With what armour, then, shall we array ourselves, in order to meet those enemies, before whom the mightiest of earthly heroes have fallen, as easy a conquest as the meanest of their soldiers? The most gigantic efforts of physical strength, the sharpest and most destructive of carnal weapons, are unavailing here. The leviathan of hell, like the leviathan of the sea, would "esteem iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood."

Where, then, shall we find weapons for this contest? Philosophy has boasted much of the victories which she has enabled her disciples to achieve over the se ductions and terrors of the world; but the conduct of her disciples has often given the lie to her pretensions. Her power, if not altogether insignificant, has so often evaporated in empty declamation, that it is little to be trusted; and, indeed, the only spirit by which the world can be conquered, is a spirit as opposite to that of philosophy as heat is to cold, or light to darkness. The spirit of philosophy has been, in almost every age, the spirit of pride, of self-confidence and presumption. The spirit by which the world is to be conquered is a spirit of humility, of self-distrust, and of reliance on foreign aid. If we would vanquish the devices and assaults of Satan, we must put on the panoply of God; if we would move this earth from the place which it naturally occupies in our affections, we must have, out of it, some fixed point on which to erect our engines; and if we would overcome the present world, it must be by the agency of "the powers of the world to come." "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith."

Let us inquire how faith enables us to overcome these allurements or pleasures.

When it is said that faith overcometh the world, the meaning obviously is, not that it is, strictly speaking,

the author of this victory,-not that it is the efficient, but only that it is the instrumental cause by which the conquest is gained. Now, as religion is intended to operate on men only according to the constitution and laws of their rational nature, faith must influence the will and the active powers, only through the medium of the understanding, and, therefore, the means by which it enables us to vanquish the world must be the views which it exhibits of the things of God. I may remark, then, that faith overcomes the allurements of the world by means of the views to which it directs us of the character of the Almighty; of the scheme of redemption; of the future state; of the example of the Saviour; and, finally, it vanquishes the world by leading us to rely incessantly on divine strength.

Now, to enable us to gain this victory, reflection and experience suggest many useful considerations, and their instructions we ought by no means to despise. They tell us, for example, that an immoderate indulgence in the pleasures of sense debases the soul, and that it is as absurd for a reasonable and immortal being to expect from such pleasures the principal felicity of his nature, as it would be to expect to gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles. They tell us that the acquisition of riches and honour is difficult. and painful; that they are empty and unsatisfactory in their nature; and that, in their duration, they are uncertain and transient. They tell us that we ought to rest contented with a humble competency of the good things of this life, that the real wants of nature are few and easily satisfied, but that there is no limit to the artificial and unnatural craving of ambition and

avarice.

These considerations are not annihilated or impaired, they are adopted, and strengthened, and purified, and

hallowed, by the faith of the gospel : and to these considerations, furnished by reflection and experience, it has added others peculiar to itself, and still more powerful. By presenting to our view the Deity as the Creator and Ruler of the universe, and as the possessor of heaven and earth, it impresses the mind with a sense of his absolute right to all that he has made, and leads the rich to consider themselves as only stewards of the good things of God. By showing us the beneficence of the universal Parent to all his offspring, it impresses upon us the equality of our common nature, and disposes us to treat the meanest of mankind as our brethren. By the views which it gives us of the plan of redemption, faith shows the total incompatibility of an intemperate indulgence in sensual gratifications with the whole scheme of religion: it attracts the affections from the pleasures and pursuits of the world, and substitutes in their room others far more worthy of our rational nature: it shows us that we are not redeemed with such corruptible things as silver and gold: it sets before us the Son of God descending from heaven, dying on the cross, and rising from the dead, for the express purpose of purifying to himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works: and thus it disposes us to walk in newness of life, and leads us to consider ourselves bound to glorify God with our bodies and spirits which are his. In the exercises of devotion also, and in communion with God, faith unfolds to us a source of new enjoyments-enjoyments far more exquisite and permanent than the pleasures of sense, -enjoyments which pall not on the appetite, which perish not with the using, but which elevate and purify all the feelings of the soul. It thus gives us a foretaste of those ravishing joys which are in the divine. presence; it creates in the mind a relish for those eter

nal pleasures which are at the right hand of God; and the man who has acquired a taste for these celestial pleasures will not feel it difficult to resist the allurements of sensuality or the solicitations of ambition.

Farther, by the prospect which it gives of the power of the Redeemer, and of future and invisible objects, faith divests the example of the world of that pernicious influence by which it bewilders and enslaves the mind. It diminishes the apparent importance of present objects by raising the soul to an eminence from which she is enabled to take an extended survey of her whole existence, and of her future interests. By showing us that the influence, the honours, and the opulence which now call forth the adulation and homage of our fellow-creatures, will be utterly disregarded by the Judge of the universe in fixing our eternal destiny, it removes the glare of grandeur, and strips wealth of those adventitious decorations with which the imaginations of men invest it. It annihilates "the pride of heraldry and the pomp of power;" reduces these admired objects to their true dimensions, and sets them before us in all their naked insignificance. By holding out to the acceptance of the Christian the durable riches of heaven, it enables him to withdraw his affections from the passing objects of this world, and to place them on the things which are above. It assures all good men that there is reserved for them in heaven an eternal, an incorruptible inheritance; that they shall reign in life with Jesus Christ, and shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. The unfading honours of the future state, as viewed by the eye of faith, obscure by their radiance the splendour of those objects which dazzle the eye of sense and could we but accustom ourselves to contemplate them steadily, and to compare them with the

things of this world, those objects which the majority of mankind admire and pursue, would appear to us fleeting and insignificant, and, like the toys of children, almost unworthy of the serious attention of reasonable and immortal beings.

We might also observe that faith farther enables us to overcome the allurements of the world, as it presents to our imitation the animating example of Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our faith. Though he was rich, though the Lord of heaven and earth, for our sakes he voluntarily became poor: and his conduct in his humbled condition affords a perfect pattern of moderation and self-command. The miraculous power with which he was invested, he employed not for his own aggrandisement, but for the alleviation of the miseries of mankind. When riches, and honours, and power, seemed within his reach, he nobly refused them. When the people would have made him a king, he escaped from their hands. When offered the kingdoms of this world and all their glory, if he would do homage to the great adversary of God and men, he disdained the offer, spurned from him the Tempter, adhered to his God, and kept steadily in view the great object of his mission. Who would not admire his glorious conduct? Who would not resolve to imitate his unsullied example?

Some may, perhaps, imagine that there would be no great difficulty in resisting the allurements and pleasures of the world. To this class of temptations they have perhaps been seldom exposed. They are placed in the humbler stations of life, and called to contend with temptations, which, as they think, are far more formidable than those arising from riches and honours. They have to struggle with poverty and misery, and what assistance, they may ask, does faith promise to