mies of God, the enemies of truth, and the enemies of one another.

A second quality of the dog is impudence · the most antient of heathen poets compares a man to a dog on account of his impudence-he calls one a shameless dog. With the greediness of the dog, there commonly goes the impudence of the dog. There is scarcely any property which distinguishes a bad man-from a good one more than his impudence: therefore impudent men are great favourites with. the author of evil. Blessed are the meek, says the Saviour: blessed are the impudent, says the destroyer: and if there be any sort of grace, which it is in the power of Satan to bestow, it is certainly this of impudence: ye may call it the devil's blessing. If he employs any person about his own works and designs, he seems commonly to provide in the first place, that he be impudent. A love of truth, an honest heart, and a good intention, will make a man bold: piety and trust in God will make him patient: but a bad heart and a mischievous intention will make him impudent; and unless he is so, he will have but little chance of succeeding in his undertakings. If an honest man is met by any one in the road to evil, he is easily abashed, and his modesty saves him: but an

evil man, if confronted and disappointed, begins again: his conscience feels no more than his flesh would do, if it had been seared with a hot iron if confuted and exposed, he feels no shame: nothing hurts him, unless it be the loss of some worldly object, or a miscarriage in some base design: and even then he is not discouraged, but still perseveres; repeats his old lies, renews his old attempts, and as he begins, so he goes on, stedfast and unmoveable. These are the men in whom Satan delights, and whom he employs upon the best of his enterprizes. Look at some of the principal of those persons, who at this time are leaders in public mischief: see if there is a modest man amongst them: it cannot be: such a man would be of no worth in that party. And indeed you will generally find, that the man whose face can oppose every thing, goes naturally into opposition: that is the stage on which his talents are displayed: the face of an hog can make its way through an hedge of thorns.

But there is another quality remaining; which is that of uncleanness. For this the two animals of our text are brought together by St. Peter. Christians are called away that they may escape the pollutions of the world: but many return to them again, and become

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become as they were before.

trated in the following words.

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This is illus

It happened

unto them according to the true proverb; the dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire. These practices are loathsome: but they are no more than a sign of the more loathsome ways of those people, who forsake the grace of God for the pollutions of the world. Nothing is really unclean in the sight of God, but sin, which defileth the soul and spirit. Devils are called unclean spirits from their wickedness; though in them there can be no such thing as bodily impurity. A soul defiled with sin is as contrary to the nature of God, as a beast wallowing in the mire is hateful and adverse to man; and a soul returning to the sin it had forsaken, falls into as loathsome an habit as that of the dog; who never can be raised above his nature, and cured of his odious manners: education will never mend him; he will be a dog still as he was before.

When we meet with men of these ill qualities, of such men we, as Christians, are to beware; for we shall do them no good, and if they can they will do us harm: therefore, says the apostle, beware of dogs; for there were persons, particularly the unbelieving Jews at

that

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that time, who beset the preachers of the gospel, as dogs fall upon a stranger. Ill men arm themselves against those who reprove them and if a man is given up to this world, nothing provokes him more than when he is told of another world. It was declared, in the language of prophecy, that Christ should be persecuted by evil men, in that passage of the twenty-second Psalm-" many dogs are come about me, the council of the wicked layeth siege against me." It is the same with the followers of Christ at this day: they who do not receive the truth, will always hate, and despise, and contradict, and persecute, and snarl at, and bite those who deliver it. If any one hears the gospel, he can very seldom hear it with indifference; it either pleases him or provokes him : and provoked he must be, if he belongs to the class of people we have been describing. For the gospel tells a man he must deny himself; how will he bear that, if he is greedy? it tells him he must renounce the world: how will he bear that, if it is the great idol of his affections? and if it be the pride and business of his life to follow the forms and fashions of the world; he will be out of patience when he hears, that a Christian must not conform to it; that he must not do as the world does.

Every person of common sense must know, if a swine could hear the doctrine of obedience, with the necessity of submission, how he would despise and detest it: precious as the doctrine is, he would trample it under his feet, And is not the world full of these swine? do they not abound more every day; who cry, "down with order, down with authority, down with property, down with honesty, down with religion; let all things be under our feet?" How can it be expected, that those who have once imbibed such notions, should ever hear the truth, or forbear to persecute those who bring it to their ears? The purity of the Christian religion never can be acceptable to the unclean and abominable; it is recommended to us here, that we may be fit for the presence of God hereafter: but the world to come and the glory of it is no more to such, than a pearl is to a swine; so he tramples that also under his feet; and not satisfied with expressing his contempt, he turns again and expresses his hatred and rage. How did the Jews and heathens, revile and persecute the first preachers of Christianity! and what was the reason of it all? it was only because the persecutors were allied to the dog and the swine in their principles and manners.

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