feel yourself tempted to yield, what will it avail me if I gain the whole world, and lose my own soul? what shall I give in exchange for my soul?

A very material circumstance, which I would wish to impress upon the young, is, that opportunities for making this ill-fated contract, will be perpetually presented to them; they will find, from time to time, the preservation of the soul a serious impediment to their progress in life. All these things will I give you, said Satan to the Saviour, if you will fall down and worship me; and what he said to the Master, he says to the disciples ;submit to this degradation, and you shall be rich, allow this mark of infamy, and I will give you power; indulge in this vice, all the struggles of life will be quieted, and all the privations of life will be softened : you must expect all this, it will come to you, you will be exposed to it whatever is your station; but resist it firmly, and without doubt or parley; no price for the soul, no recompence for eternal destruction, no bribe which shall incur the anger of God, no allurement which shall break the law of Christ.

Is it quite certain if the contract be made that the price will be received? that if you give up the gospel, the wages of Satan will be paid? Want of principle often leads to success; but want of principle often does not lead to success, often destroys success-often leads to infamy and disgrace. There is a chance, therefore, that after you have deserted the service of God, you may not succeed in the service of Mammon; that your folly may be as exemplary as your sin; that you may have sacrificed reputation without gaining the profits of iniquity. The text says if you gain the whole world, -but you may gain nothing-you may lose every thing after you have bartered your soul;-a traffic, therefore, which is bad at the best, bad if every thing succeed, bad if all the terms in your favour be fulfilled, -is marked with every species of fault, liable to every

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variety of censure, and is exposed to a strong probability of failure. Watch therefore acutely the examples of those who have lost their own souls, and gained nothing in exchange; who, after having become infamous, have lived in poverty, and died in misery. And mark also, and with still greater eagerness, the examples of men who have firmly kept their souls; who, obeying the Gospel, and honoured by their fellow-creatures, have lived in opulence, and risen up to greatness and glory; who have enjoyed all this world can afford without losing the hope of what another can give.

Do not imagine that you can sell your soul partially, that you can bargain to go a certain length in evil doing, and no further-it is not impossible, but it is improbable. No human being ought to expose his eternal salvation to so dreadful a risk; if you begin, you answer the sneers of the world, and the contempt. of the world, by advancing still further; and you justify the contract you have made by ostentatious wickedness. Many men who begin with slight infringements of the law of conscience are provoked to go further, or become callous, and careless, and ignorant whether they are advancing or not. If you keep your soul, you must keep it wholly and entirely. I do not wish to lessen in your eyes the real difficulty. It must be kept with diligence, with uncompromising integrity; it must be kept with unyielding courage. It is no idle possession, it is no office of recumbency and ease, but you know that God sees it, and that Christ rewards it; that no labour has such a recompense, no toil such a reward, no race such a goal, no other exertions which Omniscience witnesses, no other service which Omnipotence repays.

I cannot conlude without impressing upon the minds of the younger part of my congregation one very important rule for keeping the soul-and keeping the soul is the purpose for which every Christian ought to live-I mean the love of simple and innocent pleasures.

You will find that men who cannot live without emo. tion, most commonly barter their souls; they become gamblers, adulterers, duellists; trust to sin and passion for their happiness, become the enemies of men, and cease to be the disciples of Christ. But men who can amuse themselves with a little, who are content with something a little above common impressions, who are determined not to be amused unless they can be amused innocently, who are as followers of Christ afraid to trust themselves to high and tumultuous feelings, - such men live in content, innocence, and cheerfulness; they keep their souls; they witness these agonising bargains of the duped and deluded sinners, and they are safe.

Mark, if you please, how the language of Scripture falls in with the notions of men, "Gain the whole world." What is the whole world to a sinner? what does he call the whole world? Any wretched gratification, any silly enjoyment upon which he happens to have fixed his appetite, unused to denial,-not only is the contract base, but the price is despicable-he sells what he ought not to have sold, and he receives for it a mean payment. But rouse yourselves to Christian exertions and manly efforts, and let it be with you a daily question: "Have I kept my soul?" and a daily prayer that it may be kept; and a daily thanksgiving when it is kept. Some of us walk in purple and fine linen, and some in the mean garments of a beggar, and the crowd separate, and say, "Let there be a way made for him, for the man of wealth and power is coming!" but God sees in that crowd the man who keeps his soul-God marks him for eternal life. Let him not think that his secret labours and his self-denials are unnoticed and unknown; short and fleeting is the day of those who have gained the whole world; endless the duration, immortal the happiness of him who has taken nothing in exchange for his soul.

It is a sad spectacle,-but so common that our sense

of all its fatal consequences is less acute,-a human being gives up his days and nights to study, that he may be called a learned man, but he does not remember his soul; he exposes himself to death and wounds, that he may be called brave; he lives under the burning sun, or in the countries of eternal winter, that he may become rich, and he is a religious man, and he hopes for salvation in Christ, but he does not think of his soul. He bestows a thought upon it every now and then, but his profound science, his military fame, and the appetite for wealth, are the feelings which have got possession of his heart, and which strangle every high thought, and every holy desire. But I say, use some of those arts which you employ "to gain the whole world"

-use them to save your own soul. In war you can bear hunger and thirst, and show laudable and beautiful temperance; do it in the cause of God,-do it to save your soul. In the acquisition of wealth you can patiently investigate; look into your heart with the same patience for error, for folly, for crime, for every bad feeling which Christ forbids; make the best use of time by labouring for eternity; learn what is of the highest value; labour where remuneration is the most ample; quit us, or listen to us; either say there is no religion, or, if you believe us, follow us, and say, and feel with the text, "What is a man profited if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul, or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?"

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SERMON XVI.

THE OUTWARD MAN RENEWED.

2 COR. iv. 16.

As the outward man perishes, the inward man is renewed day by day.

WHEN a human being has passed through half his life, and reflects upon the number of friends he has lost, he begins to think that all he has heard of the shortness of human life is true: - his heart is first pierced by the light of heaven; he looks steadfastly at the grave, and he begins to think what he can do, to compensate to himself the loss of youth, and to meet the sad spectacle of bodily decay. Then he thinks of the renewal of the inward man through the grace of Jesus Christ; then he remembers that a new soul may develope itself in a perishing body; that a pure spiritual creature may spring up in the ruin of the flesh; that in the midst of pain, and anguish, and weakness, he may become fit to live near God.

Now, my brethren, let me endeavour to remind you this day, what is to be done for the renewal of the inward man; what the improvements are, as life advances, which our happiness requires, which the law of Christ exacts, which are necessary for the attainment of im mortal salvation.

First, remember the mark and warning given by the text the perishing of the outward man! So that you are not left to the mere unquickened operations of