1 Cor. X. 12. Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest
he fall.
THE things which are recorded in the Holy Scrip- tures are written, not for the entertainment, but for the real improvement, of our minds. Doubtless, as gratifying our curiosity, there is no book under heaven so interesting as the Bible : but as exhibiting what must be realized in our own experience, as shewing us our duties and our difficulties, our helps and our remedies, our punishments and our rewards, it claims, infinitely beyond all other books, our unremitting attention. In this view the Apostle, having mentioned the misconduct of the Israelites in the wilderness, and the destruction which they brought upon themselves by means of it, founds upon their history this solemn admonition ; *' therefore let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall."
From these words we may learn,
I. That all, even the most eminent, are liable to fall —
[Tlie most distinguished characters of antiquity have
fallen ^ They have betrayed their weakness in those
very points, wherein their eminence chiefly consisted^
Who then amongst us will presume to say, " I am in no danger of falling "^ ? " ]
II. That the more self-confident we are, the more
likely we are to fall —
a Noah, Gen. vi. 9. with ix. 21. Lot, 2 Pet. ii. 7, 8. with Gen. xix. 33—36. David, Acts xiii. 22, with 2 Sam. xi. 4,5, 15. Solo- mon (who was called Jedediah, the beloved of the Lord, 2 Sam. xii. 24, 25.) 1 Kings xi. 1—9.
^ Abraham, Rom. iv. 20. with Gen. xii. 12, 13. and xx. 2, 11. Job, Jam. v. 11. with Job iii. 3. Moses, Numb, xii, 3. with xx. 10, 11, Jeremiah, Jer, ix. 1, with xx, 8, 9. Paul, Acts xx. 24. with xviii, 9, 10. when he seems to have been struck with a panic,
<= John iv. 14, and 1 Pet. i, 23. shew the proper qualities and ten- dency of (jrace ; but do not at all affect what the Scriptures elsewhere affirm to be the tendency of our inherent corruption.