"There is one good, and that is God."* May his grace enable us all to believe it; and to draw the waters of our consolation from the fountain head: any thing else the weakest of us may do without, so long as we have grace to believe his promise-" I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."+

* Matth. xix. 17.

+ Heb. xiii. 5.

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SERMON XV.

THE DANGER OF SECURITY.

1 COR. x. 12.

Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall."

THIS exhortation is built by St. Paul upon a review which he had been making of the conduct of Israel in the wilderness. That generation had abundant privileges: they had been redeemed out of the house of bondage, by signs and miracles, most gracious, and most awful: they were fed by miracle every day: they were obliged by kindnesses innumerable: the Lord of hosts was with them and dwelt among them: they had heard him speaking to them out of the midst of the fire, and he went before them, in a pillar of a cloud by day, and in a fire by night to guide them. But though they had sung and

shouted for his glorious triumphs; and had rejoiced in him as their help and their shield so often, "with many of them he was not well pleased, and they were overthrown in the wilderness;" "they lusted after evil things;" "they made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image,' they committed fornication, for which there fell of them in one day, three-and-twenty-thousand; they tempted Christ, and were destroyed of serpents; they murmured, and were destroyed by the destroyer." This is his account of them; and then he adds, "Now all these things happened unto them for examples, and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come: wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall."

He that thinketh he standeth, is one, who, whether he is a truly pious and Christian man, or not, at least, looks upon himself as such: but doing so, he does not perceive himself to be in any great spiritual danger now at present. However, think he as he may, danger there surely is for how is he any better than Israel? and why should that not happen to him, which, in spite of so much mercy of God, happened aforetime to them? Most undoubtedly, it is possible for him to fall; and if so, his persuasion of

security adds greatly to the hazard. Especially therefore, and, above all men, let such a one take heed. This is the apostle's meaning.

There are three things which the words give me occasion to set before you.

I. The danger there is of falling to every one of us.

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II. How greatly the danger is increased by a vain security, or a thinking that we stand." III. The true way of security by which we may stand.

I. And first, as to the danger there is of falling to every one of us.

By falling, of course, is meant, falling into sin; and, in this place, it must mean falling into such sins as they, the consideration of whose case gave occasion to the warnings, did actually fall into. But of them it is especially commemorated, that "they lusted after evil things," were "idolaters, fornicators, tempters of Christ, murmurers," in a direct, explicit, and gross manner against God. Wickednesses like these, or, at least as bad as these ;-gross wickednesses and such as will issue (unless grace prevent, and repentance intervene) in destruction, and in the being shut out from the heavenly Canaan; these are the fallings meant.

The thing to be considered therefore, is the

possibility and the danger that the very best of us may fall in this shameful and awful way. So much the apostle's words imply, and it will not be hard to prove it. I will grant, that you may have repented; I will grant, that your profession of the gospel may be sincere; that you have resolved against sin; against all sin, and above all, against your bosom sin the sin you love best; and that you may think at this present time, that it would be better you should die, than turn back again to the idols which you have loved. I will grant, if you please, (and to put as strong a case as I can, and so to conclude more certainly, in all lower or weaker cases,) I will grant, that, at this moment, you really would sooner die than wilfully commit such or such a particular iniquity. Yet still, I affirm it is possible for you to fall. Yea, and it is possible that the temptation to that quity may come upon you so suddenly, or so sweetly, as that you may yield even to that, and being fallen by it, may lie down polluted under it like slaves.

very ini

Take an example or two of the fact, before we proceed further. They may show you, at least, that there is some difference between being resolved to fight, and actually facing the

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