rational religion, of wise, of learned, of eminent piety; but, alas! the soul continues, as before, in its own opinion, always a Christian; never deficient in itself, full of its own resources, going on in a high and pompous superbity of heart towards heaven. To speak with such of deep internal self-mortification, of being unseen and seeking to be unseen of man, of sweet devotedness of soul to God in Christ, of meek submission to his will, of a heart crucified to the world and deadened to the spirit of the world, of liying upon Christ as the source and fulness of every thing divine and holy; of desiring to be, to do, to suffer, whatever may most promote the glory of the Saviour, and most advance the person's own fellowship and enjoyment of him in all things; the whole and every part of this is, like the language and religion of Canaan to the nations round it, either mere incomprehensible non

sense,

sense, or wild and enthusiastic dreams. Let them be tried with this sacred touchstone; and they will soon discover the base metal of which they are made: - Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world: If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

.

§ 72. Here, again, one cannot but repeat the reflection, how often the lamentable case has occurred, in the History of the Church, when ministers have fallen, in almost any degree, into the false and pernicious opinions of man's wisdom, or strength, or righteousness, as the immediate or procuring cause of salvation, that both themselves and the people under their charge have proportionably declined into a cold, irregular, and inanimate, profession; that the latter, instead of pressing to hear, or the former labouring to preach; with what difficulty, if not reluctance,

have they been brought together, as to a task, for public worship; and respecting their private life afterwards-O how poor and miserable, as to the real knowledge and spiritual enjoyment of heavenly things! Error in fundamentals, though small at the beginning, like the noxious "fly in the pot of ointment," which by degrees contaminates and corrupts the whole mass, or, (to use the Apostle's figure,) as the corrosive canker, eating wider and wider, will insinuate itself, if grace prevent not, into the whole frame of Christian doctrine and Christian life, and poison, debilitate, and destroy, wherever it extends.

§ 73. It is always a good sign for a preacher, when the poor and the des pised of the world press to hear the word, and hang, as it were, upon his mouth; when the aisles are filled as well as the seats; and when, instead of exchange of compliments and idle

or

or irreverent discourses, the people pass off in silent reflection, as though they seriously meant to carry something of what was said, within their hearts quite on to their homes.

§ 74. Whatever is effectually done is the work of the Spirit of God: And among the poor and the humble it may most generally be observed. The higher classes have their peculiar temptations, and mostly from what are thought to be their peculiar advantages. In these, it is only the grace now mentioned, which can in any degree subdue the love of earth, the desire of human applause, the anxiety to be well with the worldly Great and worldly Wise; which can estimate truly the honours, the satisfactions, the interests, of this perishing world; which can fill the heart with a just and holy indifference either for the contempt or the censure of the irreligious and profane. Without the influence

of

of this Divine Spirit, the rich man perhaps more than the poor, either with or without a religious profession, is a slave to fame or to fear, and can venture no farther upon such subjects as these than he can feel himself supported by the private opinion of friends, or the public sentiment of mankind. For this reason evidently, God sends to his people, of the higher ranks in life, sometimes sorer rebukes than poverty itself in their connections, that, under his own gracious impressions, he may wean them from vanity and conceit respecting themselves and their situation or attainments, and give them a noble superiority over the contumely or the approbation of sinful and perishing men. If they are brought to enjoy the sense of God's love in Christ, and the testimony of their own conscience, they can leave, with humble. submission, their character and earthly

concerns