minded." Reform your lives, if ever you would have communion with God here or hereafter, Psalm xxiv. 3, 4, Isa. i. 16, "Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil." Look to your conversation, see what is in it offensive to God, and dishonouring to his name, and depart from all this; Lam. jii. 40, "Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord."-Turn from gross pollutions of the outward man, and live the Christian life, or give over the Christian name, Jer. vii. 9,-11. There have been sober Heathens, who were remarkable for their temperance, their justice in dealings, and, in a word, regular lives according to the precepts of morality. But how many Christians are there, whose lives are stained with profane swearing and cursing, drunkenness, injustice, dishonesty, filthiness, and other gross pollutions, by reason of which the way of truth is evil spoken of! God charges you, since ye name the name of Christ, to depart from these, upon the pain of eternal exclusion from his presence, 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10, Gal. v. 19-21. Wherefore, let him that did these things do so no more. Turn from the lesser pollutions of the outward man; Acts, xxiv. 16, "And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God and toward men." A person may be drowned in a rivulet, as well as in the deep sea, if they take not heed to themselves. Vain and idle words, as well as vile and wicked ones, may ruin a man: Matth. xii. 36, 37, "But I say unto you, that every idle word that a man shall speak, they shall give acconnt thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned." There is a careless way of living, though not the way of open profanity, which yet is offensive to tender Christians, in which men swim to destruction in a stream of sins that few in the world make any account of, and they go to hell without making the sound of their feet to be heard by the way. Hear their doom, Psalm cxxv. 5, "As for such that turn aside unto their crooked ways, the Lord shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity." "This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind," Eph. iv. 17. Look to the law and to the testimony; cleanse your way by these, Psalm cxix. 9. If the word of God condemn your practice, though all the world justify it, God charges you to depart from it. Depart from the practice of sin in the inner inan, James iv. 8, (quoted above), Psal. xxiv. 3. 4. Sin may be beaten from the outworks, while it has retired in safety to the heart: there may in appearance be a clean life, while the heart is foul all over, and wickedness is practised at ease in the secret chambers of imagery. Therefore God charges you, as Jer. iv. 14, "O Jerusalem! wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved; how long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?" Turn, then, from heart vileness. Since the heart is as open to God as the life, it is of little use to be as a whited sepulchre, while within we are full of rottenness, to clean the outside of the cup while the inside is full of ravening. Purge your hearts of speculative filthiness; away with filthy imaginations, impure thoughts, envy, covetousness, malice, 1 Pet. ii. 1, 2. Be as much concerned to crush these vipers in the shell, as to resist external actions. Turn from heart-vanity, Eph iv. 17 (quoted above). Vain thoughts are like idle words, offensive to God, and therefore hated and resisted by the godly; Psalm cxix. 113, "I hate vain thoughts." Vanity of heart is the next step to, and paves the way for vileness of heart and life. It is the house swept and garnished, to which the devil returns with seven other spirits worse than himself. Therefore labour to get your hearts filled with good motions and holy desires, regulated by the fear of God, warmed with his love, guarded by watchfulness, and so busied as that ye may not feed on wind, but may be taken up about what may be of good use, both profitable and pleasing. 3. Depart from the devising and contriving of sin. A good man may be surprised into sin, but for a man to sit down and contrive sinful actions, is to make his heart a forge to Satan. To sleep and wake in pursuing the contrivance of sin, is the character of a wicked man; Psalm xxxvi. 4, "He deviseth mischief upon his bed, he setteth himself in a way that is not good; he abhorreth not evil." Thus men set themselves wilfully in an ill way, which grieves the Spirit, extinguishes his motions, and wastes the conscience. Men may show their worldly wit in this way, that they are wise to do evil; and they may, for a time, prosper in their ways, and bring their wicked devices to pass, Psalm xxxvii. 7. But such a habitual practice will prove a man graceless, 1 John iii. 8, 9, and will be bitterness in the end, for evil doers shall be cut off, Psalm xxxvii. 9. Depart, then, from the devising of sin, or quit the name of Christians. 4. Depart from the love of sin; Ezek. xvi. 6, "Thus saith the Lord God, Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations." 1 John ii. 15, 16. While the love of sin reigns in the heart, though they may seem to depart from it, the devil has a pledge of them that they will not go far away, but that they will come again back to him. This is that which makes so many communicants a scandal to their profession; so many who put their hand to the plough, to look back. They still love sinful liberty, their hearts are not divorced from their lusts, and so they return to their idols. If you name the name of Christ, and profess love to him, God charges you to turn your esteem of sin into disdain and contempt of it, Isa. ii. 20, "Cast your idols to the moles and to the bats." Let grace and holiness have the ascendant of sin and wickedness in your esteem. Account them no more the happy men who take to themselves a liberty in sinful courses, but as men who are most miserable, vile, and pitiful, as slaves to sin, and in the road to destruction, Psalm xv. 4. You are charged to turn your love of sin into hatred and abhorrence of it, Psalm xcvii. 10, "Ye that love the Lord, hate evil." Hate it as evil, as the worst of evils, worse than any sufferings; hate it as hell; Rom. xii. 19, "Abhor that which is evil." Hate it as destructive to the soul, as dishonouring and displeasing to God. Abhor it as you would do a cup of poison, though a golden cup. Your love of it must be turned into loathing. Look not only upon it as an ill thing, but as a filthy and a loathsome thing, at which one's heart is apt to stand, Isa. xxx. 22; Ezek. xviii. 