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feareth always, in the word of God is pronounced happy (j): the man who, because he feareth always the corruption of his own heart and the deceitfulness of fin, fcrutinifes his motives, his tempers, his actions, his objects is fufpicious of being biassed in his judgement of right and wrong by prepoffeffions, by inclination, by cuftom, by intereft, by a defire to please men, by erroneous expectations of forwarding the glory of God: and being forewarned by the remembrance of paft incautioufnefs, of past mistakes, of paft tranfgreffions, proceeds not with careless precipitation, decides not according to first appearances, but ftrictly examines his purposes on every fide, weighs them in the balance of the fanctuary, measures them by the ftandard of righteousness, notes every defect, every aberration; and changes his plans and defifts from his undertakings, when he can no longer lay his hand on his bofom, and affirm according to the complete import of the apoftolical injunction ; "In my mind, O Lord, I am fully perfuaded "of their rectitude (k)." Such, in proportion to the degree of knowledge attained by a convert just emerging from idolatry, was the spirit of Naaman. Thou, who haft

(j) Prov. xxviii. 14.

(k) Rom. xiv. 5.

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been nurfed up from thy cradle in the arms of Christanity! Is not fuch thy spirit? Then fhall this Syrian rife up in the day of judgement, and shall condemn thee. They fhall come from the Eaft and from the Weft, and from the North and from the South, and shall fit down in the kingdom of God. But the children of the kingdom fhall be caft into outer darknefs (1). There are thofe, faith the Scripture, whose confciences are evil (m). There are those, whose consciences are defiled (n). There are those, whose consciences are feared with a bot iron (o). What is the first step towards a confcience that is evil, a confcience that is defiled, a confcience that is feared? A carelefs confcience. If through faith in Chrift thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments (p). If thou wilt keep the command rents, exercife thyself to bave always a confcience void of of fence (q). Exercise thy confcience in a scrupulous investigation of duty; train it to a quick perception and a lively abhorrence of guilt; if thou wouldeft walk in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless (r).

() Matt. viii. 11.

(n) Tit. i. 15.
(9) Acts, xxiv. 16.

Luk, xiii. 29. (0) i Tim. iv. z.

(r) Luke, i. 6.

(m) Hebr. x. 22. () Matt. xix. 17.

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On habitual Remembrance of God, ods Fawx usbrooleb es.it of ecca élet 2011100

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I have fet the Lord always before me. Because He is at my right Hand, I shall not be

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SUCCESS is not the reward of inconstant aims and defultory efforts. When the mind is divided, we lofe fight of our object. When exertion is interrupted, we recede from it. It is the part of wisdom to select from the various objects prefented to her choice that which is the moft worthy of regard; to hold it stedfaftly in view; to cherish the impreffion of its excellence; to facrifice to it all inferior gratifications; to purfue it with firmnefs, with ardour, with unabating perfeverancepo es ECO INT

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In the paffage of holy writ which has been recited, the Pfalmift directs your thoughts to the greateft of all beings, the fource of all happiness. By the weight of his own example, by the refult of his own experience, he admonishes you to an habitual remembrance of God. Of the prophetic import of the paffage; of its ultimate and its most important reference to that defcendent of David, who alone among all the generations of men kept completely and invariably before his eyes the presence of his Almighty Father; I speak not now. Contemplate the words in their primary acceptation. Contemplate them as defcriptive of that predominant defire of the heart of David, which he fervently expreffes in almoft every pfalm: a defire which, notwithstanding occafional infirmities and one moft fignal fcene of tranfgreffion impartially recorded in the fcriptures, is proved by the extraordinary commendations beftowed upon him in the facred writings to have brought forth, through the influence of divine grace, the fruits of faith and holiness in his general conduct, and deep felf-abhorrence and ge nuine repentance for the guilt into which he was betrayed. What was that defire? To fet the Lord his God always before him. What was his recompence? That God was on his VOL. I.

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right hand as his guardian and friend: that God gave him full affurance that he should not be moved.

I. Let us, in the first place, enquire what it is to fet God always before us.

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Represent to yourself the proceedings of men, who have propofed to themselves as their main pursuit the poffeffion of fome worldly attainment. Obferve in what manner they fet their object, be it what it may, always before their eyes. Contemplate the vo-, tary of science. Behold him abforbed in laborious researches: in the investigation of caufes and effects; in the construction of theories, and the explanation of the phenomena of nature. Behold him day after day bending all the powers of his mind to the invention and application of mechanifm; to the arrangement and fuperintendence of experiments; to the developement and illuftration of philofophical truth. At home and abroad; in cities and in the fields; in folitude and in fociety; behold bearing in mind the object, to dedicated his life. Survey the votary of ambition. Behold every nerve, every faculty, upon the fretch to fupplant to undermine or to surpass his rivals, and to attain the dizzy

him steadily which he has

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