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is the cause of almost all our sins-the bait of temptation. 4. God calls us to show our faith and love by a spirit of sacrifice. Pleasure is Isaac. 5. Denying ourselves, hating our life, dying daily, crucifying the flesh, putting off the old man, are Gospel precepts: so is cutting off the right hand, plucking out the right eye, and forsaking all to follow Christ. 6. God makes no exceptions. All the offending members must be cut off, every leak must be stopt; otherwise the corrupting pleasure spared gets more ascendency. 7. Pleasures render the soul incapable of the operations of the Spirit, and obstruct Divine consolations.

Now nature is all for pleasure, and lives upon sensuality. The senses, heart, mind, and imagination, pursue always objects that may gratify them. We love pleasure so as to deprive ourselves of every thing to enjoy it in some kind or other; and we undergo hardships to procure it. Nature frets horribly if disappointed in this favourite pursuit; and yet, if nature be pampered, grace must be starved.

Earthly pleasures are of a corrupting nature; for example, that of taste, if indulged, spreads through, corrupts, and dissipates all the powers of the soul and body. It is so much the more dangerous, as it hides itself under a mask of necessity, or colour of lawfulness; and does all the mischief of a concealed traitor. It betrays with a kiss, poisons with honey, wounds in its smiles, and kills while it promises happiness.

Indulgence enervates and renders us incapable of suffering any thing from God, men, devils, or self; and stands continually in the way of our doing, as well as suffering the will of God. It is much easier, therefore, to flee from pleasure than to remain within due bounds in its enjoyments. The greatest saints find nothing is so difficult, nothing makes them tremble so, as the use of pleasure; for it requires the strictest watchfulness and the most vigorous attention. He must walk steadily who can walk safely, on the brink of a precipice.

The absolute necessity of dying to pleasure will appear from the following considerations. The earthly senses must be spiritualized; the sensual heart purified; the wandering mind fixed; the foolish imagination made sober.

Worldly pleasures are all little, low, and transitory, and a hinderance to our chief good. Much moderation, however, is to be used in the choice and degree of our mortifications. Through pride, nature often prompts us to great extremes, which hurt the body, and sometimes lead the mind into sourness and obstinacy. But to know, and walk in the right path of self denial, we have need of much recollection..

ON HYPOCRISY.

MANY pretend to a share of the holy child, but we want all the wisdom of the true Solomon to know the mother from the harlot. A hypocrite hides wickedness under a cloak of goodness,-clouds without rain, wells without water, trees without fruit, the ape of piety, the mask of sin, glorious without, carrion within. They do not put off, but throw a cloak over it.

Satan an arch hypocrite.-Having apostatized from God himself, he endeavours to vent his malice and envy on God's favourite, man. He disguised himself as a serpent, showed much love and friendship, and by

that appearance deceived Eve. Though God has prepared an antidote, yet he goes about murdering the children of men with increasing craft, (for he is now the old serpent,) he is still opposing Christ, picking up the seed of the word, hindering the sowers, sowing tares. He is the strong man, armed with the force of an angel, the subtilty of a fallen angel, able to insinuate himself into souls, as into serpents. His baits are pleasure for the sensual, wealth for the muckworm, honour for the ambitious, and science for the curious: in each he transforms himself as an angel of light, gilding all with heavenly appearances; but his light is darkness, and how great is that darkness!

He works admirably on predispositions. 1. On ignorance of evil, or forgetfulness of the sword of the Spirit. He finds us blind, or blinds our eyes to make us turn the better in his mill. 2. On security. He puts far from us the thoughts of death: "Ye shall not surely die." 3. On idleness. When David was idle at home, and Joab in the field, Satan took that opportunity to draw him into the snare of lust. 4. On unreasonable scruples of conscience,-discouragement, extremes. If he cannot put out the fire of zeal, he will make it break out at the chimney, and drive fasting into starving. 5. He suits his temptations to the subjects, drives the nail that will go, and causes the stream of natural propensities to flow. He tempts not, in general, the old to pleasure, nor the young to covetousness; nor the sick to drunkenness, but to im patience.

The moral hypocrite.-Many mistake nature for grace, and so rest short of a true change. Strong sense, keen wit, lively parts, and a good natural temper, puff up many. The tempering makes a vast dif ference in many blades, all made of the same metal, some of which will bend before they break, others break before they bend. Good nature without grace, maketh a fairer show than grace with an evil nature. cur outruns a greyhound with a clog.

