disputing with each other who should be the greatest, and forbidding others to cast out devils, because they followed not with them, and desiring to call fire from heaven to avenge their Master's cause, appeared as faithful as men could be '^r yet were they in reality actuated by pride and envy, in the garb of zeal and love : and, had not these corrupt passions been checked at first, who can tell, " how great a matter this little fire might have kindled*^?" There is not a motion of the heart but must be strictly marked : its associates must be carefully noticed ; its tendencies examined ; its professions scrutinized ; lest Satan himself be found there, under the semblance of an angel of light '^.j
3. Combine all its energies in the service of your
God—
[The Psalmist has a remarkable expression on this sub- ject; "Unite my heart, O Lord, to fear thy name^." If the powers of the soul be scattered, they will be as inefficient as soldiers that are dispersed. It is by a combination of efforts for a preconcerted end, and by simultaneous movements for its accomplishment, that success is attained. The various powers of the soul must act in unison : the understanding, the will, the affections, the memory, the conscience, must all have the same object in view, each defending its proper post to the uttermost, and ready to succour the other with all its might. If, whilst the understanding is occupied about spiritual and heavenly things, the will and the affections are running after earthly and carnal things, what can be expected, but that the enemy shall soon gain undisguised and permanent possession of the soul ? Every one knows, that " a house divided against itself, falleth;" and a divided heart must become a prey to the great adversary of God and man. All its powers must center in God, if God is to inhabit it as his temple, and to possess it as his inheritance.]
4. Call in for it the most efFectual aid —
[Human efforts, unassisted by God, will be of little avail. Indeed we can do nothing but as we are assisted by " the Captain of our Salvation ''." To him then must we look to *' strengthen us with might by his Spirit in our inward man ' :" we must go forth against our enemies, as David did against Goliath, not in dependence on an arm of flesh, but in the name of the Lord God of Israel: we must "be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might ^." Then we may defy all our adversaries : we may boldly ask the greatest amongst them ; " Who art thou, O thou great Mountain? Before Zerubbabel
d Lukeix. 46, 49, 54. e Jam. iii. 5. f o Cor. xi. 13, 14.
s Ps. Ixxxvi. 11. h John xv. 5. ' Eph. iii. 16.
k Eph. vi. 10.