within. But there are some who are yet without, whose condition we lament, and to whom we therefore would address the language of inquiry and invitation, "Come in, thou blessed of the Lord; why tarriest thou without?" And where do we find these? We find them among you, whose character and conduct are irreproachable, who constantly attend the preaching of the cross, who are glad when they say unto you, Let us go into the House of the Lord; who have even the worship of God in your families; and are not strangers to your closets--and yet keep aloof from the table of the Lord, where with his dying breath he is saying, "Do this in remembrance of me." We find them amongst those of you who so often remain as spectators at the holy solemnity, and looking down upon the privileged partakers, sigh and say, "How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel!"-yet are restrained from approaching, not by carnality but timidity; and by forgetting that "all the fitness he requireth is to feel your need of him." We find them among you, my young friends; you, who are shunning the paths of the destroyer; you, whose consciences are awake, whose hearts are tender, whose minds are impressed by divine things,-and who are detained by looking for a change too sudden and too sensible; and for a kind and degree of evidence and assurance by no means necessary.

Lord, you will flourish in the courts of our God, and bring forth fruit in old age..

Many of you are the children of religious parents. How are they now praying that my attempt to bring you to a decision may be effectual! See you not the tears now dropping from the cheek of thy father-thy mother-at thy side; while each says, "if thy heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine." Some of us can speak from experience. We only recommend what we have exemplified. We were enabled early to dedicate ourselves unto God; and we have found his yoke easy, and his burden light. We have found his ways pleasantness and peace. We have found "godliness profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." And, next to the salvation of our souls, we daily praise him for an early conversion. "I bless thee, O God, for many things," says Beza in his will and testament, "but especially that I gave up myself to thee at the early age of sixteen."

Wait then no longer. Be encouraged by the assurance, "I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me." If the flower be not blown, offer the bud

"The flower, when offered in the bud,

Is no mean sacrifice"

People talk of the young, and seem to require more satisfaction with regard to them, than with regard to older candidates. But wherefore? Do persons grow more simple and open and undesign-the kindness of thy youth." ing as they advance in life? Who are the members by whom churches have been troubled and disgraced? Not those who joined themselves to the Lord young, and very young too. I never knew a minister who had to repent of encouraging such communicants. And how many youths have I known, who, humanly speaking, would have been excellent and useful characters now, but they were not encouraged, when, as our Saviour says, they were not far from the kingdom of God. Their foot was on the threshold of conversion; but no one took them by the hand, to draw them in-but there were enough ready to draw them back: the world laid hold of them: or their convictions, for want of cherishing, died away. Some of them are now sitting in the seat of the scornful: others, though not the victims of error and vice, are in a state of indifference with regard to the holy communion, which is likely to continue for life. Whereas, had they entered the Church when there was nothing to justify their refusal, they would have been decided; their return into the world would have been cut off; they would have felt identified with a peculiar people; their impressions would have been formed into principles and habits; and the whole man would have been changed from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord.

in his account. And through all the changes of life, and from the borders of the grave, he will honor this surrender, and say, 'I remember thee

Secondly, We see that while Christianity expects us to enter the Church, it does not leave us to ourselves in it, but accompanies us with its social obligations, and requires us to be found in the performance of every part of relative duty. Unless you cultivate the principles and dispositions pertaining to the condition, you have no right to its benefits.-Unless you bring forth fruit in the vineyard, you are cumberers of the ground. If in the master's house, you are unprofitable, you are wicked servants. Here, as every where else in religion, privilege and duty go together. You had therefore better resign your connection with the Church, if you are blanks in it. How much more if you are blots! Your relation to the body of Christ stamps upon you a sacred character. It produces a responsibility peculiarly awful. As professors of his religion, you are witnesses for God; and you depose by your actions, as well as by your words-and will you bear a false, or a defective testimony? You are charged individually with a portion of the glory of the Redeemer; and will you not be concerned to carry it unsullied to the grave?

My young friends, hesitate, we beseech you, no longer. Fulfil ye our joy in verifying the promise, "I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring: and they shall spring up as among the grass as willows by the water-courses. One shall say, I am the Lord's; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel."

