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you to believe, that the singularity which separates you from the careless and the unawakened, is not only safe but honourable. It was the conduct adopted by those who have preceded you in the path of life; and if you imitate them in their sacrifice you shall finally experience their reward. "Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you." Marvel not if its advantages are withdrawn, if its pleasures are denied. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever."

SERMON XVIII.

The Tree is known by its Fruits.

7TH. CHAP. OF ST. MATTHEW, 16тH. VERSE.

"Ye shall know them by their fruits.”

HE prophetic spirit with which our Sa

THE

viour was endued, unfolded to his clear and penetrating glance, not only the opposition which his doctrines would encounter in the world, but the errors and perversions by which those doctrines would be disfigured. He saw the false zeal of his pretended friends, as well as the open hatred of his professed enemies. He knew that divisions and animosities would taint the virtues even of the apostles, introduce reproach and scandal into the infant church, corrupt its integrity, weaken its strength, and give occasion to

VOL. II.

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the enemies of his religion to blaspheme. And in his comprehensive view of the flight of ages, how would he mourn over the gradual departure of his followers from the simplicity of Christian truth! How would he shudder to see the traditions of man supersede the oracles of God! How would he lament that a system which breathes nothing but piety, benevolence, and self-denial; which inculcates a sublime indifference to the honours, pleasures, and emoluments of this world, and a firm conviction that the true happiness of an immortal spirit must consist in a constant preparation for eternity; should be made an apology for oppression and fraud, for malice and cruelty; a vehicle for temporal advancement; an excuse for indolent selfindulgence! and in the advocates of a more strict and mortified religion, in the professors of a purer faith and a more consistent practice, who are ready to cry out" we are the people, and wisdom will die with us," how would he grieve to discover a spirit of self-congratulation, as incompatible with real Chris

tianity

tianity as the voluptuous habits of the worldly, and an indulgence of inward malignity as subversive of the power of religion as outward profaneness is destitute of its form! When he saw that, even of those who should minister at the altar, many would be teachers of erroneous doctrines; many disgrace the truths which they preached by the scandal of their lives; and many distract the church of Christ by needless innovations, senseless disputes, and rancorous opposition; well might he exclaim: "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”

But how are we to draw the line between truth and falsehood, between good and evil? When the shepherd and the hireling come to us, claiming the same authority, professing obedience to the same law, and asserting that they have the same object in view; how shall we distinguish between the children of the Lord and the servants of Baal; between the " ravening wolves" who have burst into the fold only to ruin and destroy,

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