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xvi. 46-51, verify what we have now said, they cannot be read without affecting the heart: he addresses Israel thus, "Thine elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell at thy left-hand : and thy younger sister, that dwelleth at thy righthand, is Sodom and her daughters. Yet hast thou not walked after their ways, nor done after their abominations; but as if that were a very little thing, thou wast corrupted more than they in all thy ways. As I live, saith the Lord God, Sodom thy sister has not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters. Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her, and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good. Neither hath Samaria committed half of thy sins; but thou hast multiplied thine abominations more than they, and hast justified thy sisters in all thine abominations, which thou hast done." To the same purpose are the words of Christ, Luke x. 12-15, "But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom, than for that city-It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for thee, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven," in respect of privileges, but, for dreadful misimprovement, "shalt be thrust down to hell." As it was then, so it is now.

The noxious weeds of sin would enough flourish in the uncultivated heart of their own accord, and without any culture: but the human heart of itself deviseth

iniquity, and is set to do evil: and besides, the weeds of corruption are carefully cherished by Satan and the world. These adversaries sow tares, and carefully promote their growth. Temptations fly thick, and diabolical influences are to indwelling sin nearly what Divine influences are to grace.

The spontaneous growth of nettles and thorns in uncultivated ground may be applied to corrupt Churches, as well as the hearts of the slothful. They have the seed of corruption in themselves; and without daily cultivation would soon turn wild. Never did a vineyard need such care and pains, such pruning and dressing as the Lord's. While through innate corruption the church tends to grow barren and wild; legions of enemies continually exert themselves to the utmost to reduce her to such a situation. Want of culture will always produce a great growth of error and immorality.

2. Instead of yielding fruit to the owner, they are hurtful and cumber the ground. They cannot possibly yield fruit. These are plain questions, and carry conviction, "Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles ?" and "what fruit had ye then in these things whereof ye are now ashamed?" Truly there arises no advantage to soul or body, for this world or the next, from the noxious weeds of sin, and instead of promoting, they are diametrically opposite to the glory of God.

They are positively hurtful. They cumber the ground, and occupy the place where better things might and should grow. They impoverish the soil, and make it more unfit for the reception of the seed,

and producing a crop. If any person enter the spot, they are ready to pierce and wound him. All these bad effects accompany the indulgence of sin. Sin hardens the heart, steels it against impressions, and renders it still more unfit for the reception of grace. Some sinners are twice dead. Once Herod heard John gladly, and did many things; but the weeds grew, and he beheaded him. Sin too, sooner or later, will bite like a serpent and sting like an adder. Scarcely is any Gospel hearer so hardened as to be altogether without qualms of conscience here: if he repents, he will know experimentally by deep contrition, that it is an evil and bitter thing to depart from the Lord: if not, he will feel to eternity the piercing pain of sin in that place where the worm dieth not.

3. Thorns and nettles are of a spreading nature. They feed themselves and fill the ground. Scarcely can any thing be conceived of such a spreading nature as sin. It contaminates the whole soul, and pervades all her faculties. It runs through the members of the body as blood through the veins, and disseminates itself through the whole conversation, and so powerfully that all the sinner's actions, not only partake of the noxious nature, but, are spreading branches of that fatal weed, the root of which is in the evil heart. In many other ways does the diffusive nature of sin discover itself. The sinner goes from one degree of sin to another, and from one kind, less atrocious or scandalous, to another still more so. The progress of sin is emphatically set before us in that gradation, Psal. i. 1, Blessed is the man that

walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful." In proportion as sin gains ground, temptations meet with less opposition, and the heart is more accessible, till the poor sinner becomes an easy prey to Satan, and is led captive by him at his will.

One thing always happens where thorns and nettles are luxuriant, and in great abundance. They become a receptacle for wild beasts and poisonous creatures. Should any person enter the place this increases the danger. He is not only exposed to the sharp prickle of the thorn, but the venomous bite of the creatures which nestle and lurk there. The heart of the sinner is a cage of every unclean bird, and filled with the brood of the old serpent, which is numerous, poisonous, and advancing to maturity. In a corrupt and impure church too the contagion spreads, and she waxes worse and worse. The worst of men and the most hurtful opinions find ready reception. Among nettles and thorns the foxes hide themselves, and spoil the vines. When corruption is introduced and allowed, from small beginnings it soon grows to an enormous size. The Church of Rome from less corruptions proceeded to greater, till she not only deserved, but had upon her forehead a name written" MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH."

4. If ever the briers and nettles are rooted out, it must be difficult, troublesome," and expensive work. In the literal case this is obvious. A Gospel hearer long habituated to the practice and indulgence of

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sin, if he is recovered, will feel his former sinful conduct as a heavy burden to his dying hour. Paul never forgot that he was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and injurious; and his obtaining mercy, instead of being considered as extenuating his crimes, was a glass which discovered them in their true light. After David was long in Christ, his fall broke his bones, filled his heart with contrition, and made him ever see his sin. The longer a sinner goes on in his evil ways, he has the more to repent of, and the less time for the exercise. A sinner accustomed to do evil, will reclaim himself, and "learn to do well, when the Ethiopian changes his colour, and the leopard his spots." Nothing is too hard with God, and his grace is irresistible. His most inveterate enemies have been, and will be, made trophies of redeeming love. Such changes are impossible with men, but not with God.

Churches greatly corrupted and overspread with noxious weeds, can only be recovered by Almighty power; and when such a gracious work is accomplished, God appears in his glory. But, while it is the effect of Divine power and grace, the church will smart for her former conduct, and know in experience, that while it is more dutiful, it is easier too to retain than recover her first love. When the Lord reclaims a church from great backsliding and corruption, he commonly performs the gracious operation by throwing her into his furnace, and there refining her; and though this produces the most happy effects, it is often hard to bear it. We shall only add,