not, they cannot; for whoever truly receives the doctrines of the Lord Jefus Christ, will thereby experience an increafing affection, love, and regard, for his parents and kindred; he will have no enmity, ill-will, or hatred towards them. But it may be faid, that in confequence of his believing and obeying the truth, his parents and kindred may be at variance with him. This, I will admit, may be the cafe; but then it is not the Lord, but the devil, or their own depraved difpofitions, which create that variance and enmity. Therefore, in the literal sense of the words, the Lord does not come to fet a man at variance with his parents and kindred. No, his doctrines and laws teach a very different conductthey breathe nothing but love, charity, good-will, meekness, and the like. The real christian, the truly good man, is at enmity with no one-he loves all his fellow-creatures-forgives their injuries-and does good to them who hate him. And although you read, in several places in the evangelists, that a man must forfake, and even hate father and mother, fifter and brother, wife and children, for the fake of the Lord and his gofpel; yet I hope you will never conclude from thence, that the religion of the kind and loving Jefus, teaches you actually to forfake and hate your near and dear relations according to the flesh. To form fuch a conclufion, would be to injure the Lord, and degrade his religion beneath that of Mahomed. And I would here just remark, how effentially neceffary it is for us to be

acquainted

acquainted with the internal and spiritual sense of the holy word, that fo we may avoid fuch mistakes as these, and fee the harmony and confiftency of one part of the word with another. By a man's foes being they of his own houfhold, is generally underftood, that when a man becomes religious, and is in earnest for happiness and heaven, his family, kindred, and acquaintance, will become his enemies; do all they can to diffuade him from a religious life; and probably commence his perfecutors. That this may be the cafe, we must allow-that it has too often been known, we cannot deny. Nevertheless, for the honor of human nature, in a land of religion, we would hope the inftances are not many, or frequent: nor can I by any means admit that this is the meaning of our text. Our Lord does not fay a man's foes MAY; but they SHALL be (or WILL BE) they of his own houfhold. It is not a thing that may, or may not, be; a mere uncertainty; but it actually will be fo; and I am affured, when the true fenfe of the words are confidered, every ferious christian now prefent, muft acknowledge the truth and certainty of them in his own experience.

We will, therefore, attempt to illustrate the words according to their genuine fpiritual meaning; in doing which, we will,

First, Confider what is meant by a man's boufhold. Secondly, What are the particular foes of that

boufbold.

E

Thirdly,

Thirdly, In what refpects they are fo.

Fourthly, How they are to be overcome.

And fifthly, The effential neceffity of that victory, in order to our happiness.

And first, We are to confider what is meant by a man's boufhold. You will obferve, that the word of the Lord is written by correfpondences. Natural terms and phrafes are used to exprefs Spiritual things. This has been fo frequently proved and illuftrated, that I need not dwell upon it now. The Lord's church is called a vineyard, a house, a city, &c. because it correfponds to fuch things. The good man is called a temple, a branch, a sheep, and the like; because of his correfpondence to fuch things. So the mind of man is compared to a houfe, as in Matt. xii. 29, " But if I caft out devils by the spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come "nigh unto you; or elfe, how can one enter into a

ftrong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he "first bind the ftrong man, and then he will spoil "his boufe?" And in verfes 44 and 45, "then "he faith, I will return into my boufe from whence "I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it swept and garnished: then goeth he, and taketh " with himself seven other fpirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there; and "the last state of that man is worse than the first." Thus the mind of man is compared to a house, because of the correspondence between the one and

the

ODI

the other. A house being that which contains, and is filled with thofe things which are for the use and accommodation of man; fo the mind contains in itself whatever is conftituent of man-whatever is proper to man-all those powers, faculties, and qualifications, effential to man; and is the fole recipient of whatever can make him happy or miserable. As, therefore, the mind is thus compared to a boufe, fo whatever is contained therein may properly be called its boufhold. And as a man's houfe may be stored with what is useful, or with what is pernicious -as he may admit friends into it, or enemies-fo, likewise, may it be as to the mind. And I am perfuaded, an impartial examination will convince us, that the principal foes to which we are exposed are those of our own houfhold-those which we have admitted into the mind, chofen as our companions, careffed as our friends, and too long placed our affections upon. Perhaps we may find fome difficulty in a proper discrimination between our foes and our friends, but that difficulty will vanifh away, if we take the Lord's word for our guide in the examination. And as I do not know any subject relative to man, of more importance than this before us, we will endeavor,

Secondly, To explain what and who are the par

ticular foes of a man's own houfhold.

First, We have before observed, that man has averted himself from the Lord, and is become a fallen contaminated finner. Whatever, therefore,

is admitted into the mind in confequence of fuch fall, that thing is an enemy to the man. And indeed there is not a fingle evil which man has made his own, but what is, in the ftrictest sense of the word, a foe of his own houfhold; as every evil is an enemy to his real happiness. But to enumerate thefe is not my present defign, neither could that be done in one discourse. There are certain principles from which, as their parents, these evils exift; and thofe principles are what I mean now to confider. It is well known that in every man, fince the fall, there is a fenfual, earthly, vile principle, which operates in the mind against all that is good and heavenly; this fenfual principle the moft ancient people called the ferpent, because, as ferpents live close to the earth, and eat the duft thereof, fo fenfual things are closely connected with the body; and fenfual men live on what is corporeal and terreftrial. From this fenfual principle, this earthly evil difpofition, proceed what the apostle calls the works of the flesh-as adulteries, fornications, uncleannefs, lafcivioufnefs, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, ftrife, feditions, herefies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and fuch like. Again, another principle in the mind is felf-love, from which pride, covetoufnefs, contempt of others, injustice, cruelty, and many other evils flow. And as thefe evils exift in the mind, and are cherished there, fo infernal spirits who are in the love of thofe evils, can affociate with us, prompt us to indulge in whatever those principles

lead