from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory p."]
Having endeavoured to elucidate the words before us, I will now,
II. Suggest the improvement which, in my judgment the subject calls for —
I cannot conceive any subject more calculated,
1. To put down presumption —
[Let any person be as elevated as he will in national privileges, or civil station, or intellectual attainments, or moral habits, yea, I will add also, in religious experience ; let him be the admiration of all around him ; yet will I say, that if he be lifted up with pride, he will fall into the condemnation of the devil ; and, from being the first in human estimation, he will become the last in Divine acceptance. Look at Demas : so eminent was he in the estimation of St. Paul, that twice did the Apostle join him with St. Luke, in his salutations to the saints : " Salute Lucas and Demas." Yet we find this man at last forsaking the way of godliness, and turning back to a state of utter worldliness and carnality*1. In the book of Job we read of many " whose excellency mounts up to the heavens, and their head reaches to the clouds ; and yet, at last, they perish like their own dung ; and they who have seen them are led, with a mixture of doubt and lamentation, to say, Where is her?" And where shall we find a Church in which such instances have not occurred, to the disgrace of true religion, and to the grief of all who held fast their profession ? I say then to every soul of man, however advanced in piety he may appear, " Be not high-minded, but fear." Yea, though he may have attained the eminence of Paul himself, I will bid him " keep his body under, and bring it into subjection ; lest, after having preached to others, he himself should become a cast-away s."]
2. To prevent despair —
[Let not any one tell me that his guilt is too great to be forgiven, or his depravity too inveterate to be subdued. I will grant that the disadvantages under which a man may labour may be so great as to render his conversion, in all human appearance, impossible ; yet will I say, that though he be the last, yet may he become the first. What cannot He do, who formed the universe out of nothing, and reduced the chaos to the order and beauty in which we behold it? If only we
P I Sam. ii. 8. i 2 Tim. iv. 10.
r Job xx. G, 7. s 1 Cor. ix. 27.