can his goodness be impeached, since our very trials endear him to us, wean from the world, produce humility, excite dependence, and make us long for that happy state where all shall be unfolded, and we shall clearly see that all things have worked together for our good.

But let us now proceed to consider those circumstances which more particularly enter into the distressing experience of the christian. And, first, we may observe, that a deep view of his own unworthiness often discourages him. Convinced of the holiness of God's law, and of the purity of the divine nature, he mourns over the little conformity he finds to the divine image. Observing the pride, the vanity, the indifference, the treachery and unbelief of his heart, he trembles before God. Other enemies are around him, waiting an opportunity for an attack; but this is within him, continually harassing and distressing him. Its secret intrigues, its various windings and turnings, its mutability and vileness, its readiness to coalesce with every surrounding object, its evasive shifts, its artifice and cunning, its infidelity and hypocrisy, with a long train of other abominations, all tend to depress the mind, weaken the faith, and damp the joy of the christian. O how do these corruptions cause him to drag on heavily! how do they deprive him of comfort, spoil his duties, and render him a burden to himself! Perhaps no outward troubles ever become such a source of distress as this. His reproaches, afflictions, losses, and bereavements, may be sanctified; he may be greatly supported under them, yea, his greatest faith, patience, resignation, and fortitude, may be displayed in them. Say, christian, what is it that

grieves thee most? Is it thy poverty; the indignity thrown upon thee for Christ's sake; the loss of worldly goods; or the deprivation of health and of earthly joys? No; it is the risings of corruption; the coldness, the little spirituality of thy heart; the strange backwardness at times to engage in the best of services; the vile thoughts, the dull affections towards God. It is these things that cause him to hang down his head. The apostle Paul could glory in infirmities, reproaches, necessities, persecutions, and distresses for Christ's sake; but when he comes to behold himself, and to observe the depravity of his own heart, he declares himself to be wretched, and the least of all God's saints. It is this that causes many to doubt of their interest in the divine Saviour. "Can I,” saith the convinced soul, "can I be an object of divine love? Can I, who have nothing but vileness and sin, be a subject of grace? Where is that holy confidence in God, that patience of hope, that ardour of love, that characterise the true believer? Were I a christian, should I not oftener enjoy communion with God, watch against the world, and discover more zeal in his cause? Ah, me! what inactivity mark my steps; what feeble desires, what secret backslidings! And though I hate sin, yet, alas! how ready to listen to the tempter! how ready to give way to a busy imagination; ever painting things different to what they are! Alas! how can I approach his throne, who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity! How can I associate with his people, when I myself am so unlike them! How can I visit his house to worship him, when my heart wanders from him!" Thus the christian sometimes mourns,

and, forgetting that all these feelings are the result of light and of grace, writes bitter things against himself. "Thine arrows stick fast in me; mine iniquities have gone over my head: as an heavy burden, they are too heavy for me. I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly: I go mourning all the day long. I am ready to halt, and my sorrow is continually before me." Ps. xxxviii. And what is the cause? "For that which I do, I allow not; for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that I do. The good that I would, I do not; but the evil I would not, that I do. When I would do good, evil is present with me. It is true, I delight in the law of God, after the inward man, but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. O wretched man that I ain!" Rom. vii.

-The insinuations of Satan become another source of distress. That there is such a being, the scripture gives us every reason to believe (Matt. ii. 29. Eph. ii. 2. John xii. 31. 2 Cor. iv. 4.) although many deny his existence, and endeavour to explain away the effects of his agency, by attributing them them to vision, a deluded imagination, or a weak mind. This being, is an enemy of the human race at large, but more especially malignant against them who bear the divine image. When the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, Satan also came among them. Job i. 6. Satan hath desired to have thee, said our Lord, that he may sift thee as wheat. Luke xxii. 31. Be sober, be vigilant, saith the apostle, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about,

seeking whom he may devour. 1 Pet. v. 8.. There is no doubt but many easily persuade themselves, that, every evil that arises, every temptation that is proposed, comes from this quarter; but whatever extreme such may run into, it is evident that the forementioned passages imply that much opposition must be expected from this great enemy. Those, indeed, who are wholly under his influence feel no struggle; they are voluntarily going the way he would have them; but those who are travelling a contrary road continually experience his attacks. How often does he insinuate that there is no God; no future state of rewards and punishments; no truth in the sacred volume; that religion is unnecessary, and that there can be no harm in the gratification of our passions! Or, if there be a God, that he is too great to take notice of the affairs of mortals, too merciful to punish their infirmities, and too compassionate to require of them uniform obedience. Or, allowing that God calls for sincerity of heart, devout worship, and unreserved affection, yet how ready is he to insinuate that the christian has no interest in his favour; that his sins are too great to be pardoned; that all his past experience has been nothing but the effect of his own imagination; that he has been deceiving himself; that he is guilty of presumption; that, after all his profession, he will be cast away from the divine presence, and abandoned to everlasting misery and woe! How has he brought past sins to remembrance, accused of neglect, ingratitude, and disobedience; yea, how has he pleaded the infirmities of human nature, and especially those which have taken place since the christian first made a profession, in order to make

him believe that he is only a hypocrite! yea, he has sometimes insinuated that he has committed the sin against the Holy Ghost, which has filled the mind for a season with the greatest distress. Thus wearied with the continual assault of this great adversary, how discouraged and perplexed has the christian been! and were it not for the supplies of grace and strength from on high, how often would his foot have slipped, and his soul been plunged into all the horrors of guilt and despair!

This great enemy, also, greatly harasses the christian by his vigilance, restless activity, and cunning. He knows how to suit his temptations to the various ages, circumstances, sentiments, and feelings of mankind. He has temptations for the eye, the ear, the taste; yea, all the senses of man. We may change our situation, alter our condition, and remove into a different sphere; but behold he is there also. He has temptations suitable to youth, to age, to opulence, to poverty; to retirement, to society, to ignorance, to knowledge; yea, to every object, every circumstance, and every place. Nothing of a prosperous nature, but what he is ready to turn into a snare; nothing of a discouraging kind, but what he is busy to convert into a source of discontent. Thus he is ever active to spoil, disturb, confuse, and, where he can, to destroy. How much does a good man, notwithstanding all his vigilance, suffer from this foe of God and of man! How often is he wounded in the conflict! and though the God of his salvation has determined his final happiness in the end, how frequently is it interrupted in the way!