Z^yJil^:'i^!^^. 
 
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 r- 
 
 /'uMiJtfd In X.O.XiuwrU H,i/tim<, 
 
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 ^^. r^/s-^^ 
 
 SERMONS 
 
 PASTOR OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN BALTIMORB3 
 
 WITH SOME OP HIS 
 
 ayi^ 
 
 VOLUME I, 
 
 BALTIMORE: 
 
 PUBLISHED BV N. G. MAXWELL, Na 140, BALTIM0RE.STREE1', 
 
 For the benefit of the Orphan Child/sen of the Author. 
 BENJAMIN EI)ES, PRINTER, 
 
 # 
 
 1830. 
 
District of Marylai^d, to wit: — 
 
 BE IT REMEMBKRED, That on the twenty-sixth day of July, in the forty- 
 ^ fifth year of the independence of the United Sti;tes of Amen- 
 *"^*^^f ca A. D. 1S^20 N. G. MAXWELL, of said District, hath de- 
 S ^- ^- 5 posited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof 
 ^*~»x/v»^ he claims as proprietor, in the words following, to wit:— 
 
 "Sermons of the Late Reverend Dr. James Inglis, Pastor of the^ First 
 Presbyterian Church in Baltimore; with some of liis Forms of Prayer." 
 
 In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States entitled, 
 «\n Act for the encouragement of learning by secunng the copies of 
 maps, charts and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies^ 
 during the times therein mentioned."— And also to tlie Act, entitled "An 
 Act supplementary to the act, entitled An Act 'for the encouragement oi 
 learnino-, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors 
 and proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned, and 
 extending the benefits thereof totlie arts of designing, engraving, and 
 etching historical and other prints." ^^^^^^ ^^^^^^ 
 
 Clerk of the District of Maryland: 
 
l?3imi?A(SIS< 
 
 Tn offering the foUowinsr Discourses to the 
 publick, it may be proper to observe, that, 
 never having been corrected for the press by 
 the author, they must, necessarily, appear in 
 a li'ss finished form than if prepared lor pub- 
 lication by his own hand; and, it is hoped, diat 
 this observation will suffice to insure for them 
 a candid and liberal reception. 
 
 In the selection of Sermons for the present 
 volume, great pains have been taken so to 
 vary the subjects, as to render them interest- 
 ing and useful to all denominations of Chiis- 
 tians. The pious reader wil! find the leading 
 truths of religion, both doctrinal and precep- 
 tive, so far as they are treated in these Dis- 
 courses, ably and satisfactorily elucidated. 
 
 The Forms of Prayer^ which, in compli- 
 ance with the request of a number of the au- 
 thor's friends, are subjoined to the Sermons, 
 are a few of a collection which he prepared 
 and used at an early period of his ministry. 
 For many years before his death, his prayers 
 were entirely extemporaneous. 
 
 There is still a large collection of Sermons 
 and Lectures, of which one, two, or more 
 volumes, as circumstances permit, will be 
 published as soon as it shall be deemed expe- 
 dient. 
 
asfiDiss< 
 
 SERMON I.— CHRIST, OUR LIFE.— 1 John, v. 12.— "JTe that liaih 
 the Son, hath life." ....... 9 
 
 SEtiMON [I.— CHRIST CRUCIFIED.— The Christian Pastor's mot- 
 TO.* — I Cor. ii. 2. — "For I determined not to knotv any thing among- 
 you, save Jpsus Christ and him crucijied." ... 22 
 
 SERMON lU— FUNERAL SERMONf— 1 Thess. i. \Z—"But Iiuonld 
 not fiave you to be ignora?it, brethren, concemi7ig them -which are asleep, 
 that ye sorrow not even as others tvliich have no hope." - - 35 
 
 SERMON IV. -ON FAITH— As a purifier of the heart.— Acts, xv. 
 9. — "Purifying their hearts by faith." - - - 4:7 
 
 SERMON v.— THE IMPORTANCE OF RELIGION.— Luke, x. 42— 
 " One thing is needfd." - - - - - 61 
 
 SERMON VI.— FAMILY RELIGION.— Acts, x. 12.— -"There luas a 
 co-tain man in Cesaria, called Cornelius, a centwian of tlw band called 
 the Italian band, a devout man, and one that feared God idth all Ids 
 house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to Godahvay." 75 
 
 SERMON VU.-THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST.— John, i. I.— "In tlie 
 beginning was the Word, and the Word was with, God, and the Word 
 ■was God." ....... S4i 
 
 SERMON vm— THE SUBJECT CONTINUED.— John, i. I.— "In the 
 
 beginning," £Jc. .-.--._ 95 
 SERMON IX.— NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION.— Rom. i. 
 
 20. — "T/ie invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly 
 seen, being understood by tlie tilings that are made, even his etenial pow- 
 er and God-head." - - . ... JOl 
 
 SERMON X.—WORLDLY-MINDEDNESS— Inimical to the recep- 
 lion of Sacred Truth, — Gen. xix 14. — "And Lot -went out and spake 
 unto Ids sons-in-laio -which marned his daughters, and said tip, get ye out 
 of this place; for the Lord ivill datroy this city. Biit he seemed as one 
 tliat mocked unto his sons-in-law." - - - . 113 
 
 SERMON XI.— ON INCONSl!;ERATlON— As chargeable against the 
 people of God. — Isaiah, i. 3. — "My people doth not consider." - 125 
 
 SERMON Xn.— ON INCONSIDERATION— As chargeable against 
 the merely nominal Christian.— Isaiah, i. Z.—"My people doth not con- 
 sider." - - 133 
 
 • RrsT Sennon after the author's Ordination. 
 
 t Occasioned by the death of the late Dr. AIUsot, first Pastor of tlie Firjt Pre^yterian 
 
VI 
 
 yERMOJf XIIL— THE LAST SUBJECT CONTINUED.— Isaiah, i. 
 Z.—"My people," &c. . . - . - 141 
 
 SERMON XIV.~ON DEVOTION— as including the reading and hear- 
 ing of the Word of God -Meditation— Prayer — Praise- and atten- 
 dance on ritual ordinances.- A Sacramental Discourse. — Psalm, Ixxiii. 
 28. — "It is good for me to draw near to God." - - 153 
 
 SERMON XV.— ON DEATH.— Job, xvii. \\.—"My day b are past, my 
 purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart." - 169 
 
 SERMON XVI.— THTE DISPENSATIONS OF GOD VINDICATED.— 
 
 Isaiah, v. 4 <■' What could have been done more to my vineyard that I 
 
 have not done in it?" . . - - - 179 
 
 SERMON XVII.— PREPARATION SERMON.— Mark, xv. Zi.—"Jnd 
 at the nintli hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama- 
 sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, my God! my God! why hast 
 thou forsaken me?" ...--- 18/ 
 
 SERMON XVIII.— THE DEATH OF CHRIST.—A Sacramental Dis- 
 course — Mark, XV. 37. — "And Jesus cried with a loud voice and gave 
 up the Ghost." - - - - - - 197 
 
 SERMON XIX.— THE UNSATISFYING NATURE OF SUBLUNA- 
 RY ENJOYMENTS. — Eccles. i. 2. — "Vanity of vardtes, saith the 
 preacher; vanity of vanities, all is vanity." . - . 207 
 
 SERMON XX.— THE ETERNITY OF GOD.— Psalm, xc. 2.^"From 
 everlasting to everlasting thou art God" ... £17 
 
 SERMON XXI.— THE ATONEMENT.— 1 Peter, iii. \S.—"amst also 
 hath once sxiffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bnng 
 ■us to God." - - - - - - 227 
 
 SERMON XXII.— THE FEAR OF MAN SUBORDINATE TO THE 
 FEAR OF GOD.— St. Matt. x. 28.— "Fear not them which kill the body, 
 but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear Mm which is able to des- 
 troy both soid and body in helL" .... 241 
 
 SEUMON XXIII.-THE CAUSES OF INCONSTANCY IN RELIG- 
 ION.— Gal. V. 7. — "Ye did run well; who did hinder i/ou, that ye should 
 not obey the truth?" ....-- 251 
 
 SERMON XXIV.— THE SUBJECT CONTINUED.— Gal. v. 7.— "Ye 
 did run 7uell;" &c. .-.-.. 261 
 
 SERMON XXV.— THE MEANS BY WHICH INCONSTANCY IN 
 RELIGION MAY BE PREVENTED.— Gal. v. 7.— "Ye did run 
 well," &c. . -..--- 271 
 
 SERMON XXVI —THE VARIOUS WAYS IN WHICH MEN GRIRA^E 
 THE HOLY SPIRIT.— Eph. iv. 30.~".i!ul grieve not the JMy Spirit 
 of God." - 281 
 
SERMON XXVIL—GRATITUDE, PECULIARLY INCUMBENNT 
 
 ON CHRISTIANS.— St. Luke, xvii. 15. \6.— "And one of them iv/ten 
 he saw he ^oas healed, turned bach, and iviih a loud voice glorified God, 
 and fell down on Ms face at Ms feet, giving Mm thanks,- and he xuas a Sa- 
 maritan." ....... 28» 
 
 SERMON XXVIII.— THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD.— Eph. i. 11.— 
 "In -whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated accord- 
 ing to the purpose ofhimivJio worketh all things after the cozinselofhis oivn 
 ■will." ........ 297 
 
 SERMON XXIX.— CONFIDENCE IN THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD 
 RECOMMENDED.— Matt. vi. Zi.—"Take, therefore, no thought for 
 the morrow; for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself . Suf- 
 ficient for the day is the evil thereof." .... 3Q9 
 
 SERMON XXX.— THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST.— Luke, xxiv, 
 
 34. — "The Lord is nsemndeed." - - - - 319 
 
 SERMON XXXI.— THE SUBJECT CONTINUED.— Luke, xxiv. 34.— 
 '^The Lord is risen indeed." - . . . 329 
 
 SERMON XXXII.— THE CHARACTER AND OPERATIONS OF 
 THE HOLY SPIRIT.— John, xiv. 16. 17.—"/ 7vill pray the Father, 
 and he shall give you another co?iifortei\ that he may abide with you for- 
 ever; even the Spirit of Truth." - . . . _ 339 
 
 SERMON XXXni— THE QUALITIES ESSENTIAL TO DEVO- 
 TION, AND THE ADVANTAGES RESULTING FROM IT.— 
 
 James, iv. 8 — "Draw nigh to God, and he leill draw nigh to you." Z5?j 
 
 SERMON XXXIV.- UNIVERSAL PRAISE.— Psalm c\.— "Praise ye 
 the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary; praiseJiim in the firmament of 
 his poTuer; praise Mm for his mighty acts; praise him according to his ex- 
 cellent greatness; praise him ivitli the sound of the trumpet; praise him with 
 the psaltery and harp; praise him with the timhral and daiice; praise hint 
 ■with stringed instruments and orgajis; praise him upon the lotid cymbqls; 
 praise him upon the high sounding cymbals; let every thing that hath 
 breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord." ... 365 
 
 FORMS OF PRAYBR. - ■ - - , - - 377 
 
SERMONS 
 
 LATE REV. JAMES INGLTS. 
 
 ©I^IBH®]^ Ic 
 
 CHRIST, OUR LIFE. 
 
 1 JOHN, V. 12. 
 
 "He that hath the Son, hath the life,*' 
 
 When that fatal act was perpetrated by which our race 
 incurred the displeasure of heaven, death erected his throne. 
 At that moment the decree went forth which numbered eve- 
 ry child of Adam among his subjects, and put into his hands 
 an iron sceptre to minister to the justice of God. His do- 
 minion embraces both the natural and moral worlds. Eve- 
 ry where we trace his footsteps. At his touch, beauty withers; 
 strength is unnervud; and the proudest monuments of human 
 glory vanisli like a vision. If we follow him into the spirit- 
 ual department of his empire, what desolations do we not 
 behold! All the ravages which mark the progress of mor- 
 tals to conquest and power, are but faint emblems of the 
 ruins of the soul. Where is Piety? — Where is Charity? — 
 Where is Primeval Integrity? Is this the being formed in 
 the divine likeness, with an understanding to know, and a 
 heart to love God and virtue? It is — but ah! how changed. 
 B 
 
10 
 
 Man is fallen fVom his high estate; his sins are at once the 
 evidence and the reward of his defection. They form the 
 very sting of death. They give edge to his sword, and barb 
 his arrow's point. Without them, his stroke would be in- 
 noxious. For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes 
 are dim; "because the enemy prevailed, and the destroyer is 
 among the works of God."* We see his operations in th« 
 gradual decay of our bodies; we feel his chilling touch upon 
 our hearts, weakening our strength in the way; repressing 
 the flight of devotion; extinguishing the fire of love; inspir- 
 ing a servile fear where the reverential confidence of the 
 child should predominate, and compelling us to evil, even 
 when we would do good. Seeing these things, feeling these 
 things, we exclaim, "0 wretched men that we are, who shall 
 deliver us from the body of this death."f The answer to 
 this anxious and most impressive question is near us, even 
 in our mouths. "God hath given to us eternal life, and this 
 life is in his Son;" therefore, "He that hath the Son, hath 
 life." Let us seriously apply ourselves to meditate upon 
 that life which the atoning merits of Christ have procured 
 for those who believe in him. Corresponding with those 
 evils in which death involves us, the loss of innocence^ — the 
 corruption of the heart — the distresses of this world, and 
 the torments of the next — are the consolations to be derived 
 from this sacred oracle, "He that hath the son, hath life." 
 Contemplate the blessing it announces as an assemblage of 
 all those traits of mercy which distinguish the redemption of 
 a guilty world. Contemplate it more particularly under 
 three characters; tlie remission of your sins; the renovation 
 of your nature; your final resurrection to heaven and immor- 
 tality. 
 
 *«He that hath the son, hath life," because his sins ar« 
 forgiven. 
 
 There is no truth more evident than this, that God is a 
 holy, and man an unholy being. Reason, conscience, and 
 
 * Lam, i. xvi. 5, 17, f Rom. vii. 24, 
 
11 
 
 faith combine their testimony in support of this truth. If 
 we look round upon tlie world, we perceive the sanctity of 
 God in the dispensations of his providence. We behold him 
 ever active in punishing those disorders which insult his 
 moral government^ at one time visiting the iniquities of in- 
 dividuals with the rod of justice, and casting the bloody and 
 deceitful man into the pit which he had digged for the right- 
 eous; at another, desolating whole nations by the scourge of 
 war, by pestilence, or by famine, and sweeping them from 
 the earth with the besom of destruction. These awful events 
 proclaim the divine holiness not more loudly than human 
 guilt. God does not willingly afflict the children of men. 
 Mercy is his delight, and judgment his strange work.— 
 Every act of severity which signalizes his government, is 
 an execution of that sentence of death which constitutes tlie 
 wages of sin. It was probably the contrast which common 
 observation must have occasioned betw^een the sanctity of 
 the divine nature, and the vices of men, that led some 
 among the heathens to suspect that our race is in a lapsed 
 state. No sentiment was more common with many of their 
 moralists than that of the imperfection of human virtue. 
 Most, if not all, of the religious institutions which have ob- 
 tained in the world, pre-suppose equally the existence of im- 
 purity in the votary, and purity in the object of adoration. 
 Hence, the altar and the victim — hence, the incense and the 
 ablution. 
 
