men like the demoniac of whom the text speaks, tormented by devils, given up to blind rage and malice against himself and all around, to lust and blasphemy, to confusion of mind and misery of body, God's image gone, and the image of the devil, the destroyer and the corrupter, arisen in its place. Few men can arrive at this pitch of wretchedness in a civilized country. It would not answer the evil spirit's purpose to let them do so. It suits his spirits best in such a land as this to walk about dressed up as angels of light. Few men in England would be fools enough to indulge the gross and fierce part of their nature till they became mere savages, like the demoniac whom Christ cured: so it is to respectable vices that the devil mostly tempts us,-to covetousness, to party spirit, to a hard heart and a narrow mind; to cruelty, that shall clothe itself under the name of law; to filthiness, which excuses itself by saying, "It is a man's nature, he cannot help it;" to idleness, which excuses itself on the score of wealth: to meanness and unfairness in trade, and in political and religious disputes these are the devils which haunt us Englishmen-sleek, prim, respectable fiends enough; and, truly, their name is Legion! And the man who gives himself up to them, though he may not become a raving savage, is just as truly possessed by devils, to his own misery and ruin, that he may sow the wind and reap the whirlwind; that though men may speak well of him, and posterity praise his saying, and

for

speak good of the covetous whom God abhorreth, yet he may go for ever unto his own, to the evil spirits to whom his own wicked will gave him up a prey. I beseech you, my friends, consider my words; they are not mine, but the Bible's. Think of them with fear, and yet with confidence; for we are baptized into the name of Him who conquered all devils; you may claim a share in that Spirit which is opposite to all evil spirits, whose presence makes the agony and misery of evil spirits, and drives them out as water drives out fire. If He is on your side why should you be afraid of any spirit? Greater is He that is in you than he that is against you; and He, Christ Himself, is with every man, every child, who struggles, however blindly and weakly, against temptation. When temptation comes, when evil looks pleasant, and arguments rise up in your mind, that seem to make it look right and reasonable, as well as pleasant, then, out of the very depths of your hearts, cry after Him who died for you. Say to yourselves, 'How can I do this thing, and offend against Him who bought me with His blood?' Say to him, 'I am weak, I am confused; I do not see right from wrong; I cannot find my way; I cannot answer the devil; I cannot conquer these cunning thoughts; I know in the bottom of my heart that they are wrong, mere temptations, and yet they look so reasonable. Blessed Saviour, Thou must show me where they are wrong. Thou

didst answer the devil Thyself out of God's Word; put into my mind some answer out of God's Word to these temptations; or, at least, give me spirit to toss them off-strength of will to thrust the whole temptation out of my head, and say, I will parley no longer with the devil; I will put the whole matter out of my head for a time. I don't know whether it is right or wrong for me to do this particular thing, but there are twenty other things which I do know are right. I'll go and do them, and let this wait awhile.'

Believe me, my friends, you can do this-you can resist these evil spirits which tempt us all; else why did our Lord bid us pray, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil?" Why? Because our Father in heaven, if we ask Him, will not lead us into temptation, but through it safe. Tempted we must be, else we should not be men; but here is our comfort and our strength-that we have a King in heaven, who has fought out and conquered all temptations, and a Father in heaven, who has promised that He will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able, but will, with the temptation, make a way to escape, that we may be able to bear it.

Again, I say, draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Resist the devil, and he will flee from

you.

SERMON X.

NOAH'S JUSTICE.

"Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God."-GENESIS, vi. 9.

I INTEND, my friends, according as God shall help me, to preach to you, between this time and Christmas, a few sermons on some of the saints and worthies of the Old Testament; and I will begin this day with Noah.

Now you must bear in mind that the histories of these ancient men were, as St. Paul says, written for our example. If these men in olden times had been different from us, they would not be examples to us; but they were like us-men of like passions, says St. James, as ourselves; they had each of them a corrupt nature, which was continually ready to drag them down, and make beasts of them, and make them slaves to their own lusts-slaves to eating and drinking, and covetousness, and cowardice, and laziness, and love for the things which they

could see and handle-just such a nature, in short, as we have. And they had also a spirit in each of them which was longing to be free, and strong, and holy, and wise—such a spirit as we have. And to them, just as to us, God was revealing himself; God was saying to their consciences, as He does to ours, "This is right, that is wrong; do this, and be free and clear-hearted; do that, and be dark and discontented, and afraid of thy own thoughts." And they too, like us, had to live by faith, by continual belief that they owed a duty to the great God whom they could not see, by continual belief that He loved them, and was guiding and leading them through every thing which happened, good or ill.

This is faith in God, by which alone we, or any man, can live worthily,-by which these old heroes lived. We read, in the twelfth chapter of Hebrews, that it was by faith these elders obtained a good report; and the whole history of the Old Testament saints is the history of God speaking to the hearts of one man after another, teaching them each more and more about himself, and the history also of these men listening to the voice of God in their hearts, and believing that voice, and acting faithfully upon it, into whatever strange circumstances or deeds it might lead them. "By faith," we read in this same chapter,-"by faith Noah, being warned of God, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith."