and your triumphs over it. Every vice subdued must be dragged as a prisoner at his chariot wheels. Every vanquished lust and passion must be bound as a trophy around his Cross. And is it not a sufficient encouragement in the conflict, that you have such a Leader; that the banner of his love waves over you; and that a voice from the mount cheers you on in your march: "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me on my throne; even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father on his throne?" God many grant that such holy victories be won may in this place; that the power of the Saviour may be manifested among us; that you and I may begin to triumph over habits which perhaps have long tyrannized over us; that the sin which hath hitherto "so easily beset us," may fall before the sword of the Spirit-may be known henceforth, not as a living, but as a slaughtered enemy→→→ may be remembered only to deepen our strains of love and gratitude to Him who has "given us the victory, through Jesus Christ our Lord!"

There are three cautions with which I would conclude our observations on these words.

1. In the first place, we are to beware, lest, having detected one constitutional or besetting sin, we come to a conclusion that there is necessarily but one. Such are the deceits which the great enemy of souls practises upon us, that our very vigilance upon one point is often perverted into a source of negligence as to others. Can the heart, we are tempted to ask, be corrupt on all sides? Is there no point at which it is needless to watch? To this we answer, It is possible that in your own case one sin may rule supreme, and no other occupy even a formidable

place in the soul. But the contrary is more probable. Sins thrive together; sins minister to each other. The corruption favourable to one bad passion is favourable to others. Guard, therefore, my brethren, against this delusion; nor confine to one point the vigilance which ought to be universally exercised.

2. Again: guard against the error of mistaking the momentary slumbers of the besetting sin for its death and extinction.-Truly may it be affirmed of sin in general, and especially of those sins which have long had the dominion over us, even when their extinction appears to be the most complete, "that they are not dead, but sleep." Suppressed for one moment, they arise the next. Subdued in one form, they assume another. Even in the children of God, the lusts and tempers of their unconverted state are apt continually to reappear; and, though encountered with a vigour of resistance, which prevents them from re-assuming their dominion, are the same in essence and malignity. Sometimes indeed they revive in a different shape and semblance, and thus deceive us. Pride becomes spiritual pride; intolerance, religious bigotry; angry passions, theological hatred. Here, also, it is not possible to be too vigilant.

3. In the third and last place, guard against low and desponding notions as to the impossibility of subduing the sins which are constitutional.-Something has already been said on this point. But I cannot leave you with what I have designed to be an alarming picture of the subtlety and peril of the besetting sin, without endeavouring more emphatically to cheer and animate you in your efforts to subdue it. My Christian brethren, it

is always to be remembered, in the war you wage with sin in yourself or others, that the Lord is on your side, and that all the power of Omnipotence are pledged for your support. And consider, that where sin is to be subdued, you have not in the "Captain of your salvation" a doubtful or reluctant ally. He "hates" it with a "perfect hatred." With sin he will hold neither alliance nor compromise. Go forth, then, to the battle, as David to his conflict with the Philistine, in the persuasion that your enemy is also the enemy of the Lord; and in his strength you shall conquer. What though your foes be many and mighty; what though you bear in your hand but the "sling" and the "stone"-the most feeble and imperfect weapons-the Lord will give precision and force to the blow; will direct the stone to the "forehead" of the enemy, and he shall sink to rise no more. May these assurances, my Christian brethren, be fulfilled to each of you; and, in the words of the young warrior of Israel, when marching to meet his giant adversary, may "all this assembly know that the battle is the Lord's, and that he can give" every enemy "into our hands."

Looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith; who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.

NONE will despise the difficulties of a religious course but those who have not entered upon it. St. Paul, though, as it would seem to us, triumphant in every sphere of duty, was far from entertaining a low conception of these difficulties. Indeed, in adverting to his own conflicts with the corruptions of his nature, he employs one of the most powerful images which it is possible to conceive. "Oh, wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"—who, in other words, shall rescue me from this body of corruption, which clings to me like the corpse, fastened (according to a mode of punishment among the Romans) to the living man.

It was likely, my Christian brethren, that a man thus impressed with the difficulties of the Christian life should be anxious to encourage the

minds of the fainting servants of God. And, having, in the first verse of this chapter, laboured thus to cheer them, by directing their eye "to the cloud of witnesses" who had already run the race, and won the prize, he proceeds next to display to them that still loftier source of encouragement to which the text directs our attention.

If an individual, engaged in any warlike enterprise, is taught that others have conquered in the same field, and against the same enemies, his next inquiry is likely to be, under what leader they fought, and by whose strength they prevailed?' In like manner the timid and sinking Christian will often be disposed, as he contemplates by the eye of faith the shining host of the redeemed presented to him in the first verse of the chapter, with much earnestness to ask, To whom he is to look for succour and guidance in this high enterprise; and who, "when the enemy cometh in like a flood," will "lift up a standard against him?" To the man thus inquiring, the text replies, "Look unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith!" You have, in the Master you serve, a Leader who is "mighty to save." You have in his mercy a remedy commensurate with the infirmities and diseases of human nature. You have, in the once-crucified and now triumphant Son of God, all that your necessities can require, or your heart can wish.'

Such, my brethren, appears to be the general argument of our text, and such its immediate connexion with the passage that goes before it. But let us proceed to the distinct examination of its several parts, calling devoutly on Him who is the

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