Beware, therefore, lest by any temper or carriage you should cause the adversaries of the Lord to blaspheme, and the way of truth to be evil spoken of. Do not sadden the heart, and slacken the hands of your minister. Do not prove a grief to the strong, and a stumbling-block to the weak among your brethren: but "make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed." "Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifyThen will your peace be as a river. You willing, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. gain all the succors your age and your condition And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye require. You will become examples to others in are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitthe same period of life: and the young love to fol- terness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and low the young. Your usefulness, early commenc-evil-speaking, be put away from you, with all maed, will advance with your character, and influence, lice." Thus you will be harmless and blameless, and years: and planted so soon in the house of the the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a Number 28.

lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God | But though their inheritance is above, their resishall wipe away all tears from their eyes." dence is below. Though they are bound for glory, they are now strangers and pilgrims on earth.Though they are not of the world, they are in it.— "I am no more," says the Saviour, "in the world, but these are in the world."

Ah! Christian, though you will soon change your place, you will not change your associates. When death lets you go, you will return to your own company. Now were you setting off for a country which you had never seen, would it not be very relieving to think that you would find yourself at home there-many of your connections being there already-and the rest assuredly coming after? If, Christian, you are at present a stranger to the heavenly world, the heavenly world is not a stranger to you. There is your Father. There is your Saviour. There are the angels who have been your ministering spirits. There are all the saints, your brethren in Christ. There are your dear friends and fellow-worshippers, who have preceded you-while those you leave behind are loosening and preparing to follow.

They are in the world, in distinction from heaven. This is the final abode of the blessed; and this high and holy place is much more congenial with their views and feelings than the earth, where they are now left. In the natural creation, things are distinguished and separated according to their qualities; and the Apostle asks with regard to the Church"What communion hath light with darkness; and what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness, and what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?" Order, therefore, seems to require that as soon as men are converted, and bear the image of the heavenly, they should go to their own comAnd can you imagine that your religious ac- pany; and not remain in "a world lying in wickedquaintance will not be renewed, and your holy in-ness." But were this to be the case, the triumph umacies be completed, there? "I am fully per- would be obtained without the fight; and the prize suaded," says Baxter, "that I shall love my friends would be reached without running the race: converin heaven, and therefore know them. And this sion would be always the signal of dissolution; and principally binds me to them on earth. And if I religion would enter our families like an undertakthought I should never know them more, nor there- er, to carry off our connections to the grave. But fore love them after death, I should love them com-there is a way; and the end of this is peace; there paratively little, as I do all other transitory objects, But I now delight in conversing with them, as believing I shall commune with them for ever." Paul was like-minded. "For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? For ye are our glory and our joy."

LECTURE V.

THE CHRISTIAN, IN THE WORLD.

"And now I am no more in the world, but these are

in the world."-JOHN xvii. 11.

is a course; and this is to be finished with joy. The Jews imagined they were to possess the land flowing with milk and honey as soon as they were delivered from the house of bondage; but the wilderness was their abode for forty years; and though this condition was far better than the place from whence they came out, it was not to be compared with their destination. "Ye are not yet come unto the rest and the inheritance which the Lord your God giveth you."

