Wherefore seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is Looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before 1 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft; and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Be- And it came to pass that-Paul having passed through the upper coasts, came to Ephesus: and finding there certain disciples, He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost, since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard, whether And he said unto them, Have ye received the Holy SERMON I. COMPARATIVE VALUE OF THE WORLD AND OF THE SOUL. MATT. xvi. 26. What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? THERE are two sorts of objects, decidedly at variance with each other, which divide between them, but not in equal degrees, the affections and the pursuits of mankind. They may be indifferently described, as "the things above," and "the things on the earth":" as the things "of the Father," and "the things of the world' as "the lusts of the flesh," and the desires "of the Spirit":" as the gratifications of the sensual, or natural, part of man; and as the delights of his spiritual part, that is, of his soul. Of these things it is evident, that they are in opposition to each other. They cannot consist together; for they are in nature essentially different. They cannot be sought together; for a progress towards the attainment of one description of them, carries a man as many degrees farther from the other. They cannot exercise divided dominion over the heart, and be served with partial affection and allegiance: for he, who "loves the one, will hate the other;" he who "holds to the one, will despise the other "." Upon this irreconcileable hostility between these different objects of pursuit proceed the declarations of Scripture, that "the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other"-its admonitions, that we "set our affection on things above, not on things on the earth':"-and its cautions, that we • Luke xvi. 13. d • Gal. v. 17. f Col. iii. ?. |