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duty? Are you labouring for the Moft High? Are you labouring in your appointed courfe?

Thirdly. Would you labour efficacioufly? Remember whofe is the ftrength in which you must labour. Truft not in an arm of flesh. Lean not to thine own underftanding. Be ftrong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. Not by might, not by power; but by My Spirit, faith the Lord of Hofts. Through Chrift who ftrengtheneth thee, thou mayeft do all things. Without Him thou canft do nothing (o).

Fourthly. Be vigilant, be humble, be devout, in guarding through the all-fufficient grace of your Redeemer against thofe fnares and forms of fin, which attach themfelves to your occupation. Be fortified against its toils, its pleafures, its rewards, its difappointments. When under the garb of avarice, or of pride, or of ambition, or of fenfuality, or of self-complacency, or of difcontent, Satan lays claim to your heart; What is your reply? I ferve the Lord Chrift.

Finally: In the fpirit of Him whofe meat and drink it was to do the will of his Father, accuftom yourself to regard enjoyment as

XV.

(0) Eph. vi. 10. Zech. iv. 6. Philipp. iv. 13. John,

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confifting

confifting in the performance of duty. By multitudes, duty and pleafure are beheld as diftinct; as drawing in oppofite directions duty, toiling in one quarter, and fummoning to an irksome task ; pleasure smiling in an adverse region, and inviting to compenfatory gratification. He, and he alone, whom Christianity enables to identify them, poffeffes the secret of virtue and happiness.

SERMON XI.

On the neceffity of unreferved Obedience,

JAMES, ii. 10.

Whofoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

TO fome perfons it has been a subject of unreasonable furprife, that the Scriptures fhould contain paffages apparently of dark and ambiguous import. All the works, all the appointments of God, abound with difficulties. The nature of the air which you breathe, the properties of the foil on which you tread, the growth of the plants and animals by which you are sustained, exceed your comprehenfion. the common difpenfations of Providence, in the moral government of the world, there is much which is obfcure to the li

In

On the Neceffity of unreserved Obedience. 219

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mited faculties of man. Why then do wonder that God fhould permit difficulties to fubfift in the revealed declaration of his will? If, in the natural world, there is not one of His gifts, which men may not perverfely employ in a manner fatal to their happiness; are you aftonished that, in his infpired communications, there fhould be Some things hard to be underflood, which they who are wilfully unlearned and unftable may wreft even to their own deftruction? In all his counfels, the Moft High determines with wisdom and with goodness. While his inherent attributes, the evidences of Christianity, the doctrines of redemption, and the confequences of righteoufness and of guilt, are diftinctly and incontrovertibly fet before us; are we not able to difcover reasons which may render it beneficial to us, that many paffages of Holy Writ fhould demand continued enquiry and meditation, before their meaning fhall disclose itself? Such paffages try our humility, ftrengthen our faith, call forth our diligence, exercise our attention, imprefs our memories. The truth which they involve is always of value more than fufficient to repay the labour by which it is rendered manifeft.

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Among the difficult portions of Scripture the text, in the opinion of moft men, ftands diftinguished. Many perfons when they hear it, like the difciples when Jefus Chrift difcourfed to them of falvation by eating his flesh and drinking his blood, are of fended at it; and murmur among themfelves, This is a hard faying: who can hear it? A hard faying however may be a true faying. That faying at which the difciples of our Lord were fo deeply offended, that from that time many of them went back and walked no more with him, unfolded the method of atonement by which alone man was to be faved. And the truth comprized in this hard faying of St. James is a doctrine fo momentous; that, unless your life be fteadily conformed to it, you never will receive falvation.

This

Reflect, whoever you may be who have felt your mind ftaggered by this paffage, that it is a part of the word of God. circumftance at once establishes its truth, when rightly understood; and the importance of rightly understanding it. Were additional teftimony needful, I might refer you to the fignal eminence of St. James in the Christian Church. He was one of the Twelve Apoftles. He was the brother, the very near relation, of the Lord Jefus,

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