Whilst, however, we rely with firm and holy confidence upon the Great Author and Finisher of our Faith, for the protection and preservation of His Church; zeal, energy, and discretion, in defence of religion, are not the less requisite in believers, who labour under their Heavenly Master for the furtherance of His Gospel. As the Almighty is pleased to employ human agents for the accomplishment of His gracious designs towards His creatures; His faithful servants hoping to prove instruments, in His hands, of good to their fellow men, must use every means in their power to frustrate the evil designs of the enemies of the Lord; and to induce a sinful nation, suffering under a Divine visitation, to put away from them “the evil of their ways,” which has called down the Divine displeasure; and humbling themselves before God to implore His mercy, “that the plague may be stayed from the people.” {154} Let, then, all the servants of the Lord, at this alarming and awful crisis, “be very jealous for the Lord God of Hosts;” {155} and pray and labour incessantly for the defeat of the devices of unbelief; which, whether under the form of an irreligious spirit seeking to do without Christianity, or under the bolder aspect of open infidelity, striving to subvert Christianity, is the main cause of the evils which now endanger the safety of the civil and religious institutions of the kingdom. We have seen that, in the case of the lower classes of society, the tide of profaneness has been setting in with a force and fury which threaten to overturn all the defences of religion, morals, and laws, which have long withstood their fierce assaults—their destructive ravages. Can it be that the emissaries of Satan shall be found more zealous and indefatigable in disseminating the poison which is to destroy both body and soul, than the servants of God are vigilant, active, and unwearied, to prevent the bane or supply the antidote? Can it be that the slaves of sin and darkness, under the galling yoke of him who is a hard master, will manifest a more willing and prompt obedience, than the servants of God, in the cause of their blessed Lord, whose “burden is light,”—“whose service is perfect freedom?” We have seen, also, that in the middle and higher classes of society there appears to be an equally effective, though less conspicuous, agent at work—a deep and silent current, which is gradually, though secretly, undermining that great foundation of Christianity, that the law of God is to be the rule of life. This great engine of evil, as more insidious, is, in reality, more dangerous than the noisy turbulence of infidel assemblies, or the open circulation of blasphemous publications; the power of the spirit of darkness, when, “as a roaring lion he walketh about seeking whom he may devour,” is less to be dreaded, than when he employs the noiseless gliding of “the serpent,” which discovers itself only by the sting of death.