 If we have recourse to conscience, it w ill tell us the same 
 unwelcome truth. We might challenge the world to produce 
 that man who can lay his hand upon his heart, and in the 
 presence of niM who searcheth the heart, and trieth the 
 reins, declare himself unconscious of a fault. But if con- 
 science convinces us of sin, what is this but to teach us also 
 the sanctity of that Being, whose commandments we have 
 transgressed? Here is her office; in this consists her power. 
 Reason and conscience, therefore, concur in their evidence. 
 But it is in the school of inspiration that wc are to look for 
 
the complete demonstration of the matter. The everlasting 
 God — the Lord — the Creator of the ends of the earth — in 
 whose sight the heavens are unclean, hath proclaimed him- 
 self of purer eyes than to behold evil. He will by no means 
 clear the guilty; he will visit the iniquity of the fathers upon 
 the children, and upon the children's children unto the third 
 and fourth generation of them that hate him; that is, of all 
 sinners. The exhibition which he so frequently offers of 
 this most illustrious attribute, is more than once contrasted 
 "With human impurity. «Woe is me, for I am undone; be- 
 cause I am a man of unclean lips; for mine eyes^iave seen 
 the king, the Lord of hosts,"* is the exclamation of one 
 who was favoured with a vision of God, enthroned in the 
 temple, and heard the loud shout of Holy! Holy! Holy! from 
 the voices of the seraphim resounding through that sacred 
 edifice. *«Mine eye seeth thee," says Job, "Wherefore I 
 abhor myself."f Wonder not, brethren, to hear such ex- 
 pressions from the lips of just men, for thus it is written, 
 **There is not a just man upon earth that doeth good and 
 sinneth not.":j: "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive 
 ourselves, and the truth is not in us."|l "If we say we have 
 not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.'* 
 Thus while Revelation teaches the sanctity of God, it pub- 
 lishes our impurity; while it asserts the divine justice, it ex- 
 poses our guilt; while it proclaims, in language that cannot 
 Le misunderstood, the existence and extent of moral evil or 
 spiritual death, it precludes the vain hope of cancelling 
 past offences by any supposable subsequent obedience. 
 ^^Wherewithal then shall we come before tlie Loid, and 
 bow ourselves before the high God?"§ Canst thou, majesty 
 of heaven, canst thou be just, and yet cancel the crimes 
 which invite thy vengeance? Canst thou be just and yet re- 
 verse the sentence which dooms the ungodly to the horrors of 
 eternal death? Momentous questions! but let us hear their an- 
 
 * Isaiah, vi. 5. fJ^b, xlii. 5, 6. 4Eccl. vii. 20. Ill John, i. 8. 
 U John,!. 10. 
 
13 
 
 svvers. "God so loved the world that he gave his only begot- 
 ten Son, that whosoever believeth in liim might not jjerish, 
 but have everlasting life."* When destruction and the ter- 
 rors of hell encompassed nsj when the ministering spirits 
 that not long before had rejoiced in unison with the stars of 
 tlie morning, to witness tlie creation of man, now hung in 
 silent sorrow over tlie spectacle of his ruin; when the exter- 
 minating angel, prepared to execute the behest, <'the soul 
 that sinneth, it shall die;" in that moment a divine arm 
 saved us. *«Lo! I come," said the eternal Son of God, "in 
 the volume of the decrees it is written of me, <I come to do thy 
 will, O God! Angel of death, who bearest the sword of my 
 Father's justice, stay now thine hand, I come to redeem the 
 world." In the fulness of time this august person w as man- 
 ifest in the flesh, and entered upon a life, every succeeding 
 stage of which was marked with sufferings and sorrows. He 
 w^as a wanderer in a world of his own creation; exposed to 
 the damps of heaven, to hunger, and to poverty. He en- 
 dured temptation, persecution, and the keenest wounds 
 which malevolence could inflict. He was forsaken by the 
 friends of his bosom. He was despised and rejected by those 
 whom he came to save. And at length when the measure of 
 human iniquity was completed, in the murder of this most 
 innocent and holy being, he gave his soul an offering for sin, 
 and died for the ungodly. Sublime condescension! Exalted 
 humiliation! "Heaven wept, that man might smile! Heaven 
 bled, that man might never die." But, praised be God, 
 the cross and the tomb, althougli the most melancholy, ai-e 
 not the concluding circumstances which signalize the media- 
 torial function of our Redeemer. A nobler destiny awaited 
 him. The splendour of a celestial triumph was in reserve 
 for him. Avert your eyes, and behold liim ascending the 
 throne of his glory. If he died for our sins, he rose again 
 for our justification, and liveth forever in abetter world, to 
 intercede for those who rejected him. "For if, when we 
 were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of liis 
 
 •John, iii. 16. 
 
14 
 
 Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his 
 life."* Here then, let conscience find repose. The tear 
 which trembles in the eye of penitence, and the sigh which 
 <riagitates her bosom, thou, 0! merciful Jesus, wilt not forget, 
 when from the golden altar, before the tlirone, thou oiferest 
 the pure incense of the prayers of thy redeemed! 
 
 <*He that hath the Son, hath life," because his nature is 
 renewed. 
 
 "Christ," we are told, "bare our sins in his own body on 
 the tree, that we, being dead to sin, should live unto right- 
 eousness."'! And, "that he might purify unto himself a pe- 
 culiar people zealous of good works.":|: It became him, 
 therefore, to employ means adequate to the end. We who 
 receive the whole record of God, must believe that, upon the 
 first defection of our race, the principle of spiritual life was 
 extinguished, and man became "dead in trespasses and sins.'* 
 From a metaphor so striking as that of death and so gener- 
 ally employed by tlie sacred writers in describing the hu- 
 man character in its fallen state, we learn that the reforma- 
 tion of tlie heart is as much beyond our natural ability, as 
 the reanimation of the body. And may we not appeal to 
 fact in illustration of this truth? Let history point to the 
 happy moment, before the incarnation of Jesus, when the 
 world, or any part of it, influenced by the writings and con- 
 ferences of sages, persuaded by the charms of amiable exam- 
 ple, or urged by the terrors of superstition, abjured its fol- 
 lies and its crimes: when early rectitude resumed its place: 
 when piety, justice, purity, revived to be venerated and 
 practised. Let her contradict the remark so often and so 
 unanswerably made, that the annals of mankind are the an- 
 nals of crime; and that every page of them teems with abom- 
 inations. If, pursuing our illustration, we resort to the 
 grand theatre of human action, tlie world around us, what 
 do we see? We see multitudes even within the pale of the 
 church and favoured with the external privileges of our re- 
 
 *Rom. V. 10. fl Peter, ii. 24.. 4^ Titus, ii. 14. 
 
15 
 
 lig-ion, practising vices which excite the scorn of the imiu- 
 structed savage. We see multitudes wilfully closing their 
 eyes against the light which encircles them, and abandoning 
 the sublime truths of our holy faith for the doting fables of 
 the infidel and the sophist. 
 
 Shall we seek for amendment from the sentiments of our 
 own hearts? Alas! our own hearts condemn us. We feel 
 that it is impossible for us without superiour aid, to sever the 
 links of that eternal chain of darkness with which the cor- 
 ruption of nature hath bound us. But 1 will not enlarge. 
 
 It is enough that the word of God be accredited. There 
 every imagination of the thoughts of man's heart is describ- 
 ed as being only evil, and that continually, and this very 
 heart compared to stone. There, we are depicted as being 
 insufficient of ourselves to think any good thing as of our- 
 selves. *«The carnal mind," says an Apostle, "is enmity 
 against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither 
 indeed can be. So then," and it is an inference of his own, 
 "they that are in the flesh cannot please God."* So perverse 
 is fallen human nature, that even the illustrious servant of 
 Christ is necessitated to lament that the commandment which 
 was ordained to life he found to be unto deaths and the 
 whole seventh chapter of the Epistle to the Romans furnish- 
 es a most instructive commer^t on this part of our subject. 
 So far, then, from being capacitated, of ourselves, to attain 
 the heights of virtue, as some have dreamed, the least at- 
 tempt to amend our hearts and lives exceeds our ability: and 
 to suppose otherwise is to suppose contrary to the truth of 
 history, experience, and holy writ. Philosopliy mistakes 
 her province when she assumes the task of regenerating the 
 depraved heart. As easily might she change the black hue 
 of Ethiopia, or deprive the Leopard of his spots. Revela- 
 tion itself, 1 would speak it v.ith reverence, revelation itself, 
 unassisted by the internal witness of a sanctified heart, is in- 
 competent to the office. It is the prerogative, of an all-wise 
 
 ♦Eom. viii. 7. 8. 
 
16 
 
 and all-merciful God to operate a change of such magnitude. 
 The same divine person who saves us from guilt, saves us 
 also from pollution. From the habitation of his holiness, 
 where he reigns exalted far above all principality and pow- 
 er and might and dominion, he dispenses to his church the 
 spirit of sanctification. **For we are the workmanship of 
 God, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, whicli he 
 hath before ordained that we should walk in them."* It is 
 the office of faith to purify the heart; and faith is one of the 
 graces of that Eternal Spirit who hath descended into the 
 abodes of mortality to deliver those, who were "subject to 
 bondage," and to quicken those who were "dead in trespass- 
 es and sins." 
 
 "He that hath the Son hath life;" because he obtains a 
 happy resurrection to heaven and immortality. 
 
 Never does death wear a form so terrific, as when he ap- 
 proaches to sever the mysterious tie which connects the soul 
 with the body. When we consider this awful event in all 
 Its circumstances, and especially in the view wliich it pre- 
 sents of the ruins of man, we cannot wonder that the most 
 resolute mind loses its self possession. To close the eye in 
 darkness, foi'getting and forgotten — to behold no more the 
 light of heaven or the innumerable glories of creation — to 
 break those bonds which unite heart with heart — to hear the 
 last accents and receive the last embrace of affection — to de- 
 scend into the grave — to make up our abode with corruption 
 and claiin kindred with the worm — to suffer the dissolution 
 of the body, while the immortal spirit launches upon a track- 
 less ocean and penetrates into unknown regions — this it is 
 which affects all men — and this it is to die. But are the fluc- 
 tuations of suspense all that remains to those who have de- 
 voted their liVes to heaven? Does the sod that conceals their 
 mouldering reliqiies terminate the prospect which beguiled 
 their pilgrimage through life? Shall the sun of righteous- 
 ness, whose beams once conveyed to all their faculties light, 
 
 *Eph. ii. 10. 
 
i7 
 
 warmth, and activity, never revisit tliem to scatter tlie night 
 which closes over their silent dwelling? Brethren, extend 
 your views beyond the short term of terrestial existence, and 
 behold the innumeraUle multitudes of ransomed saints cele- 
 brating their triumph over death and over hell. The hopes 
 of heaven and the promises of Jesus, overcame their fears 
 of death. <'For 1 know that my Redeemer liveth, and that 
 he shall stand at the latter day upon the earthy and though 
 after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall 
 I see God."* "I am t!ie Resurrection and the Life," saith 
 the Lord; "whosoever liveth and believeth on me shall never 
 die."f "In my Father's house are many mansions. I goto 
 prepare a place for you. Because I live, you shall live also."]; 
 *»For since by man came death, by man came also the res- 
 urrection of the dead. "For as in Adam all die, even so in 
 Christ shall all be made alive."<§ This is the doctrine — these 
 are the hopes; and these the promises which brighten the 
 prospect of futurity. Under the influence of these, pioii3 
 men in every age have seen the approach of death without 
 concern: and you, believers in Jesus, you shall one day feel 
 their sacred energy dispelling many of those poignant griefs 
 which infest the chamber of death, and preparing you to re- 
 sign the dearest joys of earth for the superior joys of heaven. 
 The grave, to others t'.ie dreaded receptacle of corruption, 
 shall pi'csent itself to you as the refuge of the unhappy. 
 Once it was consecrated by the presence of your Lord and 
 Master, whose steps you follow; and sacred in his sight is 
 the dust of his servants. In this peaceful asylum you shall 
 rest safe from the storms of time, and in the full assurance 
 of a happy immortality. As God liveth, who hath revealed 
 the glorious truth, that body which was once the residence 
 of a regenerated soul, and the temple of the Holy Ghost, 
 shall not be forever in ruins. For "the trumpet shall sound, 
 and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and you sliall be 
 
 * Job, xix. 25. f John, xi. 25. ^John, xiv. 2, 19. §1 Cor. xv. 22. 
 
 c 
 
18 
 
 changed."* You shall leave in the grave, disease, pollu- 
 tion, sin, and sorrow. "That whicli was sown in corrup- 
 tion, shall be raised in incorruption; that which was sown 
 in dishonour, shall be raised in glory;, that which was sown 
 in weakness, shall be raised in power; that which was sown 
 a natural body, shall be raised a spiritual body."f Yes; 
 «'there is a time appointed when the year of the redeemed 
 shall come; when the everlasting morning shall dawn; when 
 the voice of the Son of God shall pierce the caverns of the 
 tomb; shall be heard over the dominions of the dead; shall 
 reanimate the ashes of all that ever lived upon the earth; and 
 raise a glorious and immortal army from the bosom of cor- 
 ruption.":}^ Whilst the rest of the world, whose sins arq 
 ripe for the just retribution of the Almighty, shall have their 
 part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, 
 which is the second death; those who have Christ, shall be re- 
 ceived up to meet their Lord in the heavens. They shall 
 live and reign with him forever in as high a state of giory as 
 the human understanding can conceive. That renewal of 
 their nature which was begun in this life, shall then be com- 
 pleted; and by the second Adam they shall be crowned with 
 far greater felicity than they forfeited in tlie first. The 
 curse of disobedience shall not poison the springs of their 
 joy. Sin shall not retard them in their progress to perfec- 
 tion. Repentance shall have no office in that world where 
 all is holy, harmless, and undefiled. *<There shall be no 
 more death — no more sorrow — no more pain — for the for- 
 mer things are passed away." "Therefore my heart is 
 glad, and my glory rejoiceth; my flesh also shall rest in hope; 
 for thou wilt not leave me to perish with the impenitent; thou 
 wilt shew me the path of life; in thy presence is fulness of joy; 
 at thy right hand there are pleasures forever morc."|| The 
 lapse of everlasting ages shall not diminish the duration of 
 my felicity; for "the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus 
 Christ our Lord."§ Visions of horour, that have so often 
 
 **! Cor. XV. 42. fl Cor. xv. 42. ^Logan's sermons. l|PsaIm.xYi. §Rom. vi. 23. 
 
19 
 
 appalled the heart of unhappy man, where are you now? Be- 
 fore the cross of our Redeemer you vanish. Where now, 
 0! Death, is thy sting? By his Almighty power who hath 
 led captivity captive, thy sceptre is broken — thy throne sub- 
 verted — and thy dominions shaken to their centre. <»How 
 hath the oppressor ceased! Is this the mighty one that made 
 the earth to tremble; that did shake kingdoms; that made 
 the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; 
 that opened not the house of his prisoners?"* Hear, O 
 heavens! and give ear, O earth! He who smote the people 
 in wrath with a continual stroke; he who ruled the nations 
 in anger; he who carried desolation through the works of 
 God; is "swallowed up in victory" — his glory is departed— 
 liis empire is no more — "Thanks be to God who giveth us 
 the victory through our Loi'd Jesus Christ."f 
 
 As we are all candidates for immortality, there cannot be 
 a more interesting question than that which the text natu- 
 rally suggests: are xve entitled to the character expressed 
 in tbose inspired words, "He that hath tlie Son?" We can 
 be at no loss to discover that to have the Son, in the senten- 
 tious and energetic style of this Apostle, is to believe saving- 
 ly in Jesus Christ. If God, in his providence, hath brought 
 into the congregation of his people any to whom this char- 
 acter does not belong, they will not be offended, if we ad- 
 dress a few woi,ds to them in all charity and brotherly kind- 
 ness. Fellow-travellers with you through a valley of sor- 
 rows, we cannot be indifferent to your fate. It matters not 
 as to the ])resent question, whether, unrestrained by the 
 checks of conscience, you avowedly reject all faith in reveal- 
 ed religion; or whether, which is more probable, you have 
 a name to live while you are dead, and are to be ranked 
 with that numerous class of men, whose religious belief is 
 at best but speculative, and unproductive of the fruits that 
 flourish in the soil of vital Christianity. Your prospects in 
 either case are alike gloomy. Undisguised infidelity, and 
 
 • Isaiah, xiv. 1 1 Cor, xv. 57. 
 
so 
 
 unproductive faith, however the last may surpass the other 
 ill certain particulars which need not be noticed here, are 
 Gqually foreign to that eternal life to which our text alludes. 
 Future misery is your inevitable portion. And can you be 
 happy in the anticipation of future misery? Can you be hap- 
 py even under the surmise of which you cannot divest your- 
 selves that you may be miserable hereafter? What consti- 
 tutes the balm of existence? It is hope. Hope guides the 
 wanderer through this world's wilderness, and as the dark- 
 ness of the night increases, emits a brighter beam to illumi- 
 nate his path. But what is your hope? It is even as the 
 giving up of the ghost. After a life spent in toil and anxie- 
 ty, or exhausted by the repetition of cloying pleasures; a 
 life embittered by the pains and diseases of a dying body, 
 and the pangs of an accusing conscience; death puts an end 
 to all your expectations, and the clods of the valley cover 
 you. Hope never dispels the shades of midnight which en- 
 wrap the grave of the impenit'snt. The silence of that abode 
 is interrupted only by the voice of the Archangel calling the 
 dead to judgment. But what emotion, think you, will that 
 signal excite in your breasts? Shall it be hope? Ah, no! 
 At the sound of the last trumpet, despair commences his 
 everlasting reign; and none who reject the counsel of God 
 now; none who lightly esteem the mystery of the cross; 
 none, but true believers, shall escape the retribution of des- 
 pair. Do you mistrust this representation? **He that hath 
 not the Son, hath not life." They are tl»e words immedi- 
 atlely following the text — the words of the venerable John. 
 "He that believeth not, shall be damned."* — They are the 
 words of the Son of iiod. 
 
