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has an unconquerable desire to be rich. He sets out with the intention to be honest and honorable in all his dealings, but he will be rich, and so-trusting to his good fortune, and hoping for a favorable issue-he branches out into business beyond his means. His error, at the first, is simply one of imprudence, perhaps, but it soon runs him into grosser sins. To accomplish his plans, he has occasion for more money than he can get honestly, and what shall he do? Shall he suffer defeat? Shall he incur a failure? Or shall he descend to dishonesty and wickedness? Shall he put another man's name to a little piece of paper; or cheat an honest, unsuspecting creditor; or obtain goods on false pretenses? The temptation is too strong for him, and he yields to it; and from the moment of his yielding, he enters on a downward path, from which there is no return. He flounders on; he plunges along from bad to worse, till at length property, character, comfort, and perhaps life, are all sacrificed together. He learns, in his own terrible experience, the truth of one of Paul's assertions: "They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition." He learns the truth of another of Paul's maxims: "A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump."

Less than a hundred years ago, there lived in England a clergy. man of the Established Church, whose name was William Dodd. He was a popular writer and preacher, was settled in London, became one of the King's chaplains, and obtained other valuable preferments. But he was vain and extravagant, fond of show and popularity, and though his income (for a clergyman) was great, his expenses were greater. He became embarrassed, and to relieve himself from difficulty forged a draught on his friend and former pupil, the Earl of Chesterfield. He was soon detected and convicted; and as forgery was then a capital crime in England, he was publicly executed, in the year 1777. We have here a terrible example, in high life, of the truth I am endeavoring to impress upon you. You here see how sins not regarded as disreputable at first, and thought perhaps to be trivial, lead their unhappy victim along, till he perpetrates an act for which there is no reprieve; till he (in the full sense of the apostle) drowns himself in destruction and perdition.

The Scriptures abound with like examples, all going to show the downward tendency of sin, and the certainty of its issues in ruin and in death. Take the case of the first murderer, Cain. He began with envying his brother; then he quarrelled with him; then he slew him. David's fall commenced in the indulgence of lascivious desires. These led him into adultery; and in the hope of concealing his sin and shame, he plotted and perpetrated murder. Solomon-in accordance with oriental custom, but in dis

obedience to the express command of God-surrounded himself with outlandish women. He thought there was little harm or danger in what he was doing, but the event (as might have been expected) was most disastrous. To show his liberality, and at the same time to gratify his heathen wives, he must set up heathen temples in Jerusalem. "He built a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab; and for Moloch, the abomination of the children of Ammon; and likewise did he for all his strange wives, who sacrificed and burned incense to their gods." And what was the consequence? The Lord, we are told, "was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned away from the God of Israel;" and from this period we trace all the subsequent afflictions of his

house.

The selling of his Master for thirty pieces of silver was not the first sin of Judas Iscariot. He could not have committed such a crime, without much previous training and preparation. Judas seems to have been an ardent lover of money, and to have had some skill and tact in the use of it. It was on this account, perhaps, that he became a sort of treasurer or commissary for the apostles, carrying the bag, and receiving whatsoever was put therein; and it came out afterwards that he was in the constant habit of purloining from that bag. He took, as he had occasion, the property of the company, and used it for his own private purposes. By the continual indulgence of his thievish propensities, the heart of Judas became dreadfully hardened, his avarice and covetousness were confirmed, and he was prepared at length to perpetrate a deed unparalleled in the annals of human wickedness; a deed which will not only blacken his name, but consume and damn his soul for ever. "Good were it for that man if he had never been born."

In all these instances, we see illustrated the one great principle of the text, viz.: progress in wickedness. Little sins prepare the way for those which are greater, and these for others which are greater still, till a depth of iniquity is reached from which there is no return; till the character and the soul are entirely ruined. It is commonly said, that one lie draws ten more after it. With about an equal propriety, the same may be said of all other sins. Every act of wickedness may be expected to draw ten more after it; and each of these ten may be expected to draw ten more; and thus the transgressor goes on (unless Divine grace interpose to arrest him) multiplying and accumulating his transgressions, until iniquity proves his ruin.

upon

We do not commonly see any great, enormous sin standing out the character of a man alone. Perhaps we never do. Others of a less flagrant character go before it, and prepare the way for it. Sins grow upon the characters of men, not alone,

but in clusters, or rather they follow each other in continuous trains, the beginnings of which are comparatively slight, but the end of which, in every case, (unless averted by sovereign grace,) is destruction and perdition. "The little leaven leaveneth the whole lump."

The subject suggests some important counsels, with which I close. And, 1. Let us all beware of seemingly slight aberrations, from the faith of the gospel. No one can doubt that the Bible inculcates a system of religious truth, and no one of us ought to doubt as to what this system of truth may be. It was clearly taught by the apostles and their immediate successors. It was as clearly taught by the Reformers of the sixteenth century, and is embodied in their published confessions of faith. It is held now for substance, and in much the same sense, by pious evangelical Christians, all over the world. We have the means, then, of knowing what the faith of the gospel is; and let all who hear me beware of seemingly slight aberrations from it. We are not in danger of departing at once, and entirely, from the faith of the gospel; of becoming downright heretics and infidels at a bound. But we are in danger of relinquishing something of "the form of sound words;" of substituting some error in the place of some truth which God has revealed; and of feeling that so slight a deviation from the established faith cannot be a matter of much im portance. But be it remembered, that great and destructive heresies have always begun with apparently slight deviations from the established faith. And be it further remembered, that the worst heretics have commonly pretended, at the first, that their deviations were but slight-too slight to demand either notice or censure. So it was with the Gnostics in the second and third centuries. So it was with the Arians in the fourth century. So it was with the Pelasgians in the fifth century. So it was with the Arminians in the seventeenth century; and so it has been with the Unitarians of modern times. When Unitarianism first showed itself in this country, the constant pretense was, that it was a very small innovation-too small to be made the subject of controversy, or to occasion any division or separation among Christians. And yet to what has it grown! And to what, unless renounced, is it destined to grow, but to an entire subversion of the gospel?

