There is delufion on the furface: it is well if there be not hypocrify at the bottom.

Confider, ye who are guilty of any fpecies of profaneness, the example of Him of whom you repute yourselves the disciples. In public and in private, how replete with reverence and love to God was his converfation! With what high refpect did he always mention the Scriptures! How truly did the language of his lips accord with his practical benevolence to men! Will he receive to himself the blafphemer, the fcoffer, the man whofe mouth poureth out curfes, or him who obftinately perfifts in irreverent difcourfe? The law, the law of condemnation, is made for the unholy and the profane (q).

Suffer me to add, in conclufion, fome few general remarks, relating to all offences of the tongue, and leading to a due application of the text.

Though for the fake of clearness I have treated feparately concerning feparate fins of the tongue, it is feldom that any one of them comes fingly. Or if at first unattended, it does not long continue folitary. The evil spirit which has occupied the

(g) 1 Tim. i. 9.

manfion

manfion prepares it for others worse than himfelf. Thus the impatient man usually becomes contentious; the contentious profane: the foolish talker a talebearer ; the talebearer cenforious and a dealer in falfehood. Hence the guilt attached to each diftinct clafs of the offences which we have confidered, and the great probability that he who indulges in any one will be enfnared into more, concur to establish the extreme importance of guarding the lips against all. Unless you are habitually able to command your tongue, think not that you are a Chriftian. You have the decifive judgement of an Apoftle, that if any one among you feemeth to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue; that man de ceiveth his own heart, and his religion is vain. But mark the forcible language in which the fame Apoftle reprefents the diffi culty, nay, if we are left to our own ftrength, the impoffibility, of controlling this inftrument of evil. Every kind of beafts, and of birds, and of ferpents, and of things in the fea; every part of the animated world which men have encountered; is tamed, and hath been tamed, has fooner or later been fubdued, of mankind. But the tongue can no man tame: it is an unruly evil,

full

full of deadly poifon. If any man offend not in word, the fame is a perfect man, and able alfo to bridle the whole body (r). What has been our perfonal experience? We have acknowledged the tranfgreffions of our lips. We have refolved against the repetition of them. Again and again new relapses have covered us with fhame. To fhame has fucceeded grief; to grief determination of amendment; to determination of amendment tranfgreffion. If this then be our fituation if there can be no religion without the subjection of the tongue, and if the tongue be unconquerable by human difcipline: what courfe is man to pursue? What course, but that which is pointed out in the words of the Pfalmift? What path but that, which leads to the fure mercies of David? Let a watch be fet by thee, O Lord, before my mouth: keep thou, O God, the door of my lips! They who obftinately depend upon themselves fhall prove by lamentable difappointments, that human nature can neither cure nor withstand its own corruption; that it is not in man, unrenewed by the Spirit of God, to govern either his actions or his words according to the law of eternal

VOL. II.

(r) James, iii. 2. 7, 8.
T

life.

life. But with God all things are poffible.. There is no undertaking, whatever be its difficulty, which to His power is not easy. There is no corruption, be it ever so closely interwoven with the human heart, which His grace cannot extirpate. Direct your earneft fupplication to the Father of mercies for ability to reftrain your lips from evil for a difpofition uniformly to en deavour to follow the fteps of your Lord in word no less than in deed. Offer up your prayer in fincerity and truth, offer it in the name and through the mediation of Jesus Christ, who ever liveth at the right hand of God to make interceffion for you: and you shall receive in due time the affiftance which is needful to falvation. But think not that God will fhower down His grace to abolish the neceffity of your own exertions, or to justify you in sluggish unconcern. Though except the Lord build the house, their labour is but loft that build it; he expects that the builders should form their office. Though except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain he requires that the watchman fhould be faithful in circumfpection. From you, if you would obtain from Him the power over your tongue, he demands vigi

per

lance,

lance, caution, forbearance, forethought, perfevering ftruggles against fin. He demands that, through the grace which He has already supplied, you exercise your tongue in the employments and language. of devotion; that in the business of your station, in the hour of leisure, you converse as befits those who know that they speak in the hearing of God: that amidst allurements and provocations, amidft unhallowed principles and corrupt example, you daily confefs Chrift in the government of your lips that you redouble your efforts and your prayers, when the preffure of temptation increases that you faint not under discouragements, nor be weary in welldoing that, if betrayed into tranfgreffion with your lips, you labour the more ftrenuously against tranfgreffion for the future: that you depend not on yourself, but exclusively upon Him: that, when you have been enabled to preserve your tongue void of offence, you afcribe not to yourself but to Him the praise. Shun then, my brethren, as you value prefent peace and eternal happiness, every offence of the tongue. Avoid vain babblings and foolish and unlearned questions. Be not hafty with your words; nor fret against the Lord. Abhor T2 Strife,