with the Lord are absolutely necessary. From them we always derive renewed strength and fresh blessings, As for spiritual pride, it only exists in those who have never felt the greatness of their misery, nor experienced the lively compunction always attendant upon it. From thence proceeds the good opinion they entertain of themselves, and which is augmented by any gracious attractions they may have experienced. With much study they have not learned of the Saviour to become "meek and lowly in heart;" they deceive themselves, and, like the Pharisees, imagine themselves to be the first in the kingdom of God. dangerous vice naturally leads to another-contempt of our neighbour, and that even of persons truly godly, whom we are prone to regard as new converts, while, with Diotrephes, we think ourselves pre-eminent. Like Peter, we forget our great weakness, and presume too much upon our own strength; in the greatest poverty we think ourselves rich, and fall into temerity. This Again, from thence proceed that false peace in which we are apt to lull ourselves, as if we had attained to the desired end; that spiritual blindness, which prevents our seeing in ourselves faults apparent to persons the least enlightened; that false liberty, by which we permit in our selves things sinful, and consequently incompatible with the character of a child of God; in fine, that self-love, accompanied by self-sufficiency and haughtiness, which casts a veil over our own faults and causes us pitilessly to judge, blame and condemn others; and that, while we often proudly reject reproofs, well founded and urged in the spirit of meekness and charity. To what do all the monstrous evils tend that spiritual pride gives birth to? Solomon says, " before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour is humility," Prov. xviii, 12. Lucifer, for desiring to raise himself above the other angels, was precipitated into the bottomless pit. Those who tread in his steps expose themselves to a like danger. This danger is so much the greater, because it is not in the power of men to humble themselves; for that, nothing less will do than the omnipotent hand of God. Happy indeed if the thunder of his law should humble them in the season of grace, before they fall to rise no more! Disciple.-I have known persons such as you describe, but they gave another name to their spiritual pride; they called it the assurance of faith. Pastor. Their pretended assurance is only a phantom of faith, which differs as much from true assurance as darkness from light. True faith is always accompanied by an entire renunciation of self, self-righteousness, self-glory-all confidence in self. The more faith, the more poverty of spirit The man spiritually poor sees nothing in himself but weakness and misery; feels that he has nothing, knows nothing, and can do nothing of himself; but he is rich in faith, because he possesses in Jesus Christ an inexhaustible store of wisdom, righteousness, understanding, and strength. This is the foundation of true assurance and the source of true contentment. This is the security of a child of God, which prevents his being misled. As a tree which the Father has planted, and the Holy Spirit has grafted into Christ, he becomes more and more deeply rooted in the soil of humility, while he grows, flourishes, fructifies, and shoots his branches upwards towards heaven. Such is the description of him who is truly a man in Christ. Like Saint Paul, he knows "how to be abased" by humility, and "how to abound" by faith, Phill, iv. 2. "When thou wast little in thine own sight," said Samuel to Saul, "wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel?" 1 Samuel xv. 17. Awakened souls. have yet another evil to shun, which is the abuse of the grace of God in Jesus Christ. While some deviate from the right course, by being desirous of The persons whom doing too much, others depart from it by doing too little. An efficacious and lively faith marks out a track between these two extremes. It says to us, "this is the way, walk ye in it,” Isaiah xxx. 31. We are not here speaking of natural men, who abuse the doctrines of the Gospel, that they may live in licentiousness, under the pretext that we are justified and saved by pure grace, without any works or merits of our own. we would preserve from this abuse, are already really converted.. To the extent they may attend to the reasonings of the flesh, they may argue thus: "Since our works and endeavours have no merit before God, what necessity can there be for vigilance so constant, application so serious, and fidelity so scrupulous? Since grace abounds over everything, we may conform to the customs of the world with impunity; we may indulge in many little things which have the appearance of evil, as our consciences do not tell us they are sinful.” Those who hold this language prove themselves to be again entangled in the snare of the enemy. In, neglecting to watch over themselves, and walk in the presence of God, ever looking unto Jesus, they have insensibly withdrawn from the discipline of the Spirit of God and follow their own spirit. By degrees they have got into a false liberty; the old man has begun to revive and resume his former strength; the passions are awakened, and that which at first was only a spark, is become a fire which cannot be extinguished. Covetousness and concupiscence are generally the rocks on which such persons make shipwreck. Nothing can preserve us from them, nothing can quench the fire of the passions or dethrone the power of sin, but the virtue of the blood of Jesus Christ. Let this warn us to be on our guard. We are not called to amass treasures, to be ambitious of honours, to feed upon worldly vanities, to live in luxury and sensuality. We are called to be children of God, and to demean ourselves as such in all things, to walk uprightly as becomes the Gospel of Christ. O my dear Friend, how dangerous it is to fall into remissness, and stop short in the ways of salvation! How many pillars, like Lot's wife, are to be found between Sodom and Zoar? How many of these sad monuments of unbelief and love of the world are to be seen in Christendom! These examples prove the danger of looking back, after having "put the hand to the plough," Luke ix. 62. Disciple. What you say makes me tremble ; but pray tell me how I may be preserved from such evils? Pastor. I have already told you: the only and infallible means of avoiding these rocks, is to per |