through which it ascends into our hearts, it is for us to apply the means of opposition and defence; it is not by force, it is not by contention, it is not by struggle, that the ministers of darkness can be overpowered; it is vigilance alone that can counteract its insidious efforts, that can warn us against the rising danger, that can alarm the sleeping garrison of virtue.

"Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall." It is to innocence peculiarly that the warning voice of its Saviour speaks; for, if either to the evil spirit himself there can be a feeling of satisfaction, or to that man, in whom he stands embodied, it is in the perdition of an innocent soul. And how can that be effected, but through the agency of evil thoughts and hellish suggestions? The breath of external temptation fades off from the innocent mind, as from a bright and polished crystal; but when the venom of evil imaginations have corroded the pure and shining surface, then it is that external pollution gathers and fixes upon a soul too well prepared to support and feed its incrustation. As innocence, therefore, is the peculiar object of such temptations, let vigilance be its security. Let not the first impressions of evil thought be suffered to encroach upon the soul. It is not the external temptations of sin, but the first inward suggestions of the heart that we are called

upon to mark. Let us even beware of our very instruments of vigilance, the dictates of our own heart, lest they should be the first to betray us. Dreadful is the state of that man whose enemies are of his own house. Not only from all the machinations of evil spirits, but most especially from ourselves, may God deliver us! Let the holy vigilance of the Christian be against that enemy, whose nature is such that he cannot, and whose malice is such that he will not, sleep. When the sense of our danger, the knowledge of our enemy, and a distrust in our own hearts, teach us that in vigilance is our only security; then shall we send up our prayers to the throne of grace for that co-operation from above, without which all care is nugatory, every caution is futile, every energy is ineffective, and even our own efforts may be our worst enemies. "Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." There is a duty to be performed on our part, there is a mean and channel of co-operation in the performance on the part of heaven; if either are neglected, the other will assuredly fail. "Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation."

When by that vigilance which is so exclusively a Christian virtue, because the means and the end are prescribed by Christianity alone, every evil thought is encountered even in the very

avenue to the soul, every motive that enters the heart is duly examined, and the fountain of pollution is closed within us, then shall we be prepared for the great end of all our vigilance, all our care, and all our struggles, the second coming of the Lord. When every thought is so regulated, every action so performed, every mean of grace so accepted, as if it were to be our last; then, both as to the discharge of our duty here, and to the expectation of our Lord hereafter, we shall have best and most strictly accomplished the awful and repeated injunction of our blessed Lord;" What I say unto you, I say unto all, Watch."

SERMON XXI.

HEBREWS xi. 26.

For he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.

THE Apostle, in the chapter from whence the words of my text are taken, hath presented to our view, a glorious catalogue of those illustrious patriarchs who fought manfully under the banners of faith," out of weakness, were made strong," and" from the evidence of things not seen," confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims here on earth," "looking for a city that had foundations, whose maker and builder was God." He has recorded, the heroic exploits of that noble army of martyrs, who under the old covenant, "not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off," were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and in their conflicts with the powers of this world, though" destitute, afflicted, tormented," condescended not to accept a deliverance, that they might obtain a better re

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surrection. The great spring, or principle, which animated their souls in these high achievements, is expressly declared, in the person of Moses, to have been "a respect to the recompence of the reward." By faith, Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he had respect to the recompence of the reward."

A serious consideration of those grounds and motives of action, both in this chosen servant of the Almighty, and in the victorious host of patriarchs and saints, recorded by the apostle, may justly raise our wonder and astonishment, at an opinion not altogether uncommon among the philosophizing part of the Christian world; “that a man in every act of virtue, ought to sequester his mind from all respect to an ensuing reward, and to rest his obedience wholly and entirely on the love of virtue itself, abstracted from every consideration of future advantage and recompence." An opinion founded upon the pride, and propagated by the presumption of man, an opinion no less in contradiction to the letter, than in opposition to the spirit of Christianity. This conclusion will result from