with whom we are in repute, is a feeling which can never exist long in the mind of him who has listened to the advice of my text, and laboured earnestly that his heart should be established aright. There is, above all, for the obtaining of this habit, an awful sense of the ever-during presence of God, and a dread of laying open, to his pure spirit, a carnal, and voluptuous soul :The same God, who dwelleth above, hath his ways upon earth; he numbers the sanctities of Heaven, and knoweth the thoughts of man; he searches where the planets wander; and walketh in the paths of the mind. Remember, also, the pure severity of the gospel, which punishes the adultery of the heart; which resents the malice of the thoughts; and ordains that words of pardon, and of peace, should come from the very springs of the heart. If we can refrain from real vice, we will not lose the reward of our firmness by the poor enjoyments of imaginary gratification; if we have overcome the greater difficulty, we will not yield to the less; if the terrors of an hereafter have made our lives pure, we will not perish, because our thoughts are evil. I have thus endeavoured to impress upon you the importance of establishing the heart, as it renders righteousness more secure, and more easy; those who have ever practised this truly christian discipline, can need no other incentive to its continuation than the immediate pleasure they have derived from it; and that feeling of inviolable security which must ever be the lot of those in whom outward, and visible virtue is the accurate sign of inward, and spiritual purity. If, by a vigorous exertion of our own powers, and by earnest prayer to God, we can guard, from pollution, this fountain of evil, and of good, we have little to fear from all which the world can inflict; and at the moment when this mortal body is crumbling into dust, the heart, established in upright thoughts, shall animate the dying christian, and strengthen his faith in the mercies of his God. 1 |