But still more, of that natural desire which has been implanted in order to the COMMUNICATION of our animal life, how grossly sinful is the abuse ! Our danger here is not only of excess, but of unlawfulness;-not only of indulgence beyond the laws of nature, but beyond the laws of social duty. Be not deceived, dear Brethren-I speak especially to free-hearted and self-willed young men-to all who are not fenced in from this temptation of the Devil, (blessed be God that many are so fenced in!) by the restraints of inward delicacy and outward character be not deceived by all the sophistry of licentious men, and all the wiles of your sensual nature, to fancy for a single moment that because desires are natural, they are therefore necessarily lawful and that the regulations of Society are artificial and tyrannical, and not to be submitted to. To a being moral and intellectual, there are other and far higher laws than those of animal nature-there are laws without which Society cannot exist which, therefore, God himself has sanctioned and enforced-and without a scrupulous regard to which you are following the Devil's impulse, and doing the Devil's work. Every connexion, every communication, every sentiment and feeling not authorized and sanctioned by God's permission-not restrained (in a word) within the bounds of "Holy Matrimony," is "a sinful lust,"

-

"This is

and an abomination in the sight of God. the will of God,” says St. Paul, "even your sanctification, that you should abstain from fornication; that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God." For, O the fatal consequence of such trangression! O the inlet to Satan and to everlasting misery which it opens ! If by other arts the Devil slays his thousands, by this he slays his tens of thousands: if by other impulses he hurries us away from God, by this still more effectually` does he defile the conscience and corrupt the very soul. The imagination becomes polluted there is formed a "mind of the flesh," a purpose and a system of animal self-degradation-and the gentle, pure, and holy Spirit of God shrinks from the contamination, and takes its everlasting flight.

Brethren, recollect, I pray you, that every indulgence of the Flesh, in any of its sinful cravings, of whatever kind, is a defilement and debasement, not of the body only-(that indeed were much, seeing that the body is God's creature) — but of the immortal soul. It is stooping downward from our high original to mingle with the brutes that perish. It is defacing and destroying the image of God within us. It is dethroning all the dignity of man despoiling him of his proper nature-plucking off the

sign which his Creator has given him wherewith to rise from earth to heaven, and crushing him down into a creeping thing to grovel in the dust for evermore. "Abstain from fleshly lusts," says an Apostle, "for they war against the soul." carnal mind," says another, "is enmity against God."

nounce

"The

And, therefore, if we are dedicated to God-honoured to be his people and his children,-must we not renounce-with all our heart and soul resuch deadly sins? Must we not resolve ́against them, watch against them, pray against them, fight against them, crucify them? Can there be any parley held with that which would hurry us from God and goodness? Can we give any quarter to that which would precipitate us into the arms of the Devil? Must we not keep under our body, and bring it into subjection? Must we not mortify our members which are upon the earth; and become dead to sin, if ever we would be alive to God? "Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which have of God; and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price.

ye

God in your body, and in your
God's !"

But how shall this be done, encompassed with infirmity?

Therefore, glorify spirit, which are

seeing we are thus How can we fly

from that which is about us and within us? If the sin that is in the world around us is so alluring, what shall overcome the sin that dwelleth in our very flesh? How shall we fight against our very self?

The first thing is to FEEL OUR danger, and to. watch against it. Fleshly lusts are all too strong to be attacked and vanquished face to face. They must be circumvented. - checked in their first emotion

nay, met beforehand by avoidance of the circumstances and occasions which would rouse them up. He who would fly from sin must fly from every opportunity of sin. There is no dignity in courage here. There is no safety but in fear, It is the vanity of youth, and its presumption-it is the haughty rising of the yet untainted mind against the very thought of possible danger, which betrays men into ruin. In the moment of security they easily disdain the friendly cautions of the word of God-they reject them as an insult to their better feeling they can even cavil with fastidious delicacy at the plain and homely terms in which they are conveyed and they are ready to exclaim with indignation, "Is thy servant a dog that he should do this thing?" But O fatal self-sufficiency! O dangerous ignorance of the inbred depravity of fleshly man of that mine of evil which at any moment may be sprung, and level in the dust our

G

towering virtue ! It is just this very self-confidence which the Devil turns to his advantage. It is just the fancied innocence of youthful inexperience which leads men fluttering and singing into his wide-spread toils. It is just

"In the morn and liquid dew of youth

Contagious blastments are most imminent."

First and specially, therefore, let us recollect our danger. We are fallen beings. We are corrupt in nature. Evil is entwined with our very flesh. It flows in every vein. It lurks in every natural impulse. It is mixed up with our very life. And it wants but circumstance, occasion, opportunity, to start up in its might, and hurry us according to its will. And therefore circumstance, occasion, opportunity, we must deny it; every little self-indulgence, which will soon expand into a great one; every casual permission, which will soon become habitual; every momentary incentive from men, and books, and words, and thoughts; every slightest stimulant, though adorned with purest eloquence, or perfumed with the richest poetry, or floating on the breath of the most thrilling sounds. We bear about with us diseased susceptibility. Beware then of the atmosphere which will bring out the lurking plague! Observe how constantly the Bible places all our safety, in this