 But from a theme so melancholy, I turn with pleasure to 
 congratulate the faithful disciples of the crucified Jesus. 
 
 Wisdom will be justified of her children. "He that hath 
 the Son, hath life." Yours are the sceptres and the palms 
 of Paradise. Let not fears agitate — let not doubts perplex 
 
 * Mark, xvi. 16. 
 
21 
 
 yoiK Know in whom you have trusted, and be persuaded 
 that he is able to keep that which you have committed to 
 him, till that day. Happy Christians! <'Who shall lay any 
 thing to your charge? It is God that justifieth. Who shall 
 condemn you? It is Christ that died; yea, rather that is ris- 
 en again; who is even at the right hand of God; who also 
 maketh intercession for you. Who shall separate you from 
 the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or perse- 
 cution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Nay, 
 in all these things you are more than conquerours through 
 him that loved you."* Exposed to the malignity of hell, to 
 the temptations of the world, and to the remains of that body 
 of death from which you are, in this state, but partially de- 
 livered; faithful memory will upbraid you with many an 
 unguarded trespass, with many good deeds omitted, and 
 many evil ones perpetrated. But be not disquieted or cast 
 down. Let faith unfold the gates of the Temple, and shew 
 you the Priest — the Altar — and the Holy Victim. Look 
 forward Christians. A few more struggles, and your ene- 
 mies perish: a few more storms, and the sun shall break 
 forth: a few more clouds, and all will be serene forever. 
 The day is fast approaching "when your warfare shall be 
 accomplished; when sin and sorrow shall be no more; when 
 the sackcloth of the penitent shall be exchanged for a robe 
 of glory, and every tear become a gem in his crown; when 
 sighs and groaiis shall give place to the hallelujahs of the 
 blest, and faith shall be resolved into the vision of the Al- 
 mighty."! 
 
 * Rom. vJU. 33, 34, 35, 37. f Bishop Home 
 
g!gmM®ir HUc 
 
 CHRIST CRUCIFIED.* 
 
 rim CHRISTIAJV PASTOR'S MOTTO. 
 
 1 CORINTHIANS, ii. 2. 
 
 '*For I determined not to know any thing among you, save 
 Jesus Christ, and him criicijied.^* 
 
 The celebrated orator of Athens, being on a certain occa- 
 sion asked, what was the principal thing in liis art? replied, 
 *(action;'^ being asked what was the next considerable, he 
 again made answer ** action;" being asked what possessed 
 the third rank in importance, he persisted in the same re- 
 ply, ^'action." 
 
 In like manner, but with far greater justice, if T may be 
 allowed to illustrate things divine by things humaih and 
 everlasting concerns by the pursuits of time, were a Chris- 
 tian pastor interrogated as to the end and aim of his minis- 
 trations, he would answer, that it ought to be "Christ cruci- 
 fied." Were he asked to what object his views ought next 
 to be directed, he would reply, "Christ crucified." And 
 were the same question put to him a third time, or as often 
 as the inquirer might choose, he would still proclaim, "Christ 
 crucified." 
 
 If we offer the prayers of the church, it is on the altar of 
 "Christ crucified." If we preach the word, it is the founda- 
 tion of "Christ crucified," on which we build every instruc-- 
 tion, moral, doctrinal, and experimental. If we dispense 
 the holy sacraments, it is that we may set forth in them the 
 
 •First Sermon after Ordination. 
 
23 
 
 august spectacle of "Christ crucified." If we administer 
 consoiatioji to the children of sorrow, to the ))oor and the 
 destitute, to the hroken spirit, to the contrite heart, it is the 
 blood mingled source of "Christ crucified," from which 
 alone the streams of comfort are derived. "Christ cruci- 
 fied," is the all in all, the first and the last, the beginning 
 and the ending of our public ministrations, and ought to be, 
 of our private studies. Such must have been the sentiments of 
 St. Paul, when he told the Corinthians tliat "he determined 
 not to know any thing among them, save Jesus Christ, and 
 him crucified." 
 
 As this great apostle was well skilled in the learninp* of 
 his day, his determination cannot be interpreted in its literal 
 acceptation. lie does not mean that he sought to divest 
 himself of the various knowledge which he had acquired. 
 This would have been impossible, had he been so inclined; 
 nor can we discover vAhat good purpose it would have an- 
 swered. We may suppose him paraphrasing his own text 
 thus: "Whatever attainments I may have made in science, 
 however agreeable tiie display of them might be to some; 
 and notwithstanding that love of popular applause, which is 
 too apt to obtrude itself upon the minds of public men, yet 
 I have resolved to make no confused mixture of the things 
 of God with the things of man; I am resolved to be silent 
 on my attainments in the wisdom of the age; I have resolv- 
 ed to teach no other doctrine but that which is the power of 
 God unto salvation, the doctrine of Jesus Christ; and to 
 consult no otiier interest but that which involves youi* im- 
 mortal concerns, the interest of Jesus Christ. Of Jesus 
 Christ do I say? Nay; of Jesus Christ, and him cnicijied; 
 the rock of offence to the Jew, and the object of contempt to 
 the Gentile." 
 
 This was St. Paul's determination, my brethren: and, I 
 doubt not, you feel that it was worthy the greatness of the 
 man. 
 
 IJut that \v% may form the more judicious estimate of it, 
 
24 
 
 and improve it to our greater benefit, let us see what those 
 matters might be which he resolved not to know. 
 
 First. — He resolved not to compliment the false taste of 
 the Corinthians, by perverting the end of his ministry, and 
 inculcating for doctrines, the commandoients of men, and 
 the systems of a vain science. 
 
 Corinth was a city of Greece, abounding, like its other 
 cities, in learned men. Its inhabitants were curious and in- 
 quisitive^ and before the planting of a Christian church 
 among them, universally devoted to philosophical pursuits. 
 Their philosophy, however, was superficial and variable^ 
 well characterized by our apostle elsewhere, as consisting 
 in "oppositions of science falsely so called." It was, in 
 short, such a philosophy as we may expect to find among 
 men left to the unassisted investigations of frail reason, or 
 voluntarily closing their eyes against superior light. Such 
 as it was, however, they were enamoured of its imaginary 
 charms, and measured their opinions of other men by the 
 attachment or the aversion which they discovered to their 
 own favourite pursuit. Every new philosopher superseded 
 those who had gone before him, in the admiration of this 
 fickle people; and tlie flame of rivalship often burst fortli be- 
 tween the schools of contemporary sages. Something of this 
 disposition is observable in the divisions which arose amoiig 
 the converts whom St. Paul had formed into a church at 
 Corinth. "It hath been declared unto me of you, my 
 bretliren," says tl»e apostle, "that there are contentions 
 among you; every one of you saying, 'I am of Paul; and I 
 of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ."* 
 
 Besides this, there were among the Corinthian converts, 
 Jews, who contended for the Mosaic ceremonies, and by 
 their superstitious observances, made the sacrifice of Christ 
 of none cflcct. 
 
 Against all these empty conceits; this idle sophistry; this 
 philosophy, so uncertain, so vain, and so useless: this su- 
 
 *rcor. i. 11. 12. 
 
perstition, prej^nant with such anti-christiaii issues; the 
 apostle puts lumself in arms. He determines to give it no 
 quarter; to know nothing of it; and, in all his sermons, his 
 writings, his conferences, and his defences, to inculcate the 
 truth, in its simplicity, of "Jesus Christ, and him crucified." 
 H' re him publish the holy challenge: "Where is the wise? 
 where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? 
 Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For, 
 after that, in the wisdom of God, the world, by wisdom, 
 knew not God; it pleased God, by the foolishness of preaeh- 
 ing, to save t!ien» that believe. For the Jews require a 
 sign, and the Greeks seek aftei* wisdom, but we preach 
 *< Christ crucified," unto the Jews, a stumbling hlock, and 
 unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are call- 
 ed both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and 
 the wisdom of God; berause the foolishness of God is wiser 
 than men, anti the weakness of God is stronger than men."* 
 Second. — St. Paul determined to shew no indulgence to 
 the criminal pursuits of the people among whom he officiated. 
 He obeyed the superiour impulse which warned him to cry 
 aloud, and spare not. From the convenience of her situa- 
 tion for commerce, Corintii was among the most opulent 
 of ancient cities. She was amply provided with the accom- 
 modations, the elegancies, and the superfluities of life. 
 This, by a natural, or at least, a too common consequence, 
 betrayed her citizens into luxui-y and impure vices; and such 
 lengths did they proceed in sin, that they became infamous, 
 even to a proveiib. This epistle furnishes melancholy evi- 
 dence that even of the converts to the Christian profession, 
 many did not abjure their former propensities. Not to 
 speak of that litigious spirit which led them, on every slight 
 difference, to heathen tribunals. One of their members is 
 stigmatized with the crime of incest; and many did eat and 
 drink judgment to themselves, by profaning, througli intem- 
 perance, the holy communion of Christ's body and blood. 
 
 *1 Cor. i. 20.— 25. 
 D 
 
Practices, so far from compoi'ting with the doctrine of •'<Jesu$ 
 Christ, and him crucified," that they crucified the Son of God 
 afresh, and put him to open shame. 
 
 In this state of things, when conduct and principle were 
 so much at variance, what should the apostle do? should he 
 suffer them to continue in sin? or should he compromise mat- 
 ters, hy allowing them to compound with duty, and to excuse 
 -violations of one statute, by obedience to another? or finally, 
 should he lay his axe at the root, and by one stroke, tut down 
 the tree of wickedness? He could not hesitate. He "determin- 
 ed not to know any thing, save Jesus Christ, and him crucifi- 
 ed." The cause of Christ suffered reproach from the crimes 
 of those who avouched it. The person of Christ was wounded 
 by those of his own household. The end for \yhich Christ of- 
 fered himself upon the cross, which was, that he might purify 
 to himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works, was de- 
 feated. Their own bodies, which Christ had consecrated by 
 his spirit, as so many temples for himself, were defiled. This 
 was the ground taken by the apostle, from which to convince 
 the Corinthians of sin. This was the weapon which he grasp- 
 ed, and triumphantly used to break in pieces the power of 
 corruption. He rested in no plea; he taught no doctrine; he 
 consulted no interest, but <'Jesus Christ, and him crucified." 
 
 Third. — St. Paul determined not to consult his own fame 
 in the display of genius and eloquence. <'And I, brethren," 
 says he, "when I came to you, came not with excellency of 
 speech, or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of 
 God." "And my speech, and my preaching, was not with 
 enticing words of man*s wisdom, but in demonstration of 
 the Spirit and of power."* But let us not conspire with ig- 
 norance, bigotry, and fanatacism, to mistake the apostle. 
 Was he not eloquent? Yes. History, profane or sacred, 
 names not the man possessed of more persuasive or com- 
 manding powers, than Paul of Tarsus. We cannot surely 
 forget the day when the citizens of Lystra mistook him for 
 
 * I Cor. ii. 1. 4. 
 
Mercury, the idol god of eloquence. We cannot forget his 
 numerous defences, and the honest arts which he employe*! 
 to interest men in his cause. We cannot forget that Felix, 
 on his tribunal, trembled before his venerable prisoner, when 
 he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to 
 come. Nor yet caji we forget that compliment which the 
 energy of the speaker extorted from his royal hearer; <'A1- 
 most thou persuadest me to be a Christian;"* or that noble 
 answer, "I would to God that not only thou, but also all 
 that hear me this day, were both almost and altogether such 
 as I am, except these bonds." But let us not multiply 
 words. The epistle which lies open before me furnishes 
 abundant proof tiiat Paul was an orator of the very first 
 class. AVhat could he mean then by telling this people tliat 
 he came not to them with the excellency of speech? He 
 meant, that he despised, and purposely avoided that artifi- 
 cial pomp and turgidity of a<hlrcss which constituted the 
 fashionable eloquence of the times. He meant, that he wouhl 
 make no ohlique attempts to work upon the prejudices of his 
 hearers, and to enlist their passions, apart from the sober 
 dictates of their understandings. He meant, that he would 
 not disparage the christian cause; the noblest cause on which 
 the sun of heaven ever shone; by pursuing such measures as 
 are generally made to sustain and promote the Worst of 
 causes. In those days, and in those regions of mental and 
 moral prostitution, elocpience had very little either of force 
 or dignity. It was not the language of nature, of feeling, 
 or of integrity. It was the laboured produce of mercenary 
 artists; and more frequently employed to advance the inter- 
 ests of vice, than those of truth and goodness. The apos- 
 tle himself has well described it; "the enticing words of 
 man's wisdom." Justly did he spurn such "excellency of 
 speech.*' The christian cause would have been injured, not 
 promoted by it. That cause has, in itself, weight more 
 than sufficient to command both assent and respectj and 
 
 ♦ Acts, xxvi. 28. 29. 
 
28 
 
 where it fails to receive either, siicli failure proceeds from 
 an evil which human art cannot remedy, which man's rhet- 
 orick cannot probe, <«a« evil heart of unbelief.'^ Instead of 
 resorting to such helps, the apostle determined to repair to 
 «Jesus Christ, and him crucified." lie resolved to elevate 
 the cross, and present a Saviour bleeding on it. This is the 
 true eloquence of the sacred chair; the eloquence of feeling; 
 the eloquence of sense; the eloquence to which every heart 
 is accessible in the day of God's powewul working. 
 
 But he meant, further, that whatever good effects might 
 result from his ministry, he did not make them a subject of 
 glorying to himself; as if the excellency of his speech had 
 produced them; or as if the enticing words of his own wis- 
 dom had convinced the minds and changed the hearts of the 
 people. «<I have planted,'* said he, *'but God gave the in- 
 crease." He rendered praise where praise was due, to the 
 great name of the wonder-working God. He referred his 
 success to the demonstration of the Spirit, and the resistless 
 power of Heaven accompanying the instituted means of suc- 
 cess; the exposition of the doctrine of "Jesus Ciirist and 
 him crusified." 
 
 Fourth. — St. Paul determined not to consult with flesh 
 and blood; not to shrink from personal danger; not to iii^ 
 dulge in ease and indolence when duty should summon him 
 to activity, and to toil. For evidence of this, we need not 
 loot beyond his two epistles to the Corinthian believers. 
 «Even unto this present hour," says he, for himself and his 
 brethren in the primitive ministry, «we both hunger, and 
 thirst, and are naked, and are buffetted, and have no certain 
 dwelling place; and labour, working with our hands; being 
 reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it; being defa- 
 med, we entreat; we are made as the filth of the world, and 
 ure the offscouring of all things unto this day."* All this 
 for the name of Jesus Christ, and him crucified! What dili- 
 gence and activity did he display in the sacred cause! 
 
