And, that such is probably the true sense of the text, we have been considering, may further be concluded from the light it throws on the following and last verse of this chapter; the meaning of which will now be very plain and consequential, as may be shewn in few words.

For, having spoken of Christian discipline under the name of salt, which preserves what it searches, our Lord very naturally takes advantage of this idea, and transfers the appellation to Christian faith, which was necessary to support his followers under that discipline, and has this property, in common with salt, that it gives soundness and incorruption to the subject on which it operates. Salt, says he, is good: but, if salt have lost its saltness, wherewith will ye season it? That is, faith in me (for by salt, you easily perceive, I now mean that faith, which is your true seasoning, and can alone maintain your firmness and integrity under all trials; this faith, I say) is a salutary principle but take notice, if you suffer that principle, so active and efficacious, to decay and lose its virtue, there are no means left to retrieve it. Like salt, grown insipid, it can never recover its former quality, but is for ever

:

worthless and useless.

Therefore, adds he,

take care to have, that is, retain, this salt, this good seasoning of your Christian principles, in yourselves; which will preserve you incorrupt, as individuals: and, as salt, from its necessary use at the table, is further an emblem of union and friendship, give proof of these principles your intercourse with all Christians, so as to keep peace one with another; for, by this seasoning of peace, ye will best preserve yourselves entire, as a body of men, or society 5.

in

We see, then, that understanding this fire, with which every one shall be salted, of the fire of affliction only, which, like salt, is to

f Heb. vi. 4, 5, 6.

g The difficulty in the two concluding verses of this chapter, arises from a vivacity of imagination in the pursuit and application of metaphors; a faculty, in which the Orientals excelled, and delighted. They pass suddenly from one idea to another, nearly, and sometimes, remotely, allied to it. They relinquish the primary sense, for another suggested by it; and without giving any notice, as we should do, of their intention. These numerous reflected lights, as we may call them, eagerly catched at by the mind in its train of thinking, perplex the attention of a modern reader, and must be carefully separated by him, if he would see the whole scope and purpose of many passages in the sacred

writings.

try and preserve the moral integrity of all believers, and not of the fire which dieth not, and, according to the former interpretation, was to preserve offenders in a perpetual capacity of enduring future punishment; understanding, I say, this metaphor in the former sense, we have an easy, elegant, and extremely useful sense in the words of the text: a sense, which perfectly agrees with what precedes the text, and illustrates what follows it: whereas, in the other way of explaining these words, it will be difficult to shew their coherence with the subsequent verse, though they admit an application to the foregoing.

On the whole, I leave it to yourselves to judge, which of the two interpretations, now proposed to you, is the proper one. I know of no other, that so well deserves your notice, as these two: and, if either of them be admissible, we have gained the satisfaction of understanding a very obscure passage of holy Scripture. But we have gained more, than this: for, whichever we prefer, a momentous inference may be drawn from it. EITHER, we must resolve to stick close to our CHRISTIAN FAITH AND PRINCIPLES, as the only means of preserving our integrity, and making us fit for the

favour of God, to whatever trials of any kind they may expose us: OR, we shall have to reflect, what SUFFERING, terrible beyond imagination, is reserved for obstinately impenitent and incorrigible sinners.

SERMON XII.

PREACHED FEBRUARY 9, 1766.

GAL. vi. 3.

If a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.

THIS is one of those many passages in the sacred writings, in which the simplicity of the expression is apt to make us overlook the profound sense contained under it. Who doubts, it may be said, the truth of so general an axiom, as this? and what information, worth treasuring up in the memory, is conveyed by it?

In answer to such questions, as these, it may be observed, That the inspired writers