a just subserviency and subordination to the great end we have in view. Nay, a certain measure of them is necessary: "Our heavenly Father knoweth that we have need of these things;" and he hath therefore made it our duty, by conscientious labour and lawful industry, to seek for them; and yet we are forbidden to suffer the world to have dominion over our hearts; and how hard is it to labour for it, to pursue it, to see its charms spread out before us, and apparently within our reach, and yet not inordinately to love it.

But nothing, perhaps, can so strongly prove the dangerous influence of worldly enjoyments, as the conduct of Divine Providence towards the children of God. We sometimes see, it is true, those who are surrounded with earthly enjoyments devoted to God; but such instances are comparatively rare. In general, we find that worldly prosperity intoxicates the mind, and that few are able to bear it with sobriety and moderation; and if the real Christian is surrounded by earthly blessings, a variety of corrective strokes of a different kind is found necessary, to counterwork their influence.

4. The world assaults the believer by its persecution and rage, by its injuries and scoffs.

In the first ages of Christianity, the path to heaven was a path of blood, and believers were called to bear their testimony to religion on the rack and in the flames. Through the mercy of God, we need not now fear such sufferings; yet still the Christian is often loaded with the scoffs and sneers of the ungodly. True, vital religion, not being generally embraced, cannot expect to meet with general apbrobation. Indeed, there is something in the genuine Christian so opposite to the spirit and maxims of the

world, that it is not surprising he should be often treated with derision. Besides, believers are often obliged, by the irresistible call of duty, openly to declare their opposition and abhorrence of things sanctioned by the world; and if by such conduct they do not reform, they inflame, they irritate, and excite the enmity of the ungodly. And even if he attempts nothing directly, yet the life of every strict and conscientious Christian is a constant reproach upon the careless or more dissolute lives of those with whom he is surrounded. It, as it were, flashes light upon the dark and sleepy conscience; it disturbs the tranquillity of the impenitent; and if it does not reform them, it causes them to regard the believer as a troubler of their joy, and to view him with resentment or contempt, or with a mixture of both. How hard is it to bear such treatment with patience and resignation! How many, whose good resolutions have been shaken by the mockeries and insults with which libertines have treated the pious; by the malignant and diabolical pleasure with which they have seized upon the smallest failings of the believer, and held them up with bitter scorn and wicked exaggerations to the public gaze! How many who, afraid of the railleries and scoffs which attend an inflexible adherence to duty, have abandoned that firm and independent deportment which, becomes the Christian; have striven in almost every point to accommodate their conduct to that of the world; and have endeavoured, by means which wounded their conscience and marred their peace, to diminish the contrast which ought ever to subsist between the lives of the pious and of the impeni

tent.

Such are the chief modes in which the world assails the believer; and who of us can reflect upon them without being filled with a holy fear and apprehension, with a trembling sense of his danger, and with a deep persuasion of his need of divine aid to overcome an enemy who attacks us in a manner so powerful and so various? But be not discouraged, believers; the world has been conquered by your Saviour, and through his grace you may also triumph over it. This we are to prove to you in the

IId. Division of our discourse.

When the apostle says, that those who are born of God overcome the world, he does not mean to assert that they are never sensible of its assaults, and never injured by them. God, no doubt for reasons infinitely wise, though perhaps inscrutable by us, has thought proper to leave believers but partially sanctified whilst they are in this world, and to suffer the remains of depravity to dwell within them. In consequence of this state of imperfection, the world may sometimes obtain a momentary triumph, through the weakness, the errors, or the unguardedness of Christians; but these defeats are only temporary; in the habitual temper of their souls and conduct of their lives, the children of God have a mastery over the world. They cannot remain under the dominion of their adversary; they quickly rise from their defeats more watchful and more guarded; they resume their combat in the strength of the Lord, and persevere in it to the end of their lives.

When the apostle says, that "he who is born of God overcomes the world," he does not mean to assert that all Christians have obtained equal advantages over this enemy. In some, the Christian graces are more weak and feeble; they have not often used

their spiritual armour, nor acquired strength from a long and successful contest. Their course is therefore less brilliant; they have to mourn over many humbling defeats; and their lives, too unsteady and wavering, afford little comfort to themselves and little benefit to others. Others, more firm, more animated, and more prudent, hold on a steady course; each day gain some new victory over their foe; and give a brilliant example to the world. But though there are such different degrees of victory, they all of them are superior to the world.

The weapons which they use are correspondent to the assaults that are made upon them. When they are assailed by the example of the world, they oppose to it more dignified, more illustrious, more holy models of conduct. They ascend by their thoughts even to heaven; they behold there the allperfect God, and they resolve to imitate him as far as a creature can imitate its Creator. They meditate on the spotless character of Jesus; they resolve to follow his footsteps, and conform themselves to him as far as human weakness, strengthened by power from on high, will enable them. They contemplate the innumerable society of angels, the firstborn, the most glorious part of creation; they trace the long succession of patriarchs, of prophets, of apostles, and martyrs; they remember their pious friends who once fought under the banners of Jesus, and who, dying in his love, now rest from their labours: these they choose as their patterns, and select as their guides. When the world accuses believers of singularity in their sentiments and conduct, they point to those illustrious models; they cry with a holy triumph, No! we are not singular: our faith and our practice is approved by God, the

Redeemer, and the holy angels; the path in which we tread is that which has been traversed by all the redeemed, and which will be pursued by all who shall succeed us to the consummation of all things. These we have chosen as our eternal companions; these we take as our models; and we equally pity and wonder at the folly of those who would prefer the example of the impenitent and the unholy, of the slaves of Satan and the heirs of perdition.'

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When the world assails the believer by its false sentiments and relaxed maxims, he opposes to it the law and the testimony of God. He feels that it is infinitely more safe and happy to follow the precepts and directions of him who cannot err, than to listen to the pleadings of the passions or the sophisms of iniquity. He acknowledges but one lawgiver, that is God; he knows that whatever is imposed by this lawgiver is just and right, and that at his bar our eternal destinies will be decided. He therefore cries to the scoffing worldling, Your silly jests and impious sneers may now harden you in guilt, and drown the reproaches of your conscience; but they will not support you on the bed of death, they will die upon your trembling lips when you stand at the bar of your God. For my part, I take the holy volume as my rule, as a lamp to my feet during my life, as a supporter in the hour of dissolution, as the standard to which I must conform my life, since by it my future doom must be fixed. Prove from it that a worldly, careless, thoughtless life, is safe or happy; and I will then acknowledge the justice of your maxims and the wisdom of your conduct.'

When the world assails the Christian by its pleasures, he opposes to these pleasures those that result from communion with God, and those that are re