 »lCor.lv. 11. 12, 13. . 
 
39 
 
 «<Tliough T be free from all men," says lie, "yeVliave I made 
 myself servant unto all that I miglit gain the y(, re, .^nd 
 unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I mi^y. gain the 
 Jews; to them that are under the law, as under t\t law, fhat 
 I might gain them that are under the law: to thdnthat arc 
 without law, as without law, (being not without law to'iod, 
 but under the law to Christ,) that 1 might gain them hat 
 are without law: to the weak became I as weak, :hat I niVht 
 gain the weak. I am made all things to all men, tha £ 
 might by all means save some. And this 1 do for the gu 
 pel's sake."* «*Giving no offence in any thing, tliat tl 
 ministry be not blamed: but in all things approving our 
 selves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflic- 
 tions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprison- 
 ments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastingsj by 
 pureness, by knowledge, by long-suifering, by kindness, by 
 the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, by the word of truth, by 
 the power of God, by the armour of rigliteousness on the 
 right hand and on the left, by honour and dishonour, by 
 evil report and good report^ as deceivers, and yet true; as 
 unknown, and yet known; as dying, and, behold, we li\c; 
 as chastened, and not killed; as sorrowful, yLt always re- 
 joicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, 
 and yet possessing all things. 0. ye Coi^nthiuns! our 
 mouth is opened unto you; our heart is enlarged."! — i-Aro 
 they ministers of Christ?" exclaims t!)e apos<;le, alluding to 
 certain jierverse and schismatical ecclesiast/cks; <'are they 
 ministers of Christ? I am more: In laboursmore abnvjdant, 
 in stripes above measure, in prisons mti'e frequent, in 
 deaths oft. Of the Jews, five times receiv(d I forty stripes 
 save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods once v.as I ston- 
 ed, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I liave 
 been in the deep; in Journeyings often, ii perils of waters, 
 in perils of robbers, in perils by mine ovn countrymen, in 
 perils by the heathen, in perils in the c/ty, in perils in the 
 
 * 1 Cor. ix. 19.— 23. f 2. Cor. vi. 3.— U. 
 
30 
 
 mlderiiess, n perils in the sea, in perils among false bretU- 
 ren; in weriness and painfulness, in watcliings often, in 
 hunger an thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. 
 Besides fcese things that are without, that which cometh 
 upon ni^duly, the care of all the churches." "Who is weak 
 and / am not weak? who is offended and I burn not? If I 
 mu? needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern 
 mynfirmities. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus 
 Crist, who is blessed forevermore, knoweth that I lie not."* 
 «i/nd I will very gladly spend, and be spent for you; though 
 p more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved."f 
 /Thus, my brethren, we have the sufferings, the diligence, 
 lid the zeal of Paul, narrated in the words of Paul. If we 
 nistrust him in his own cause, let the author of the "Acts of 
 ihe Apostles" be heard for him. We have only to open those 
 sacred memoirs, to obtain a thorough conviction that Paul 
 has not exaggerated in the story of his wrongs, his distres- 
 ses, his dangers, his zeal, his faith, and his philanthropy. 
 If it be asked, why he did, and why he suffered, all these 
 things? the text gives his own answer; *<I determined not 
 to know any thing, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." 
 
 From what has been said, we may obviously collect the 
 duty of the christian pastor. I am sensible that there is no 
 small differerce between the time when St. Paul wrote his 
 epistles, and tlat, in which we live; between the apostolical 
 character and imctions, and the character and functions of 
 the ordinary psstor; between the situation and circumstan- 
 ces of the peoph to whom the apostles ministered, and those 
 of christian conrregations in our day. The difference, how- 
 ever, may be magnified to an unwarrantable degree. Men, 
 in all ages, have the same passions, and similar prejudices. 
 That evil hear of unbelief which opposed the gospel in 
 its early period, still continues to wage the same war. 
 Pride, avarice, antition, luxury, sensuality, still maintain 
 their empire over tie unrenewed heart, A vain philosophy 
 
 * 2. Cor. xi. 23,-31. f 2. Cor. xii. 15. 
 
31 
 
 has not ceased to be conspicuous through every successive 
 period of the history of civilized man. Nor is it now a less 
 inveterate or less rancorous foe to the christian cause than 
 in past ages. 
 
 The church too, is corrupted by false teachers. Jesu: 
 is betrayed by those who profess to glory in his name. Som 
 would deprive him of his Deity. Others assail the tremei 
 dous mystery of his atonement. Some deny, and ma) 
 weaken, the necessity of divine influences to regenerate t 
 corrupt nature of man. And not a few appear to build th 
 hopes of final acceptance on their personal virtues and b 
 dispositions, in disparagement of "Jesus Christ, and 
 crucified." 
 
 But besides this laxity of religious principle, thert® 
 many things practised, inconsistent with gospel purity 
 
 Against all these errors of doctrine and of deportm* " 
 is incumbent on the Christian pastor to arm himsej''^*'" 
 the weapons of spiritual warfare. Surrounded py'^*^^' 
 sophistry and counterfeit Christianity, it is his pji't ^now 
 nothing, "save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." '^ ^^"^ 
 preach the word. Let him reprove for sin. lict i»T(i ex- 
 hort to holiness. Let him exert himself to ores've the 
 peace, unity, and purity of the church, whateveipejecution 
 or opposition he may experience on that accouit. Lethini 
 be faithful and assiduous in the exercise of ^ery lerional 
 and pastoral duty, and endeavour, by his cc/iversitioi, to 
 adorn the profession of the gospel. If tl|^ he^d jf the 
 church shall vouchsafe to honour his minist^^ by the seal oC 
 success, let him not fail to acknowledge tli* denonstration 
 of the spirit and power from on high. In a w»r(], let him, 
 though at an humble distance, walk in thf foasteps of that 
 great apostle who "determined not to know my thing? save 
 Jesus Christ, and him crucified." 
 
 But the obligations of the ministry imply correlative du- 
 ties on the part of Christian people. If that mind be in 
 them, without which no man can be a tnie disciple of the 
 
Soil of God; they, too, will "determine not to know any 
 thing, save Jesus Christy and him crucified." If they pos" 
 $ess but a small portion of deference to the authority of this 
 loly apostle, they will countenance no ministrations which 
 ve not for their object "Jesus Christ, and him crucified." 
 hey will silence, by marked neglect, the clamourous dis- 
 putations of heresy and schism. They will frown indig- 
 na'stly upon every attempt to pervert the truth, and adulter- 
 ate the pure and simple religion of the gospel. They will re- 
 ceive, in charity, admonitions given in c' arity, and suffer 
 \ith meekness, the word of exhortation, kn«)\ving that for 
 CApry means of grace, and every season of Christian instruc- 
 tim and disripline, they will be made rigidly to account. 
 
 '^ou will readily conceive that I have chosen to address 
 you on this subject, my brethren, in consequence of the re- 
 latioi wVich a late solemn transaction has constituted be- 
 tweeii (is. I have not the vanity and presumption to believe 
 myself caled either to perform the extent of St. Paul's du- 
 ty, or to eicounter the severity of his trials, nor have I the 
 weakness ii\([ rashness to ascribe Corinthian vices to you, 
 my brethren Yet I cannot but think it incumbent on every 
 pastor, especially in the early stages of liis ministry, to stu- 
 dy fpostolic example, and imitate apostolic practice, as far 
 as circuinstajces shall permit, or make it necessary. When 
 therefore, I -eview this discourse, when I weigh the full 
 import of the apostle's determination "not to know any 
 thing, sa^'^; Jesus Christ, and him crucified," when I con- 
 sider tnat W issuming among you the office to which an 
 over ruling yro idence hath called me, I have already im- 
 plicitly madli this determination mine; when 1 reflect that 
 the vows of GVd are upon me. vows solemnly offered in your 
 presence, my W-ethren, and in the presence of God — of 
 Christ — and of tlie holy angels, and recorded in the eternal 
 register of heaven; when I anticipate the day of "dread de- 
 cision," and in imagination hear the great God say to me, 
 *<Give an account of thy stewardship, and be no longer 
 
steward, and tell me concerning the blood of the people 
 among whom I appointed thee to minister,'* mixed sensa- 
 tions of zeal and diffidence overcome me. 
 
 Let us, my brethren, co-operate in the promotion of our 
 spiritual concerns. Let us unite in determining "not to 
 know any thing, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.'* 
 Let us supplicate the blessing of heaven upon the ministe- 
 rial relation. Let me have your prayers, that he who per- 
 fects divine strengtli in human weakness, and glorifies him- 
 self by human infirmity, may grant to his young and unwor- 
 thy servant, strength equal to his day; may qualify him for 
 what he has called him to perform; may replenish him witli 
 all gifts and graces necessary for the pastoral office; may 
 accompany his ministry with the unction of the spirit, and 
 the irresistible power of grace; and own it as the instru- 
 ment of converting sinners, and establishing and comforting 
 saints. 
 
 And now, my brethren, to God's mercy I commend you. 
 The grace of Christ be multiplied unto you. Jehovah bless 
 you, and keep you. Jehovah make his face to shine upon 
 you, and be gracious unto you. Jeliovah lift up the liglit of 
 his countenance upon you, and give you peace. — Amen. 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 Almighty God! the giver of all good! who didst enable 
 us, with one accord, to be in thy temple to serve thee this 
 morning, graciously follow, with thy powerful benedictiori, 
 thy word read and preached; the celebration of thy praises; 
 and the supplications that have been offered thee. Be pro- 
 pitious to the sacred connection of pastor and people, re- 
 cently established here. Grant us grace, that we may de- 
 termine not to know any thing, "save Jesus Christ, and 
 him crucified." Give us strength equal to our day — quali- 
 E 
 
34! 
 
 fications commensurate with our duties — and that zeal for 
 God, which is according to knowledge. And mercifully 
 grant that on that awful day, to which we are all fast ad- 
 vancing, when an assembled world shall stand at thy bar, 
 the pastors of this church, and their people, shall be evidence 
 for each other that thy cause prospered amongst them. 
 
 God of our lives! enable us to rejoice in thee! God of our 
 fathers! may we stay ourselves upon thee! Jehoyah! in whom 
 is everlasting strength, suffer us not to fall from thee! Teach 
 us thy ways, and lead us in thy paths, for thy name's sake, 
 O God! for thou art the God of our salvation! 
 
 Through the mediation of thy dear Son, our Lord and 
 Saviour Jesus Christ, we beseech thee to hear and answer 
 our petitions, and our soul§ shall glorify thee forever and 
 ever. — Amen. 
 
si3!Bii(D3^ am 
 
 FUNERAL SERMON.* 
 
 I. THESS. IV. Xlll. 
 
 *'Bnt 1 would not have you to be ignorant, brethrenf coil' 
 cerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not even as" 
 others which have no hope." 
 
 Kegret at the loss of those we love, is an emotion natu- 
 ral to all. There is a chord in every heart which vibrates 
 at the touch of funeral sorrow. Like other affections, how- 
 ever, it must be controled by religion. Excess, here, is as 
 unwarrantable, as deficiency is reproachful. We have the 
 true measure assigned, in the words of the text, if we g;ive 
 them their full and proper latitude. They teach us the sen- 
 timents with which we should be inspired, when called to 
 survive those who are dear to nsj those who have ever pos- 
 sessed our venei'ation, or on whom our souls rest with the 
 fondness of attachment. The sorrow caused by their death 
 our text does not condemn. But it distinguishes it, that it 
 may be lawful, from hopeless grief. The emotion, in itself 
 natural, circumstances render either innocent or criminal. 
 It is innocent, when compatible with those bright anticipa- 
 tions which Christianity allows and commands us to form. 
 It is criminal when it assumes the dark hue of despair; when 
 it is founded either on a principle of mistrust, or on a prin- 
 ciple of unbelief. 
 
 In the first place. — Originating in a principle of mistrust 
 of providence, this sorrow is criminal. Such is the nature 
 
 •Occasioned by the death of the late Dr. Alusok, first Pastor of tlie firtt 
 Presbyterian Church in Baltimore. 
 
36 
 
 of this world^s connections, that they frequently centre in 
 a single point. The interests, the rank and splendour of a 
 family, depend on an individual. 
 
 A friend — a father — forms, unites, governs, and protects 
 the whole. He expires^ and all that can render life desira- 
 ble; rank, pleasure, competence, are buried in his tomb. At 
 this prospect, nature shudders; faith becomes obscure; and 
 the soul, impressed with gloomy images, discerns her own 
 destruction in the loss of her support, and loses her energy 
 in the contemplation of approaching misery. Hence those im- 
 petuous movements; those piercing shrieks; resembling the 
 lamentations of Rachel, "who would not be comforted because 
 her children were not." Hence those liighly wrought repre- 
 sentations of past felicity; those exaggerations of present 
 suflfering; those gloomy prognostications of future woe. 
 
 There can be no difficulty in pronouncing such sorrow 
 criminal. When the loss of any temporal good excites these 
 despondent sensati&ns, there is the clearest evidence that it 
 maintained the chief place in our affections. But the most 
 innocent and commendable ties cease to be innocent and 
 commendable, when they are drawn too close. To make 
 any object whatever the centre of our felicity, is to seat it 
 on the throne of Divinity; and convert it into an idol. Our 
 religion admonishes us to make the Almighty the unrivalled 
 object of our most ardent desire; our growing love; and 
 firmest reliance. It is only in the life of the world to come 
 that our union with God can be consummated; and there- 
 fore our religion forbids us to look for ultimate and supreme 
 happiness in the present life. And were religion silent; 
 reason would hold the same language. Reason would in- 
 struct us to form only mutable attachments for objects that 
 change with the changes of time, and pass with the fleeting 
 moments. Reason would teach us that tliey who "have 
 wives, be as though they had none; and they that weep, as 
 though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as tliough they 
 rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed 
 
• 37 
 
 not; and they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the 
 passion of this world passeth away."* Reason would say 
 "put not your trust in princes, nor in the sons of men, in 
 whom there is no help. Their breath goeth forth, they re- 
 turn to their earth; in that very day their thoughts perish."f 
 In the second place. — Originating in a principle of unbe- 
 lief, this sorrow is criminal. It is no unusual thing for a 
 man to make his own happiness the criterion by which to 
 judge of another's. He who esteems life the greatest good, 
 Avill be inclined to view the victim of death as an object of 
 the tendercst compassion. He will regard death itself as 
 the ruin of all that is great and good and fair. Had some 
 untoward fortune stripped the deceased of Ins possessions; 
 had he been deprived of external ease, or inward repose; the 
 mourner would have commiserated his infelicity; but what 
 bounds shall be set to lamentation, when death lays the aj?;e 
 at the root of earthly bliss, and levels the proudest hopes at 
 a blew? My brethren, such grief comports not with the 
 faith of Christianity. You believe the soul immortal; yoa 
 believe that in the moment of dissolution, she ascends to 
 Heaven; and that holy angels who had encamped around! 
 her for her protection and defence, carry her to the bosom 
 of God. You have known her to sigh and pant for the hour 
 of deliverance; and yet when that hour arrives, your cries 
 and your tears would seem to class her among unhappy spi- 
 rits. Ah, how inconsistent! This soul was indeed an ob- 
 ject of pity, when, treading the path of salvation, impending 
 dangers threatened her every step; wlien participating th» 
 interests of the church universal, she saw that church inva- 
 ded by corruption, and error, and fanaticism; when, explo- 
 ring truth, she was opposed by the impenetrable veil of mys- 
 tery; and aspiring to perfection, found it unattajjiable. But 
 will you now pity her, when slie basks in the blaze of the 
 divine glory? When sl»e stands on Mount Zion; when she 
 dwells in the heavenly Jerusalem; surrounded by the spijit> 
 
 • 1 Cor. vii. 29.— 31. f Psalm, cxlvi. S. 4. 
 
38 
 
 of the just; and consociated with the assemhly of the first- 
 born? Will you now pity her, when the spirit of God has 
 pronounced <<blessed are the dead who die in the Lord for 
 they rest from tlieir toils to everlasting?" 
 
