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when they are off their guard and open to the impression of social affections. This is the season, of all others, in which mental resolution has least power; the mind is not only open, but, before it is aware, becomes relaxed; the love of association soon comes to supplant all other thoughts; all the cooler reflections, the wiser resolves of the closet vanish; all the force of the most strenuous intentions melt like wax before the sun, in the warmth of social intercourse. In proportion as the social affections are vivid and warm, in that proportion is the necessary effect in dissipating and giving to the wind the force of the most strenuous resolutions.

Hence permit me to suggest one or two cautions of prudence. In the first place, let those who have a serious sense of religion bind themselves with the vows of God, and enter on a solemn profession of them at an early period of life. Enter into the church of God, take upon you the vows of the Almighty; if your hearts are sincere with him, if you have reason to believe you are in earnest in seeking after him, and have committed yourself to the Redeemer, take upon you his yoke openly, bear his name upon your forehead before men. This will have the happiest effect in strengthening you against the force of evil example. Recollecting the nature of your engagements, you will be awakened to a sense of consistency of conduct, and be shocked at the thought of bringing reproach on the cause of God. A sense of self-respect will come in aid of the higher principles of religion, and the higher motives to virtuous conduct. You will remember that you have assumed, if I may so say, a peculiar caste; and when you look upon the pure and holy robe of the profession of Christianity you thus wear, you will be anxious, if you have been sincere in making that profession, to keep it "unspotted from the world." It is well, in such a state of temptation, to render retreat difficult, if not impossible, to put yourself on ground from which you cannot retreat. He who has done this effectually has given up his name to Christ, and enrolled himself among his disciples, has gone forth to him without the camp, bearing his reproach, has thus cut off his own retreat; he renders it impossible to consult his earthly interests at the expense of piety, without bringing upon himself all the reproaches of his conscience, the ridicule of unbelievers, and the contempt of his companions and of mankind.

Let all young persons, then, bind themselves with the vows of God, and unite themselves to those whom God has touched by his Spirit, and is guiding, under the convoy of the Captain of salvation, to eternal glory. The church will willingly receive all such as are desirous of uniting themselves to the Lord in an everlasting covenant, and will say, as Moses did to Hobab, "Come with us, and we will do you good; we are going to the land of which the Lord our God hath said, I will give it you.' Are you linked in with society from which you find it difficult to break? Change your place of abode, make a sacrifice of worldly convenience, nay, relinquish some of the tendernesses of life, for the purpose of securing your safety: there is no place so

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* Num. x. 29.

dangerous, none from which you ought to flee with so much rapidity, as that which is the seat of contagion, where, enlinked with vicious associates, you cannot remain without being in the way to perpetuate your confederacy with sinners. Flee from such a place; as you would not "walk in the counsel of the ungodly;" stand not "in the way of sinners," lest you "sit down in the seat of the scorners." Flee, then, as for your life. These, you know, are different stages in depravity, different degrees of progress in corruption; walking in the counsel of the ungodly" is the first; he who does that will next "stand in the way of sinners," and that is a ready and proper preparation for sitting down "in the seat of the scornful."* Do you wish not to be ashamed of Christ before men? Go into society which shall not tempt you to that shame; seek those associates before whom you may, without a blush, lift up your heads and avow your attachment to a once crucified, but now glorified, Redeemer.

