fail of accomplishing his purpose, if our hearts be not guarded by the Lord Jesus. Let none then be satisfied with purging out only some grosser sins1. In vain will the house be swept and garnished, if it be not occupied by the Divine inhabitant. Satan will return with seven devils worse than himself; and the last state of such men will be worse than the first™. Let all then be on their guard, and commit the keeping of their souls to Jesus". Then shall all the attempts of their enemy be baffled. He who never slumbers will surely preserve them0, and they shall be made the habitation of God to all eternity p. What we say therefore to one, we say unto all, Watch q.]
1 2 Pet. i. 9. m ver. 25, 26. " 1 Pet. iv. 19.
0 Ps. cxxi. 4—7. p Eph. ii. 22. i Mark xiii. 37.
Luke xi. 27, 28. And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the ivomb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked. But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.
THE words of our Lord, though made the con- tinual subject of cavil and dispute amongst his obsti- nate opposers, carried conviction to the hearts of all who candidly considered them : nor was the gentle- ness of his manners less impressive than the wisdom of his discourses. He had been just exposing the folly of imputing his miracles to a confederacy with Beelzebub : and to such a degree had his discourse wrought upon one of his audience, that she exclaimed out of the midst of the multitude, " Blessed is the womb that bare thee," &c. This was the most natural language for a woman to use in expressing her admiration of him : and it furnished him with an occasion to declare before all, who, and who only, could with propriety be accounted blessed.
In his answer he sets before us, I. The character of the true Christian —
Numberless are the ways in which this is drawn in the Holy Scriptures. But there is a peculiar