tion, who hath abused them, shall be cast out; a greater shall enter into his house and spoil his goods, and that greater is Christ, who shall exalt in that day those who have overcome the world, and cast down into hell those whom the world hath overcome? Believest thou this? I ask thee to believe it not as a figure, but as a reality; that the principles which now govern the world shall be subverted, and the powers which now hold it shall be overthrown; that righteousness shall be exalted, and the righteous shall have it in everlasting possession. And therefore thou art in love with death, thou art wedded to the grave, thou hast sold thyself to Satan, if thou abidest in the desire and love of the world as it now is. This is the infatuation with which we are possessed.

If thou thus believest, then thou mayest be delivered, but not without the Spirit of God. This word of doctrine which I have taught thee concerning the world's doom, and the transitory forms of Satan, who now usurpeth it, will work thy deliverance, being applied to thee by the Spirit. Now, a doctrine is applied by the Spirit, when it is present in our spirit at all times and in all seasons; lives in us, breathes in us, and in us hath a being. As it is the work of the Father to give us faith to receive a doctrine of Christ, so it is the work of the Spirit, to inspire us with the same, and make it a part of our breathing spirit. It is no more in you to sanctify the world and accomplish that redemption of it whereof I speak, than it is in you to become yourselves redeemed from its power. Thou art a part of that in which Satan sits supreme usurper; out of which part he must be cast by the same

almightiness by which he is to be cast out of the whole. Seest thou not that this sanctification of thyself is the pledge and earnest of the whole ?

Satan therefore must first be cast out of thyself, and the world in thyself must be destroyed; thine eye veiled to its gaudiness, and opened to discern its worthlessness; thy mind taught to perceive its ignorance of God, and of Christ Jesus whom he hath sent; thy conscience quickened to feel its welldisguised deceptions; thy will renewed, so as to contend with its desires and overcome them; and, in general, the law of the Spirit of life stirred up within thy mind, in opposition to the law of sin and death which is in thy members. It is a vain thing to expect that old Adam in thee will ever do better than love and desire this world which fell with him, and in his fall remaineth fallen. The new man-child of the Second Adam, by the regeneration of the Holy Ghost, must be born in thee, and brought up in thee by the ministry of the bread of life and water of salvation; that child whose communion is with the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, of whom also he is the offspring, as is set forth in the mystery of baptism. This new creature hath no congeniality with the world, is separate from the world, desireth the destruction of the world in its present state, and groaneth for its redemption into a better; and he intercedeth for the righteous men that are in it; but forasmuch as he loveth the Father, the love of the world is not in him. The old man of nature is his enemy, whom he bringeth under; the world is the field of battle in which he contends with him. He fights Satan on his own ground: he meets him in the wilderness which he

hath made, and endures his temptations there. And when Satan offers him the kingdoms of this world, with all the glory of them, saying, They are mine, and I will give them thee, if only thou wilt bow down and worship me; he maketh answer unto him, "Get thee behind me, Satan; for thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." There is no other way of cure than the creation of a new heart, and a right spirit, which rejecteth the communion of the world, because the communion of the world hath rejected God.

But will God bestow upon me such a spirit? Surely he will. And how dost thou convince me thereof? By all his promises; and above all the rest, by the sacrament of baptism, which is constructed on very purpose to give thee this assurance; signifying thy death to visible things, and thy life to God, already accomplished in the mystery. Not a promise of, but an actual doing of it for thee, a full privilege of co-heirship, and good title of inheritance; which if thou sue not out by prayer, and receive not by faith, then upon thine own head be the blame: for there it lay for thee, brought to thy door, and thou didst not care to trouble thyself about it at all. There stood an empty seat for thee at the marriage supper, and thy marriage garment hung in the hall, and thou wast invited, but thou camest not. Therefore talk no more about his willingness, but look a little to thine own unwillingness.

But in what way, and by what means, will the Lord bestow this new man, in whose ever-present strength I shall be enabled to discern the world's frauds, and to resist the worldly powers success

fully? By every way, and by all means; but above all others, by the preaching of the word-this very foolishness of preaching which I am now labouring to fulfil;-by this word which I am sowing in thy heart, and which thou art now hearing with gladness, if thou wilt give it patient attention, and not suffer it to be evaporated like the dew, dispersed like the morning cloud, or lost like water spilt upon the ground. If having been this night warned against that deadly enemy of souls, 'the world;' that combination of anti-Christian powers, 'the world;' thou wilt regard it as a cunning deceiver lying in wait to destroy,-Satan's masked artillery, ready to be opened upon thy bare bosom, his secret mines ready to be sprung beneath thine unwary feet. If thou wilt give ear to the voice of truth in thy conscience, however still and small, and prefer it to the whirlwind of the world's wrath, or the thunder shouts of its applause; if thou wilt dare to speak the truth to thy brother and friend, and to every neighbour, and to every man, come what will; if thou wilt dare to be singular for righteousness' sake, let the multitude say and do what they please; if thou wilt be patient in well-doing, for the recompence of reward, and labour for the rest which abideth to the people of God; if thou wilt search for thine inward approbation of God's good counsels, and find the depths of thine own spiritual being, and hold on a steady course to the appointed haven, through all storms, and clouds, and heading winds, believing in Christ thy Lord's omnipotency, and pressing onward; then, oh then, assuredly thou shalt become stedfast like a rock, and thy house be stable like a house that is founded upon a rock. But if

thou goest to give way before the first temptation, and to give up all for lost the first brush thou hast with the enemy, to hang down thy hands and despond, then what will happen? Why, thou wilt add another offence to the multitude; heap up to thyself still more certain and speedy destruction, and convert the word into thine accuser.

For why should the seed that I am this night sowing in a thousand souls be fruitful haply not in ten, perhaps not even in one? Not that it is not the true word: I know it to be the true and eternal verity of God: not because you believe it not, for the better part of you hear it with gladness; but because ye have not root in yourselves, and cannot withstand to-morrow's temptations. For the world is now grown so bad, that every man's life is his temptation. Perhaps his house, with its vanities, and its vain companies, and its worldliness; the education of our children, the modes of ordinary discourse, the very forms of affection, business, most surely business; and in short, every other avocation of the world will to-morrow try you, perhaps this night. Therefore, be you ware. Oh, brethren! I want not your ear; I want not your acceptation, which I may have and be short of the one thing needful, which is your honest heart. If you have been honestly and truly convinced of any of these things which I have spoken concerning the wickedness of the world, and its slaughter of all souls; concerning its own final destruction, and the triumph of the redeemed over it in the morning; concerning the work of the Spirit, to carry home the word, and his formation of a spiritual man to desire it, and delight in it; concerning any other thing which