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tell me, that whatever might have been the case once, he is not now of that number. He will bid me look to his hoary head, and say whether such be the outward livery of a mind that never thinks. He will point to the feeble frame, and the powerless limb, and ask whether he who thus walks about, the ruin of what he once was, can forget that with this world his business is well nigh done, and that after death comes the judgment. And I will answer him and say, that not for more than all this world can give would I believe that there is one of his order so hardened, as deliberately, with all his ailments about him, to choose the pleasures of sin, which last only for a season, in preference to the favour of God, and the approbation of his own conscience. But I must likewise add, that even old soldiers,-with so many strong inducements to do right, with so many warnings continually presenting themselves to their eyes, to their ears,

and to all their outward senses,-that even they must not cast from their memories the text of Scripture which says, "Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall." For sin is a crafty and a subtle enemy. He steals upon us in a thousand disguises, he takes us captive by a thousand different impositions,-he lulls our vigilance to sleep, even while he seems to own that over us he can never again hope to exercise control; and so we, amid the sincere desire to do right, frequently do wrong: because our eyes were closed for a moment, and we slept on our posts. Has it not been so with those for whom I write, a great deal too often? I know that it has; for with much cause, thank God, to speak of the in-pensioners of Chelsea Hospital, at least, as of men whose behaviour it would be well if others, in higher stations, tried to imitate, I should state that which is not the case, if I were to conceal that here and there some even of them

do occasionally appear, as those who take the deepest interest in their welfare lament to witness. Now, I know that perfection is not be attained on this side of the grave, and I trust and I believe, that neither with them nor with me, will the God of all mercies be extreme to mark what is done amiss. But I likewise know, and so I am sure do they, that it is both their business and mine, so long as our sands shall continue to run, to labour, with His grace helping us, that we may be brought as near as possible to our God and our Saviour. Nor is there any means so effectual of keeping us always on our guard, as the habit of devotion. fore, my brave old men, do not be forgetful or ashamed to commit yourselves to the keeping of Him whose eyelids never slumber. Even in your busiest moments you can lift up a thought to God, which He will accept, and register, and fulfil; and so when temptation comes, you will find a power to flee from or to resist it, of

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which, till you experienced it, you could not conceive the existence. If you will be persuaded thus to spend your latter years, they will be the happiest, because the purest of your lives,-and whenever you lay your heads in the grave, or it may be, when you lay mine there, the survivor will be in a condition to say, his youth that man may have erred, but God gave him grace to see his errors,and God, having blessed the weakness of his body, gave peace to his soul while it lingered here, and has now taken it to himself."

"In

SERMON XVI.

THE MISSION OF MOSES.

EXODUS V. 23.

For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name, he hath done evil to this people; neither hast thou delivered thy people at all.

THOUGH the words which I have just read to you, are taken from a different chapter than that which supplied me with a text for my last discourse, you will not probably wonder if I carry you back to that passage of Scripture which, in point of fact, I left altogether unexplained. This is the more necessary, not only by reason of the connection which subsists between it and the chapter

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