fixed upon God?" And as long as your soul is in this posture, dissipation can have no place.

18. It is with great judgment, therefore, that great and good Bishop Taylor, in his "Rules of Holy Livign and Dying," (of whom Bishop Warburton, a person not very prone to commend, used to say, "I have no conception of a greater genius on earth than Dr. Jeremy Taylor," premises to all his other rules those concerning purity of intention. And has he not the authority of our Lord himself so to do? who lays it down as an universal maxim, "If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light." Singly aim at God. In every step thou takest, eye Him alone. Pursue one thing: happiness in knowing, in loving, in serving God. Then shall thy soul be full of light: full of the light of the glory of God; of his glorious love, shining upon thee from the face of Jesus Christ.

19. Can any thing be a greater help to universal holiness, than the continually seeing the light of his glory? It is no wonder, then, that so many wise and good men have recommended, to all who desire to be truly religious, the exercise of the presence of God. But in doing this, some of those holy men seem to have fallen into one mistake (particularly, an excellent writer of our own country, in his letters concerning "The Spirit of Prayer:") they put men, wholly unawakened, unconvinced of sin, upon this exercise, at their very entrance into religion; whereas this certainly should not be the first, but rather one of the last things. They should begin with repentance; the knowledge of themselves; of their sinfulness, guilt, and helplessness. should be instructed next, to seek peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Then let them be taught to retain what they have received; to "walk in the light of his countenance;" yea to "walk in the light as he is in the light," without any darkness at all; till "the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth" them "from all sin."

They

20. It was from a full conviction of the absolute

preceding only it is allowed we are more dissipated than our neighbours; and this age is more dissipated than the preceding ages. Nay, if this is allowed, all is allowed. It is allowed that this nation is worse than any of the neighbouring nations; and that this age is worse, essentially worse, than any of the preceding ages. For as dissipation or ungodliness is the parent of all sin; of all unrighteousness; of unmercifulness; injustice, fraud, perfidy; of every possible evil temper, evil word, or evil action; so it, in effect, comprises them all. Whatsover

things are impure, whatsoever things are of evil report, whatsoever things are unholy: if there be any vice; all these are included in ungodliness, usually termed "dissipation." Let not, therefore, any lover of virtue and truth say one word in favour of this monster: let no lover of mankind once open his mouth to extenuate the guilt of it. Abhor it as you would abhor the devil, whose offspring and likeness it is! Abhor it, as you would abhor the extinction of all virtue, and the universal prevalence of an earthly, sensual, devilish spirit; and flee from from it as you would flee (if you saw it open before ou) from the lake of fire burning with brimstone !

'

308

SERMON LXXX.

ON FRIENDSHIP WITH THE WORLD.

"Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore desireth to be a friend of the world is an enemy of God."-JAMES iv. 4.

1. THERE is a passage in St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, which has been often supposed to be of the same import with this: "Be not conformed to this world:" (xii. 2 :) but it has little or no relation to it; it speaks of quite another thing. Indeed, the supposed resemblance arises merely from the use of the word world in both places. This naturally leads us to think that St. Paul means by conformity to the world, the same which St. James means by friendship with the world; whereas they are entirely different things, as the words are quite different in the original; for St. Paul's word is αιων, St. James's is xooμos. However, the words of St. Paul contain an important direction to the children of God. As if he had said, "Be not conformed to either the wisdom, or the spirit, or the fashions of the age; of either the unconverted Jews, or the heathens, among whom live. ye You are called to show, by the whole tenor of your life and conversation, that you are ' renewed in the spirit of your mind, after the image of him that created you;' and that your rule is not the example or will of man, but 'the good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.''

2. But it is not strange, that St. James's caution against friendship with the world should be so little un