present avail. He no longer keeps his goods in peace. Such a disturbance is raised in the soul; such a discovery is made of his tyranny and designs, that he is forced for a season to retire. But let us take a closer view of what is here meant. Let us suppose to ourselves a man living in a state of careless security about his soul, walking after the lusts of the flesh, and wholly given up to the world and to the things of the world. The present life, with its wants and cares, its pleasures and amusements, takes up all his time and thoughts. As for Religion, though he may not formally renounce it; yet heaven and hell are things which clearly have no real influence on his conduct. He lives "without God in the world;" and is no more troubled about Eternity and all its awful consequences, than if he were like a beast that perishes.

Let us suppose to ourselves a man of this description (how many are there to whom the description will apply!): and then let us farther suppose him suddenly awakened to reflection. An alarming Sermon, or an affecting Providence; the Death of some of his companions, or the Preservation of his own life from some imminent danger, has touched his conscience. Perhaps disease, the natural fruit of some of his evil practices,

has seized upon his body and brought death before his eyes. He seems to stand on the brink of the grave; and begins to see many things as he never saw them before. He looks back on his mispent life with bitter self-reproach. He looks forward with dreadful apprehension. The vanity of the world now strikes him with full force: for it can neither furnish relief to his body nor consolation to his mind. The folly of his choice in having preferred this life to the next appears in its most glaring colours, and draws forth heartfelt lamentations. The occasions, the places, the companions of his Sins pass before his mind in sad review; while the tremendous punishments, that await him, present themselves in their most frightful images. Alarmed, dismayed, confounded, he vows and prays. He sends perhaps for the minister of the Gospel: hears the glad tidings of Salvation; resolves to sin no more; and in his own idea, for ever renounces every evil practice. See here the state described in this part of the text. Behold the man when the unclean Spirit is gone out of him.-But is he then converted? The next particular in the description will shew us that he is not.

II. "When the unclean Spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places,

seeking rest and finding none he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came. out: and when he cometh he findeth it swept and garnished."-The Devil, having unwillingly quitted his hold in the Sinner's heart, is impatient to return; and through his restless love of wickedness, can find no peace till he has recovered the power which he has lost. Accordingly he comes back to his palace; examines its state; and finds it as suitably prepared and furnished for his reception as it ever was. The fact is, no work of grace has really taken place in the heart. The man has been terrified, but not converted. His nature remains the same. No change has taken place within. There pride and the love of sin still continue in their full strength, and fit him, as much as ever, for being the palace and residence of Satan. This may be shewn in two particular instances.

1. Amidst all his convictions he has had no sense of the Evil of Sin. He has bitterly lamented the consequences of sin, so far as they affect himself, by bringing on him misery and destruction: but he has never lamented it as having been committed against a good and holy God. He has never seen it in its true colours, nor hated it for its evil nature. It constantly follows, whenever the

love and power of Sin are broken in the heart, that a man hates and bewails sin for its own sake. But this has not been the case with the person, of whom we are speaking. He has bewailed indeed the punishment of sin: but he has never truly owned the justice of that punishment. He has felt his misery; but he has never heartily confessed his guilt. He has seen that he must suffer and has trembled; but he has never been deeply convinced that he deserves to suffer. On the contrary, he has ever to a certain degree, stood out on his defence before God. Instead of casting himself wholly on the divine mercy, with deep and penitent confessions of his unworthiness, and charging upon himself without reserve the entire guilt and shame of all his numerous transgressions, he has constantly thrown the fault on something else. He has ascribed his miscarriages to the want of better instruction, or to the seduction of bad examples; to the strength of his passions, or to the peculiarity of his situation. Thus has he framed some excuse for himself; and has clearly betrayed the proud and unhumbled state of his heart.

2. He has given a farther proof, that this is still the state of his heart, by the reliance which he has placed on his own strength and goodness. The truly-converted soul always

feels its own weakness and corruption, gives up all self-dependence, and trusts solely to the promised assistance of divine grace. But the person whom we are describing, has felt nothing of this kind, nor done any of these things. He has resolved indeed to forsake all sin; but he has made this resolution, trusting entirely to his own strength. He has had no fear of his own heart, nor any notion of its utter depravity. He has not suspected its deceitful nature, nor looked upon it as the impure fountain from whence all the polluted streams of his life have flowed. Consequently he has never earnestly sought for divine assistance and a new heart. He has cried for pardon, but he has never really prayed for grace. Confident of his own sufficiency, he has never humbly applied to Christ for his Holy Spirit to support and sanctify him. Can he then be said to be really converted? It is plain that his heart remains unchanged; the same impure habitation, which it has always been; a stranger to Christ, who alone could cleanse it, and still " swept and garnished," as before for the reception and service of the devil. Such, on his return, the unclean Spirit finds it. And this leads us to the next particular mentioned in the

text.