of sending for a strong foreign power to scatter their enemies, and it
has always turned out one way. The foreigner has come and he has
stopped. The auxiliary has become the lord, and he that called him to
his aid becomes his tributary. Ay! and so it is with all the things of
this world. Here is some pleasant indulgence that I call to my help
lightly and thoughtlessly. It is very agreeable and does what I wanted
with it, and I try it again. Still it answers to my call. And then
after a while I say, 'I am going to give that up,' and I cannot, I
have brought in a master when I thought I was only bringing in an ally
that I could dismiss when I liked. The sides of the pit are very
slippery; it is gay travelling down them, but when the animal is
trapped at the bottom there is no possibility of getting up again. So
some of you, dear friends! have got masters in your delights, masters
in your pursuits, masters in your habits. These are your gods, these
are your tyrants, and you will find out that they are so, if ever, in
your own strength, you try to break away from them.

So let me plead with you. With some of you, perhaps, my voice, as a
familiar voice, that in some measure, however undeservedly, you trust,
may have influence. Let me plead with you--do not run after these
will-o'-the-wisps that will only lure you into destruction, but follow
the light of life which is Jesus Christ Himself. Do not take these
tyrants for your helpers, who will master you under pretence of aiding
you; and work their will of you instead of lightening your burden. The
same unwise and hopeless mode of life, which we have been describing
this evening by one symbolic illustration, as calling vain helpers to
our aid, was presented by Ahaz's great contemporary Isaiah, in words
which Ahaz himself may have heard, as 'striking a covenant with death,
and making lies our refuge.' Some of us, alas! have been doing that
all our lives. Let such hearken to the solemn words which may have