The truth is, as I have before said, that a little error, once admitted into the mind, will not lie alone there. It will work and make room for itself; and not for itself only, but for other connected errors; and these will come in and make room for others; and so the work of depravation will go on, till the whole mind becomes corrupted, and the faith of the gospel is entirely displaced. "A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump."

Let us beware then, I repeat, of the little leaven. Let us be

ware of seemingly slight aberrations from the truth. Let us "hold fast the form of sound words which we have received." Let us understand "the faith once delivered to the saints," and contend earnestly for it, and let no part of it be flattered or wrested from us; knowing that the beginnings of error, like the beginnings of strife, are as when one letteth out water; first a rill, then a river, then a roaring and resistless torrent.

2. Let us beware of seemingly slight departures from the ways of holiness and virtue. Great and fatal declensions commence, as we have seen, in the indulgence of little sins. This is true of spiritual declensions, and it is equally true of moral declensions. No one ever ruined himself, spiritually or morally, by one single, outrageous act of wickedness. No one ever commits such an act, till he has been through a process of preparation for it. Those who now hear me are not in great danger, I trust, of becoming thieves and murderers and adulterers at once; but we are all in danger of sliding into courses of sinful indulgence, which shall lead us insensibly along to the perpetration of the most outrageous wickedness any thing, to which we may have a strong temp

tation.

I repeat then, let us beware of seemingly slight departures from the ways of holiness and virtue. Let us beware of the sinful thought and the sinful desire, which, if indulged, will soon ripen into the sinful purpose. Let us beware of what are sometimes (though improperly) called little sins. It is these little foxes that spoil the vines. It is these little sins, as they are called, to which we shall be most strongly tempted. It is these into which we shall be the most likely to fall. These are the snares which the great adversary of the soul has most cunningly laid for us. If we escape these, we shall probably escape the rest. If, by Divine grace, we resist and overcome these, we may hope to go on, in a straight and sure path, to the end of our pilgrimage, and the consummation of our hopes.

Finally, it becomes those who are already entangled in the meshes of sin, to make their escape without delay; and this is, more or less, the case with us all. It is especially the case with the impenitent, unconverted part of this assembly. Such are not to regard themselves as already pure-having nothing to do but to preserve themselves in a state of moral purity. But you are already sinners-entangled in the fatal net; and the question of greatest interest to you is, How shall we get out of it? And on this point, as you know, the gospel authorizes but a single answer: Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out." "Turn ye, turn ye, for why will ye die." Go on as you are, my impenitent hearers, and your ruin is certain. Parley, and delay, and daub with untempered mortar, and satisfy yourselves with

slight and insufficient remedies, and your ruin is certain. Your only safety is to turn right about, forsake the destructive paths of sin, enter the strait gate, and keep the narrow way of life; and though it may lead you over hills of difficulty, and amid scenes of trial, and through the dark valley of the shadow of death, it will surely bring you to a glorious end. It will lead you up to those heavenly hills, where Jesus has gone, and is waiting for you. Having finally overcome, you shall be permitted to sit with him on his throne, as he has overcome, and is seated on his Father's throne.

A CHRISTIAN.

A CHRISTIAN is born of God, engrafted into Christ, and a habitation for the Holy Spirit. His nature is renewed, his mind illuminated, his spirit changed. He is not what he was, for grace hath made a difference; he is not what he desires to be, for grace is not yet perfected; he is not what he shall be, for grace shall be consummated in glory. The knowledge of Christ is his treasury; the mind of Christ his evidence; the love of Christ his song; conformity to Christ his life; to be with Christ his preeminent desire. By faith he rests on Christ, receives Christ, and looks to Christ. He hears Christ's words, treads in Christ's steps, and seeks Christ's approbation. He speaks the language of Christ's kingdom, reveres Christ's laws, obeys his ordinances, wears his costume, and lives to his glory. The life of Christ within him is the principle of his being; and because Christ lives, he shall live also. In the Christian, Christ lives and speaks and acts. He is Christ's representative on earth, his witness before men, and his follower before God. The Christian hearkens to Christ's teachings, rests on Christ's sacrifice, avails himself of Christ's mediation, and cheerfully obeys Christ's laws. He inquires, What would Christ have me know, what do, and what enjoy? To know Christ, is Christianity intellectual; to obey Christ, Christianity practical; to enjoy Christ, Christianity experimental; and to be like Christ, Christianity perfected. As bread to the hungry, as water to the thirsty, as the rock in the sultry day, is Christ to the Christian.

The Christian is in the world, but not of it; among the world, but yet separate from it; passing through the world, without attachment to it. The idolater boasts in his idols, the Mahometan in his false prophet, and the Romanist in the Virgin Mary; but the Christian glories only in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.

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