tempting allurements, and discouraging opposition. What is the world to him whose serious thoughts are fixed on Heaven? Where things spiritual are paramount in the mind, how powerless are things temporal! The man who frequently and feelingly asks himself this question, "what would it profit me were I to gain the whole world, and lose my own soul? or what can I give in exchange for my soul" to recover it back into my possession? this man will not easily ❝be hindered, that he should not obey the truth."

Repeat the dedication of yourselves to God as frequently as possible. Frequently call up to view your solemn covenant to be for him, and for none else. I speak to all baptized persons, for according to the principles of our church, they are in covenant with God. With the return of every day, array yourselves in this divine armour before you enter upon secular occupations. One determination is not sufficient. Another, and another must succeed.

"Lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset you, if you would run with patience the race that is set before you."* If you overcome your reigning propensity-your dominent enticement-all others will with ease be defeated. If you direct your aims against minor sins only, which is the too common practice of mankind, while you

*Heb. xii. 1.

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cherish this bosom foe-this more powerful iniquity; if you abstain only where abstinence imposes no heavy cross; you are in danger of being deceived into the persuasion that you have "slain the body of sin," while in effect, you have merely inflicted on it a slight, though irritating wound; that you have conquered yourselves, while you have not even burst the chains in which selfish affection holds you imprisoned; that you have "entered into the kingdom of Heaven," while you are at a remote distance from it. Be it your aim therefore, to reduce those passions which are most inordinate; to curb those desires which are most imperious; to refrain from those indulgencies which are most seducingly importunate. Be counselled by the Son of God; "If thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off and cast them from thee; it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands, or two feet, to be cast into everlasting fire. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee; it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than, having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire."*

Bethink yourselves of the rapid approach of death and eternity. While you are undecided what part to act; while your purposes are unsteady, and your conduct changeable; year follows year in quick succession. Death waits no man's pleasure; time, no man's resolutions; eternity, no man's opinions. Every repetition of sin incurs renewed danger. Know you the moment in which you may be cut off? If not, why suffer a single moment to earn the wages of sin? Why not redeem every instant of precious time, and appropriate it to such designs and pursuits as shall not blacken the account which you may be unexpectedly bidden to render? Everlasting things are suspended on that brittle thread which holds you in existence; and you cannot tell how soon that thread may be broken. Should you, not, therefore, my brethren, should you not cultivate with diligence and eagerness, those habits, and that deportment,

* Matthew, xviii. 8.

which promise most tranquillity, most complacency, most gratification, in the retrospect? Should it not be your continual and assiduous endeavour so to form, regulate, and conduct your life, that you may be warranted to look forward to the close of it without fear?

I hasten to conclude the whole of what has hitherto been discussed from the text, by addressing you in the language of practical application.

My brethren; let me beg you to examine yourselves, your own conduct, your own moral condition, your own spiritual standing, in order that you may ascertain to what extent the discussion has reached you. In general, the ministry of the word can do no more than exhibit religious truth; God, and a man's own conscience, must tell the relation which it bears to individual cases. It is not improbable that on a review of what has been said, the majority of my hearers will be inclined rather to self-condemnation than to self-acquittal. It is not improbable that among those who have admitted religion into their thoughts, the greater number are conscious that although they have entered upon the race set before them, and for a season have seemed to themselves to run well, they have too often, and too soon, suffered themselves to be "hindered that they should not obey the truth;" that they should desist from active duty; that they should swerve from the holy paths of God's commandments; that they should faint and be weary in well-doing. Let me urge upon you, then, the following inducements to a better mind, and a more consistent conduct.

FIRST.-If, having run well, your course be hindered, interrupted, or broken off, you experience much of the painfulness incident to repentance and conversion, with very few of their advantages. Every kind of work, but especially, every work of a moral complexion, is more arduous, and more formidable in its commencement, than at any subsequent period in its progress. When a man, long accustomed to sin, is induced to alter his line of conduct, the first act

of self-denial is like tearing out a right eye. If he proceeds, the severity of the conflict abates. He acquires an accession of strength and ability, while the evil habit loses bý degrees its tenacity. How little enviable, then, is the condition of those who are perpetually commencing, and never advancing! perpetually setting out on the course, and never approaching the goal! How much do they resemble the traveller who enters upon a journey, and after going over just so much of the road as is most rough and unpromising, measures back the distance, and has to enter upon it anew; who repeats the same outset and the same return, instead of pursuing his steps through all the unevennesses of the first part of the road, until the green fields, and rich pastures, the gentle acclivities, and smiling prospects in distant view, shall remunerate his early perseverance!

Now, compare the situation of these irresolute and unstable men, who run some little distance on the course of duty, and return again; with the situation of the persevering Christian. At first, they have all the same obstacles to surmount; the same perils to encounter; the same opposition to conquer. But mark the difference. The persevering Christian has once surmounted; once encountered; once Overcome. He leaves his foes behind him; looks not back; presses onward to the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus; and gloriously attains it. These irresolute and unstable men have again to surmount; again to encounter; again to overcome; with this additional discouragement, that every instance of recession from the spiritual contest, weakens them, and transfers the power of successful resistance to their enemies. Yes, my brethren; if you think the work of salvation difficult-if you think it painful-you will find it made doubly painful-doubly difficult to you, by broken plans and interrupted purposes. Let a regard to your own ease, therefore; let the prospect of accomplishing with comparative facility, a work the most arduous, and, at the same time, the most necessary; induce