frailties, and all the while, strange as it may seem, maintain a loving heart towards God, his passions may be wrought upon, while his heart all the while condemns!

David confesses that "multitudes of evils compassed him about: his iniquities had taken such hold upon him," (Psalm xl. 12.) and yet his heart in the main is right towards God, and St. Paul does the same, ("what I would that do I not,") and yet both were kept by the power of God unto salvation.

Think then I pray you upon the following reflections after my leaving you to-day.

The Mission of Christ. The Lord Christ was manifested to take away our sin, and do you think he has failed of his errand? He became our surety to bear the burden of our sins, and God has laid that burden upon him: "with his stripes we are healed."

The Reconciliation of God! God is fully reconciled by the atoning blood of Christ, and when any soul is taken into covenant with him, there is not only all sin pardoned which had been previously committed, but in that relation there is made a wise provision for all infirmity and sin to come!

Lastly, I would ask you, is it not a great mercy, that you have yet a time of mercy; that hell has not swallowed you up quite as it has done others, (Isaiah v. 14.) and that the grace of God has stirred you up to escape, that you may never come there, but find mercy while the day of mercy lasts.

SECTION XXVI.

MORTIFYING SIN.

PHILEMON.-EPAPHRAS.

Philemon.-How different is sin viewed as we are sinners or saints: as we are in the covenant of mercy or out of it: and how difficult is it to get right views of our own depravity; surely there are depths of iniquity, as well as deep things of God.

Epaphras.-Nothing is more true: and of all lessons, the hardest is to know one's self,-when the Lord would give the whole Jewish nation a realizing view of their depravity, and when he would make them see the vileness of their hearts, he ceases to reason with them as heretofore; he carries the prophet on the wings of the spirit, he brings him at once to the holy place, he introduces him into the temple, and causes him to descend into the chambers of iniquity, (Ezek. viii. 10.) and to observe the foul transactions there : and if, my dear friend, we would fully understand the depravity of our hearts, its filthiness, its defilements, and its impure imagery, we must go down with the torch of God's spirit in our hands, as it were, into the inmost chambers of the soul, and then, as in their case, we shall discover in ourselves," a cage of unclean birds," and all manner of creeping things in the shape of lusts and passions, which we have served, and of which we have been the unconscious worshippers.

Philemon.-I feel sure there is no sin I am not at times tempted to commit; the more I strive against it, the more I seem to have to contend with, and the less I appear to make head against it; indeed, I almost despair of ever overcoming my evil nature.

Epaphras.-Never despair of victory through Christ. "I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me," says the Apostle, (Phil. iv. 13.) though you have been betrayed into some sin, there is still a Saviour,-and if you have wounded your peace, he is a physician, and remember always, there is a great difference in the character of offences committed against God, though the moral turpitude be the same; it makes all the difference whether we fall into sin through infirmity and surprisal, and in a sudden fit of passion, or whether we have done amiss and dealt wickedly, if not from choice, at least, with deliberation; deliberate sins are sins of reprobation, whereas, others are common to the best of men, (Rom. vii. 15.) and the Lord knows whereof we are made.

Philemon.-O! sir, it would give me joy beyond expression, were I able to mortify the besetting sin of my nature.

Epaphras.-The great means, under God, to mortify sin and to keep it down, is to hate it: we are sure to loathe what we hate, and to mortify that we cannot endure, and if you will but think again and again on the evil nature of all sin, that in one place in Scripture it is compared to a vomit, (Prov. xxvi. 11.) in another, to mire and dirt, (Isaiah lvii. 20.) in a third, to a sow wallowing

in the mire. (2 Peter ii. 22.) I am persuaded you will find, through mercy, a growing indisposition to commit any wilful sin.

Philemon.-I have the will, but want the ability to mortify my besetting sins, "the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." (Matt. xxvi. 41.)

Epaphras.-The strongest resolution is nothing worth, if grace is wanting; the duty of self-mortification requires much grace, and the inward consciousness that you daily need it, should move you to earnest prayer, holy expostulation, and intense wrestling with God for its habitual exercise.

Philemon.-Bút why is it, dear Sir, that sin is not mortified, when it is pardoned by God? why are we so often permitted to fall into the same sin? was not this the case with many of the patriarchs, and prophets, and holy men of old? why are the godly thus permitted to become ungodly? is it not wonderful that Peter should fall again and again? that Abraham should be guilty of the very same sin to Abimelech, he had previously been guilty of among the Philistines? (Gen. xx. 13.) does not David confess, even after his election of God, and being elevated to the throne, that he had a way of living, which not only implies the act occasionally, but the evil habit: is not this surprising? Oh, why is it we are not sanctified when we are forgiven?

Epaphras.-God would have us know by painful experience, the malignity of sin, the evil of it may be mortified, but the being of it is never eradicated in this world, it resembles the phenix of old, it may be cut down, but ere long, it up again.

grows

Philemon.-Of what use is it then to try to mortify sin and strive against it, seeing, do what we can, we retain the being of it within us, and are prone to sin, though not wilfully, yet continually.

you

Epaphras.-The difference is just this: either we must by the grace of God mortify it, or it will prove mortal to us; either must kill your lusts or they will kill you, were your lust as near and dear to you as a right eye, were it as necessary and convenient as a right hand, though the loss of that evil possibly might be felt in your calling, your pleasures, and your profits, yet it must be cut off; better far to be spoiled of your guilty pleasures and lame in your business, than unsound in your life, and cursed in your soul!

Philemon.-It is indeed but too true, and I have found it so by painful appearance, that our unsanctified lusts hinder every duty to God, prayer in secret, hearing the word to profit, and reading the scriptures, and enjoying the means of grace and salvation, sinful lusts war against the soul, (Rom. viii. 13.) and therefore, unless as you have justly said, we are able to fight against them, they will fight against us; either we must slay them, or they us, either we must lead them captive, or they will captivate us, pierce us through with many a sorrow, and finally drown our souls in perdition.

Epaphras.-How glad am I to hear you express such abhorrence of sin.

Philemon.-I do now look upon every sin as I do upon a tyrant, the more servilely you submit to him, the more tyrannical he grows; even so