those impure desires, which are the source and cause of sensual indulgence; and the course of the Apostle's reasoning seems to favour this interpretation. But whether we so understand it, or rather, in the ordinary acceptation of the term, as an inordinate love of riches, no difference will be made in the general purport of St. Paul's exhortation. Both descriptions of coveting are forbidden by the tenth commandment of the decalogue; both are interdicted in the most express terms by the divine author of the Gospel; both are aptly compared with idolatry, as effectually withdrawing the heart of man from his Creator, and fixing it on the creatures; and both are included, not only here, but in other scriptures, in a peremptory sentence of exclusion from the kingdom of Christ and of God. Covetousness, pride, and lust, are the spots with which inherited corruption has defiled the heart of man; the stain whereof the world fixes and deepens; and from these, as the law of the Gospel requires us to be freed, so it is the grace alone, which is by the Gospel, that can free us; and our being actually free,-pure, and undefiled from these great offences, which marks us as the true professors of the Gospel, children of God, and not of the world.

It is the great object of true religion, as far as this life is concerned, to replace mankind, as nearly as possible, in the state and condition in which they first came from their Creator's hands; to restore to them that moral dominion, in which reason is predominant over passion, and the mind rules over bodily inclinations, and is not held in bondage to outward and earthly things; a change absolutely necessary to the perfection and efficacy of religion; for it is as obviously true in reason, as it is authoritatively declared in revelation, that none but the pure in heart shall see God.' It is the work wrought by the Spirit, upon him who is in covenant with God, to recast his soul in the likeness of its Creator; to infuse into it the desire and the capacity of re-asserting its original powers and destiny; to enable the corrupt nature to throw off the slough of its corruption, and to aspire to a resemblance of its Maker; to be merciful as he also is merciful; and to purify itself even as he is pure. As this is the substance, so is it the great difficulty, and therefore the sure test, of true religion. It is easy to profess, and to pray externally, to be devout and decorous; but to spend and be spent for the brethren; to cast out,

1 Matt. v. 8. Ps. xxiv. 4.

3 1 John iii. 3.

2 Luke vi. 36.

with a strong hand, the evil spirits of lust, and pride, and avarice; that is the struggle, the issue of which cannot be successful without grace; and grace is given only to the sincere and anxious seeker after God. To read the Scriptures, and to analyse their meaning; to attend the Church, and to repeat its services; to listen to the preacher, and to admire his eloquence; these are demonstrations of an inclination to religion, which promise good things as far as they go: but to mortify the members which are on the earth, fornication, uncleanness, covetousness; this is religion itself, and "it is a work which requires time and pains, assiduity and constancy, watchfulness and care."

Beware, then, of a delusive and fatal conceit, that religion, that is, the service which we are bound to render to God, and without which he will not acknowledge us for his own, consists in any kind or degree of strictness and punctuality in the outward observances of piety. Evidences, indeed, they are, and they are also indispensable means and helps, of that perfect and reasonable service which God requires all men, and enables all Christians to render to him; but pure religion, and undefiled before God and the Father, is the perfect combination of charity and purity; it is

4 Col. iii. 5.

5 Burton's Sermons, Vol. I. p. 27.

this; to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. A miserable self-deceiver is he, who supposes that strictness and formality in the outward observances of devotion, stated contributions to works of charity, transient emotions of piety, or thoughts of seriousness, excited by a favourite preacher, will be of the least avail in the infinitely important work of salvation from the wrath to come, if, at the same time, he indulge in one unholy practice, and have any fellowship in act, conversation, or thought, with the unfruitful works of darkness.

I believe that in this respect, no language, which the Christian preacher can hold, is too strong; for this self-deceit, gross and palpable as it is, is practised by thousands of those who profess to be children of the light. The opinions and practice of the world encourage and sanction it; the refinements of modern society render it more secret, and therefore more subtle and dangerous; and they render it, at the same time, a more delicate and difficult task for the preacher of Gospel holiness, to discharge his duty faithfully; to speak to those, who transgress it, the language of honest rebuke; and to point the general

⚫ James i. 27.

prohibitions of the Gospel against the particular sins of the time. Yet it is a burthen laid upon our consciences, to warn you against all sinful indulgences, especially against those which the world would persuade you to believe are not sinful; to recal your conscience and reason, from the sophistry of a deceitful counsellor, to that which cannot deceive, to the law and the testimony. Whatever name the world may give to such practices, by whatever standard you may now fashion your opinions, or judge of your conduct, thither you must at the last recur for judgment and sentence; there is the faithful mirror, in which you must one day recognize your true likeness, and your certain fate all things that are reproved by the Gospel, are at length made manifest by the light of the Gospel. If for a time you can reconcile it to a sleeping, or a corrupted conscience, to be an inconsistent, worldly professor of its doctrines, you will at last discover yourself to be a guilty sinner, convicted by its testimony, and sentenced by its everlasting decree.

Why will men, who pretend to believe that Gospel, and who do, in fact, speculatively believe it to be the law of God, satisfy themselves with an interpretation of it, which common sense would

Eph. v. 13.