Let it be remembered, that with those with whom you voluntarily associate here you shall be associated hereafter by the Disposer of all things, for ever: with those persons with whom you choose to spend your time you must spend your eternity; these are inseparably allied. Those who choose the society of the vicious, those who keep company with the enemies of God in this world by choice and election, will have their portions with such in the regions of everlasting darkness. Eternity is pressing on: ask yourselves, then, with whom would you wish to be associated when the voice of the archangel and the trump of God shall proclaim that "there shall be time no longer." With whom would you choose to rise? With whom would you have your everlasting portion? With patriarchs and prophets? With evangelists and apostles? With saints and martyrs now shining forth in the glories of celestial radiance? Or with those who, having slighted the warnings and despised the mercies of the Lord, must assuredly "awake to shame and everlasting contempt." There are but two societies in the universe, the church and the world; the servants of God and the servants of Satan; the votaries of time and the votaries of eternity they are each of them claiming your regard, and saying to ingenuous youth, "Come with us," and holding out their respective allurements and attractions. One presents "the pleasures of sin for a season," to be followed by bitter remorse and everlasting despair; the other the prize of immortality, the society of saints, calm of conscience, quiet of mind, the peace of a self-approving spirit, consolation unutterable, and that only as the earnest of the pleasures to be enjoyed at the right-hand of God; that fulness of joy which is for evermore.

Recollect, time is pressing on, and we shall soon be that which we shall continue to be for ever. Do not say, I will remain a little longer in the society of wicked persons, I will loiter a little longer in the pursuit of sin and sensual gratification, in the neglect of God and religion. While you are halting, God may decide for you; he has no sympathy with hesitation, but looks with contempt and abhorrence on

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the infatuation and wretched folly and guilt of that mind which prefers the applause of the world, the pleasures of sin, and the gratification of a moment, to the "exceeding and eternal weight" of his favour and friendship. He has no sympathy with such persons, he abhors them; at least, they are exercising his patience every day. Despise not, then, "the riches of his goodness and long-suffering,' lest, while you are halting between two opinions, God should lift up his hand "and swear that you shall not see his rest." To-day," then, I say, to-day, "if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness.'

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Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers, "for what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?" For you are the temple of the living God, if you are Christians; and to be such I trust every one here is aspiring, as He hath said, "I will dwell with them and walk in them, and I will bless them; I will be their God, and they shall be my people." Therefore, "come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord; touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Most High God."‡

XIX.

THE EVILS OF IDOLATRY, AND THE MEANS OF ITS ABOLITION.

ISAIAH ii. 18.-The idols He shall utterly abolish.

[PREACHED AT BRISTOL, FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE BAPTIST MISSIONS,
NOVEMBER 2, 1826.]

THE progress of Christianity in the world has already been so great and wonderful as to carry evidence of its Divine original, and of its promised final triumph over every false religion. Its vast effects have been produced principally by the simple instrument of preaching its doctrines, attended by the promised influence of the Holy Spirit. The same instrument, attended by the same influence, may be reasonably expected to effect the ultimate conversion of all the nations. This most desirable object we are on the present occasion assembled to promote.

It is agreed by expositors, that, in the connexion of the text, the success of the gospel is predicted: as a remarkable feature by which

* Psalm xev. 7, 8.

† 2 Cor. vi. 14-16. Printed from the notes of the Rev. Thomas Grinfield.

2 Cor. vi. 17, 18.

its success would be distinguished, the destruction of idolatry is mentioned in the words I have selected; in which two things are proposed to our attention,-the evil to be abolished, and the means of its abolition.

I. The evil to be abolished. This, as you will observe, is idolatry. It has been commonly and very properly distinguished as of two kinds, literal and spiritual. The latter, or spiritual idolatry, is an evil which, by the apostacy of our nature, attaches to all mankind, whether inhabiting Christian or pagan regions, except those individuals whose hearts have experienced a renovation by the Spirit of God. It is to the former, or literal idolatry, that the prophet in the text refers : this the connexion shows, where mention is made of those idols of silver and gold, which the converted idolaters would cast away. The progress of Christianity was, from the first, marked by the cessation of idol worship; and this was effected by the same means which are still to be employed. Men were called to turn from their dumb idols to serve the living God. The abandonment of a false worship must prepare the way for a moral revolution: men must cease from the adoration of images, before they can in any sense be worshippers of the true Jehovah.

