to the necessity of caring for the soul! God grant it may not be so to us! God be praised that the unclean spirit has in very many instances gone out! God be praised that the drunkard has ceased to drink, the false to lie, the oppressor to wrong, the covetous to hoard, the swearer to blaspheme! God be praised for every single case in which his judgments have made the careless thoughtful, and have stayed, in their desperate career, the lovers of this world's pleasure! God be praised for every single soul which his terrors have moved to a profitable fear, and his mercies to a return of love!

For all this we have much need to give thanks. And thus far it is well for us, that the unclean spirit is gone out; that we are now more than ever averse to sin, more than ever anxious to be saved, more than ever purposing to obey. Thus far it is well. Only let us not presume, that therefore we are safe. Only let us not forget that our "adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." (1 Pet. 5. 8.) Only let

us consider that "when the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in and dwell there and the last state of that man is worse than the first."

See here the activity of our enemy! See how watchful he is for our destruction! See how much he is dissatisfied if cast out, till he can regain possession of the soul, which he once has counted for his own! "He walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none." Dry places are here opposed to a land that is well watered, and therefore pleasant to inhabit. No place is so desirable to Satan, as the soul which he has well nigh lost. Like the covetous and greedy of mankind, he has no enjoyment of that which is securely his, out of his earnest desire to get more. Oh that they, who have to

strive with him for the victory, would learn thus to yield up no point they once have gained, and never to rest till they have recovered any success they once have lost!

"Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished." When the soul of a sinner has been arrested in a course of pleasurable sin, when it desists from any gross transgression, how truly is it described as being swept and garnished! For how like unto filth in a habitation is profligacy in a Christian! But at such a moment, how absolutely is it necessary to fill up with the love of things divine the void which is left in the affections! How hard is it for the heart, which has been set on earth, to entertain the love of Christ, and the desire to be with Him where He is! How great the risk, that, if it be empty of these heavenly feelings, if, whilst unburthened of its sins, it have not been filled with faith, and hope, and charity, how great the risk, that the

enemy of souls, will recover his lost pos

session!

“Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there and the last state of that man is worse than the first." His passions are more confirmed in the mastery, his heart more hardened in sin, his repentance for the future is more hopeless, his condemnation in the end more sure. So sad is the consequence of being a second time taken captive in the love of the world, the lusts of the flesh, and the snares of the devil! So impossible is it for "those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame." (Heb. 6. 4—6.) For those who have once thoroughly fallen away, from entire conversion unto

God, such second renewal is thus declared by the apostle to be impossible. That is to say, it is the nearer to impossible, the nearer we have once been to the true faith in Christ, and the farther we have fallen off from our allegiance. The more thoroughly the unclean spirit has once been cast out, we shall find it the more hard, if again we let him enter, the more hard to hinder him from bringing in other spirits more wicked than himself; the more sure we are to have our last state worse than the first.

This consideration, alarming as it is, has seemed most fit to be laid before you at this time, when there is so good reason to hope, that out of many the unclean spirit is in some sort gone. For at such a time, there is great risk, that the houses he has left, though "swept and garnished," may be notwithstanding "empty." And in such a case, there is evidently great danger, that your last state may become worse than the first. And how shall we know this to be the case; and not faithfully warn you of your peril?