They are in the world, in opposition to the requirements of Superstition. This degrading and perverting system very early prevailed, saying, touch not, taste not, handle not: forbidding also to ACCORDING to Isaiah, it is a privilege to "hear a marry, and commanding to abstain from meats word behind us, saying, This is the way, walk ye which God hath created to be received with thanksin it, when we turn to the right hand, and when giving of them which believe and honor the truth; we turn to the left." Truth and safety lie in the and inducing the votaries, if not always by precept middle. The pilgrim, ascending the Hill Diffi- yet by commendation, to resign their secular callculty, saw a lion on the right hand, and a lion on ings, and recede from society, and live in cells and the left; and was afraid to advance. But he was in- dens and caves of the earth-which things have informed by a voice from above, that these lions were deed a show of wisdom in will-worship and humilichained; and need only alarm those who approach- ty and neglecting of the body, not in any honor to ed the sides of the road. The middle was perfectly the satisfying of the flesh. But all this was really secure: and keeping in this, though these creatures after the commandments and doctrines of men.-might look and roar at him, they could not hurt. Christianity yields it no real countenance. This is This is another instance of the profound truth, as not overcoming the world, but refusing the combat. well as genius, with which Bunyan describes things This is not fighting but fleeing. This is putting the in his exquisitely simple and admired book. The candle under a bushel instead of in a candlestick, wisest of men but gives us the same fact, when he where it can give light to all that are in the house. represents Wisdom as saying, "I lead in the way But, says the Saviour, "Let your light so shine beof righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judg-fore men, that they may see your good works, and ment." The sentiment may be exemplified in every thing moral and religious. Economy is equally remote from profusion and parsimony. Courage stands between rashness and fear. Patience is equally destroyed by feeling too little or too much: for which reason we are forbidden both to despise the chastening of the Lord, and to faint when we are rebuked of him. The evils to be avoided in all these cases come so near together, that "narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."

glorify your Father who is in heaven."

They are in the world, in qualification of a mistake, to which some Christians even now are prone, and which, though it does not carry them into Popery, withdraws them, shall I say, too much, or rather improperly, from the world. For here we may err, not only in the article of conformity, but separation; not only in our indulgence, but in our mortification; not only in our love, but in our aversion. If we are the friends of the world, we are the enemies of God; yet we are to honor all men. If we Let us take this general reflection, and apply it to shun the course of this world, we are not to neglect a particular case. Our Lord said to his disciples- their welfare. While we decline the wicked as com"I have chosen you out of the world." "Ye are not panions, we are to attend to them as patients, and of the world, even as I am not of the world." And endeavor to recover and save and bless them. The they cannot remember and feel this too powerfully; ground that at present does not yield us pleasure, not only when they assume a profession of religion, must furnish us with employment; that cultivating but in every stage of their subsequent progress.the barren and the briery soil, under the divine

:

agency, for us-in some few spots at least-the wilderness and the solitary place may be made glad, and the desert rejoice and blossom as the rose. This brings us to the subject of our present meditationThe Christian

In the WORLD.

The theme would fill volumes; and we have only a single Lecture for the discussion of it. But let us do what we can. Let us take five views of the subject. Let us consider the Christian in the World, as

In a sphere of ACTIVITY.

In a sphere of OBSERVATION.
In a sphere of Danger.

In a sphere of Self-Improvement.
In a sphere of USEFULNESS.

I. In a sphere of ACTIVITY.

was David overcome? Was it not when, instead of commanding his army in the field, he was indulging himself at noon, upon the house-top? Where grossness of vice is not produced, evils of a less odious quality, but no less anti-christian, are cherished, especially the indulgence of impertinent curiosity, and whisperings, and backbitings, and slanders. Withal they learn to be idle, wandering from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also, and busy-bodies, speaking things they ought not." What is the prevention of these vices, and a thousand more? Is the Apostle too severe? "When we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. For we. hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busy-bodies. Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread." Thus Adam and Eve were placed in the garden of Eden-not to live God obviously intended us for a life of engage- as some of you do; but to dress and to keep it. All ment; and the design is no less conducive to our through the Old and New Testament you will find own advantage individually, than to the welfare of that those to whom God appeared, to communicate the community in which we live. It is said, that in information, or bestow prerogative, were all engagTurkey the Grand Seignior himself must have beened and following their occupations at the time. If articled to some mechanical trade. Paul had a the unemployed think that he visits them, let them learned education, yet he was taught the craft of suspect, and inquire whether it be not another being tent-making; and we see of what importance it was under disguise; for "even Satan also transformeth to him in a particular emergeney. The Jews pro- himself into an angel of light." verbially said, that he who did not bring up his son to some employment, taught him to be a thiefBishop Sanderson said, that the two curses of the day in which he lived, were "beggary and shabby gentility." Beggary is too well understood, and too much encouraged; but what his lordship very properly calls shabby gentility, means the pride of family, and the show of finery, and the expensiveness of indulgence, with insufficient means; while all aid derived from any kind of business is declined and contemned. Some, now in easy circumstances, meanly endeavor to conceal the merchandise or trade in which their parents were engaged-though it is pleasing to think the attempt is always vain; as the affectation of these people leads every one to ferret out the secret, and to exclaim, what a pity it is that any should possess property who are ashamed of the honorable way in which it was acquired for them! Of all pride, the most contemptible is that which blushes at trade; especially in a country whose greatness results so much from commerce; and "whose merchants are princes, and whose traffickers are the honorable of the earth." They only ought to blush who rise in the morning, not knowing that they have any thing in the world to do, but to eat and drink, and trifle and sleep. An angel would pray for annihilation, rather than submit to such disgracefulness for a single day. Activity is the noblest life; it is the life of the soul. It is also the most pleasant, and most healthful. No drudgery equals the wretchedness of ennui. The idle know nothing of recreation. Peace and content flee from their feelings. Weakness, and depressed spirits, and trembling nerves, and foolish apprehensions, haunt them; so that these people seem referrible to the physician, rather than to the divine.