 My brethren; accuse me not of preaching a harsh and un- 
 feeling morality; in censuring the grief that flows to the 
 memory of the dead. It is not the grief, it is the excess, 
 which I censure. It is that ungovernable emotion, which 
 regardless of the religious principle, incites us to act as if 
 there were no hope beyond life; and no life beyond the grave. 
 But there is a sorrow which is innocent and becoming; a 
 sorrow which is founded either in tenderness, in self-con- 
 sideration, or in the exercise of christian repentance. 
 
 First. — That sorrow for the dead is innocent and be- 
 coming which is founded in tenderness. The heart may 
 feel the privation of dear and accustomed intercourse with- 
 out excluding the resources of religion. We may lament 
 the pains and sufferings which our friends may have endu- 
 red in their march through the wilderness, without harbour- 
 ing a doubt that their toils are compensated by the posses- 
 sion of the promised land. This sorrowful emotion, so far 
 from being criminal, is not more inseparable from the tex- 
 ture of the human soul than it is laudable in a religious 
 view. When I see the lifeless remains of what was most 
 cherished on earth — the friend of my early years — the fath- 
 er whose protecting arm defended me from every evil — the 
 mother at whose breast I hung in helpless infancy — the wife 
 of my bosom — the brother — the sister of my soul— borne 
 from me on the funeral bier — it is no crime to recall the 
 sweet though melancholy recollection of departed joys; the 
 advice that guided me through difficulties; the care that in- 
 structed my mind with knowledge, and formed my heart to 
 virtue. It is no crime to call up the days of former years 
 when we took sweet council togetlier; or to dwell on tiic last 
 struggles of tenderness, and the efforts of expiring love. It 
 was no crime in Joseph, when he arrived at the place where 
 
39 
 
 the ashes of his father were destined to repose, to make 
 Abel Mizraim re-eclio the voice of filial sorrow. It was no 
 crime in David, when, informed of the fate of his rebel son, 
 he wept, while the palace resounded with the exclamation 
 **0 Absalom, my son, my son!" It was no crime when not 
 long since a nation's tears bedewed the urn of an illustri- 
 ous chief. Nor is it a crime in you, christians, to dedicate 
 these moments to the memory of him, who was your friend, 
 your guide, your brother, your father, and all in one, your 
 Pastor. 
 
 Secondit. — That sorrow for the dead is innocent and 
 becoming which is inspired by the consideration due to our- 
 selves. At the first view of a dead person, it is natural to 
 reflect that his fate must be ours^ and that the gloomy path 
 he has trodden, is "the way of all the earth." Natural, 
 however, as is this reflection, and however universally made, 
 it is too generally evanescent. How vague are the medita- 
 tions — how superficial the regards — with whicli the man of 
 levity attends the dead and dying! How innocent is he of 
 self-application! Receiving the rule as general and co-ex- 
 tensive with the terms in which it is couched, that death is 
 the allotment of all men, we must yet judge from his prac- 
 tice that he deems himself an exception; and because he now 
 lives, thinks he will live forever! He haiigs over the bed 
 of languisidng friendship — watches tlie approach of dissolu- 
 tion — closes the eye that never more shall beam lustrous af- 
 fection on him — and joins the train that follows tlie inani- 
 mate reliques to the tomb where all that is admirable in the 
 human form shall moulder in tlie dust. But how faint and 
 feeble the impressions with which he returns — how soon 
 forgotten the images of mortality, which vanish like the 
 morning dream and leave no trace behind! how empty the 
 sorrow that spends itself in repinings at what is lost, with- 
 out admonishing him of a fate which cannot be far distant 
 from himself! 
 
 Very different is the effect which the death of friends has 
 
40 
 
 on the man of consideration. In imagination, he extends 
 himself on tlieir bier — he descends with them into the tomb 
 — he attires himself in their vestments — he feels decay al- 
 ready commencing its operations, and corruption approach- 
 ing to dissolve the fabric that was built but to be destroyed. 
 In the destiny of the deceased he reads bis own, and appro- 
 priates to himself the lesson of mortality. 
 
 ThirdIiT. — Jesus Christ has expiated the guilt of be- 
 lievers; and yet death extends his empire over them equally 
 with the wicked. Men, disposed to cavil, have formed from 
 this an objection to the gospel of our salvation. The an- 
 swer they usually receive is, that if death is a storm, it is 
 yet a storm which wafts us into port, and expidites our pass- 
 age to a happier state. But, it has been asked, why has not 
 heaven conducted its children by an easier path? Death, af- 
 ter all that can be said, is formidable, and terrors lead on his 
 approach. What pains — -what toils — what struggles! What 
 fluctuation and suspense precede that all conquering faith 
 which enables the Christian to die with magnanimity! How 
 rude the separations of the grave! How heart piercing the 
 adieus of affection! No, my brethren, we cannot deny that, 
 although death is a necessary, it is a violent remedy. It is 
 a monument which God has erected of the severity of his 
 justice; of that horrour with which he turns from human 
 crimes; and of that second and eternal death with which he 
 will consume the impenitent, and avenge their unforsaken 
 sins. The more exemplary the life of the deceased, the 
 more affecting is the memento of his death. The more 
 bright the graces of the expiring believer, the more signal 
 the stroke of Almighty justice. Approach, sinner, and look 
 into the uncovered grave. Dissolution has begun its office. 
 In these cold mansions — this mouldering cell — thou seest a 
 body once racked with disease, now yielding food to worms. 
 Are these the reliques of one like thyself, sinner, who made 
 a trade of wickedness, and declared hostilities against God? 
 Or of a believer — a Christian— whose life was a pattern of 
 
41 
 
 piety and virtue? Yes, this believer — this Christian-^ex- 
 pires. Sprung from a man whose disobedience entailed a 
 patrimony of maledictions on his posterity, he participates 
 the universal destiny, "Dust thou art, and unto dust thou 
 Shalt return." What then, shall be thy condition, in whom 
 sin predominates? If the righteous scarcely be saved, where- 
 with shall the wicked appear? If the judgment of God be- 
 gins in his own house — burns in his temple — strikes at his 
 altar — what shall be the fate of those who obey not the gos- 
 pel? 
 
 The death of persons thus worthy of our esteem and love, 
 should awaken in us the fear of future retribution, and ex- 
 cite that grief which is necessarily connected with repent- 
 ance. Sorrow for the dead therefore, originating in this 
 principle, is innocent and becoming; and so far am I from 
 wishing to repress it, that I would be grateful to God, could 
 I make you feel all its force. I would carry you to the place 
 of death where sleep the reliques of your friends. I would 
 remove the sod that covers them, and expose the ruins of 
 man. I would call on each to behold his wife — his child — 
 his brother — his father. I would call on aU to bend over 
 the form of one who devoted the years of a long and honour- 
 able ministry to your salvation. 
 
 Could I so soon lose the impression of recent events 
 Christians, the habiliments of grief by which I am sur- 
 rounded, and the respectful solemnity visible in every 
 countenance, would remind me of the particular object to 
 which this service is consecrated. But a few days have elap- 
 sed since we were employed in performing the last offices for 
 our very reverend and beloved father in Christ, whose mem- 
 ory be blest! No more is necessary to prove the veneration 
 in which his character is held, than the unusual concourse 
 of men of all denominations who attended him to his grave. 
 That was the offering of general grief. This morning is 
 devoted to sorrows peculiarly our own; sorrows, however, 
 that hold no affinity to despondence, but harmonize with the 
 F 
 
42 
 
 brightest hopes Christianity can encourage. It is my con- 
 solation that I stand not here to eulogize a character which 
 is appreciated by all; but to invite you to follow his exam- 
 ple, that through faith and patience you may inherit the 
 promises. To do justice to his merits, would indeed require 
 an acqtiaintance of an earlier date; information more exten- 
 sive; a judgment more matured by experience of human na- 
 ture; and a tongue more eloquent than mine. Expect not, 
 therefore, a detailed enumeration either of his personal vir- 
 tues, or his ministerial furniture and excellencies. Of both, 
 you are far more competent to form an estimation than I, to 
 'whom^ unhappily for myself, he was unknown, except by 
 general reputation, until disease had impared his strength 
 and arrested his publick functions. 
 
 He was a native of the state of Pennsylvania. The era 
 of his birth is fixed in 1740. His early years discovered 
 that vigour of mind which di^inguished him in after life; 
 and during the course of a liberal education, he afforded am- 
 ple presages of the eminence to which heaven had destined 
 him. In 1760, or 1761, he visited this place, and in about 
 two or three years after, renewed his visit as a probationer 
 for the office of the holy ministry. His labours being accep- 
 table, he formed a congregation; officiating for some time at 
 first in a small edifice, to not more, it is supposed, than six 
 families. The numbers shortly increased to such a degree 
 as to call for the erection of a new church; to which, at no 
 long period after, an addition was made to accommodate the 
 influx of worshippers. The augmentation of the society ren- 
 dered it necessary, some years ago to erect the present 
 building; which, while a propitious providence shall permit 
 it to endure, shall be an honourable monument of the taste, 
 industry, assiduity, and ministerial zeal of our deceased 
 Pastor. None can wrest from him the title of our spiritual 
 father, or refuse to acknowledge him as the founder, under 
 God, of our religious establishment, at this moment one of 
 the most respectable in the states of America. In vindicating 
 
43 
 
 the rights of the presbyterian church against what he con- 
 ceived to be the invasions of more favoured connections, he 
 was firm and uncomplying. In the dischaige of duties more 
 immediately pastoral, he was exemplary. He watclwid and 
 wept, he prayed and felt, for all: and where, upon retrospec- 
 tion, he apprehended that he might have been more faithful 
 in any particular of ministerial obligation, his enlightened 
 conscience evinced a tenderness of regret, which more than 
 all other proofs, demonstrates the general integrity of his 
 soul. In his pulpit compositions, he was chaste, correct, ele- 
 gant, energetic. As circumstances required, they informed 
 the raind — quickened the fancy — or touclied the springs of 
 passion. He was particularly impressive on certain occa- 
 sions; in the performance of funeral offices; in dispensing 
 the sacraments; and, especially, in the service of the holy 
 communion. In solemnizing the nuptial rite, the forms he 
 employed were admirably calculated to inspire those present 
 with the most exalted views of a relation on which too many 
 cast but loose and superficial regards. In the deliberative 
 assemblies of our church, he was distinguished for profun- 
 dity of investigation — promptitude and vigour qf decision. 
 In the supreme ecclesiastical court, a body consisting of cler- 
 ical and lay delegates, from the different presbyteries in the 
 United States of America, where the force of ministerial tal- 
 ents and wisdom may be supposed to be concentrated, he 
 had an ample theatre on which to display the distinguish- 
 ing and combining powers of his mind. On that field, he 
 stood among the foremost in the judgment of all— in the 
 opinion of not a few; unrivalled. To close this very imper- 
 fect sketch of his publick character; he was orthodox, with- 
 out possessing the asperity of sectarian bigotry; he was lib- 
 eral, without subscribing to the fashionable indifference of 
 the age, or assailing the eternal barriers between truth and 
 falshood, rectitude and error. Such was the Pastor. 
 
 Alike eminent was the man. Let the tears of a wife, to 
 whom, for the affectionate assiduity with which she attend- 
 
44 
 
 ed him during a long and lingering malady, I am proud to 
 pay this publick tribute of respectful admiration; let the 
 tears of an only daughter, deprived of his example and in- 
 struction; let the tears of his domestics, whom, able as he 
 was at once to command and conciliate, he bad inspired at 
 once with fear and with love; let the regrets of all whom he 
 had ever honoured with his intimacy, describe to you the 
 husband— the father— the master— the friend. In all the 
 departments of life he was alive to the impulse of duty. 
 Firm — incorrupt— undaunted — I deem myself warranted in 
 applying to him that observation of the Earl of Morton at 
 the grave of a celebrated Scottish reformer; "Here lies one 
 who never feared the face of man." 
 
 As dissolution approached, his wishes seemed to meet it. 
 Some days previous to his decease, he intimated to the faith- 
 ful and beloved partner of his sorrows, a fear that he might 
 live to kill her by the fatigue of attending him; and he was 
 frequently heard to express a desire to depart. More than 
 once he exclaimed in an earnest and impressive manner, 
 «My God!" laying a peculiar, and apparently, endearing 
 emphasis on the first word of the exclamation. Pardon me, 
 Christians, if I fondly undertake to supply the omission, and 
 say, what I believe he would have said, "My God! why are 
 thy chariots so long in coming?" At length, on the twenty 
 first of August, 1 802, between the hours of one and two, 
 having himself closed his eyes and composed his features, 
 with a radiant smile upon his countenance, and not a groan 
 or a struggle to interrupt the awful stillness of death, he re- 
 turned his spirit to the hands of Almighty God who gave it, 
 and was delivered from the burthen of the flesh, and from 
 sufferings \ery rarely equalled. 
 
 Such, Christians, was the life— such were thB last mo- 
 ments, of our Pastor. He is gone; but his memory lives; 
 and he, heing dead, yet speaketh. Hear him then. Chris- 
 tians: \t is iho last +ime he ever will address you. My peo- 
 ple, he says, forget me not, before I am cold in the gyare. 
 
45 
 
 The bonds which united us are holy. Lose not the recol- 
 lection of them in the dissipations of the world, in the rounds 
 of gaiety, and the avenues of pleasure, where man walketh 
 in a vain shew. My peoi)lej sharp were my pains, and 
 keen my sufferings; 1 am at rest, ^ut pain and suffering 
 may also be your portion. Death will certainly enrol you 
 among his subjects. "Ail flesh is glass, and all the good- 
 Itness tliereof, as the flower of the field,- that glass wither- 
 eth, and that flower fadeth."* "Consider your end and the 
 measure of your days, tljat you may learn how frail you 
 are.^f My people, death is the wages of sin. It is sin that 
 divides the parent from his child — the pastor from his flock. 
 — It is sin that annuls the covenant of friendship, and sever;? 
 the dearest ties of love. Sin no more. Repent — Believ6 — 
 Purify your consciences from dead works to serve the liv- 
 ing God — and triumph, with the apostle; "0 Death! where 
 is thy sting? Grave! where is tliy victory? The sting of 
 death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks 
 be to God who giveth us the victory, through our Lord Je- 
 sus Christ.":}: Amen. 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 Almighty and most merciful Father — with vvltom do 
 Jive the souls of believers when tlie struggles of life are over, 
 and death is swallowed up in victory; we render thee thanks 
 as for all thy servants departed this life in thy faith and fear, 
 so especially, for this thine eminent servant our Bishop and 
 Pastor; beseeching thee to impress upon our minds the re- 
 collection of his Christian and social virtues; his public and 
 private worth; to the end that by thy grace we may imitate 
 him in all his excellencies. We thank thee for his deliver-, 
 ance from bodily pain and suffering, and for the good hopes 
 we arc warranted to entertain concerning his everlasting des- 
 
 • Isaiah, xl. 6. 7. f Psalm, xxxix. 4. i 1 Cor. xv. 55.-57, 
 
46 
 
 tiny; imploring of thy mercy to compensate his departure 
 to his friends; his family; and his people; by lifting on us 
 the light of thy countenance, and conferring on us thy fa- 
 Tour which is life, and thy loving kindness which is better 
 than life. 
 
 O! wean us from the world. By every instance of mor- 
 tality, admonish us of the vanity of all things here, and 
 raise our affection to that felicity which never departs; to 
 that glory which never withers; and to that life which is 
 immortal. 
 
 Accept these our thanksgivings, and grant these our po- 
 tions, for Jesus Christ's sake our only mediator and advo- 
 cate. 
 
 Our Father who art in heaven; hallowed be thy name; 
 thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in 
 heaven; give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us 
 our debts as we forgive our debtors; lead us not into tempta- 
 tion, but deliver us from evil; for thine is the kingdom, and 
 the power, and the glory, forever. Ambn. 
 
sismaa®^ n^c 
 
 ON FAITH— AS A PURIFIER OF THE HEART. 
 
