advice or ridicule of the ignorant and supine. Shall we then be discouraged, whose seed-time is so precarious, and whose harvest is so important? Let all go forward, "sowing in tears that they may reap in joy."]
Gal. vi. 9. Let us not be weary in well-doing : for in due season we shall reap, if ive faint not.
THE way of duty is difficult, while that of sin is easya. After we have received grace, we are still prone to depart from God ; but the prospect of an happy issue of our labours is a strong support. The Gospel encourages us to expect a certain and season- able recompence.
We have here, I. A word of caution —
Well-doing respects every part of a Christian's duty. We may apprehend ourselves weary in it, when we are not really so. We are not necessarily so, because our affections are not so lively as they once were —
[Age and infirmity may occasion a stupor of the mind : a more enlarged view of our own depravity may cast us down. Love itself may grow in some respects, even while its ardour seems to abate b.]
We are not necessarily so, because our corruptions appear to have increased —
[When we are first awakened, we know but little of our own hearts. As we proceed, the Lord discovers to us more of our hidden abominations0. The discovery of them, as of objects in a dark place, argues only more light from heaven.]
We are not ?iecessarily so, because we do not find enlargement in prayer —
a A learned prelate speaks admirably to this purpose : — " Vice is first pleasing ; then easy ; then delightful ; then frequent ; then habitual ; then confirmed : then the man is impenitent ; then he is obstinate ; then he resolves never to repent ; and then he is damned." Jer. Taylor's Serm. p. 260.
b Phil. i. 9. <= This may be illustrated by Ezek. viii. 6, 13, 15.
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