those duties without which all the devotions of the sanctuary will be only "walking in a vain show," and seeking the applause of man, instead of the approbation of Him who "seeth in secret ?" 3. Do not be deceived by any complacent reference to the time of life at which you have arrived, or the progress in religion which you have already made. Though the influence of evil society upon the young is of the most corrupting tendency; though their minds, in the period when the character is formed, are most subject to its hurtful influence; yet the danger of "evil communications" is by no means confined to them. No: at whatever period of life you have arrived, "evil communications" will "corrupt good manners." Habits are lost in the same way as they are acquired; the fruits of long custom in right action are speedily dissipated and destroyed by exposure to contrary custom in doing wrong; and the mind of no person has arrived at such a state of confirmation in holy habits as to make a relaxation of vigilance safe, or enable it to yield itself up securely to the casual influence of place and society. Religion is a perpetual warfare; religion is a perpetual exercise of self-command; it is a perpetual reference to the will of God; it is a perpetual use of the power of selfgovernment and attention to the invisible eye of Him that seeth in secret. If you commit yourself to evil society now, what shall hinder you in the most advanced age from forsaking the law of God, and disgracing the latter part of your life by conduct totally different from that which conferred dignity on your youth? Solomon in his youth feared God, but when old age came upon him, through the contagious example of his idolatrous wives, he forsook the God of his fathers, and exposed his kingdom to perdition and ruin. No, my brethren, there is no such thing as depending upon any force of habit, unless its influence produces right conduct at present; if it inspires us with a holy resolution, and gives a right view of our duty at the present moment, and determination to adhere to it, we may rejoice in that habit; but if it produces recumbency, a slothful dependence upon God, and neglect of the precautions of religion and the rules of duty, we have reason to believe that he who thus thinketh he standeth will soon fall. 4. Be not deceived by any supposed strength of resolution with which you may enter into such society. It is much easier abstained from than renounced. The paths of sinners are much more easily shunned than they are quitted. When confederacies are formed, it requires a powerful effort to break them. It is far less difficult to keep out of society than to resist its current. The action of fire is mechanical and necessary, you may approach it or not; so you may avoid evil company if you please. The ranks of impiety are not so thin as not to give you sufficient warning to escape them; but when you are in them, in the very focus of temptation, no resolution you can exert will for a moment stop its progress: you must submit to its action; you are committed to your fate, and must take the consequences; you must be deteriorated and degenerated with the causes of deterioration and degeneracy. Be not deceived, then, by supposing that any previous resolution has considerable influence on the conduct of men 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 * 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 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 wilder ness.' 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, 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. J. 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 reprobatés 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. |