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ther it will lead us, we are refolved to drink no liquor to excess while the world ftands, left we fhould be tormented in the flames of hell.

But alas! how fhall we be delivered from the power of this fin? Can the Ethiopian change his fkin, or the leopard his fpots? So hard, almoft, will it be for you who have been accustomed to be intemperate, to learn to live fober.

But do not defpair; for what is impoffible with man, is poffible with GOD. Of whom then should you feek for fuccour, but of him your LORD? Who, though for this fin of drunkenness, he might juftly turn away his face from you; yet obferve,

First, If you pour out your hearts before him in daily prayer, and ask affistance from above, it may be GOD will endue you with power from on high, and make you more than conquerors through JESUS CHRIST. Had you kept up communion with him in prayer, you would not fo long, by drunkenness, have had communion with devils. But, like the Prodigal, you have defired to be your own masters; you have lived without prayer, depended on your own ftrength; and now fee, alas! on what a broken reed you have leaned. How foon have you made yourselves like the beafts that have no understanding? But turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways. Come to him with the repenting Prodigal, faying, "Father we have finned;" we beseech thee, let not this fin of drunkenness have any longer dominion over us. Lay hold on CHRIST by faith, and lo! it fhall happen to you even as you will. A

Second means I would recommend to you, in order to get the better of drunkennefs, is to avoid evil company: For it is the evil communication of wicked men, that has drawn many thousands into this fin, and so corrupted their good manners.

But you may fay, If I leave my companions, I must expect contempt for they will certainly defpife me for being fingu

lar.

Jar. And thinkeft thou, O man, ever to enter in at the strait gate by a true converfion, without being had in derifion of them that are round about thee? No; though thou mayst be defpifed, and not go to heaven, yet thou canst not go to heaven without being defpifed: "For the friendship of the world is enmity with GOD." And they that are born after the flesh, will perfecute those that are born after the Spirit. Let not, therefore, a fervile fear of being despised by a man that shall die, hinder thy turning unto the living God. For what is a little contempt? It is but a vapour which vanifheth away, and cometh not again. Better be derided by a few companions here, than be made afhamed before men and angels hereafter. Better be the fong of a few drunkards on earth, - than dwell with them, where they will be eternally reproaching and curfing each other in hell. Yet a little while, and they themfelves fhall praise thy doings, and shall fay, We, fools, counted his leaving us to be folly, and his end to be without honour: but how is he numbered among the fons of of GOD, and his lot among the faints!

But I haften to lay down a

Third means for those who would overcome the fin of drunkenness, to enter upon a life of strict self-denial and mortification: for this kind of fin goeth not forth but by prayer and fafting. It is true, this may feem a difficult task; but then, we must thank ourfelves for it; for had we begun fooner, our work would have been the easier. And even now, if you will but frive, the yoke of mortification will grow lighter and lighter every day.

And now, by way of conclufion, I cannot but exhort all perfons, high and low, rich and poor, to practise a strict selfdenial in eating and drinking. For though "the kingdom of GOD confifts not in meats and drinks,” yet an abstemious ufe of GOD's good creatures, greatly promotes the spiritual life. And perhaps there are more deftroyed by living in a regular fenfuality, than even by the very fin I have now been

warning

warning you of. I know indeed, that many, who are only almoft chriftians, and who feek, but do not ftrive to enter into the kingdom of GOD, urge a text of fcripture to justify their indulgence, faying, that "it is not what entereth into the man defileth the man." And fo we grant, when taken moderately; but then they should confider, that it is poffible, nay, it is proved by daily experience, that a perfon may eat and drink fo much as not to hurt his body, and yet do infinite prejudice to his foul: for felf-indulgence lulls the foul into a fpiritual flumber, as well as direct intemperance; and though the latter may expofe us to more contempt among men, yet the former, if continued in, will as certainly fhut us out from the prefence of GOD. St. Paul knew this full well; and therefore, though he was the fpiritual father of thousands, and was near upon finishing his course, yet he fays, it was his daily practice to keep his body under, and bring it into fubjection, left after he had preached to others, he himself fhould be a caft-away," or difapproved of, or do fomething that might make him an offence or stumblingblock to any of God's children: for of his own, and all other faints final perfeverance, he makes no doubt, as is evident from many of his epiftles; and the word Adoxies bears this sense, 2 Cor. xiii. 5. and fundry other places. But why urge I the apoftie's example, to excite you to a ftrict temperance in eating and drinking? Rather let me exhort you only to put in practice the latter part of the text, to labour to "be filled with the Spirit of GOD," and then you will no longer fearch the fcriptures to find arguments for self-indulgence; but you will deal fincerely with yourfelves, and eat and drink no more at any time, than what is consistent with the strictest precepts of the gospel. O beg of Gon, that you may fee, how you are fallen in Adam, and the neceffity of being renewed, ere you can be happy, by the Spirit of JESUS CHRIST! Let us befeech him to enlighten us to fee the treachery of our corrupt hearts, and how pure and holy these bodies ought to be, that they ought to be living temples of the Holy Ghost, and then we fhall fhew ourselves men. And being inade temples of the Holy Ghoft, by his dwelling in our

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bodies here, though after death, worms may deftroy them, yet fhall they be raised by the fame Spirit at the general resurrection of the laft day, to be fashioned like unto CHRIST'S glorious body hereafter.

Which God of his infinite mercy grant, &c.

SERMON

SERMON

LIII.

The Power of CHRIST'S Refurrection.

1

PHILIP. iii. 10.

That I may know Him, and the Power of bis Refurrection.

THE

HE apoftle, in the verfes before the text, had been cautioning the Philippians to " beware of the concifion," Judaizing teachers, who endeavoured to fubvert them from the fimplicity of the gospel, by telling them, they still ought to be fubject to circumcifion, and all the other ordinances of Mofes. And that they might not think he spoke out of prejudice, and condemned their tenets, because he himself was a ftranger to the Jewish difpenfation, he acquaints them, that if any other man thought he had whereof he might truft in the flesh, or feek to be juftified by the outward privileges of the Jews, he had more: For he was "circumcifed the eighth day; of the ftock of Ifrael (not a profelyte, but a native Ifraelite); of the tribe of Benjamin (the tribe which adhered to Judah when the others revolted); an Hebrew of the Hebrews (a few both on the father's and mother's fide); and as touching the law, a Pharifee," the stricteft fect amongst all Ifrael. To fhew that he was no Gallio in religion, through his great, though mifguided zeal, he had perfecuted the church of CHRIST; and "as touching the righteousness of the law (as far as the Pharifees expofition of it went, he was) - blameless," and had kept it from his youth. But, when it pleafed GOD, who feparated him from his mother's womb, to reveal his Son in him, "What things were gain to me," (he fays) thofe privileges I boafted myself in, and fought to

be

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