likeness. Yes! you need only look attentively, and you will find every line and every feature, every blot and every blemish in yourself. We may say of the scriptures, which I have been setting before you, No glass can represent the face More clearly, than these words your case. Chilo, one of the Greek wise men, when he was at the point of death, called his friends to him, and said, he could find nothing to repent of, in all his past life; not one fault except in a single instance, leaning a little too favourably to a friend in judgment. How blind must that man be who cannot see scarlet! Instead of saying you see nothing amiss in your past life, while you examine the scriptures, have you not reason to express yourself in the words of Job, "Behold, I am vile ?" Are you not fully convinced, that, unless you are washed in the fountain opened for sin and uncleanness, and created anew in the image of Christ, you cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven? 4. The impenitent are in a state of guilt and condemnation. It is awful to see a man, who has broken the laws of his country, trembling in his chains, as he hears the sentence which declares him guilty. Condemned to die for his crimes, he feels a thousand horrors, before the hour of execution comes. But that man is in a far more dreadful condition, whom the sentence of the divine law dooms to eternal misery. God, as a God of justice, will not suffer his authority to be trampled upon by the wicked, without calling them to an account for it. Sin, says the apostle John, is the transgression of the law. And God keeps a book of remembrance, in which every vicious deed, every idle word, and every sinful thought, is registered. Now consider that it is said, "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them." And can you believe this without trembling? Is there nothing to alarm you in the wrath of the Almighty? Can you sleep undisturbed, in carnal ease, while the curse of the most high God hangs over your guilty head? But, perhaps, you think yourself clear of the charge brought against you. When the words of the law are repeated, you are ready to cry, All these things have I kept from my youth up; I never committed theft, adultery, nor murder. But is it not possible, you may be too hasty in this matter? Take the trouble of weighing what Christ says of the law in Matt. v. 22-35. There you will find, that slightly uttering the name of God, is profaneness; a wanton look, is adultery; anger, without a just cause, is murder; a grasping eagerness after the world, is covetousness and idolatry. By proceeding in this way, you will be convinced, that, although men's notions of duty and sin are very narrow, God's commandments are exceeding broad. If the scriptures are to be believed, it is an undeniable truth, that, by the deeds of the law, shall no man living be justified. Not the least room is left for self-righteous pretences and pleas. Every mouth is stopped, and the whole world is become guilty before God. There is no way of escaping the awful judgments of God, but by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Rom. viii. 1. If you remain still in impenitence and unbelief, you are yet under the curse. He that believeth not is condemned already, and the wrath of God abideth on him. John iii. 18-36. 5. The impenitent are in a state of bondage and misery. How wretched was the condition of the Israelites in Egypt, when they were not only under the iron rod of Pharaoh, the great tyrant, but also under the smarting scourges of those petty tyrants, the task masters! Well might they sigh and sicken over their hard labours and unpitied woes: but the state of unconverted men is far worse. They sell themselves to do the vilest drudgery. They are the slaves of Satan, and the servants of sin. Paul declares, that those who oppose them. selves to the gospel, are led captive by the devil at his will. And whither are you likely to be conducted by such a leader? What reward can you expect to receive from such a master? He will draw you on, by little and little, into his snares and fetters, till you are as fast bound as if girt with chains of brass. He will promise many sweets, and give you the apples of Sodom; he will shew you the glories of the world, and plunge you in the horrors of despair. The apostle Peter speaks of some who boast of their liberty, and yet are the servants of corruption. Such persons yield up all their powers and members, as instruments of unrighteousness to sin. Rom. vi. 13. And 0, what a wretched state is this! Yet every impenitent man is tied down by the base customs of an evil world, and given up to serve divers lusts and pleasures, those cruel task-masters which are never satisfied. Let it never be forgotten, that sorrow follows sin, as the shadow does the substance. Peter joins together the bond of iniquity and the gall of bitterness. Solomon says, The way of transgressors is hard ; and truly such as travel in that way slightly uttering the name of God, is profaneness; a wanton look, is adultery; anger, without a just cause, is murder; a grasping eagerness after the world, is covetousness and idolatry. By proceeding in this way, you will be convinced, that, although men's notions of duty and sin are very narrow, God's commandments are exceeding broad. If the scriptures are to be believed, it is an undeniable truth, that, by the deeds of the law, shall no man living be justified. Not the least room is left for self-righteous pretences and pleas. Every mouth is stopped, and the whole world is become guilty before God. There is no way of escaping the awful judgments of God, but by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Rom. viii. 1. If you remain still in impenitence and unbelief, you are yet under the curse. He that believeth not is condemned already, and the wrath of God abideth on him. John iii. 18-36. 5. The impenitent are in a state of bondage and misery. How wretched was the condition of the Israelites in Egypt, when they were not only under the iron rod of Pharaoh, the great tyrant, but also under the smarting scourges of those petty tyrants, the task masters! Well might they sigh and sicken over their hard labours and unpitied woes: but the state of unconverted men |