cause our adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour." Those who commit sin are called the children of the devil; those who are converted to the faith and obedience of the gospel, are said to be "turned from darkness unto light, from the power of satan unto God:" finally, the wicked are to have their portion hereafter in a place of punishment, expressly prepared for the devil and his angels. Thus I have proved to you from the holy Scriptures, that I use no unwarrantable liberty in substituting the name of satan for that of mammon; understand mammon to mean riches or any other earthly object of desire, or the world in general, as opposed to the kingdom of God and his righteousness, still satan is the real master, these are only the allurements and temptations which he makes use of to seduce men into his service. Not that he can bestow them, he can only direct your attention to them, tempt you to set your heart upon them, inflame your desire after them, magnify the value and the pleasure of them, blind your eyes to the danger of them; this is as far as his power goes. But he knows that if he can succeed in this, he plunges you into guilt and ruin, robs Christ of souls whom he came to redeem, and secures for himself associates in his own eternal misery.

Such then are the "two masters" who claim the dominion of the world :-What are the services which they require?

God demands the supreme place in your affections; "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, and with all thy strength." He says (Christ, who is the image of God, says) "he that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me; he that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me;" that is, no object, not even such as may otherwise innocently be loved, not even such as has by nature and divine institution the strongest and best founded title to our esteem, must be suffered to come into competition with God. Again, Again, the Scripture says "love not the world, neither the things that are in the world, if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." Here all earthly objects are at once excluded from having any such share in our affections, as to interfere with the love of God; as they are also in the other passage which bids us "set our affections on things above, not on things on the earth." But I need not accumulate texts on this subject; it is enough to state that the spirit of the first and great commandment breathes through the whole of the sacred writings. We

must we serve.

must worship the Lord our God, and him only His will is to be our only rule; his favour our highest object; the kingdom of God and his righteousness our first and most important aim in all the periods and circumstances of life; no matter what difficulty may impede, what labour, what sacrifice of natural inclination, what self-denial may be required; every desire, every pursuit must yield to the love of God, if we take him for our master.

I have said the only other master proposed to our choice is Satan. Disguise this fact as we will, use whatever other expression we please, soften away our opposition to God by any other language, use a milder representation of the condition in which we are living, this is the plain, the alarming truth; our only other claim is to be the servants of satan. And what is his will? What are his laws? The very contrary in all things to those of God. Love the world, study your earthly interests and pleasures, indulge all your appetites, give the rein to all your passions, revel in sensuality, put eternity out of view, be conformed to the world, make a mock of sin, shake off all apprehensions of punishment, neglect the Scriptures, omit prayer, burst your slavish bonds of religion, and live altogether according to the bent of your own corrupt nature,

these are the maxims of Satan, and the laws by which he would govern the world. Can you

serve two such masters?

Can you obey each of them in part? Can you reconcile their discordant principles of government? Can you promote their views with equal fidelity and equal success? Can you love both? Can you please both? Not unless you can confound all distinction between good and evil; not unless you can mingle heaven and hell together; not unless you can find in the Scriptures the promise of some intermediate condition hereafter, between everlasting happiness and everlasting misery; nay, it is utterly impossible, it is a contradiction to suppose it; "for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? And what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?" These things are so inconsistent that it is impossible to bring them to any agreement, impossible to find any neutral ground between the two parties, on which one may stand, and hold friendly intercourse with both alike.

But does any man attempt it? Is any man so foolish as to think that he can at once engage in two services of such opposite natures? that he can serve two masters, such as have been de

scribed? God and mammon? God and Satan? Oh that we had not numberless proofs of this folly before our eyes every day! Oh that we could see the two services kept so distinct, that there should be no doubt which master every man had chosen! that Christians were such decided characters, so simply devoted to the cause of their Lord, so free from all appearance or suspicion of communion with his enemy, as to create no difficulty in determining to whom they belong! that the line which separates the servants of God from the servants of mammon were as visible as it is real! For we are now greatly perplexed, when we behold in the same persons such a mixture of opposite characters and opposite pursuits. We scarcely know (though God knows) on whose side they are ranged, in whose cause they are engaged; some Christians come down so near to a conformity with the world, and some worldly people put on so much of the appearance of Christians, that the outward distinction seems to be lost in many cases, and we should often be in error, if we were to attempt to class either party by what we see and know of them. It is not indeed that we are required to do this; nay more, it is not that we have any right to do this; often have I observed Christian charity, which "thinketh no evil, and hopeth all things," to