'352 Tits ESE O1' TIIE EASSIONS IN RELIGION. his eye was consumed with grief, and he roared by reason of the disquietness of his heart ; Ps. vi. 3, 0, 7. he was then under the workings of'recovering grace. When St. Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians made them sorry for their connivance at the in- cestuous iniquity ofone of their members, he tells them, in his second letter, how necessary this sorrow was, this godly sorrow, What worketh repentance unto salvation : a train of holy passions attended it ! What indignation against sin, and the sinner ! What holyfear of defilement by communion with such a crime, or the indulgence of it ! What vehement desire after cleansing and forgiving grace ! Whaz revenge against such foul iniquity ! What zeal to approve themselves clear before God and man ! 2 Cor. vii. 9, 10, 11. The blessed God does not willingly afflict andgrieve the children ofmen; Lam. iii. 33. and he would not have made the sorrows and the bitter groans of repentanceso necessary a part of the christian life, had he not known the painful passions of nature to have so happy an influence in the kingdom of his grace. By this anguish of the conscience, by these afflictions of the spirit, God carries on his own designs of mercy, and makes the soul partaker of his holiness ; Heb. xii. 10. V. To employ the passions for. God, is to take a most powerful engine of mischief out of the hand of sin and Satan, and to reduce it to the obedience of Christ." It is the recovery of a considerable part of human nature out of dismal captivity and bondage. The passions are the warmest and Strongest powers of the soul : They are the artillery whereby man wages war either for or against heaven. Thepassions by nature are devoted to theservice of sin, and engaged on the devil's side in his wars against the Almighty, and they are charged with the seeds of impious fire and thunder : But when divine grace bath taken hold of them, and employed them on the side Of God and religion, it is like seizing the cannon of the enemy from their old batteries, and planting them in new bulwarks, to make war upon thedevil and all his army. Fearful and impious work do the passions make when they are engaged on the side of the flesh, the world and the devil. What bold contempt of Gòd, and all that is holy ! What unruly violence of love to vanity and sensual pleasure ! What mad de- light in sin ! What impetuous desires öf forbidden objects ! What malice boils in theheart against our neighbour, upon every supposed injury ! What wicked envy frets andrages in the soul at the welfare of others! What wrath, and indignation, and revenge, are continually ready to be in arms ! And how do these hellish passions employ thé tongue in slander and lies, and sometimes embrue the hands in mischief and blood ! Now v'vltat a'lorious victory is it to have the vicions affections en-
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