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sin?" said Solomon (Prov. xx. 9.) Let the best of you look back on your past life, and though (through restraining grace) you have escaped the grosser pollutions which are in the world through lust, yet you will see many blemishes and defects and if you look into your hearts, there you will see still greater cause for grief and humiliation-such motions of pride, unbelief, anger, envy, worldly-mindedness, and the like. I need not hesitate to say, that, be as careful and circumspect as you will while you are abroad, you will every day contract fresh guilt; not merely in your diversions, but in your very devotions, by your careless, cold, and hypocritical manner of performing them. I hope you

will never be able to sleep quietly under the burthen of any one sin unforgiven-at least, unconfessed and unlamented;—and then you will see the need you have of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, for procuring mercy to pardon, and grace to help in time of need.

3. For subduing your corruptions.

Why else doth the Apostle cry out so piteously, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me?" (Rom. vii. 24.)

If

you commune with your own hearts as often and as seriously as you ought, I need not tell you how strong the power of indwelling sin is, even where, through grace, it hath been in part subdued: you must see and feel it to your sorrow. You are now going abroad, where you will be more exposed to temptation than you are at home; and you will be out of sight of those whose presence, perhaps, is now some restraint upon you. You may be tempted to drink; you may be tempted to swear. I tremble to think what

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sins you may this summer be betrayed into; you may be led captive by Satan at his will, and be the dupe of every vain companion.-What should hinder? Perhaps just now you are ready to say, “Is thy servant a dog, that he should do such things?" You may go over the Bar with a strong resolution that you will not run with others to the same excess of riot; that you will deny ungodliness and worldly lusts; and that you will live soberly, righteously, and godly, wherever you are. So you may intend, and resolve; but if you have nothing better than this to depend upon, you will find the most solemn resolution is no more before a strong temptation, than chaff before a whirlwind. It is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ alone that can enable you to stand your ground. The Apostle found it so:-A messenger of Satan was sent to buffet him: he strove against it, he prayed against it, again and again; and still it troubled him: at length Christ came, and only said, "My grace is sufficient for thee," and presently the temptation vanished; the tempter was vanquished; and the poor, tempted, struggling, fainting believer, came off more than a conqueror, through him that loved him. (2 Cor. xii. 9.) And there too lies all your strength.Inward corruptions, outward temptations they will, any of them, be too hard for you, if you do not implore and obtain the assistance of the great Captain of salvation. And yet, resist them

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you must, and subdue them you must, or it will end fatally for you at last: "For if ye live after the flesh ye shall die: but if ye, through the Spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live." The same grace that broke the power of sin at first,

before it. On this acwish to "mortify your the earth," and to "ab

must still keep it under, or it will soon prevail again, and bear down all count, therefore, if you members, which are upon stain from fleshly lusts, which war against your souls;" if you wish to avoid temptations, or to be enabled to resist and overcome them; nothing can be of any service to you, but the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

4. You need it also for the performance of duty.

Every day brings its duty, and every duty has its difficulty. Even to perform the duties of your common calling with a good conscience, and to God's glory; to provide things honest in the sight of all men, amidst great temptations to the contrary; is more than you can do of yourselves. And as to spiritual duties, till the grace of God has begun a saving change in your souls, there is a total unfitness and incapacity for them: you are, as the Apostle expresses it, "dead in trespasses and sins" (Eph. ii. 1.) As to common actions, there may be life and liveliness enough; you can eat and drink, and buy and sell, with all the dexterity and alertness imaginable: but if you are put upon repentance, faith, prayer, or any such spiritual exereise, you are motionless as a statue; you know not how to begin nor how to go on: like those God complains of in the 4th chapter of Jeremiah (ver. 22); "For my people are foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children, and they have no understanding; they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge." But if you take the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ with you, your work will go on pleasantly. Few were

called to harder service than the Apostle Paul, and yet he went through it all with ease and cheerfulness: "I can do all things," says he, "through Christ, which strengtheneth me" (Phil. iv. 13:) and again; "I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.' (1 Cor. xv. 10.) And the same grace that assisted him, will be always ready to assist you.

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5. For enabling you to bear and improve trouble:

And trouble, of one kind or another, you must expect, go where you will. Trouble in the way of your calling: contrary winds; frequent storms; waiting long before you can get your cargo, and waiting a great deal longer before you can discharge it again; and, after all, working hard, and risking every thing, for little or no profit. These things may be no small trials of faith and patience, But there are many other troubles, worse than all these, which in a sea-faring life you are exposed to; and to bear them well- that is, to bear them patiently, and with an humble submission to the will of God; to bear them so as not to endeavour by any unlawful methods to get rid of them-I say, so to bear trouble, is no such easy matter. If you are merely carnal persons, disappointments will only sour your spirits, and make you toss and fret, "like bullocks unaccustomed to the yoke." You will quarrel with every one that you think stands in your way; you will quarrel with Providence, and charge God foolishly; because things go cross with you, and he doth not make every thing happen just as you would have it. But the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ would calm your ruffled spirits,

and dispose you to take every thing as it comes, and say,--- It is the will of God, and I am content. He knows what he doth, for "he is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working:" and if he hath been pleased to put me among his children, he will not let me be hurt; he will even cause all things to work together for my good: and therefore, why should I be uneasy, or angry, at the supposed instruments of my trouble? Let me look higher, to the hand that guides and governs all. Fire, and hail, and snow, and vapour, and stormy winds all fulfil his word: so that, if my troubles were never so many, or never so much greater than they are, I know who sent them, and that reconciles me to them all."

But grace goes

This is a great attainment. further still it will enable you, not only to bear trouble, but to profit by it. We have been ready to think, sometimes, when we have seen persons groaning under heavy and complicated afflictions, "Surely this will do them good. It is impossible but that they must be convinced of the exceeding sin fulness of sin, the emptiness of the world, and the vanity of all creature dependence. Now they can not help thinking on their ways, and turning their feet unto God's testimonies.' But no such thing. Mere trouble never yet converted one soul. The smart of the rod may draw tears from their eyes, aud some passionate expressions from their lips; but their hearts, like Pharaoh's, still remain unhumbled. It is God only that can teach to profit. "Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law." (Psalm xciv. 12.) There are many useful lessons to be learnt in the

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