the highest heavens! For this is the ambition and instinct of the new creation.

Finally; I have to address to you, a few words of admonition. Now if what we have stated be correct; if no man can see the kingdom of God unless he be born again, need I exhort you to seek with unceasing diligence and earnestness this unspeakable blessing? For if you have not experienced this regenerating change, O remember the peril in which you live-the curse that is upon your brow-the judgment that hangs over your head-the hell that yawns beneath your feet! If you die without being born again, you are solemnly assured that you cannot enter the kingdom of God! What, then, is your expectation? Alas! There is no entrance for him who never knocks till the door is shut. There is no hiding-place from the wrath of God for him whose name is not written in the book of life. There is no plea or excuse for him who appears before God without the wedding garment. There is no hope of happiness in an eternal world for him that is not born again.

Consider, then, beloved brethren, the awful importance of the subject before us. It is not a question of opinion, or of doubt, or of small consideration; it is (as we stated in the outset) a matter of life or death-of happiness or misery

of heaven or hell! Consider, also, how dangerous is the condition-how foolish the practice of those who try to escape the obligation to continual godliness by denying its necessity! Consider

the folly of those who cling unto the world and sin to the last gasp, and then madly expect, suddenly, without previous labour or desire, to be fitted by a miracle of grace and Almighty power for eternal glory! Consider the danger of denying the doctrine that "ye must be born again," by presumptuously setting the opinion of a carnal, corrupt, and deceitful heart against the solemn declaration of the Saviour of the world! Consider the madness of resting content in a state of condemnation, and of rejoicing in worldly vanities and carnal indulgences, whilst the wrath of God, and the torment of devils, are hanging over your head! The sight of human misery brings tears to the eyes of compassionate nature; the sight of a penitent malefactor on the gallows excites the sympathies of the feeling heart;-who then shall not weep at the sight of condemned souls, making merry in their desperate condition, and laughing at sin with hell yawning at their feet! Brethren; till you receive the new birth, no matter how moral, or kind, or benevolent, or tenderhearted you may be, your's is this awful condition-over you is the sympathizing Christian called to weep! If, then, the doctrine we have

taught be truth, consider it, dying sinners, and 'prepare to meet your God.' If it be truth! "O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art the God, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again."

DISCOURSE III.

ON THE POWER AND INFLUENCE OF SATAN.

1 PETER V. 8, 9.

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist stedfast in the faith.

SIN and sorrow, bodily and spiritual death were entailed upon mankind by the fall of Adam. From this unhappy circumstance all the seed of Adam, because begotten in his degenerate image, are, in their natural condition, in a state of mental and spiritual slavery, sold under sin. And because of their actual sin, as well as their original corruption, all are under a sentence of condemnation, and fitted, not for the glorious and sanctified enjoyments of the heavenly state, but rather for association with devils and damned spirits. Now it is the grand object of the gospel to deliver the ruined race of man from this awful

condition. But in order to accomplish or hinder this all-important and merciful design, the conflicting powers of the unseen world engage in a spiritual warfare in us and for us. The heart is the contested ground. On the one side, we have the glorious Jehovah-Father, Son, and Holy Ghost-mercifully and graciously labouring, so to speak, for man's deliverance out of Satan's toils; on the other side, there are all the powers of darkness, with Satan at their head, supported by all the mighty influences of the world, and the depraved nature of the flesh, powerfully inclining us to follow the prince of this world and master of hell, whithersoever he may lead. Thus it is, that there are spiritual kingdoms established upon earth, arrayed in eternal warfare -the kingdom of Christ, and the kingdom of Satan. And all mankind belong to the one or to the other, for there is no neutral ground. In the natural state of men, that is before conversion, all belong to Satan's kingdom; and it is only those, who, through the power of divine grace, are delivered out of this bondage by faith and repentance, that become subjects of the kingdom of God. Now to those chiefly, namely, penitent believers, are the words of the text addressed, to warn and assist them in their spiritual warfare; but it also comes with important instruction to all of us, that the unpardoned sinner, as well as