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followed them as his chief, his only good. But how different the case now! The world appears in its true character; and himself as a pilgrim and a stranger in it; who is not to set up his rest here, who has no continuing city here, but should be seeking one to come. He prays, therefore, that he may henceforth sit more loose to the world; that its smiles or its frowns may have less effect upon him; that he may "use the world as not abusing it, knowing that the fashion of it speedily passeth away." In proportion as this world sinks in his view, the eternal world rises. By faith he beholds Him who is invisible: as heavenly things are the object of his hopes and affections, so the attainment of them is the great, the increasing object of his endeavours.

His new views inspire him with new principles, and these lead to new conduct. The Holy Spirit no longer resisted, grieved, or quenched, finds an entrance into his heart, and by degrees works an entire change in his character. The sinful, the vain, the idle pursuits which occupy and engross the world around him, and which once consumed his time and his money, he now relinquishes, wondering he could ever be drawn away by them. His occupations are of a more serious cast. He is not ashamed of his Bible; but while he blesses God for it, he esteems it his greatest treasure.

He reads it; he studies it; he meditates on it. He is much employed in prayer and communion with his God. To obtain the victory over sin, to "grow in grace," and all the virtues of a Christian life, is his daily aim; and knowing his own weakness and insufficiency, he prays ardently and constantly for fresh supplies of that Holy Spirit (the Purifier as well as the Comforter), which can alone enable him to work out his salvation with fear and trembling, "God working in him to will and to do of his good pleasure."

Let us seriously examine ourselves then, brethren, whether we can at all hope that this saving and effectual change has taken place in us; for no less than our eternal salvation depends upon it. It is not necessary to determine, as some are busied in doing, the exact time when this change began in us. Still less should we rely on the doubtful and dangerous evidence of inward frames, feelings, and experiences, which, unless duly restrained and regulated, open so wide a door for all manner of delusion and enthusiasm, and lead persons to undervalue or despise the words of truth and soberness. The important inquiry is, whether we can discern the change itself by substantial fruits, by the tempers, habits, and dispositions of mind which it produces.

If there are any here who, on inquiry, must be

compelled to answer in the negative, let them not despair, but rather earnestly seek for God's grace to work this change in the use of all appointed means. It has been well observed, that this renewal of heart and character is made in one passage of Scripture the subject of a precept: "Make you a new heart and a new spirit;" and in another, the subject of a promise: “A new heart," says God, "will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you." These two great truths should be connected together; and they would teach us, that while on the one hand we can do nothing without God's Holy Spirit, yet still that Spirit works in us as rational and free agents.

Nor let it be imagined that this spiritual frame of mind will unfit us for the proper business of life, or for the sober and rational enjoyment of its really innocent pleasures: on the contrary, it will promote and secure both. The Apostolic direction is, be "not slothful in business: fervent in spirit; serving the Lord." While our business is in the world, our heart and affections may be set on things above; while our walk is on earth, our spirit may ascend above it, and our heart be where our real treasure is, in heaven.

Let us pray then for this mind, these holy and

1 Rom, xii. 11.

heavenly dispositions, that we may live as did those holy men of old, who walked by faith, and not by sight, "and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." Then would the world be less regarded by us; while we maintained our proper place-that assigned to us by God in it: then could we say with the Apostle, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."1

1 Gal. ii, 20.

SERMON IV.

HEBREWS ii. 3.

How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?

THESE words propose to us all a question of unspeakable weight and importance; to which every other question, every other consideration that can interest us, is less than dust in the balance. While we feel ourselves to be dying and perishing creatures, whose present life is but a vapour which 66 appeareth for a moment, and then vanisheth away;" while a future and untried state of being lies before us, and into which the next day, the next hour may introduce us; are there any of us so dead, so insensible to their best interests, so buried in the cares, the sins, the vanities of this passing life, as never seriously to ask themselves the question, What will become of them when

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