and the means more consistently together, ever watching for opportunities, eagerly apprehending them as they occur, and thus exerting themselves to the utmost to gain their end, whether stimulated by necessity, passion or desire. A monk, Pambos, when he visited Alexandria at the invitation of the celebrated Athanasius, is said to have burst into tears at the sight of a public performer, not only from horror, as he contemplated the misery that awaited her, the wages of her shame, but because he felt how much less earnest he was in seeking to please his God, than she was to gratify her wretched admirers. Let such considerations urge us to more holy self-suspicion, and more self-denying exertions to "make our calling and election sure;' ;"* not simply because “to our safety our own sedulity is required," as the means to an end, but because sloth and lukewarmness at once dishonour our God, and bring leanness upon our own souls, or deprive us of all comforting assurances, unless we wilfully deceive ourselves. Grace alone can give us the victory, but that is never idle nor barren.§ True faith, its result, leans with confidence on an Almighty arm, and on a faithful Promiser, || and is never dis

* 2 Peter i. 5--12.

† Hooker.

Both ordained by the same wisdom, and secured by the same power. See the familiar illustration of this, drawn from Acts xxvii. 31, with 22; 25, by Dr. Chalmers and others.

§ 1 Cor xv. 10.

|| 1 Cor. x. 13; Isaiah xlix. 15, 16; liv. 9, 10, 17; Heb. vi. 17, 18; Rom. viii. 1; 31, &c.

appointed. "For whom He did predestinate, them He also called; and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified."* They are more than conquerors through Him that loved them."t

66

On this very account, however, it is the more necessary to look well to the first step. So many mistake or misrepresent the nature of true conversion, or the outward manifestations of the new birth, in order to explain the fall of supposed converts, that it is most essential for us to entertain correct views on this point, lest we should acquiesce in a superficial change. A man may go very far, and yet be found wanting at the last. The difference between the wise and foolish virgins was imperceptible to man, and only ascertained. by the latter, when it was too late to supply the defect. We must look with greater satisfaction upon what is tremblingly proclaimed than upon an ostentatious profession, ardently assumed; but the question is not the manner, but the reality of the change. Whether "persuasion enter like a sunbeam," or be wrought amidst the gloom and darkness of the hurricane or earthquake, it must produce a burning, not a phosphorescent, light, and be witnessed by the abiding unction of the Holy Spirit. Then it knits the heart to Christ, as its "all in all;" it constrains the believer to hate, and to fight

*Rom. viii. 30. Links in a golden chain, which Satan can never

sever.

† Id. ver. 37.

D D

At a later period, Jesus warned His disciples, that such prophets would show great signs and wonders, insomuch that, if it were possible, they would deceive the very elect, as well as the multitude; and He therefore foretold the danger, that they might be prepared to meet it without loss.* The apostle tells the Corinthians that "Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light; therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness."†

These pernicious teachers have constantly appeared under some special garb, as “in sheep's clothing," with the names of God, and of righteousness and truth upon their lips, and with outward attractions which irresistibly arrested attention, and which might at first sight have even dazzled and confounded the mature Christian. There could be no security to the careless and superficial. Light nourished by vapours, hovering over low and marshy grounds, sometimes allures a benighted traveller, draws him aside from his road, a vain and weary course, into perilous or impassable morasses, and then suddenly expiring leaves him to darkness and despair. Such has been the illusion produced by false doctrine in almost every age of the church.

The Lord here gives us a test by which prophets may be tried, and by which, if patiently tried, deceivers will be fully unmasked. They may be discerned by

* Matt. xxiv. 11; 24, 25, &c.

† 2 Cor. xi. 14, 15.

their fruits:* unholiness is the characteristic mark of deceit and falsehood. The apostle, therefore, reminded the Corinthians of the various proofs, which they had witnessed in his ministerial course, of his self-denying love, that he might expose the impostors, who troubled and distracted them by their arrogant assumptions.†

This test, however, seems to be scarcely applicable in our day. Currency, at least, is often given to dangerous and subtle error by the apparent earnestness, lofty demeanour, and unblemished reputation of its advocates. Perhaps, we should regard the language of our Lord, as specially addressed to the disciples in the infancy of the church, when many pernicious errors were inculcated by avowed advocates of licentiousness, falsely pretending to be inspired messengers from heaven. For other tests have been graciously vouchsafed to us in the completion of the sacred canon, and in increased facilities to apprehend its statements, and thus try every novel doctrine by this unerring standard. Some precepts in the tenth chapter of this Gospel are evidently of a temporary character, as they were distinctly repealed by the commission given to the apostles to testify of Christ "in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth;" and there is no repetition of this criterion of false teachers in other portions of the New Testament; so that this also was probably personal and local. For

* See iii. 8-10; xii. 33; Luke iii. 8, 9; xiii. 6–9; John xv. 1-8.

† 2 Cor. xi.

Matt. x. 5; Acts i. 8.

it is idle to assert that ". a false doctrine is as much a work as a wicked deed, and as really the out-growth of the inner man;' ;"* when the question at issue is the falsity or truth of a particular teacher or pretended prophet.

Otherwise we must apply the language of the Lord exclusively to those, who oppose essential principles, and overthrow the very foundation of faith; and we know unhappily too many cases, in which it is distinctly applicable at the present day. Witness the monstrous delusions of Mormonism. But, perhaps, a cautious inquirer might go further, and discern in the overweening self-conceit, haughty self-sufficiency, bitter dogmatism, and scornful contempt of others, exhibited by some innovators, and teachers of strange doctrines, the absence of that meekness, gentleness and humility, the fruits of heavenly love, the invariable marks of true wisdom, which a tree of righteousness, of the Lord's own planting, would necessarily yield; and thus learn to avoid them.

Independently, however, of this, an important practical lesson appears from a reference to the parallel passages to be manifestly involved in the connected illustration. It is not that the good tree is so by nature, or that an evil tree is incapable of change;†

*Trench p. 323. The Latin Homilist says, cum sit pejus male credere quam male agere! Chrysost. Op. T. vii. p. 843.

†Trench p. 324, 325;

Chrysost. T. vii. p. 242. Philo speaks of

'a tree of virtue, the fruits of which must necessarily be good and noble." De Gigant. § 1.