repining under frequent repulses, and smarting from the activity and craft of our enemies, ought it never to occur to us, that we are justly punished, for our own remissness; for our want of determination, for having often parleyed with the foe, and paused in the warfare-that therefore it is that our corruptions are left as snares and traps to us, as scourges in our sides, and thorns in our eyes, and we seem to be sold into the hands of our enemies. This, to the real child of God, is of all chastening the most grievous. Take heed my brethren that ye provoke it not.

4. Once more we learn from the context, that the Lord was actuated by a tender precaution in the method which he adopted for his people's deliverance. "I will not drive them out," he says, from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beasts of the field multiply against thee. By little and little, I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased and inherit the land." More than 430 years before this date, Canaan had been promised to the seed of Abraham. But in like manner, as it was then reserved for them, whilst they were growing up amidst all the hardships of Egyptian bondage to be a nation, and a people, so now a remnant of the Canaanites was left in the land till they should have become fruitful and multiplied so as to replenish it themselves. The like wisdom and providence is to be traced in the gradual sanctification of the people of God.

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If lust were at once disarmed, and corruption at once subdued, pride would rush in like a ramping and a roaring lion, upon the unoccupied and unguarded territory, and commit ravages far more fearful than any other enemy could effect. Sudden deliverance would puff us up, we should be exalted above measure, and our last estate would be worse than the first. Hence it is in mercy, that he who knows us best, deals thus progressively with us. By little and little" he teaches us, giving line upon line, and precept upon precept, as we are able to bear it. By little and little" he strengthens, comforts, delivers us. A very limited observation, my brethren, of that which is daily passing in the Church of Christ, will convince us of the superior wisdom of this dispensation, and the superior excellency of the piety which is thus gradually matured. There is a sort of religion which like Jonah's gourd, springs up in a night. One day a man is in the world and of the world, buried in its vanities, pleasures, indifference. The next a sudden change comes over him, and his one object is to prove himself the very opposite of his former self. Nothing will satisfy him but the utmost extremes of profession. His must be the most precise conversation, the most consistent and elevated form of doctrine; all who differ from him, are to be reviled as blind, or pitied for their limited and imperfect views. From the strength of the expressions which such employ, and the

confidence of their manner, you might suppose that theirs was the experience of a long and holy life, that they had unusually comprehensive minds, and that points on which the wisest and best in all ages have been content to deliberate patiently and prayerfully, and to pronounce cautiously and modestly, have opened upon their minds by intuition. Humbler and more teachable spirits are apt to look at such precocious professors with admiration and envy, and to feel discouraged by observing of their fluency and assurance. My brethren, envy them not — pity them! pray for them! their feet are in slippery places-and one or other of these consequences is sure to follow. Either they will relapse entirely, descending in the scale from inconsistency to inconsistency into antimonian licentiousness, or which is scarcely better, will sink into a hollow formalism;-or else becoming daily more proud and less simple, more exclusive and less teachable, will turn aside into wilder and wilder notions concerning doctrines and discipline, embracing every new opinion, following every new light, delighting in every new system precisely in proportion as it is irregular, independent, peculiar, extravagant, and exciting, till at length they are lost in the mazes of their own delusions, and are bewildered beyond recovery. Most solemnly would I warn you, my brethren, against a forward and ostentatious profession, against taking experience upon credit. It is ne

cessarily the cause of the blackest hypocrisy. Be humble, be tractable, be prayerful; be contented to advance by "little and little." I do not mean, be content with the poverty of your attainments, but do not seek by any artificial means to force an exotic growth. Remember how constantly we are reminded of the analogy between nature and grace. "First the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear." The strongest plants are not those which shoot most rapidly upwards, but which take deepest root downwards. He who built his house upon the rock, had probably scarcely completed his foundation, when the other was triumphantly fixing his top-stone. But we know which was the one that withstood the storm. Be as diligent therefore, as you will, but be not fretfully impatient; do not fancy that because your lusts and corruptions are not dispossessed at once, therefore you shall never have dominion over them. Remember the word of the Lord, "I will drive them out ;"-remember that his method is to do it "by little and little," and then, for your further consolation remember,

III. Lastly. THAT THE CONQUEST SHALL BE

AS COMPLETE AS IT IS GRADUAL.

"I will drive them out until thou be increased and inherit the land." Yes, my brethren, be assured that the Lord will bring forth judgment unto victory. You may rest upon it as a certain

and unchangeable truth, that if your trust is in the Lord Jehovah alone, if you can humbly appeal to Jesus and say "thou knowest that I love thee," he will sooner or later, in his own good time make you victorious over all your enemies. The sin which doth so easily beset you, the temper, which is as a constant thorn in your side, the levity, the pride, the infirmity of tongue, the unbelief, the worldliness, the covetousness which seem as completely inbred as the leopard's spots, or the Ethiopian's skin, all shall be subdued. You shall yet put your feet upon the necks of them all; you shall yet see them like the Egyptians, cast dead upon the sea-shore.

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Seasons there will be when the believer finds corruptions, tempers, lusts, at work within him, to which, either in kind or degree, he was a stranger before. The most horrible temptations may be suggested to him, and he may be ready to imagine the enemy is fast gaining the victory. But let him not be discouraged : though the waves of the sea are mighty, and rage horribly against him, yet the Lord who is on high is mightier." Jehovah Nissi is his name, and his banner never knew defeat. "Fear not, therefore, little childern, it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom;" ye shall inherit the land. The very term "inherit," is a pledge of success. It tells of that covenant in virtue of which Canaan became the promised inheritance of Israel. It may remind us of our interest in the better cove