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 reigned in his heart, he was as really an idolater as the worshipper of Brahma or Juggernaut; (the idols of the Hindoos,) but now he will cast his idols of silver, and gold to the moles and to the bats: not that he will inconsiderately throw away the wealth he may have acquired, but as an idol he will renounce it for ever; and regard it only as an instrument of serving God, and promoting his kingdom and glory in the world. The Lord may see fit to strip him of all his earthly possessions, and leave him poor and naked as when he came into the world; but the loss will not make him sorrow, as those who have no hope, nor deprive him of any real comfort; for he has gained his own soul, and he finds all riches in Christ.

Professors of the gospel have a particular interest in this question of profit and loss. It was addressed by Christ to disciples, in the first instance, and with propriety it is addressed to them now. A short time after the first proposal of the question, one of the disciples did, for, the sake of a little of this world, cast away, and lose his own soul. He betrayed and sold his Master for thirty pieces of silver; and obtained a name of infamy which will never be forgotten—“the son of perdition."

The love of the world is a sin which, above, almost every other, easily besets professing Christians, because it is a sin in which they may indulge without forfeiting the esteem of their fellow creatures, or even of their fellow-professors. The drunkard, or the profane person, can have no place in any well regulated Christian society; but covetousness, or the love of riches, has no great stigma attached to it: it does not usually