 ACTS, XV. 9. 
 
 *f Purifying their hearts by Faith, 
 
 When the angel, commissioned to remove the suspicions 
 which bad arisen against the virgin mother in the mind of 
 her betrothed husband, appeared unto him in a dream, he 
 addressed him in these terms: "Joseph, thou son ef David, 
 fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is 
 conceived in her is of the Holy Ghostj and she shall bring 
 forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall 
 save his people/ro7n their sins."* It is the peculiar glory 
 of our religion that while other systems point their precepts 
 and their doctrines to the regulation of exterior deportment, 
 Christianity dictates to the heart. Not content with form- 
 ing its votaries to the practice of those splendid virtues 
 which it is often difficult to distinguish from their counterfeits 
 — not content with enjoining upon them to let their works 
 shine before men that God may be glorified; the true reli- 
 gion professes to influence the internal springs of action. 
 Its prophecies — its histories — its gospels — its epistles — all 
 conspire to the same end, the reformation of the hidden man 
 ef the heart, and his deliverance from the servitude of sin. 
 Whether we hear its voice amidst the thunders of Sinai, or 
 on the mountain consecrated by the preaching of him who 
 
 •Mati.i, 20.21. 
 
4S 
 
 spal« as never man spakej whether we see it clothing the 
 prophet's brow with terrors, or guiding the apostle's pen; 
 this is its uniform testimony— the Paradise of God is ac- 
 cessible only to the pure in heart. But why detain you with 
 vague eulogy? Purity of heart is of the essence of salvation. 
 Miserable my brethren, would have been our state, if. af- 
 ter having brought us thus far, and having revealed to us 
 the nature of its requirements, the true religion had left us 
 in ignorance respectiiig the means by which to meet them. 
 Like its divine author, its work is perfect; nor will it relin- 
 quish its design before consummation. Accordingly, the text 
 which has been read as the foundation of this exercise, to- 
 gether with many other passages of holy scripture, teaches 
 us thaX faith is the happy means by which to attain purity of 
 heart. "And God, which knoweth the hearts," says St. 
 Peter in the context, ^*bare them witnT^ss, giving them the 
 Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; and put no difference be- 
 tween us and them, purifying their hearts by faith."* It is 
 natural to ask; what is faith? Can it be that belief of reve- 
 lation which we oppose to speculative infidelity? How comes 
 it to pass, then, says one, that, among those who claim the 
 Christian character, many are found, whose lives and con- 
 duct are as exceptionable as those of the professed unbe^ 
 liever? If there is any truth in the maxim that men are to 
 be judged by their actions, and that a good tree cannot bring 
 forth evil fruit, surely it will not be pretended that such a 
 faith will produce purity of heart. This is conceded: but 
 we observe that, although the assent of the understanding to 
 the genuineness and authenticity of revelation constitutes 
 one species of faith, yet, if it proceeds no farther, it is not 
 true Christian faith— it is not that faith which stands first 
 on the list of graces, and is followed by hope and charity — 
 it is not that faith of which St. Peter speaks in the text. 
 Even the Devils are said to believe. But, when we are 
 told that we are saved by faith^ ^nd th^t faith purifies the 
 
 • Acts, XV. 8. 9. 
 
49 
 
 heart; we are compelled to judge that this is not that faith, 
 or at least that it extends much farther than that faith, which 
 makes the devils tremble. Faith is in itself an equivocal 
 expression, and is susceptible of as many interpretations as 
 there are sources whence it arises — objects in which it ter- 
 minates — properties which it possesses — acts which it ex- 
 erts—effects which it produces. The question, therefore, 
 returns; what is Christian faith? This question must be 
 answered before we proceed to the main object of the pre- 
 sent discourse. 
 
 With respect, tlien, to its origin, Christian faith is a grace 
 of the spirit. With respect to its objects, it terminates in 
 the being of God; the existence and official character of Je- 
 sus Christ; and in all those trutbs which support the sys- 
 tems of natural and revealed religion. With respect to its 
 nature and properties, it forms the bond of union between 
 Cljrist and the believer. With respect to its acts, which 
 confer upon it a most peculiar distinction, it ofters a person- 
 al and cordial reception to the divine mediator, and throws 
 itself into his arms for justifying merits, sanctifying grace, 
 and the recompense of eternal felicity. With respect to its 
 effects; as it is the root of sanctification, or, to speak more 
 accurately, as it is that principle which contains the elements 
 of all holy desires and works; so in proportion as circum- 
 stances call forth its energy, it produces the lovely prints of 
 piety and virtue. This is that faith of which we speak. 
 This is that faith which alone denominates men Christians; 
 because it corresponds with the genius of the Evangelical 
 dispensation. This is that faith which constrains us to ab- 
 jure our most beloved sins, and tread the world beneath our 
 feet. "For what is the victory that overcomelh the world? 
 is it not our faith."* 
 
 How is this moral purification achieved? and with what 
 propriety are effects so important attributed to faith? To 
 answer this question is the principal object of the present 
 
 • I John, V. 4. 
 
90 
 
 discourse^ in which it is proposed to illustrate and vindicate 
 the position, that Christian faith purifies the heart. 
 
 It is a remark at once ohvious and weighty, that sound 
 principles are essential to right practice. But on no sub- 
 ject is this remark more pertinent than on that of religion. 
 The characters of men are legible in the Deity who is the 
 object of their adoration; in the precepts and doctrines 
 which they affect to derive from him; in the rites andinsti- 
 tions which they consecrate to himj in the rewards which 
 they implore, and the punishments which they deprecate. 
 The objects, then, of Christian faith, or the truths in which 
 it terminates, form one topick by which we illustrate and 
 vindicate our position. 
 
 Permit me, my brethren, to call your attention to the 
 first and noblest object of belief, the God whom you wor- 
 ship. Elevate your contemplations for a moment to the 
 everlasting throne, and imagine yourselves in the celestial 
 presence. What do you behold? A Deity — not such as cor- 
 rupt nature and a vain philosophy characterize him; but 
 such as his own most blessed book hath revealed him — a 
 Deity, by the refulgence of whose glory, the splendours of 
 the firmament are eclipsed — by whose power, the mountains 
 are dissolved — by whose wrath, the earth is shaken to its 
 centre — by whose wisdom, the policy of the wise is detected 
 — in the eyes of whose purity, all things are comparatively 
 polluted — before whose adorable sanctity, the angels of liglit 
 are unholy — whose justice, when provoked by guilt, pene- 
 trate to the abyss and kindles the everlasting fires of retri- 
 bution. Casting off the fear of this all holy and Almiglity 
 Deity, can you meditate the perpetration of deeds which 
 stand condemned by his law? you believe that he is the 
 source of virtue; and can you doubt that vice incurs his dis- 
 pleasure? Can you imagine that he regards with equal ap- 
 probation the malignity of Slumei and the resigned forbear- 
 ance of David? the affectionate fidelity of St. John and the 
 black treason that lurked in the bosom of Judas? you be- 
 
51 
 
 iieve that he is the autlior of your happiness — your protec- 
 tor — your father — and can you suffer that he should he paid 
 by the ingratitude of those who are indebted to him for their 
 existence— who are preserved in life by his unceasing boun- 
 ties — and who rejoice beneath the favours of his propitious 
 providence? you believe that every where and at all times, 
 in your going out and coming in, your rising up and lying 
 down, the immensity of the divine omnipresence encircles you,- 
 and can you sin under the immediate witness of God? you 
 believe that the all-penetrating eye of the divine omni- 
 science reads every half-foimed thouglit, notes every senti- 
 ment and emotion that arises within you, and needs not that 
 any should testify of you, because he knows what is in you^ 
 and can you, forgetting that your creator hath required the 
 devotion of the heart, and hallowed it for his own temple, 
 burn incense to vain imaginations? can you cherish pride, 
 malice, impurity? My bretliren, it is impossible that one 
 who lives under a constant and lively impression of tliese 
 truths; one who believes with his whole heart in tlie exis- 
 tence of a God such as has been described; in the immuta- 
 bility of his decrees; in the awful majesty of his justice; and 
 in all those perfections with which his own sacred revela- 
 tion has invested him, it is impossible that such a one 
 should be other than a good and righteous man. 
 
 But there are other objects which offer themselves to the 
 Christian's faith. He believes that Christ Jesus is appoin- 
 ted mediator between God and man. This article of his 
 creed, involves tlie most interesting doctrines and most tre- 
 mendous mysteries of our religion. The human race, fallen 
 from a nobler and a happier state, and condemned to for- 
 feit the privileges of innocence, excited the compassion of 
 heaven; and the second person of the holy and incompre- 
 hensible trinity pledged himselffor their redemption. Every 
 step in the progress of this redemption; every circumstance 
 of justice, of wisdom, and of grace, which distinguishes it; 
 from its organization in the divine mind to its consumma- 
 tion in the final accomplishment of the purposes for which 
 
5% 
 
 it was instituted^ affords an argument for purity of heart. 
 On a field so immeasurable, \^e presume not to expatiate. 
 We will confine ourselves to ^ single point; the mystery of 
 the cross. Christians, when you contemplate this holy mys- 
 tery, which most affects you, the atrocity of sin, that inflic- 
 ted such unparalleled torments on the Son of God, or the 
 compassion that induced him voluntarily to submit to tliem? 
 which most excites your apprehensions, the horrours that en- 
 velop the divine victim suffering a vicarious punishment on- 
 ly, or the power of the everlasting judge when he shall arise 
 to take vengeance on those who know him not, and obey 
 not his gospel? 
 
 Whether you are among the number of those who main- 
 tain that a satisfaction was necessary, in order that the 
 claims of divine justice might allow the remission of sin; or 
 whether you choose to adopt that other opinion, which, de- 
 nying the necessity, supports, however, the expediency of 
 such a satisfaction; the consequence, as to the argument be- 
 fore us, will be nearly the same. On the latter supposition, 
 you believe that Almighty God is possessed of such an infi- 
 nite love of holiness, and such an inconceivable detestation 
 of sin, that, although not impelled by necessity to exact an 
 atonement, he has, nevertheless, seen fit to exact it, rather 
 than suffer vice to escape unpunished. You believe that he 
 has decreed the sacrifice of the cross merely as an expedient 
 by which to remove the suspicion that sin is not execrable 
 in his sight. And under these impressions can you flatter 
 yourselves with the hope of impunity when you transgress 
 his holy law? Can you go on to perpetrate crimes, when God 
 has made such an illustrious display both of his will and his 
 power to be the avenger of his guilt? But if you support the 
 necessity of the satisfaction, the argument assumes addition- 
 al strength. You believe that the disposition to maintain 
 the rights and order of his moral government is so essen- 
 tial to the Deity, that he cannot, without renouncing his per- 
 fections, pardon the sinner, and not punish the sin; and can 
 
53 
 
 you, notwitlistaiiding this persuasion, neglect the cultivation 
 of holiness? This would be to believe at one and the same 
 time, that sin is infinitely abhorrent to the divine Being, and 
 yet that he regards it with indiffei-ence. That the necessi- 
 ty of !iis holy nature impelled hiui to immolate his own 
 eternal Son upon the altar of iiis justice, and yet that he is 
 of a disposition so easy and indifferent, as to forgive those 
 who despise the injunction; "Be ye holy, as I am holy;'* 
 and the admonition, ''without holiness, no man shall see the 
 Lord."* 
 
 But if the cross, by representing the atrocity of moral 
 evil, and the seveiity of the divine justice, mortifies the im- 
 purity of the heart; it addresses also the ingenuous feelings. 
 It touches the hidden springs of love and gratitude, and 
 awakens the sleeping powers of generous affection. "The 
 love of Christ constraineth ns," says the apostle; and you. 
 Christians, if you contemplate in faith, this sublime mys- 
 tery, you can testify that its irresistible, though secret in- 
 fluences, restrain from evil, and incite to the prosecution of 
 a holy life. AYith this conviction, you would thus address 
 the infatuated votary of sin. Call to mind as we have done 
 the life and death of Jesus of Nazareth; the pains of his body 
 and the anguish of his soul. Attend him in the various 
 scenes of tribulation through which he passed. Follow him 
 in imagination into the garden. See him nailed to the cross. 
 Hear his departing groan — all nature sympathizing — and 
 the dead and the living conspiring to celebrate the obse- 
 quies of a God. Recollect that every event of his sorrow- 
 ful life was foreseen by him — that he saw the frailty of his 
 friends, and the rage of his enemies — the garden which was 
 to be consecrated by his tears and bloody agony — the tribu- 
 nal of his judge — the scourge — the executioner — the cross; 
 ignominy and death stood full in his view; he saw; lie shrunk 
 not from the awful undertaking; he closed his career of suf- 
 fering in the grave, and gave himself a propitiation for us — 
 
 • Heb. xii. 14. 
 
54 
 
 for you— for the whole world; "that he might purify unto 
 himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works."* In des- 
 pite of all this love, which strikes the tfirones of heaven with 
 astonishment, go now and sin. Go, and pour contempt up- 
 on him who died to redeem you from contempt. Go, and as- 
 sist the enraged populace to insult him in whose person all 
 majesty centres. Go, trample on the grave where the an- 
 gels of God worship, and the Son of God rests from his ag- 
 onies. Impossible! if you are not devoid of every grateful sen- 
 timent — if you are not sold under impurity — from this mo- 
 ment the world will be crucified unto you, and you unto the 
 world. From this moment, the idols you have served, shall 
 flee from their falling shrines. From this moment, you 
 shall die unto sin and live unto righteousness. 
 
 «'Talk they of morals? O! thou bleeding Love! 
 The grand morality is love of thee." — Young. 
 
 This, then, is one topick by which we illustrate and vin- 
 dicate our position; <'the objects of Christian faith." An- 
 other is drawn from tlie nature of faith; and more especially 
 from that property which it possesses of uniting the be- 
 liever with Christ. It is by this union that we become per- 
 sonally interested in the benefits of hLs redemption, and the 
 gifts and graces which, as mediator of the new covenant, he 
 effuses upon his people. 
 
 In all thosft divine dispensations, which are denominated 
 covenants, the Deity is revealed as transacting, not so much 
 with a number of individuals severally considered, as with 
 some one person who represents the rest. Thus, in the 
 covenant of works, which was given to Adam, the whole of 
 his numerous offspring were federally interested. And thus 
 the new covenant is not, in strict propriety of speech, made 
 with individual Christians, but v/ith the head of the Church: 
 ^•As in Adam all die; even so in Christ shall all be made 
 
 * Tit. ii. 14. 
 
alive."* As in the transgression of Adam, all our race were 
 reputed guilty; so, whoever are restored to heaven and im- 
 mortality, owe it to their union with Christ, the source of 
 saving influences. In the obedience, the sufferings, and 
 the death, of the Son of God, he is to be regarded as the 
 representative of his ransomed church. It is here that we 
 recognize the condition of the covenant of grace; not in the 
 imperfect works of the Christian; nor yet, to speak accurate- 
 ly, in his faith. Yes, if tlie gates of our Father's house 
 shall ever open to receive his repentant children, we will 
 not fail to ascribe it to youj bloody passion— agonizing 
 death— infinite merits of our Redeemer! Nerveless be the 
 tongue that would preach another gospel! "God forbid that 
 we should glory, save in the cross!" But if we exclude faith 
 from the honour of procuring our salvation, we neither di- 
 minish its necessity, nor weaken its efficacy. We assign to 
 it, its peculiar province. We say that it is the mysterious 
 tie by which God the Father has decreed to unite us with 
 his Son. We say that the merits of the great sacrifice are, 
 as it were, accumulated in an inexhaustible treasury, whence 
 by the instrumentality of faith, we draw all those aids and 
 supplies which are indispensable to the purification of the 
 heart. These may be classed under two heads,- justifica- 
 tion, and the gift of the spirit. 
 
