And if your experience be productive of these salutary effects, then I congratulate you as being in the direct, and divinely authorized way to all the sources of peace, consolation, and joy, which are opened in the gospel. For "the Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise."* Christ was sent expressly "to bind up the brokenhearted."+ Pray then for self-knowledge, contrition, and humility; and that the Lord would "take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and give you a heart of flesh;" that you may feel as a sinner ought to feel, who has ruined himself, and is without excuse. And let your prayers be accompanied with obedience to the Lord according to your knowledge, that you may be free from hypocrisy. However small your light may be, you must let it shine to his glory, who gave it. It is also advisable, that you forbear at present to look at those awful decrees, from which you are not yet prepared to derive encouragement and consolation; and apply yourselves diligently to immediate duties, and to whatever concerns your entrance into the kingdom of grace, and the beginning of the life of God in the soul. If you follow this counsel, and occupy with your talent, you will have the pleasure to find it increase and multiply in the using. It is an established rule in the kingdom of Christ, that "unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance; but from him that hath not shall be taken away even

* Ps. xxxiv. 18. cxlvii. 3. li. 17. + Isa. lxi. 1. ‡ Ezek. xxxvi. 26.

that which he hath."* Beware then of a listless, indolent, inoperative attendance on religious privileges, as if you were required to be merely passive under the means of grace; whereas Christ himself has certainly taught us to be active, and that in a high degree, in the use of them. These are his own words: "Labour for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you. Strive to enter in at the strait gate. The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force."+ Here we have the Master's authority: and let not the word of any man whatever induce you to slight it. And remember also that "whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight."

I shall likewise observe, that as the inability of sinful men to perform the duties of Christianity is no excuse for their neglecting them; so their spiritual blindness, or ignorance is not a venial defect which any may plead for not knowing and receiving the truth. Nor must any lay the blame on Adam, in whom they have lost the knowledge of God; because they themselves daily, and wilfully throw away what remains of that knowledge, and despise, or reject it when set before them. This feature of their character is thus drawn by an infallible and unerring pencil: They do not like to retain God in their knowledge.§ Spiritual blindness is not owing to the want of natural faculties for in that case, how could men be responsible, or to blame in refusing the gospel?

* Mat. xxv. 29. + John vi. 27. iii. 22.

Luke xiii. 24. M at. xi. 12. 1 John

Rom. i. 28.

Nor does it arise from weakness of the mental powers, or the want of what is commonly called learning for the gospel (as to the saving knowledge of it) is as open to the unlettered savage as to men of the first literary attainments; and meets the case and circumstances of the poor servant as perfectly as it meets those of the prince. And this is one of the many internal evidences which prove that the gospel is of God. The true cause of spiritual blindness (and which removes all difficulties at once) is that men have previously sold themselves to serve sin and satan; and their faculties are pre-engaged to act in opposition to the will of God. Hence it is, that having eyes they see not, and when they hear the gospel they cannot understand it. For, "if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost; in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them who believe not, &c."* It is the attachment of men to sin and the world which prevents them from seeing the excellence of truth and holiness, and renders them incapable of loving them. We are able therefore to demonstrate in a clear and satisfactory manner, that the want of spiritual knowledge is the fault, or sin of mankind and most assuredly, if it were not so, God, whose equity is unimpeachable, would not punish them for it. Let us hear the testimony of an eminent prophet on this awfully interesting subject: "It is a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will shew them no favor." This also seems a proper place to remark, that darkness, in the scripture, is put for wickedness, and light for purity, or goodness: and

營 * 2 Cor. iv. 3. + Isa. xxvii. 11.

that the fool, so often introduced by Solomon, means any one, who seeks his chief good in sinful indulgences, and flatters himself that he may be happy without serving God. On this principle. the mouths of all, who hear the gospel, and reject it are evidently stopped. And may I not address such in the words of Christ, and say, "Yea, and why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right ? Can it be right in you to plead ignorance, when the truth is, that you are sinning, in many instances, against knowledge? Will you be able to justify yourselves in refusing to obey the gospel, when your only reason is, that you prefer the ways of sin and the world? What ground have you to expect, that God will, at some future time, give you more knowledge, while you persist in not improving, and in rebelling against. that which you already possess? I am fully authorized to encourage you to pray for spiritual blessings; but must also warn you, that if you regard iniquity in your heart, the Lord will not hear you. David well understood the necessity of accompanying prayer with uprightness of heart, and a firm determination to obey God. Instances of this abound in the book of Psalms, I shall produce one with the view of assisting you in the duty; and may you be enabled to make it the language and prayer of your heart! "Teach me thy way, O Lord; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name."

I shall next consider a class of persons, whose case, in some respects, appears more hopeless even than the last. Their attendance on preaching is uncertain, and desultory; but it is sufficient to

* Luke xii. 57. + Ps. Ixvi. 18. Ps. lxxxvi. 11.

P

give them a notional acquaintance with some of the peculiar doctrines of revelation. They please themselves with the idea that they know the gospel ; and that they are not satisfied with going any where to hear, except where it is preached. But they are double-minded; and consequently unstable in all their ways. They are for the gospel, or the world;-for the ways of wisdom, or those of folly, as the occasion may prompt them. In the company of the professedly religious they are careful to make no opposition to the gospel; and in the society of the world they have nothing to say against its maxims and follies. They will even join, and with apparent approbation, in religious discourse, provided it be not of a searching, and practical nature; for that would prove to them as light to the adulterer, or like the police officer to the thief. But the conversation they prefer is that of the carnally-minded; and they evidently enjoy the foolish talking, indecent wit, contemptuous raillery, and those innumerable trifling topics, with which the vain and worldly strive to get rid of the time that hangs so heavy upon them, and of which they have never yet learnt the value, nor seen their obligation to devote it to his glory, who so mercifully prolongs their days. They seek to please others, not as Christians do, for their edification; but for their own convenience, reputation, and advantage. Their assent to the doctrines of Christianity resembles much the flimsy compliment, and designing flattery, which the children of this world think themselves obliged to practice, for their mutual ease, that they may bear each other's company with apparent good will.

* James i, 8.