SERM. XX.1 TRUTH., 9tNCER2TY, &C. B¢] might followmy example, that ye might always act agree- a,bíe to yourselves, and be constant to your own virtuous andholy character. But what an inconstant christian is he who changes his principles and practices, being blown about with the wind of prevailing party, and the humour of the times ? Who seems active in the cause of religion, when religion is the fashion of the age ; but he grows ashamed of every part of godliness, when the times turn upon him. His religion dies, when piety is discouraged in the world, and a saint becomes a name of reproach. To-day for the God of Israel, and to-morrow among the worshippers of Baal ! Now a zealot for pure doctrine and worship, anon so lukewarm and indifferent about every thing of religion, as though it had no place near his heart! Multiplying duties of godliness one week, and grossly negligent ofall duty the next ! To -day preaching and practising the rules of christianity, and to-morrow talking and living like a man of heathenism ! True and constant to nothing, but to his own fickle temper and inconstancy ! Is it not a glorious character when we can say of a good man, that " all that have known him give him a good word : that those who havelived many years with him, and seen him in his unguarded hours, and in the undress of life, pronounce him the same man as he ap- pears in the public world." They who have known him longest, admire himmost, and love him best, and they bear a noble testimony to his virtues and his graces. His graces and his virtues advance with his years, they imi- tate the morning-sun, which keeps the same steady pace through the heavens, but rises hourly, and shines with a brighter lustre, and with warmer beams. The path of . the just, like the morning 'light shines more and more unto the perfect day. Prov. iv. 18. But what a wretched satire it is upon any man to say, " If you see him for an hour his talents will surprise and please yob, but if you have a year's acquaintance with him, his evil qualities are so many and so hateful, that all his charms vanish, and he sinks and loses all your esteem." So. a torch blazes high when it is first kindled, but the flame grows lower as it burns, till it expire in stench and smoke. Where such a censure is just, or i
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