ceitfully. Pray for a more simple dependence upon the merits of the Saviour and the grace of the Holy Spirit. Pray that the Divine image, once stamped upon man, and forfeited at the Fall, may, in some small measure, be reflected in the "righteousness and true holiness" of our own character. And, finally, may those who shall be called upon at some future day, when we are consigned to the chambers of the silent grave, to encourage the fainting souls of the servants of the Lord, be able to point to us, as among the cloud of witnesses whose lives and deaths proclaim the holiness, the usefulness, and the happiness of true religion!

SERMON VI.

THE BESETTING SIN.

HEBREWS xii. 1.

The sin which doth so easily beset us.

THE husbandman, in cultivating the fruits of the earth, soon discovers that he has to contend, not merely with those blights and frosts which are the common enemies of all vegetation, but with certain specific evils which are the distinct enemies of each peculiar production. And it is thus in the cultivation of the heart. The spiritual labourer is not long in discovering that he has to struggle, not merely with the general corruptions of our fallen nature, but with certain distinct passions, tempers, and appetites, which are the peculiar obstacles of each individual. It is to these more specific and peculiar tendencies of our nature that divines have commonly applied the language of the text, and to which they have assigned the name of the "besetting sin." The subject being one of great importance, I feel a strong desire to draw your attention to it. In so doing, it is my design to consider more especially,

I. SOME OF THE MEANS BY WHICH WE MAY BE

ASSISTED IN THE DETECTION OF OUR BESET-
TING SIN; and.

II. SOME OF THE MEANS BY WHICH WE MAY

BEST HOPE TO BE DELIVERED FROM IT.

Let us not, my Christian brethren, enter upon the inquiry without earnestly supplicating the assistance of the Holy Spirit, to preserve us, during the course of it, from the influence both of our general and more peculiar corruption, and from that delusion and self-deception which it is apt to produce.

I. In the first place, then, we are to considersOME

OF THE MEANS BY WHICH WE MAY BE ASSISTED IN THE DETECTION OF OUR BESETTING SIN.-It can scarcely be necessary to premise, both that many cases will, after all, elude our powers of investigation, and that every case must be examined in dependence upon the aid of the Holy Spirit. But, to those coming to this inquiry in a spirit of seriousness, simplicity, and affectionate dependence on the teaching of the Holy Ghost, the following plain rules may not perhaps be altogether useless.

1. And, first, we may be, in some instances, assisted in the discovery of the besetting sin, by considering what are the faults most common to men of our own temperament and constitution.-The same soil has, under the like circumstances, a tendency to throw out the same weeds; and the offences of nature, constituted alike, will, in many instances, bear a strong resemblance to each other. Am I, therefore, of a sanguine temperament; what (let me ask) are the most frequent defects and offences of the sanguine? Is my nature, on the contrary, cold and phlegmatic; what are commonly the besetting sins of the cold? Am I constitutionally timid; what are the

N

usual defects of the timid? Am I bold; what are the more usual sins of a high and daring spirit?

Nor let it be objected to this scrutiny into the faults of others when in search of our own, that it will tend to cherish a habit of severity towards those around us. To scrutinize the defects of others with no object, or a bad one, is to endanger both humility and Christian love. But, in the present instance, where we are searching for the materials, not of vanity, but of humility and self-abasement, we may hope that the compassion of the Saviour will preserve us from the perils of the employment. Go forth, therefore, thou who canst discover so little of corruption in thyself, into the common walks of life, and survey the great company of those who are "men of like passions with yourselves." Behold that self-complacent Pharisee; that empty formalist; that "lover of pleasure rather than lov er of God;" that anxious bustler in the concerns of a perishing world, and trifler with eternity; that opposer of faith to works, or works to faith; that mere professor, with his creed lodged in his memory, but excluded from his heart; that traitor to his Lord, confessing him with his lips, but crucifying him afresh by his daily temper and practice. Contemplate these various classes and characters; compare yourself with them; inquire whether the same temperament is not betraying you into the like offences, and thus learn your "besetting sin."

"Thinkest thou, Ŏ man, which judgest them that do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God!"

2. A second means of detecting the besetting sin, is by examining the prevailing defects of men

of like age, circumstances, rank, or employment, with ourselves.-Men are, in many instances, the mere creatures of the circumstances in which they are placed. Like circumstances beget like habits. It may be remarked, that our Lord, in addressing the Priests, the Pharisees, the Scribes, and other classes among his countrymen, often censures them as it were in the mass, and in their corporate capacity—a mode of address which so cautious and tender an observer of human nature would not have adopted, unless all the members of these various bodies had been prone to similar faults. In every age and condition, also, there are certain defects and transgressions in a measure common to the body to which we belong. The public, and the retired man-the studious and the trifling-the man of business, and of pleasure—the rich and the poor-the aged and the young-parents and children-husbands and wives-masters and servants, have their distinct and characteristic temptations and faults to which they are exposed. The rapidity with which certain evil habits diffuse themselves over any class of men is, therefore, less astonishing than grievous. Their temptations are, in a measure, the same; their dangers the same: one countenances the other; the law of custom is substituted for the law of God; and sympathy, and the force of imitation, complete what a deviation from Scripture begins. When the Apostle speaks of "Demas forsaking" him, he adds, "at my first answer no man stood with me." When Peter denied his Master, "all the disciples forsook him and fled." Behold here, then, my Christian brethren, another rule for the detection of the besetting sin. Survey the class to which you