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The hypocrite derives his honour from his birth; the child of God from his new birth. The hypocrite hath his perfections from the body, from his complexion and constitution, which are not praiseworthy; but the Christian hath them from his better part, the soul. A warm temper hath often the appearance of zeal; a cooler, of patience; melancholy, of contemplation; lively blood and strong spirits, of spiritual joy.

The hypocrite serves God with what costs him nothing, only going down the stream; but the Christian works with strife and industry, wrestleth, and keeps his body under.

The hypocrite is disposed to some virtues, and refrains from those vices that are contrary to his taste and humour, as an elephant abhors a mouse; but the Christian shuts every door against sin, and is thoroughly furnished to every good work.

The hypocrite puts reason in the place of religion; on the contrary, the Christian brings reason under the command of religion; his understanding bows to faith, and his free will to God's free grace.

The hypocrite derives his virtues from himself, spider like. "Cursed be the man that trusteth in man," Jer. xvii, 5. The Christian hath his virtue from above: the one is like marshy ground, the other is watered from heaven. Again: the hypocrite curses himself, by giving to reason the command of appetite, not knowing that his reason is crooked; but

the Christian puts all under the strict rule of grace:grace is Sarah, reason Agar. The one talks of right reason, the other rectifieth it.

The hypocrite puts honesty in the place of piety, but the Christian is honest and kind from a principle of genuine piety. There was a dif ference between Alexander and David pouring out water, the one before his soldiers, the other before the Lord.

He hath for virtues only shining vices-virtues proceeding from unsanctified reason, and spoiled by the intention: thus a covetous, indolent man avoids and hates law suits; he is sober and temperate through love of money, or of health and reputation; he is diligent and industrious to compass profit. But the Christian hath the truth, if he wants the perfection of virtue; the one shines as rotten wood, the other as gold in the ore.

The hypocrite cries up virtue and exclaims against vice, rather by speech than practice; but the king's daughter is glorious within: the one speaks, the other lives, great things.

The hypocrite keeps himself from gross sins, but harbours spiritual corruptions. Does he subdue his passions? They are in the way of his glory and quiet. Does he do good? It is to be more in love with himself. The Christian cleanseth himself from all spiritual vices: the one is settled on the lees of self love, the other is emptied of self, and filled with Christ.

The hypocrite compares himself with a child of God, when under disadvantages; as for example, when he is fallen, or overtaken in an infirmity; but the whitest devil shall not stand in the judgment with the most tawny child of God. The meteor may blaze, but the star standeth. The hearing hypocrite.-The hearing hypocrite hears Christ's word without benefit; he assembles with the pious, whom he deceives, as he hopes to deceive Christ, Luke xiii. He goes to meet Christ, not as the bride, but only as the bride's friend. He is the stony ground; he is sermon proof, repels conviction, takes nothing to himself, or shakes it off, as sheep do the rain. He hath the forehead of the whore, Jer. iii, 3, and refuses to be ashamed. Christ condemns him both as a worker of iniquity, and a builder on the sand. The Christian hears so that his "profiting appears unto all men;" he hears Christ himself through the minister; and the word is "able to save his soul,-is a savour of life unto life:" nor is he "a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the word."

The hypocrite will hear only such ministers as suit his humour,-Balaam suits Balak, a lying prophet Ahab. He will neglect or slight others. The Christian hears God's voice through every messenger of his; the plainer the message, the better he receives the messenger,-as "an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus," Gal. iv, 14. He judges not of the word by the preacher, but of the preacher by the word. He, like Jehosaphat, will hear Micaiah preach, rather than the four hundred prophets of Baal.

The hypocrite hears, in hopes of hearing something new; therefore when he has heard a few times, he grows weary, and longs for a new preacher. An unsanctified heart, like a sick stomach, loathes its daily bread; but the Christian is never tired of 66 the sincere milk of the word;" he desires no new wine; he likes manna after forty years,— "Evermore give us this bread."

The hypocrite hearkens more after eloquence than substance. He likes Apollos, not Christ's messenger; he hears not for life; he sports with the infirmities of Samson,--but death is at the door. The Christian looks most to the power of the word; he comes not as to a show, but to the bar; weighs the matter rather than the manner, and regards the message more than the messenger. The one falls down before man, the other before God.

He will not hear all; comforts, promises, and general truths he loves; the doctrine of the cross he hates. A foil, a wooden sword that draws no blood, suits him. The Christian hears all God's word, loves to be smitten, does not say, "Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?" But, "Search me, and try my heart."

The hypocrite looks on the word as a story, or a landscape; he loves to hear of Christ's miracles, of the prodigal son, &c, but draws a curtain before his own picture. The Christian looks on the word as a glass to see himself. The one uses the word as children their books, looking more at the pictures than the lesson; the other sees himself, and improves.