There are two principal points of view in which we may regard the evil nature and effects of idolatry; its aspect towards God, and its aspect towards man. In the former aspect, it appears as a crime; in the latter, as a calamity: thus contemplated, it appears as an evil destructive equally to the Divine glory and to human happiness. Man naturally tends to this evil; and one generation after another gradually accumulated the follies of superstition, till it reached the monstrous extreme of gross idolatry.

1. The Word of God everywhere reprobates idolatry as an abominable thing, which the soul of God abhors. To provide against this, was a principal object in the political and municipal department of the Mosaic law. It is expressly prohibited by the first and the second commandment of the moral law; the first being designed to confirm the worship of the true God, the second to exclude every idolatrous form of worship. Idolatry makes a material symbol of the invisible God; but so jealous is the Divine Being of his own honour, that he has forbidden, not only the worship of any other or false god, but even the worship of Himself by the medium of a graven image. The golden calf was a representative of the God of Israel; and the calves set up by Jeroboam were the same: yet the worship of the golden calf occasioned the slaughter, by the Divine command, of three thousand persons; and the executioners of Divine vengeance were extolled for having forgotten the feelings of nature towards their nearest kindred : every man was commanded to slay his brother or his son, and so to consecrate himself to the Lord.* Where God's honour was so deeply concerned, men were to lose sight of common humanity. When the Israelites were tempted by the artifices of Balaam to commit idolatry at Baal-peor, twenty-four thousand were slain at once; the memory of Phinehas was immortalized on account of the holy zeal he dis

*Exod. xxxii. 29.

played in the destruction of certain conspicuous offenders; and the Moabites were devoted to extermination, because, in this respect, they had proved a snare to Israel. According to the Divine appointment, credit was to be denied to the testimony of an idolater, and his life was to be taken by his nearest relative. All this marks the disposition, with regard to idolatry, of that Being who is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. If he does not now punish it as he once did, it is not that he hates it now less than formerly: but he spares men, that they may be brought to the knowledge of his will and his salvation: Now he commands all men everywhere to repent, because he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world by Jesus Christ: and he desires that we, who have received the gospel, should carry the tidings of this command to all mankind.

Idolatry is, with respect to the government of God, what treason or rebellion is with respect to civil government. It is the setting up of an idol in the place of the Supreme Power; an affront offered to that Majesty in which all order and authority is combined and concentred, and which is the fountain of all social blessings. Hence, in the eye of God nothing can dilute the turpitude or diminish the guilt of this offence. It makes no difference what may be the character of the rival: there is still an entire transfer of allegiance from the blessed and only Potentate to a palpable usurper; and the guilt remains the same. Were we even to suppose the character of the idol immaculate as that of Jesus Christ and God himself, the case would not be materially altered; an invasion would still be committed on the immense empire of the Most High. Were the idol even cast in a mould of the purest moral beauty, it would still, as an idol, be a monster. deserving universal execration.

Idolatry is an evil which, where it exists, taints every apparent virtue; because it destroys the soul of duty, which is obedience to the Divine will, conformity to the Divine command. Though there exists an eternal rectitude, independent of written revelation; yet we, short-sighted creatures, must resign ourselves to be guided by the revealed will of God: conformity to this is our only sure standard. And the Scriptures everywhere assure us that nothing is acceptable to God that is not done under the influence of a sincere regard to his will. This is perfectly reasonable. Suppose a person to do accidentally, unintentionally, just what you would wish to have done; yet if, in so doing, he had no design to please you, will his conduct satisfy you as if he had acted from a regard to your wish, as your devoted servant? Your will, your authority never entered into his views and motives; and can he expect that you should reward him? Thus nothing is done rightly, nothing to any good purpose, where God is not regarded: the single eye is wanting; and, that wanting, the whole body is full of darkness. Men may do much good from merely selfinterested or ambitious motives; and they may have their reward, the only reward they ever sought, in success and applause. Nebuchadnezzar was employed by God as a rod to scourge his guilty people; and, having served that purpose, was cast aside. Pagan philosophers

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