The works of the Rev. William Thom, late minister ... - waughfamily.ca

SERMON. V.FROM WHENCE COME WARS ?Preached in the Church of Govan, on the Public Faft, 1779.From ivhence come wars anJJightlngs among you ? come .. ihey not hence, even ofyour lujis that ivar in your members PnTc hiji, and have not : ye kill, and dejire to have, and cau'not obtain : yejight and ivar, yet ye have not, becaufe yenjh not. Ye ajh, and receive not; becaufe ye afk amifs, thatyemay confume itupon your lufis.- James iv, i. 2. 3c..\Tj-i\Rjs fo hideous and dcteftable, that when anyferious perfon fees or hears- of its exiftence and,its operations, he finds it natural to inquire into its,origin, and to put to himfcif, and to the contendingparties, if he h^th accefs to them, fuch a queftion as.you have in the text, From whence come wars ?—From whence come wars and fightings among you ?And, upon a flight inquiry, he is fatisfied, that fo fouland ruinous a thing mud be derived from fome verypolluted fource :" Come they not,"—come not warshence, even ^rom your lufls that war in your members?'-'"^-,There are feveral forts of contention, each of whichmay be called a war. If a man is vicious, or but halfvirtuous, there is often a war within his bofom -, hisappetites and unruly defires ftrive againft hisreafon.If one who hath not vet learned virtue, will, in anhour of thou'ghtfulnefs, look to what is tranfa6lingwithin him, he may perceive tumult, fighting, confufion*, one infatiabie^ luft is fometimes engaged a-,gainft another , his avarice, for inilance, againft hisa