 Justification — In vain do we endeavour to wash our hands 
 in innocency, or to cultivate purity of heart, while that for- 
 midable sentence forever meets our eye; <*Thou art weighed 
 in the balance, and art found wanting." One sin unsatis- 
 fied, will frustrate all our attempts, and stamp disappoint- 
 ment upon all our efforts. The terrors of conscience are 
 incompatible with the practice of holiness. The conviction 
 that the displeasure of the offended Deity rests upon us, 
 banishes every emotion that bears the impress of virtue. **lf 
 perfect love casteth out fear;"t perfect fear, also, casteth 
 out love. But love is the distinguishing mark of Christian 
 
 *1 Cor. XV. 22. fJohn.iv. 18, 
 
morality. Love is the end of the commandment. Love is 
 the fulfilling of the law. The heart to which love is a 
 stranger must be impure. Farther; in order that our ser- 
 vices may meet the divine approbation, which is at once the 
 test and the reward of virtue, it is previously necessary that 
 our persons he accepted. "The Lord," as one remarks, 
 "had respect unto Abel first, and afterwards to his offering.'* 
 But the acceptance of the person is what constitutes jus- 
 tification, and is only applied to those who are in union with 
 the Son of God. 
 
 The next benefit we mention which is derived from this 
 union, is the gift of the holy spirit, in all his offi( es, and 
 with his celestial train of graces. From the seat of his ex- 
 altation, at the right hand of the Everlasting Majesty, Jesus 
 Christ regards in pity the imbecility of his people. «*He 
 knows their frame, he remembers that they are but dust."* 
 "For we have not an higb priest who cannot be touched with 
 the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted 
 like as we are, yet without siri."f Taught by experience to 
 sympathize with those who are called to withstand the as- 
 saults of earth and hell, he cannot leave them defenceless. 
 He knows that, although to him, on whom the Almighty Spi- 
 rit was poured without measure, the issue of that contest was 
 victory; to them, unassisted by the communication of his 
 strength, it is certain defeat. He calls to mind the promise 
 which he made to his disciples, when, like a dying father in 
 the midst of his family, he was employed in mitigating their 
 sorrows, and preparing them for the approaching separation. 
 "I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you.":}: Be- 
 lievers in Christ, has he not fulfilled this promise? Has he 
 not come to you? Who is it that helpeth your infirmities — 
 that teacheth you what to pray for, and how to pray as you 
 ought? Who is it that pours liglit upon the darkness of your 
 nature — that gives you peace of conscience^ — that elevates 
 your souls above the world, and inspires you with an equal 
 
 * Psalms, ciii. 14. |Heb, iv. 15. + John, xiv. 18. 
 
57 
 
 contempt fot its flatteries and its frowns? "Who is it that 
 makes you all-glorious within, by forming in your hearts 
 the bright assemblage of his graces — faith — hope — chaiity— 
 humility — heavenly-mindedness? Who is it that instructs 
 your hands to war; tliat arms you against the conflicting 
 powers within and around you; that makes you conquerors 
 and more than conquerors? It is the spirit of Christ — the 
 spirit of him that loved you, and to whom you ^re insepara- 
 bly united — the spirit of the head communicated to the mem- 
 bers — the spirit that perfects divine strength in human weak- 
 ness — the spirit that vests you, we scruple not to say, with 
 a delegated omnipotence. "I appoint unto you a kingdom;'* 
 said our Lord; *<as my Father has appointed unto me."* 
 "All things that the Father hath, are mine." "Verily, 
 verily 1 say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father 
 in my name, he will give it you."t These passages imply 
 the conveyance of no common powers to you brethren. — 
 The name of Jesus has a charm, it seems, which Heaven 
 cannot resist; and shall not carnal opposition perish? What 
 is there that this sacred name cannot accomplish? Of oI4 
 it filled a corrupt sanhedrim with consternation, and made 
 princes tremble on their thrones. It quelled the rage of the 
 elements; hurst the cerements of the tomb; reanimated the 
 ashes of the dead; put to fliglit devils, and called angels 
 from heaven to minister to the church; and while there re- 
 mains a sinner to he converted, or a saint to be preserved, 
 the omnipotence of his august name shall be the salvation 
 of both. Thus, the relation which subsists between Christ 
 and the sincere disciple, is the fountain of inherent right- 
 eousness to the latter; and as faith constitutes the bond of 
 that relation, or the medium by which the power and grace 
 of the master are communicated to the disciple, it follows 
 that faith purifies the heart. This, therefore, is another 
 topick which illustrates and vindicates our position — the 
 nature of faith. 
 
 • Luke, xxu. 29. f John, xvi. 15, 23. 
 H 
 
58 
 
 We offer a third which shall be the last, and on which we 
 will be brief. It is founded in general observation, and in 
 a fair comparison of the conduct of Christians with the 
 principles of their religion. Here, however, we will not 
 resort to the palace or the cottage. We Will not present 
 to you either the wealthy, the honourable, or the powerful, 
 on the one hand^ or, on the other, the poor and the abject. 
 Our appeal is principally to those who are, in a measure, 
 strangers to the difficulties and temptations which assail the 
 two extremes of human condition. Those whom provi- 
 dence seldom calls to the display of the more celebrated 
 virtues, but whom he at the same time exempts from the 
 solicitations of the more attrocious and degrading sins. We 
 exclude also from our view, the Christian abandoning ease 
 and safety in his native land, "to make a voyage of philan- 
 thropy — a circumnavigation of charity — to dive into the 
 depths of dungeons — to plunge into the infection of hospi- 
 tals — to survey the mansions of sorrow and pain — to take 
 the guage and dimensions of misery, depression and con- 
 tempt — to remember the forgotten — to attend to the neglected 
 — to visit the forsaken — and to compare and collate the dis- 
 tresses of all men in all countries," that he might relieve 
 some. Such a character is a phenomenon' in the moral 
 world which seems to be employed by the spirit of God to 
 display to men the sublimity of Christian virtue, the power 
 of his own holy operations, and the efficacy of that faith 
 which worketh by love. But although we have a right to 
 glory in the mystery of the cross that can work such a mir- 
 acle of faith and practice, we content ourselves with paying 
 this tribute of admiration, txnd proceed in our appeal. 
 Who is it, then, that in the common walks of life, exhibits 
 most of that temper and those habits whicli denominate men 
 virtuous? Who is it that is most moderate in his desires; 
 most exempt from irregularities; least subject to tKe domin- 
 ion of passion; least enslaved to self-interest; least ambitious 
 of honour; least covetous of riches; least devoted to sensual 
 
59 
 
 pleasure? It is the believer in Christ. Who is it that walk- 
 eth upriglitly, and worketh righteousness, and speakcth the 
 truth in his heart? Who is it tliat is least addicted to back- 
 biting, or injuring, or taking up a reproach against his 
 neighbour? Who is it tbat most unfeignedly contemns a 
 vile person and honours them that fear the Lord? Who is 
 it that is most tenacious of his promise or his oath, even al- 
 though the fulfilment of either should involve him in loss or 
 danger? Who is it that is most benevolent; most merciful| 
 most forgiving; most generous; most charitable; most ar- 
 dent in his attachment to truth and holiness; most firm in 
 his opposition to the dissipations and tlie vices of the age? 
 It is the believer in Christ. Who is it that exhibits most of 
 that noble spectacle, a rational creature bending in adora- 
 tion before the throne of his creator? Who is it that is 
 most assiduous in the performance of all the duties of pub- 
 lick and private devotion? That counts the sabbath of the 
 Lord his delight, honourable and sacred? That contributes 
 by his prayers and his active exertions to advance the king- 
 dom of heaven? It is the believer in Christ. In a word; 
 who is it that, through the whole course of moral and reli- 
 gious duty, approves himself most pure — most virtuous — 
 most pious? Without doubt it is the believer in Christ. Not 
 the Christian of rites and forms, whose belief is superficial 
 and temporary only. Not the philosophick Christian, am- 
 bitious of applause, whose visions and theories often betray 
 him at least into indolence and negligence. But the plain 
 and sincere Christian, whose faith is an ever-abiding and 
 ever-active principle; who asks no guide but the spirit; who 
 desires no sj'stem but the gospel; who seeks no reward but 
 the approbation of God. This is no figment of the imagina- 
 tion. Look around you, and be convinced that it is a reality. 
 Thus, we have attempted to illustrate and vindicate the 
 position that Christian faith purifies the heart, by topicks 
 drawn, first, from the objects of faith; second, from the na- 
 ture of faith; third, from general observation, and a com- 
 parison of practice with principle. 
 
m 
 
 We conclude, brethren, by exhorting you in all humility 
 to "examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith." It is 
 a subject on which the human heart is too prone to decep- 
 tion. In the course of this exercise, we have had occasion 
 to remark that the name of Christian and the character of a 
 believer, are not unfrequently conferred on persons who 
 know but very little of the holy religion of Jesus. And yet 
 the test of true faith is no recondite matter. He who 
 runs may read it. The most superficial mind may explore 
 it. "Shew me thy faith without thy works," says the apos- 
 tle St. James, "and I will shew thee my faith by ray works." 
 «Faith if it hath not works, is dead, being alone."* "Faith 
 worketh by love."f '*Faith purijieth the heart.** This is 
 the scriptural test. Let it be ours. And may the Eternal 
 Spirit work in us that holiness, without which, no man shall 
 see God, by implanting and cherishing in us that faith, with- 
 out which it is impossible to please him. — Amek. 
 
 * James ii, 18.17. j Gal. v. 6. 
 
§®as2®sr Tc 
 
 THE IMPORTANCE OF RELIGION. 
 
 tUKE, X. 42. 
 
 **One thing is needfid/* 
 
 S,ELTGioN terminates and rests in God. Hence it is fre- 
 quently called "the fear of the Lord." Hence it is descri- 
 bed as a habitual search after the divine Being; as a con- 
 tinued service offered to him. And hence, persons who are 
 under its guidance and government are represented as "com- 
 ing unto him," and "obeying his commandments." 
 
 Rendering to heaven what is exclusively and immediate- 
 ly its due, is doubtless, the most important constituent of 
 religion. But we are under a multitude of obligations to 
 mankind in our various connections with them. We owe 
 much, also, to ourselves. The regular, faithful, and profit- 
 able discharge of what is thus incumbent on us, enters inti- 
 mately into the notion of religion carried to its legitimate 
 extent; in as much as without a reference to religion; with- 
 out a respect to the great Being wlio is the object of reli- 
 gion, and from whom all moral obligation derives its sanc- 
 tion; man would be alike indifferent to the claims of heaven 
 and earth: alike faithless to the ties by which they are bound 
 to serve God, to love their neighbour, and to pursue their 
 own essential interests. Religion, then, has but one object, 
 and, in this respect, is "one thing." 
 
 It is "tme," also, considered asavital, or universally per- 
 vading and actuating principle. Let a person be under its 
 influence, and that influence is sure to extend to every power 
 
6^ 
 
 hjB possesses^ to operate throughout the whole sphere of his 
 moral existence. It is this principle of religion which en- 
 larges the mind, enlightens and improves the conscience, 
 bends the will to good and noble purposes, sublimates the 
 affections, and renovates tlie heart. One in itself, this prin- 
 ciple of religion effectuates union wherever it is permitted 
 to have its perfect work. In the wide compass of human 
 existence, all who own its sway form but one body of hea- 
 ven compacted strength, vigour, and beauty, quickened by 
 one spirit — the spirit of Christ and of God. 
 
 Although religion has but one object, and is one in prin^ 
 ciple, or considered as a principle operative on human life 
 and manners, yet it consists of many particulars^ it compri- 
 ses a multitude of duties and requirements. But it is to be 
 observed, that if symetry and correspondence of parts be 
 essential to the unity of a system, this multitude of duties 
 and requirements, these many particulars, so far from cut- 
 ting up or dividing that body of strength, vigour, and beau- 
 ty of which they are members, place its unity in a new and 
 powerful light. Religion m.agnifies no virtue at the expense 
 of its neighbour. Religion sacrifices no one duty to another. 
 Religion admits no plea for the violation of one command- 
 ment, or the disregard of one truth, founded in an alleged 
 deference to any others, or even to all others. Religion for- 
 bids the severance of the minutest link of obligation from 
 the chain which binds us at once to God, to our neighbour, 
 and to our own well-being. Religion then, assuredly, is 
 perfect in integrity and unity, or integrity and unity are 
 words without meaning. 
 
 Unity of design is indispensable to the utility, beauty, and 
 perfection of any system. But unity of design is no where 
 more obvious than in religion. Our true interest, our real 
 happiness, is the point which it keeps universally and invar 
 riably in view. By all its lessons and injunctions; by all 
 its promises and threatenings; by all its hopes and fears; 
 our true interest is the treasure sought, our real happiness 
 is the prize contended for. 
 
63 
 
 To demonstrate that this one thing is the "one thing need- 
 ful," is the chief aim of the present discourse. To this, 
 therefore, I proceed. 
 
 "One thing is needful." — Religion — and religion alone is 
 indespensable to human happiness; for all persons; at all 
 times; in all places, circumstances, and states of being. 
 
 In the first jdace. — Witliout religion men are, and cannot 
 but be, miserable. The spirit of religion is love to God; 
 and his favour its reward. Now, is it not a self-evident 
 proposition that the man who is devoid of love to God> and 
 destitute of tlie favour of God, must be unhappy? We were 
 made to love him. This is our being's end and aim. Con- 
 travening the design of our introduction into existence, it is 
 impossible that we should escape misery. The mercies of 
 his throne perpetually surround us. His salvation attends 
 our footsteps day by day. He crowns us unceasingly with 
 his loving kindness. "He keeps our souls from death, our 
 eyes from tears; and our feet from falling." Surely, then, 
 the heart that, in return, throbs not with gratitude, must 
 ache with the pulsations of misery. I cannot conceive how 
 that man can enjoy one hour's peace or satisfaction, who is 
 incapable of appreciating heaven's benignant care, and of 
 repaying it with the movements of devout thankfulness. 
 
 As the spirit of religion is love to God, so his favour is its 
 reward. I mean his special favour; his complacency: for it 
 is a certain truth, and one which ought to heap coals of fire 
 upon the sinner's head, that the goodness of heaven descends 
 from age to age upon the indevout and the impious; the 
 worldly and the sensual; and his forbearance upon their 
 children's children: that the «<Father of mercies maketh 
 his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendcth his 
 rain on the just and on the unjust."* But that favour of 
 his which is life; that loving kindness which is better than 
 life; that complacency which irradiates his countenance with 
 the smiles of benediction; is the portion of the religious and 
 
 • Mat. V. 45. 
 
64 
 
 upright only. And can it be necessary to prove that unless 
 the God of all grace vouchsafe to shine propitiously upon 
 my soul, felicity must be a stranger there? 
 
 Of no other attainment, possession, or circumstance at- 
 tached to the condition of our nature, can it be said that the 
 absence or privation of it necessarily superinduces misery. 
 It cannot be said of pleasure, of wealth, of honour, no — nor 
 even of learning. In the humbler walks of life where the 
 means of pleasurable or splendid indulgences, uf civil or mi- 
 litary promotion, and of scientific acquisitions, are circum- 
 scribed, you have doubtless observed much tranquillity, much 
 contentment, anil even much continued and uniform enjoy-, 
 ment. But have you ever seen tranquillity, contentment, 
 uniform and continued enjoyment, among those who are de- 
 void of religion; liowever prosperous, however elevated, 
 however surrounded by the frolick sons and daughters of 
 festivity? Have you not discovered in their varying feat- 
 ures, in their fitful transitions from gaiety to gloom, that 
 "there is a laughter, in the midst of which the heart is sor- 
 rowful; a mirth, the end of which is heaviness;"* a pride of 
 distinction which serves but to render infelicity more prom- 
 inent? 
 