Yet is it not sufficient that we are engaged. The Christian must appear in the man of business. He is not only to have a calling, but to "abide with God in his calling."-To abide with him by the moderation of his desires and exertions: not entangling himself in the affairs of this life; diligent in business, but not, by multiplication and complexity, injuring the health of his body and the peace of his mind, and compelling himself, if not to omit, to curtail his religious duties; if not to neglect the Sabbath, and the sanctuary, and the closet, yet to render himself unable to attend on the Lord without distraction.-To abide with him by invariable conscientiousness; doing nothing but what is conformable with truth and rectitude: not content to keep himself within the precincts of legal obligation, but shunning and detesting in all his dealings, every thing that is mean and overreaching; and exemplifying every thing that is fair and honorable.To abide with him by a devout temper and habit; that will remind him of the presence of God and his all-seeing eye; that will keep him from planning or achieving any enterprise without dependence upon Heaven; that will not allow him to say, "Today or to-morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain ;" while he knows not what shall be on the morrow; but induce him to preface every project with the pious acknowledgment, "If the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that;" practically owning the agency of his providence in all the contingencies of his affairs; in every failure and disappointment submitting to his pleasure; in every favorable turn, in every degree of success, not sacrificing unto his own net, and burning incense unto his own drag, as if by them his pasture was made fat, and his meat plenteous; but ascribing all to the blessing of the Lord that maketh rich, and addeth no sorrow with it.

Thus secular life is christianized, and the bounds of religion enlarged far beyond the district of what we commonly mean by devotion. If the Christian could abide with God only in the express exercises of worship, whether in the closet, the family, or the temple, he could be with him very little. In all situations, the cares of life demand the vaster part of his time and attention; but he may always walk before the Lord in the land of the living: and whether

he eats or drinks, or whatever he does, he may do
all to the glory of God. Let him, as often as he has
opportunity, repair for impression, refreshment, and
aid, to the means of grace in private and public;
but let him also remember, that making the word
of God his principle, and the honor of God his aim,
he is still serving God, while he is working with
his own hands in his secular vocation, and provid-
ing things honest in the sight of all men. The spi-
rit of devotion actuates him in the absence of its
forms; and this principle, as is reported of the phi-
losopher's stone, turns all it touches into gold.—
Thus his natural actions become moral; his civil
duties become religious; the field or the warehouse
is holy ground; and the man of business is the "man
of God."

II. In the World he is in a sphere of
OBSERVA-

TION.

"Ye are the light of the world: a city that is set on an hill cannot be hid." "Ye are manifestly the epistles of Christ, known and read of all men.' "We are a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men." It is obvious from hence, that as religious characters, you ought not to be concealed; you will not be concealed; you cannot be concealed. Of this I fear you think too little. Did you sufficiently consider how many eyes are upon you, and the effects that may result from their inspection, you would surely pray, with David, "Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies:" or, as it is in the margin, "because of them that observe me."

