into temptation. What I say unto you, I say unto all-watch."

It is very important, however, that our conviction of the sins and dangers to which we are exposed should be something definite and distinct. It should be something much more than the vague and general impression with which some men content themselves that "nobody is perfect," "the best men have their weak sides," "every one has his fault." Neither on the other hand is it enough that we are willing to talk gravely of "the depravity of the human heart," "the vileness of our corrupt nature," "its rottenness to the very core." Notwithstanding the lofty claims to humility, which are made by some of those who use this language, it is still very possible to deceive ourselves by the use of it. It is very possible, that all these phrases may be stantly repeated, without any proper sense, any practical conviction, of the real propensities to sin, which exist in our nature. In truth, I believe that it not unfrequently happens with many who are most fond of speaking in general of the utter corruption of their nature, that they are not found to be more willing than others to be suspected of a tendency to any particular sin.

very regularly and con

But on such a subject as this, the language of extenuation or exaggeration is equally misplaced. We ought all to wish to know the truth, the exact truth. It can be no man's real interest in this life

to deceive himself or others; and in a future one, how fatal will he find a voluntary and cherished delusion to have been! Let us then, my brethren, look honestly and faithfully into our own hearts. Let us study the true tendencies of our constitution. Let us seek to find in what our danger really

consists.

You have often been invited in other discourses to consider the nature and dangers of particular sins. In the present discourse it is my wish to take a view of the principal sources of evil that are found in the human constitution. We may learn from it a salutary lesson of caution and humility. At the same time I shall consider it my duty to endeavour to show that the guilt of each of our sins is all our own; and that there is no part of our nature, as it proceeds originally from the hands of our Maker, which is unworthy of its divine Author. God made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.

The first source of sin to which our attention is naturally directed, is that which arises from the part of our nature which we share in common with other animals. We are prompted to transgression by our appetites. It is not that they are not useful, necessary, and perfectly innocent in their original purposes; but if we neglect or abuse them, a powerful tendency is produced in them to excess and disorder. In the lower creation the cravings of appetite are regulated by instinct, and the desire of

gratification dies when the real wants of nature are satisfied. It is otherwise with man. He is entrusted-and it is a noble charge-with the care of his own happiness, with the task of self-government. The precise limit of gratification, therefore, is not marked for him by instinct; it is left to be discovered, and to be fixed, by himself. Originally to find and to keep this limit is not difficult. Our nature, in this respect, as it comes from the hands of its Maker, is not found with any strong and invincible bias to transgression. Our appetites acquire their dangerous power only by neglect and voluntary and unnatural indulgence, and then indeed they become a prolific and fatal source of sin. There is a degree of pleasure annexed to the gratification of them—a pleasure bountifully given, and capable of being innocently used. But when this pleasure is pursued extravagantly, when it is made an end of our being, we suffer the penalty of violating the laws of virtue. Disorder is introduced into our system. A habit of yielding to their power converts them from the useful servants of man, into the lawless tyrants of his soul. A love of strong sensation becomes at last the primary pursuit, the ruling desire of our nature, and bears down all nobler, purer, and holier aspirings of the soul. Whether it displays itself in a life of dissolute luxury, of brutal intemperance, or degrading voluptuousness, it is fatal to all our best hopes of happiness, here and hereafter. It produces that

carnal mind, which is death; that sensual disposition, which is enmity to God. So terrible a source of evil may that part of our nature become, through our neglect, which was given us by our Creator for purposes the most beneficial and wise.

Our animal nature is found to be a source of sin in another way. It is a powerful obstacle to good, as well as a direct source of transgression. The objects of sense are continually soliciting our attention, and laying hold on our affections. From our earliest infancy we are surrounded by, and as it were, immersed in them. They present themselves spontaneously to our view, and with a degree of vividness and force, which gives an air of unreality to those things which are visible only to the eye of the mind. Hence we are in such constant danger of having our thoughts centre on the objects of this world. The pure and intellectual truths of religion are perpetually liable to be shut out from the mind, by the overwhelming influence of the objects which the senses press upon our attention. The senses weigh down the spirit. It is hard for the mind to withdraw within itself, to shut out the objects of sense, to disengage itself from the body, and to hold a sacred and undisturbed communion with the unseen world. This is the reason why to think on God, and Christ, and the eternal world, is so difficult; and why it is so much harder still to fix our affections on them, to make them the supreme objects of regard. This is the

reason why we so naturally give our hearts to the fleeting objects of sense, and are so untouched by the resplendent glories, the boundless bliss, of heaven and futurity. It is in this view that the Apostle declares, "I know that in me dwelleth no good thing." There is nothing in my animal nature, which is virtuous, or which can take the stamp of virtue. Nay more; "The flesh lusteth against the Spirit." "There is a law in "There is a law in my members warring against the law of my mind, so that when I would do good, evil is present with me."

It is not the purpose of this discourse to inquire into the powers of counteracting this indisposition to spiritual contemplation and spiritual affection. It would be easy to show that they exist, and are adequate, by God's grace, to their objects. But my wish is simply to unfold the sources of those sins which we see exist, and point out the nature and operation of those causes which lead us to evil. It is the dangers of our state which I would now point out, and it may be my grateful task hereafter to invite your thankfulness for those means of avoiding them with which we are supplied.

We see then, that from the body-from that part of our nature which we have in common with the lower animals-our liability to many of the most degrading sins proceeds. We trace to its influence, primarily and chiefly, the sins of gluttony, of intemperance in all its forms, of the grosser