He hears, without preparing his heart to hear; he minds his outward more than his inward man; he uses no exercise to get an appetite; it is enough if he hears, though he digests nothing. He sows among thorns, having never ploughed them up, and they choke all. The Christian looks to his feet, comes hungry to the house of God, longing to be fed, and is not willing to go without his portion.

He hears only for the present time, as he would hear a concert of music; the Christian hears both for the time present and to come; he studies what he hears, and to what end, that he may turn it into practice. He remembers that word, "Take heed how ye hear."

He proposes to himself some carnal end, if any at all; as to be noted for his diligence, to be reputed a good Churchman, to fulfil his task of hearing; perhaps to cavil and find fault, to make amends for not doing, to please a friend. Festus thus pleased Agrippa, and Ahab heard Mi caiah for Jehosaphat's sake: but the Christian hears for his own and others' edification.

If the hypocrite is of the second class of hearers, he sometimes pretends to practise, as an excuse for not hearing. "I have," says he, "enough in one sermon to practise all the week." The Christian makes hearing and practice to go hand in hand; he will redeem time for hearing from recreation and sleep; his hearing is a spur to his practice. He does not pretend practice as a hinderance to his hearing, like Judas, who, out of pretended regard to the poor, sought to rob Christ of his due.

Sometimes he trembleth under the word, but yet he shifts it off, before it has taken hold on his heart as a tree shaken by the wind takes deeper root, so is he more rooted in his sins. Felix's fearfulness surpriseth the hypocrite before he is aware; he is ashamed of himself, angry at the preacher, and, Cain like, he runs from God, instead of going to him. But the Christian trembles at the word as afraid to sin against it. One is Pharaoh, the other Josiah.

He is a seeming friend, but a secret foe, to the Gospel. word is a hammer, he is an anvil; when it is a fire, he is clay.

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Christian is both reconciled to, and transformed into the word; receiving it as the word of God in the love thereof. If the word be a nail, it nails him to Christ; if a sword, he loves to be cut and dissected; if a fire, he is like water, or as gold. The one kisses the word, like Judas; the other embraces it, as Joseph did Benjamin.

The praying hypocrite.--The praying hypocrite prays with his tongue, but not with his heart. The heart of the Christian goes first

in prayer.

The hypocrite asks according to his wishes, looking no farther, like Israel for quails, Balaam for leave to curse God's people, Rachel for children. But the Christian, like Hannah, who prayed hard, and submitted all to God.

He is wavering and double minded. "Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?" Will he hear and answer?" The Christian asketh in faith, nothing wavering; as Moses at the Red Sea, while Israel cried and expected death.

The hypocrite is sometimes presumptuous also: "Wherefore have I fasted, and thou seest not?" The Christian always comes as a poor beggar, crying with the centurion, "I am not worthy." He quarrelleth with God, if not answered: "This evil is of the Lord." But the Christian waiteth patiently, saying, "It is the Lord, let him do as he pleaseth."

He prays without repentance, regarding iniquity in his heart; but the Christian confesses and forsakes his sin.

The hypocrite prays without faith, without expecting an answer; therefore he often cuts short his prayer, especially in secret. The Christian pours out his soul in prayer: gives good measure, pressed down, running over, being assured that word standeth fast, "If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall my heavenly Father give his Holy Spirit to them that ask it?"

At other times the hypocrite will exceed measure, but only in company, like the Ave Marias of the Papists. The true Christian measures his prayers by his affections, and by works of charity and duty.

The hypocrite prays in adversity, not in prosperity: he comes like the leper, or beaten child. The Christian, as the loving son, prays in prosperity, without the compulsion of the rod. Or, perhaps, he will pray in prosperity; but in adversity his heart sinks, like Nabal's: he murmurs, complains, and cries out, "Why doth the Lord do thus unto me?" The Christian remembers those words of St. James, "Is any afflicted? Let him pray." The one, as a bastard, runs away; the other kisses the rod, and sees every thing as the answer of prayer, submitting himself wholly to the will of God.

The preaching hypocrite worse than all.-Admitted of men, not called of God, he preaches Christ, but not for Christ. "Put me (saith he) into the priest's office, that I may eat a morsel of bread." He is, perhaps, a "preacher of righteousness," but a "worker of iniquity." But the true Christian preacher only spends and is spent upon Christ and his interest; he is careful not only of his gifts, but of his grace; not only to be sent of men, but of God. The one preaches himself, and for himself; the other preaches Christ, and for Christ.

The hypocrite is ambitious to show his learning,-to be admired

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