will " devout women" be found in league with " lewd fellows of the baser sort0:" the desire of all ranks and orders of ungodly men are in perfect harmony on this subject ; they all with one voice exclaim, " Depart from us, we desire not the knowledge of thy waysp."] ■'
4. Still however on the part of those who have experienced his saving benefits is there the same desire to glorify his name —
[To commune with the Saviour, to enjoy his presence, to fulfil his will, and to obtain richer communications of his grace, are the leading desires of all who have been delivered by him from the power of the devil. Whatever be their situation in life, they will be " as lights in a dark world q," and will so " make their light to shine before men, that all who behold them shall glorify the name of Jesus r." They feel themselves bound to stand up as witnesses for him, that he is that "stronger man, who alone can bind the strong man armed s," and deliver from his bonds the vassals whom " he had led captive at his will." From a sense of gratitude to his heavenly Benefactor, he will, like this liberated maniac, commend him to all around him, saying with the Psalmist, " Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will tell you what he hath done for my soul*."]
Address —
1. Those who have never yet been dispossessed of
the devil —
[It is humiliating to reflect on the state of our fallen world, of which " Satan is the god," and we all without excep- tion are his subjects. To all who live in sin of any kind it may be said, " Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye dou." " What have we to do with thee?" was the one voice of all the devils in the man that was pos- sessed by them: and all of them cried, " Torment us not." And is not a similar apprehension expressed by men at this day, when the Lord Jesus Christ is, as it were, introduced amongst them, " Speak not to us of him; do not make us melancholy?" Does not the whole tenour of men's lives shew, " whose they are, and whom they serve?" It is not necessary that men should rush headlong into all manner of iniquity. Sin, whether of a more heinous or more specious kind, equally shews under whose influence they livex, and that they need to
0 Acts xiii. 50. xvi. 39. and xvii. 5. p Job xxi. 14.
<J Matt. v. 14. Phil. ii. 15. r Matt. v. 16.
s Luke xi. 22. l ver. 20. with Ps. lxvi. 10.
u John viii. 42. x 1 John iii. S, 10,