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that we are wrought upon by his gracious influence, when we "feel him mortifying the works of the flesh and our earthly members, and lifting up our souls to high and heavenly things?" "Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them members of an harlot? God forbids." "Know ye not, that your body is the temple of God, even of the Holy Ghost, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? Will you then defile" by any uncleanness "the temple of God, which temple ye are t?" My brethren, "flee fornication. If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy. Let no man deceive himself: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God on the children of disobedience; be not ye therefore like unto them." But be ye holy; as it becometh the servants of a holy God, inhabited by the Spirit of Holiness. Be ye righteous; as it becometh them, who" are not their own; for ye are bought with a price, therefore glorify God

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in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's "." Be ye pure; not in deed only and in word, but in thoughts and desires; in the inward, as well as in the outward man; in the affections of the heart, and in the spirit of the mind; that so continually striving to " perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord," ye may go on from strength to strength; until ye finally arrive at that "salvation, to which God hath from the beginning chosen" the faithful followers of his Son "through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth; whereunto he hath called us by his Gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christy."

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SERMON XX.

THE DANGER AND SINFULNESS OF COVETOUSNESS EXEMPLIFIED IN AHAB.

1 KINGS xxi. 4.

And Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him: for he had said, I will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers. And he laid him down upon his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread.

IT is wisely and mercifully provided by almighty God in the rules, which he hath been pleased to enact for the regulation of our moral conduct, that attention should be paid to the first motions and beginnings of sin. Thus for the security of every man's person, we are commanded to refrain, not only from the act of murder,

but from every act, nay from every word, wish, or thought of a malicious character. For the security of his domestic peace and comfort, we are not only required to abstain from the act of adultery, but are also warned, that even to "look on a woman" with criminal desires is sinful in the sight of God. And to the same effect, for the security of another's property, of whatever kind it be, the commandment is absolute; not only in forbidding the action, but in forbidding also the inclination, of dishonesty not only in enjoining upon us, "Thou shalt not steal," but in enjoining also, "Thou shalt not covet nor desire another man's goods." How wise and how benevolent this precaution is, on the part of our gracious Lawgiver, is best perceived by those, who are best acquainted with the deceitfulness and the evil propensities of the human heart; and who are well aware how rapidly the seeds of wickedness, which are congenial to that corrupt soil, will thrive and grow to maturity, if they are not carefully rooted out: in plain language, how rapidly criminal desires, unless they are repressed with the utmost circumspec

tion, produce criminal purposes and resolutions, and so in the end ripen into criminal actions; until they totally cloud the understanding, and destroy all the better feelings of the soul; until (as the Prophet emphatically expresses it) "the whole head becomes sick and the whole heart faint "."

Of the necessity of laying a check upon irregular desires at their first commencement, and of the danger which ensues from their being permitted to thrive upon indulgence, a memorable instance lately passed before us in the conduct of David; an instance the more memorable indeed, on account of the exalted character for virtue and piety of him, who was so lamentably seduced by criminal self-indulgence into the grossest and blackest sins. Another remarkable instance of the like danger is offered to our meditations in the case of Ahab, king of Samaria. Different from David in his general character, of Ahab it is recorded, that "there was none like unto him, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord;" and

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