opinion having arisen from the frequent instances in which its inroads baffled the ingenuity of all medical prescriptions. Unfortunate outcasts from society, denied the pleasures of social intercourse and esteem, and uncheered by the hope of human relief, these wretched beings, sometimes naturally associating with their fellow sufferers, pined a miserable existence, in the dreariness of solitude, or the unfrequented wilds of retirement. Here, my brethren, you have an expressive emblem of that moral malady, to which we are all by nature victims-a malady extending to every principle of our nature, infecting the desires, the affections, the whole inward man, of our universal race. All are tainted by its direful symptoms. Though in some, its outbreaks may be less violent than in others; and, through the influence of religious education and pious connections, may have smothed its asperities in some, and distinguished them by external morality from the profane mass around them. Yes, the radix of this fearful plague lies deeply seated in every human heart, making its subjects obnoxious to everlasting condemnation, and to banishment from the glory of God's power for ever. The moral contagion has extended its direful ravages through the whole empire of earth; and the practical intercourse of men with each other has aggravated the power of their latent disease. So that wherever we turn our eyes, we behold the workings of the "mystery of iniquity," sweeping devastatingly through nations and communities, declaring with additional force the sad doctrine of St. Paul: "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin: and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." Excluded from holy society. Incurable by any power but grace. 2. Observe their humility: "They stood afar off." According to law. Prompted by genuine conviction. 3. Their anxiety for deliverance from their disease: "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" They did not cry "unclean." II. Consider the response of Jesus: selves." 1. He conformed to the law. 2. He tries their faith. "Go show your III. The result: "As they went they were cleansed." 1. Cure immediate. 2. Virtue not in means. IV. The gratitude of one, compared with the heartless forgetfulness of the rest. 1. His praise was voluntary. 2. He was a Samaritan. V. The blessed assurance which the grateful leper received. 1. It was a spiritual cure. 2. His connection with the others did not prevent it. Yorkville, 14th Sept., 1850. THE END. The Warning of Lot to his Friends.-Gen. xix. 14... Christian Liberty.-Gal. v. 1. III. IV. The Revival of the Church, Preparatory to the Spread of V. The Heavenly Rest.-Heb. iv. 9..... VI. 84 91 97 99 Different Receptions of the Gospel.-Acts xxviii. 24...... 105 Waiting Upon the Lord.-Isa. xl. 31....... X. Christian Moderation.-Phil. iv. 5... XI. The Sanctuary the Place of the Divine Manifestations. Ps. lxxvii. 13.. XII. 115 117 118 Good Wine at the End of the Feast.-John ii. 10.............................. 121 XIII. The Intercession of Christ.-Heb. vii. 25.. 122 XIV. Christ Testified by the Prophets.-Acts x. 43. 127 XV. The Young Man's Way Cieansed.-Ps. cxix. 9... 128 XVI. God in the Midst of the Church.-Isa. xii. 6. 131 XVII. Simeon in the Temple.-Luke ii. 25—32............. XVIII. The Christian "Acceptable to God and Approved of Men."-Rom. xiv. 18.. XIX. A Charge to the Rich.-1 Tim. vi. 17-19.... 133 135 136 |