Through the “deceivableness of unrighteousness,” through the wiles of Satan and the evil propensity of our own hearts, we are always in danger of being too easily content with our spiritual condition; we look too much to the outward and visible form, and too little within; to little to the habitual principle, the constraining motive, the cast of character: and it is in this, that the difference between the old and the new man, in the christian world essentially consists. Suffer me to point out again a few of the broad lines of distinction. The old man, whatever of religion he may profess, lives principally for himself and the world; he may think of religion, and speak of it, and pray for it with the lips, but it has no dwelling place in his heart, is not the business of his life. However observable, in many respects, his moral deportment may be, his character is seldom consistent. From some evil pursuits he abstains, in others he wilfully and constantly indulges; some evil passions are kept in creditable order, others are let loose; some duties he professedly performs, and others he professedly omits. And nothing is done with a true christian motive, or christian view; nothing from a sense of absolute and uncompromising obedience to the will of God. Nor is it surprising, that there should be such deficiencies and inconsistencies in his character; he has no principle or means, by which he can possibly walk uprightly with his God. He does not “believe with the heart unto righteousness;” he does not seek, nor desire, to “live in the spirit and walk in the spirit;” there is no life in his devotion, no sincerity in his prayer: he “asks not faithfully” for repentance and holiness, and they cannot be “effectually received.” He is not disposed to bring his understanding and heart into subjection to the divine will. He studies not that holy word, which ministers the principle of a divine life, and the spirit of obedience to the soul. He lives for earth and not for heaven. He is too proud to be taught the humiliating doctrines of revelation; too full of himself, to bow implicitly to his Redeemer. In a word, nature is his book and not the Bible; the world is his teacher and not the Spirit of God; earthly and not spiritual subjects are the delight of his heart; he walks not “by faith, but by sight.”