Vol. 2

!;toldCHAPTER VIII. 435them by what means he that was possessed ofthe devils was healed."The 15th effect of this vice is, that it takes awayall good sense and reason, stupifies a man, and makeshim become as it were a brute. The I6th and lasteffect is, that nothing but a miracle can recover himfrom tliis sinful habit. If Christ has not wroughtone upon thee by a mercy of deliverancehe has done it at least by a mercy of prevention ;and cure,andeven that prevention could not be effected, but bydelivering and curing the will. A person possessedis a spectacle of horror to men, and his deliverancea subject of admiration : and the unchaste person, ofwhom the other is only a figure, is often esteemed,caressed, and envied under his miserable possessionand on the contrary despised, avoided, and ridiculedby the world, as soon as ever God has delivered him.O judgment of the world ! O corruption of man'sheart" 37. 1[ Then the whole multitude of the countryof the Gadarenes round about besought him to departfrom them : for they were taken with great fear.And he went up into the ship, and returned backagain."The knowledge of Jesus Christ,and the love ofsalvation, cannot long subsist together with the loveof pleasures, and with an affection for temporal possessions,and the ease of this present life. Littledoes he know the value of a Saviour or of salvation,who chooses rather to be rich without Christ, than tobe poor with him. The carnal man willingly renounceshim, in order to enjoy that which he loves.Men will not understand, that it is a happiness to beT 2