Imatges de pàgina
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kind, to whom the prospects of wealth, of honour, of reputation, of influence, each in their several departments of life, have not been disclosed; nor disclosed alone, but promised upon the condition of a dereliction of principle, the abandonment of religion, the forsaking of God. When we have renounced our allegiance to the Almighty, we are not in a negative state, from that moment we are the slaves of sin and Satan: from that moment we have worshipped the archenemy of mankind, in these his representatives, pride, avarice, and sensuality.

When to the gratification of our sensuality, to the promotion of our interests, to the accumulation of wealth, we have sacrificed either the innocence of our lives, the purity of our minds, or the duties of our religion, we have sacrificed them at the altar of our everlasting foe. इ "Covetousness" says the apostle the apostle" is idolatry;" an idolatrous prostration of the mind, not before a material image, but before that immaterial spirit of evil, who by his mighty empire closes the heart to every thought of that worship to the Redeemer, which is best shewn in acts of benevolence and charity, to those whom he has constituted his representatives upon earth, to our poor and distressed fellow-creatures.

Is the sensualist less an idolater? The united

wisdom of the heathen moralists, has proclaimed him not only a slave, but a slave to the most imperious master, his passions and lusts. Revelation has confirmed the verdict of reason, and has shewn that under the domination of these rebellious passions, that body, which was created as the temple of the Holy Ghost, is prostituted to the worship of the evil one, and becomes the temple of the destroyer. What other power shall burst the bonds of this earthly thraldom, but the devotion of ourselves, soul and body, heart and affections, to that great Being whose service is perfect freedom; to the adoration of that Almighty power, which is alone able to save us from destruction.

The kingdom of this world will then become the kingdom of Christ. "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve."

Having thus followed the footsteps of our Lord through this trying scene of temptation and assault; it is for us to pray for that power from above, which may guide us also in safety through the same trials, which in the strength of the Almighty may render us victorious over the assaults of the enemy, which may quench the fiery darts of the evil one. Then may we hope that the tempter will depart from us, as he did from our Lord, that angels may come and minis

ter unto us; that the Spirit of God will, by the cheering influence of his heavenly light, guide us in safety through the gloomy scenes of this world, into the haven of rest and peace.

SERMON XVIII.

JOHN iii. 3.

He that hath this hope, purifieth himself even as he is

pure.

So essentially connected are the hopes and fears of Christianity with the whole construction of man, that not only in the impulses of the moment, nor in the single acts of a virtuous life, is their influence displayed; but they incorporate themselves with the whole moral frame, they mount upwards to the secret springs of all human actions, they penetrate and pervade the inmost recesses of the very heart. The Christian considers every act of sin, not merely as a deviation from the path of moral rectitude, not only as the breach of certain rules laid down for his life and conduct, but as a violation of that purity of heart, and innocence of mind, which is above the law, as it is above the gift of The law can judge only of the action itself and its immediate motive; now if the action

man.

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be good, and the motive be good, no extraneous examination can proceed further; and what further can be required, it may be asked, than a good motive? There is a farther and yet more secret spring, into which, none but God and a man's own conscience, can penetrate, even purity of heart. But what better evidence can be adduced of the existence of such purity, than a good motive which terminates in a good action? Can a clear and unpolluted stream flow from ȧ turbid fountain? Can a pure motive rise from an impure and corrupted heart? Here then is the substance of the argument. Though a good motive cannot well spring from a heart radically bad, yet it is not one good motive, nor a num ber of good motives, that constitutes purity of heart. A good motive may arise from a sense of obedience to a law, as coming from God. Purity of heart displays itself, not only in obedience, but in love. Again, a good motive will teach us to resist iniquity from the commands of God. Purity of heart will enable us not only to resist, but to abhor the allurements of our mortal enemy. Now, as we may, from a good motive, obey a law which we consider as harsh and oppressive, so from the same cause, we may conquer the force of sin, and yet scarcely rejoice in our victory. In our pilgrimage through the rugged paths of virtue, though we manfully

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