spirit? who is necessitated to remain the miser or the sensualist? The unclean spirit can only stay whilst you make him welcome. "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." There is a mightier than he proffering you assistance. And, oh! if a nation or an individual will do battle once more with the unclean spirit, in the strength of the living God, once more shall he be cast out, and forced to seek rest in the dry places of the earth; and of that nation, or that individual, it may yet be true, that though there have been a second state worse than the first, the last state shall be blessed, the last shall be triumphant.

LECTURE II.

Bourg from the Rock.

DEUT. XXXIL 13.

"He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock.”

"A LAND flowing with milk and honey," was the description of the Canaan promised to the Israelites. "A land flowing with milk and honey," describes also the Christian's present inheritance, and still more the possession reserved for him in Heaven. Our text occurs in the song of Moses, that sublime composition in which, ere he ascended Mount Nebo to die, the lawgiver reviewed God's dealings with his people, and foretold what should befall them, if they turned aside to the service of idols. It is in anticipation of their entrance into Canaan, that he speaks of their eating the increase of the fields, and sucking honey out of the rock; so that, whilst the past tense is employed, the passage must be regarded as prophetic. And forasmuch as the history of the Israelites is confessedly a typical or figurative history, sketching, as in parable, much that befalls the Christian Church in general, and its members in particular, we may expect that the prophecy before us will find its accomplish

ment in the experience of true disciples of Christ in every nation and age.

This is the use which, on the present occasion, we would make of the text. You can have no difficulty in understanding it in its primary application to the children of Israel. God emphatically made them "ride on the high places of the earth;" He "caused Israel, as a triumphant conqueror, riding in grand procession, to possess the fortified cities and inaccessible mountains, which the Canaanites thought secure from their assaults." "In this fertile land, the rocky parts which were the least valued, and which, in other countries, are generally unproductive, by the peculiar blessing of God, afforded them abundance of the finest honey and oil." Thus taken, the text is little more than an assertion of the extraordinary richness of the productions of Canaan,-productions to be enjoyed by the obedient, who should yield themselves unreservedly to the commandments of God. But, as we have already observed, every thing about the Jewish people was significative or emblematical: Canaan itself was a type of the condition, both here and hereafter, of the disciples of Christ. Whatsoever, therefore, the terms by which the richness of the literal Canaan is described, or the favoured condition of its inhabitants, we may justly suppose that these terms, metaphorically taken, are expressive of the provision made in Christ for His Church, of the privileges appertaining to those who love Him, and trust in Him, with all the heart, and soul, and strength.

There cannot, then, be any thing forced in the application which we shall make of our text, if we consider it as

delineating what may be the happy portion of Christians. We say, what may be; for you are not to regard the verse as describing what all Christians enjoy, so much as what those may expect who are serving the Lord with the greatest devotedness. There is an evident indication in the text of struggle and conquest as preceding the possession of the rich produce of Canaan. This we wish you particularly to observe. The riding on the high places of the earth, is in order to, is preparatory to, the eating of "the increase of the fields;" as though that eating were in recompense of mastery won over the strong-holds of the enemy. This having been premised, let us go straightway to the considering the import of the promises which may be said to be contained in our text: the first, a promise, that when, through God's help, a Christian has wrestled with and overcome his enemies, he shall "eat the increase of the fields;" the second, a promise that he shall "suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock."

Now it is a truth, of which you should often be reminded, that Christianity, as it was not set up at once in the world, but left to make its way, by slow and painful struggles, towards a dominion which it has not yet attained, so it is progressive, and not instantaneous, in acquiring empire in individual cases. There may be no inconsiderable analogy between the history of Christianity in the world, and its history in the individual. Christianity, when first published, made rapid way, as though but few years could elapse ere every false system would vanish before it. Then came interruptions, backsliding, degeneracy; and afterwards, repentance, partial reforma

tions, and heartier endeavours. But the consummation is still a thing only of hope; and Christ must re-appear in power and great majesty, ere his religion shall prevail in every household and every heart. In like manner, the converted individual devotes himself, at first, with the greatest ardency, to the duties of religion: after a while, too commonly, the ardency declines; duties are partially neglected, or languidly performed: then the man is roused afresh, and labours, in bitterness of spirit, to recover the ground so unhappily lost; but though, on the whole, he advances, there remains much land to be won by religion; and it will not be before "the day of the Lord" that he is "sanctified wholly in body, soul, and spirit." Nevertheless, the true character of religion in both cases is that of progressiveness; or rather, perhaps, we should say, of an inability to be stationary: it may not always be on the advance; but, if not on the advance, we may conclude it on the decline; for there is that in its nature which forbids the standing still. "To be perfect, even as our Father which is in Heaven is perfect," may not be looked for whilst we dwell in the flesh: but nothing less must be our desire, nothing less our aim; and it ought to suggest a thought, whether we have ever commenced in religion, if we feel content, though we have not attained to perfection.

The believer has all along to struggle with indwelling sin, to keep under the body, to study, that he may copy, the example of Christ, to labour at the cleansing himself of all the filthiness of the flesh and spirit, and perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. And beyond question, there is required, in order to this, much of pain