In the Church you have observers. The minister who watches for you souls as one that must give an account; the office-bearers, all your fellow-members -all these observe you. But these are good observers, friendly observers: these observe you to consider you, in order to provoke you to love and to good works. But the world furnishes observers of a very different kind, both as to their qualities and their purposes—

Hence

fect to try you. Yea, all irreligious as they are,
they exalt themselves into moral censors, and ex-
act more from you than even your religion exacts;
for your religion will allow you to be sincere though
you have infirmities; but they will not. Hence
they magnify little failings into crimes.
they impute the improprieties of a few to the whole
body. Hence, instead of judging of your religion
by the Scripture, they judge of your religion by you.
Hence they even estimate the leader by his follow-
ers, and the master himself by the disciple.

This is awful; and it shows what incalculable injury we may do when we walk unworthy of the vocation wherewith we are called. For as the poor Indians said of the Spaniards, what a God must he be, who has such hell-hounds for his servants and they to judge of him by the folly and pride, and children so what must many think of Christ, were avarice and implacability of many who are called by his name?

And what inferences, my fellow-Christians, ought you to draw from hence? It is in vain to fret yourselves, and complain of the injustice of the world. You must regulate yourselves accordingly. Yea, you must turn this vile disposition into a blessing. You must walk in the fear of your God, because of the reproach of the heathen your enemies. You are not of the night nor of darkness: you must therefore walk honestly as in the day. You are on a stage: you must therefore be attentive to your movements. "What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness!" Never be careless of your reputation. Never adopt the maxim of some indiscreet professors-" I care not what the world thinks or says of me." You ought to care. You ought to value a good name above great riches. You ought to let no accusation attach to you, but in matters pertaining to the law of your God.

III. In the World he is in a sphere of DANGER.

Our Lord reminds us of this, when he prays not that we might be taken out of the world, but kept from the evil. Hence we are required to pass the time of our sojourning here in fear. And hence we read, "blessed is the man that feareth always."

Curious observers. For "you are men wondered at." They think it strange that you run not to the same excess of riot with them. They are amazed at your resigning dissipations, without which they cannot live; and yet profess to be happy; and to We are liable to be drawn sometimes beyond the see you bear reproach and persecution; and rejoice bounds of permission and duty: and so to interminthat you are accounted worthy to suffer. They are gle with the ungodly as to neglect the command, staggered at your principles; and they are not per- "Save yourselves from this untoward generation." fectly satisfied with their own; and so resemble Fe-"Come ye out from among them, and be ye sepalix, who wished to hear Paul concerning the faith in Christ and the Jews, to whom the Apostle appealed when he came to Rome-" And they said unto him, We neither received letters out of Judea concerning thee, neither any of the brethren that came shewed or spake any harm of thee. But we desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest; for, as concerning this sect, we know that every where it is spoken against."

-Malignant observers. Your temper and conduct and pursuits throw censure upon them; and they hate you, because you testify that their deeds are evil. They therefore watch not to commend, but to condemn; not to notice the many good steps you take, but to mark the least halting; and are delighted when they can detect any thing to degrade you down to their level, any thing to justify their insinuations against you, any thing to make them better pleased with themselves, any thing that may help their faith in the hypocrisy of all religion.

-Unjust observers. It is proper enough for them to compare your conduct with your principles, and your practice with your profession: but they do more than this. For you do not profess to be perfect; yet by nothing less than this rule, do they af

rate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing." There are companies, and places, and scenes, to which a Christian may be tempted, but in which he must never be found. We have read in ecclesiastical history of a damsel supposed to be possessed of the devil. The bishop approached her, and commanded the unclean spirit to come out of her. But he stoutly replied, "I will not;" adding, as the reason of his refusal, "she is my lawful prize. I took her on my own territory. I found her, not in the temple, but in the theatre." I have no faith in the fact: but the moral of the fable-how much of ecclesiastical history is no better than fable!-the moral is good and useful; and teaches us that we have no warrant to look for divine protection when we are on forbidden ground.

We must needs go out of the world, if we would avoid all intercourse with the ungodly. There is scarcely a day in which we are not brought into such contact with them as duty allows and requires. But is there no caution necessary even then? Is there no danger of infection, when we are among the diseased? Has not a heathen told us, that evil communications corrupt good manners? Need you be informed that even the presence of the wicked may chill your religious fer