31. You have long kept at it as a sweet morsel. Let your soul apprehend its real filthiness, so as that you may vomit it up again. Your former cleaving unto sin must be turned into longing to get rid of it, Rom. vii. 24, “ 0 ! wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" Long to be free of it, as a prisoner longs for the opening of the prison-doors, as a captive for his liberty. Look on it as a burden on your back, which makes you stoop; as a burden on your head, which perplexes you how to get free of it; as a burden on your stomach, which you will endeavour to cast up. This is the heart's departing from sin, without which all other departures from it will be to little purpose. 5. Depart from the enjoyment of the fruits of sin. The righteous man is one who despises the gain of oppression, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing of evil. When lovers part, they give back their tokens; and when a sinner parts with his sin in earnest, he will part with its fruits, whatever advantages he has by them. This is so evident even to a natural conscience awakened, that Judas, repenting of his betraying of Christ, could no longer bruik the thirty pieces he had made by his sin; and Zaccheus, sincerely repenting, is ready to make restitution, Luke, xix. 8. It was Balaam's character, he loved the wages of unrighteousness. And he who wilfully keeps the fruit of his sin, thereby nails down his own soul in a state of impenitency, so that he cannot repent of that sin; he binds the guilt of it on himself as with bands of iron and brass, so that it cannot be forgiven while this disposition remains. Wherefore purge out this leaven, and cast away the fruits with the tree. 6. Depart from the occasions of sin, and all temptations to it, Ezek. xiv. 6, (quoted above): It is vain to pretend to depart from sin, when men do not watch against the occasions to it. They who in a siege resolve really not to give up the town, will defend the outworks as long as they can. These do not depart from, but run into sin, who cast themselves into the way of temptations. Therefore says Solomon; Prov. iv. 14. 15, "Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass over it, turn from it, and pass away." Mind the apostle's advice, 1 Thes. v. 22,"Abstain from all appearance of evil." Occasions and temptations will seek us out while in this evil world; but let every one who nameth the name of Christ be upon his guard against them. Lastly, Depart from the workers of iniquity; 2 Cor. vi. 17, Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you." Let birds of a feather flock together; but if ye name the name of Christ, depart from the tents of wicked men. True, we cannot altogether shun them while we are in the world; but to make choice of ungodly persons for our companions, is the way to ruin; Prov. xiii. 20, "He that walketh with wise men shall be wise; but a companion of fools shall be destroyed." Wherefore, if you be setting your faces heavenward, depart from those whose faces are towards hell; Acts, ii. 40, "With many words did Peter testify and exhort them, saying, save yourselves from this untoward generation." Psalm xii. 7, "Thou shall keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever." THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED. SERMON II. 2 TIM. ii. 19, And let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. HAVING, in the preceding discourse, considered to whom the charge is addressed, and what is imported in the charge, "depart from iniquity," We now proceed, III. To explain the nature of this charge, or to shew how the Lord charges those who name the name of Christ to depart from iniquity. You may know the nature of this charge given to them in the text, by these following properties. It is, charge, it is di who are called Since you are 1. An universal charge, and this in two respects. 1st, In respect of the persons naming. "Every one," says the text, who nameth the name of Christ :" there is no exception in the rected to all and sundry who profess Christ, or Christians, whether ye be communicants or not. Christians by name, you are charged by the God who made you, to betake yourselves to the Christian life, and depart from iniquity. Whether you be high and honourable, or low and mean in the world, whatever difference is betwixt you and others, God makes none in this charge. But whether young or old, you are included in the charge, and you cannot resist it, but at your highest peril.— 2dly, The charge is universal in respect of the sins which you are to depart from; Ezek. xviii. 31, "Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby you have transgressed, and make you a new heart and a new spirit; for why will ye die, O house of Israel ?" They are all and every one of them dishonouring to God, displeasing to him, disagreeable to the holy name by which ye are called, and therefore all of them are to be departed from.-You must part with your fashionable sins, (with which, to be neighbour-like, you comply, though you should be a wonder to many), as well as with unfashionable ones, to which you have no temptation; Rom. xii. 2, "And be not conformed to this world." You must depart from your gainful sins, as well as those by which you make no profit: Matth. xvi. 26, "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" You must part with the sins of your calling and station in the world, as well as those which lie out of your road. This is an ordinary screen for sin; but see Luke iii. 12, 13, 14. You must part with little sins, as well as with great sins; with your darling sin, your bosom-idol, as with others less beloved; with the sins of your constitution, that sin which most easily besets you, Heb. xii. 1; in one word, with all your sins of heart and life. It is, 2. A peremptory charge; Acts xvii. 30, " And the times of this ignorance God winked at: but now commandeth all men every where to repent." There are no ifs or ands for your keeping your sins, or any of them. Many go about to compound the matter with God. They will part with such and such a sin, they will only harbour this and that, which is but a little one, a right eye, &c.; but in vain, you must part with all. If you would give rivers of oil, or |