 In the vsccond j)tece.— Religion, and religion alone, is need- 
 ful for mankind universally: for all ranks, orders and des- 
 criptions of persons, and for every individual among them. 
 There are many attainments which are becoming and use- 
 ful in some states and situations of life, and under certain 
 circumstances and relations; but which, under other cir- 
 cumstances and relations, are superfluous; and in opposite 
 states and situations are unprofitable, and even pernicious. 
 For instance; what is admitted to be an indispensable ap- 
 pendage to the character and authority of a magistrate, a 
 master, an instructor, a parent, may be preposterous or in- 
 jurious when exhibited in the person of the child, the pupil, 
 the servant, the private citizen. But religion is the com- 
 
 Prov. xiv. 13. 
 
65 
 
 nion duty, and ought to be the common concern, the com- 
 mon qualification, the common characteristic, of all the pos- 
 terity of Adam. 
 
 In the third place. — Religion is needful at all times, and 
 in all places; an assertion that cannot be made respecting 
 any other quality or endowment of man. In the progres- 
 sive changes of human manners and the varying circum- 
 stances of society, what is at one period necessary and de- 
 sirable, at a later period ceases to be so. Personal prow- 
 ess, military skill, in process of time give place to the arts 
 of peace, and the better directed efforts of the human mind 
 to protect the weak and curb the wicked, by intellectual, 
 rather than by brutal force. But whatever alterations oc- 
 cur on the face of the world, religion, like its divine author 
 and object, remains ever the same. The bravery of the 
 warrior may be required at one time, and the wisdom of 
 the legislator at another; but religion, without which neith- 
 er can much avail, is at all times, and in every stage of so- 
 ciety, alike desirable; alike necessary. 
 
 And not only at all times; but in all places is it desirable 
 — in every clime is it necessary. Wherever the sun of the 
 material heavens emits his beams, the sun of righteousness 
 must arise to gladden the mental creation, or all is dark 
 and dreary. This is the sun, milder than his type in the 
 heavens, that must travel with the stranger over the deserts 
 of Africa. This is the sun that must gild the wastes of north- 
 ern snows. In fine, wherever man is to be found, he needs 
 religion, and needs no more, to enlighten, uphold, cherish, 
 and comfort him. 
 
 In the fourth place, — Religion is needful not merely at all 
 times, but perpetually and uninterruptedly. At no moment 
 is it superfluous. At no moment is it a work of superero- 
 gation. At no moment must it be upon any account dis- 
 pensed with. It is a fruit which is never out of season. It is 
 » flower which is constantly in bloom. "To every thing," 
 says the wise king of Israel, "there is a season, and a time 
 I 
 
66 
 
 to every purpose under the heavens:"* but religion, which, 
 iieaven descended, aspires to heaven again, he carefully 
 avoided limiting to seasons or to times. 
 
 Religion, considered as a habit of the soul; as a temper 
 of the heart; as a principle, a source, a motive, of action; 
 must be perpetually operative. It must experience no in- 
 termission; no, not for a moment; or it ceases to be religion. 
 "When thou goest, it must lead thee; when thou sleepest, 
 it must keep thee; and when thou awakest, it must talk with 
 thee. For its commandment is a lamp; and its law is light; 
 and its reproofs of instruction are the way of life."f 
 
 In the Jifth place. — Religion is indispensable to remler 
 prosperity a blessing to those who receive it at the hand of 
 God. We know the high authority that says, and we know 
 too with what melancholy evidence daily experience confirms 
 the saying, that "the prosperity of fools" or irreligious 
 persons "shall destroy them.":|: It leads them to presump- 
 tion; it leads them to unbelief; it leads them to hardness of 
 heart, to earthly mindedness, to covetousness, sensuality, 
 cruelty; to the life and death of criminals; and to the im- 
 mortality of devils. Religion waters the plant of prosperi- 
 ty with the dews of divine grace, until it becomes a tree 
 whose roots are deep and wide in the soil, while its top 
 touches the heavens. Children of sanctified prosperity! 
 what is it that yields a zest to every delight that dwells up- 
 on your raptured senses? that makes all nature "beauty to 
 your eye, or musick to your ear," or luxury to your thank- 
 ful hearts? You tell me, and you tell me triily, it is reli- 
 gion. Children of sanctified prosperity! what is it that di- 
 rects you to such a use; such an improvement; such an ap- 
 plication of your peculiar temporal advantages, as makes 
 you eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame? as causes "the 
 ear when it hears you to bless you, and the eye when it 
 sees you to give you its witness of weeping gratitude? You 
 tell me, and I know that you tell me aright, it is, it can on- 
 ly be that "one thing needful"— religion. 
 
 • Eccl. iii. 1. t Prov. vi. 22. 23. t Prov. i. 32. 
 
Q7 
 
 In the sixth idace. — Religion is eminently the <*oiie thing 
 needful" in adversity. There is, perhaps, nothing which 
 mankind, the had as well as the good, more generally ad- 
 mit, than this: and many a self-deluded sinner has vainly 
 sought refuge under adversity in that "one thing needful," 
 which, while prosperity shone bright upon him, he has 
 trampled under foot. Religion it is, and religion alone, tliat 
 teaches complaining man at once the nature, the origin, and 
 Uje design of his afflictions: that consoles him under them; 
 that fortifies him to endure them; that enables him to im- 
 prove them, that converts them into springs of never-failing 
 peace, and joy, and glory. 
 
 In the seventh and last place. — Religion is the "one thing 
 needful" in a sense far more important than any that have 
 been hitherto exhibited: for it is religion alone that conducts 
 to the everlasting life of the world to come. The present 
 state is not conclusive of our being. Wiien this "world and 
 the works that are therein shall be burnt up;" when "the 
 heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll;" when "the ele- 
 ments shall melt with fervent heat;" man shall still exist; 
 man shall exist forever; the inheritor of celestial glory, or 
 the hopeless victim of his unrepented crimes. Often is this 
 awful truth proclaimed in your ears; but, O my God! how 
 little is it regarded! Man shall exist forever, the inheritor 
 of celestial glory, or the hopeless victim of his imrepented 
 crimes. This truth will force itself upon the mind at the ap- 
 proach of death. What shall console the dying man? The 
 evils of life have many opiates, some more, some less effec- 
 tual. Parental protection, filial duty, connubial love, these 
 may soothe while the pulse beats animation; but what — 
 what shall console the dying man? Nothing but religion. 
 She tells the good man to look back without regret, and for- 
 ward without fear. She tells him that as the life which he 
 has been enabled, through divine grace, to live, is undenia- 
 bly the best qualification and the surest preparation for the 
 licavcnly blessedness, so it cannot fail to meet the accep- 
 
68 
 
 tance of that righteous Lord who loveth righteousness, and 
 whose countenance beholdeth the upright. 
 
 And, now, let such as are conscious of possessing this one 
 needful thing, religion, felicitate themselves, and he grate- 
 ful to God. 
 
 Let them felicitate themselves. Let them rejoice that 
 while the many around them are perpetually agitating the 
 idle and fruitless inquiry, "who will show us any good?'* 
 they have obtained that "one thing which is needful," and 
 which alone is indispensably needful to the happiness both of 
 the present and the future. The unity and simplicity of that 
 which is the great object of their cares and their desires, 
 facilitates the gratification of these desires, the recompense 
 of those cares. Pursuit here, is liable to but little interrup- 
 tion, and to no substantial discouragement. Success is cer- 
 tain. Persons under the influence of religious principle, 
 are sure of acquiring what they have chiefly in view, the fa- 
 vour of heaven. They are firmly persuaded that nothing 
 can more effectually propitiate the divine Being, than the 
 sincere and uniform devotion of the mind and heart to him. 
 And what happiness on earth can rival that which results 
 from the consciousness that the most important of all acqui- 
 sitions is assuredly in our possession? Nothing short of 
 this, deserves the name of happiness. Men of the world 
 have no certainty like this on which to repose themselves. 
 Thick clouds of doubt rest upon their brightest prospects. 
 Their best laid schemes are so often frustrated, that the fear 
 of future disappointment is unconquerably hostile to their 
 tranquillity. 
 
 Let the soul conscious of possessing religion, be grateful 
 to God: grateful for the word of his grace and truth, by 
 which we are taught the nature and properties, the origin 
 and end, the effects and consequences of religion. Grate- 
 ful for those eff'usions of his enlightening and sanctifying 
 energy upon our faculties, to which we are indebted for the 
 existence and operations of religion. Pure and undefiled 
 
69 
 
 relii^ion before God, even the Father, his own most holy 
 word hath delineated so luminously and impressively, that 
 lie who runs may read and understand it. From this source 
 of heavenly knowledge we learn that religion is at once the 
 image of God impressed and drawn upon the inward man, 
 and the life of God exhibited in the outward deportment; 
 that it derives its being from God, and issues in the mani- 
 festation of his glory; that it beatifes the present state, and 
 secures a crown of honour and immortality beyond the 
 grave; that it is within the reach of all whose hearts are in- 
 clined to pursue it; that all who seek it shall find it, and 
 with it everlasting life, and that all who despise or neglect 
 it shall lose their own souls. And while the divine word 
 communicates the knowledge so necessary to the improve- 
 ment of the soul, the divine sj)irit, the author as well of mor- 
 al as of natural good, who at first caused the liglit to shine 
 out of darkness, irradiates the holy page, opens the intellec- 
 tual eye, and capacitates fallen man to receive and profit by 
 the instruction that leads to heaven. The virtues which 
 distinguish, characterize, and adorn the Christian life, "are 
 the fruits of the spirit"* of God; and but for his beneficent 
 power, would have no real or practical existence. 0? never 
 let the incense of gratitude cease to arise to God, our Fa- 
 ther, our Teacher, Comforter, and Guide. 
 
 Religion being thus a matter of unspeakable moment, why 
 should we not all view it in its true light, and pay it a cor- 
 responding deference? Surely, if there is any one tiling 
 essential to human happiness, so much so, that without it 
 every human being cannot but be miserable; and that, at 
 all times, in all places; under all circumstances, modes, and 
 successive states of being; if there is anv one thing exclu- 
 sively vested with the power to bless prosperitv, to sooth 
 affliction, to disarm death, to render iinmoitality glorious; 
 surely, every wise and provident man will think {"t incum' 
 bent on him to labour indefatigably for the attainment of 
 • Gal. V. 22. 
 
70 
 
 this one thing. But it has been shewn that religion is this 
 one thing; "the one thing needful," and exclusively needful 
 for all these purposes. Let us lose no time, then, in culti- 
 vating its principles and acquiring its habits. Let us de- 
 vote ourselves to it in defiance of every obstacle. Let us 
 devote ourselves to it with all possible diligence and assiduity. 
 Let us devote ourselves to it in defiance of every obsta- 
 cle. If wc believe that any temporal acquisition, whatever 
 it may be, is necessary to our repose or our enjoyment, 
 there arc no obstacles, ordinarily speaking, of such mag- 
 nitude as to deter us from the pursuit of it: there are even 
 no comforts and conveniencies, however highly valued un- 
 der other circumstances, which we will not resign for the 
 attainment of it. The avaricious man places his supreme 
 delight in a multitude of possessions; and, to secure tliis ob- 
 ject, tired nature must forego her rest, and the cravings of 
 appetite be disregarded. The man of pleasure, infatuated 
 fool, encounters, in one guilty intrigue, perplexities, embar- 
 rassments, and dangers, for which Mohammed's paradise 
 could not compensate. But, while vice, in some one or other 
 of her thousand varying shapes, has power too easily and 
 too effectually to bind us to her service, the *<one thing need- 
 ful" solicits us in vain. This, is frequently sacrificed to the 
 merest trifle of opposition: too seldom is it allowed to sur- 
 mount the most inconsiderable imj)ediment. But let us be 
 persuaded to consider, "that there is not the same necessity 
 for indulging our animal part, that there is for saving our 
 immortal souls; for living in pleasure a few days, as for be- 
 ing happy forever."* Let us remember that religion is em- 
 phatically the "one thing needful," and abjure whatever in- 
 terferes with it, and set at defiance whatever militates against 
 it. Let us estimate it as that pearl of great price which in- 
 vites us to sell all that we have and buy it. Between the 
 solicitations of religion and the allurements of the world, 
 let us not hesitate or balance for an instant. If sinners en- 
 
 • Grove, vol. v. page 254. * 
 
71 
 
 tice, let us not consent: if they insult, let us not regard: if they 
 threaten, let us not fear. Let us turn a deaf ear to the im- 
 portunity of temptation; renounce the tyranny of passion; 
 obey the call of celestial wisdom; and, convinced of the in- 
 dispensablcness of a religious temper, and a religious de- 
 portment, let us pray that God would be pleased to fortify 
 us in this conviction, and form us by his grace to a life cor- 
 responding with it. 
 
 The arguments that should induce us to embrace religion 
 at the first as the "one thing needful," powerfully persuade 
 us to persevere in the holy and liappy course, when we have 
 entered upon it. Let us therefore, devote ourselves to re^ 
 ligion with all possible diligence and assiduity. 
 
 If "it is good," as the apostle says, "to be zealously af- 
 fected always in a good thing," how, I would ask, ought we 
 to be affected towards the very best thing? a thing which 
 originates and terminates in the infinite God? 
 
 Religion is no matter on which to trifle. "Where shall a 
 man reflect and be serious, if not here, where the everlast- 
 ing life of his soul is at stake? Indifference, luke-warmness, 
 sluggishness, on a point like this, are worthy a severer an- 
 imadversion than any words of mine can inflict. 
 
 To embrace religion, and perseveringly to cultivate re- 
 ligion, it is imperiously necessary that we refrain from all 
 excessive solicitude respecting things temporal. Recollect 
 the mild rebuke of our Saviour in the context to his too anx- 
 ious friend: "Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled 
 about many things; but one thing is needful." Much as he 
 loved this affectionate and hospitable friend, or rather, in 
 consequence of the esteem which he had for her, he could 
 not avoid administering a gentle reproof to her misplaced 
 carefulness, her improvident attention to what was earthly 
 and perishing, to the neglect of what was spiritual and eter- 
 nal. It is to be regretted that theie are too many who re- 
 semble Martha, in this particular, even among those who 
 are acquainted with something more than the mere form of 
 
758 
 
 religion^ And if delinquency is discoverable among such 
 as these, what is to be expected from the worldly-minded 
 million, the multitudes, of whom it may be said, that *«God 
 is not in all their thoughts?" 
 
 Impressed as I am with the solemnity and awful impor- 
 tance of the subject, allow me to suggest certain directions, 
 which, if observed and acted upon, may be found beneficial. 
 Allot more time to the special concerns of the soul. Bestow 
 your affections in justifiable measures; giving to no object 
 more, in this respect than its due. Let not the concerns of life 
 temporal take such firm hold of your hearts and minds, as to 
 unfit you for the superior concerns of life eteniaL Suffer 
 not the pressure of affliction to disturb your serenity, or de- 
 prive you of self-possession. 
 
 First. — Allot more time to the special concerns of the 
 soul. "Our present frame and condition, I confess, is such, 
 that the greater part of our time is unavoidably taken up in 
 attendance on the body and the things relating to it; which 
 is more especially the case of those in narrow circumstances: 
 but then, none, and much less such as have a greater com- 
 mand of their time, should from their rising up to their lying 
 down, be incessantly employed in the drudgery of the world'* 
 or in the chase of pleasure. "This is to be cumbered with 
 much serving in a much worse sense than Martha was." 
 And we need not be so cumbered. I take leave to repeat itj 
 we need not be so cumbered. None— I will make no excep- 
 tions—not one of us need be so entirely devoted to the world 
 as to have no precious minutes left for the duties and the 
 pleasures of religion. 
 
 Second.— Bestow your affections in justifiable measures; 
 giving to no one object more, in this respect, than its due. 
 There is a beautiful order and subordination designed to 
 prevail among the objects of man's affections; an order and 
 subordination which sin has disturbed, and which religion 
 alone can restore and maintain. Human loves and friend- 
 ships are allowed and encouraged, but we are not permitted 
 
73 
 
 to cherish them in an equal degree with love to God and our 
 Redeemer. The hest affections of our hearts are to be pla- 
 ced on objects most worthy of them. And what are these 
 objects? Certainly, God and his service: Christ and his 
 religion: heaven and its undying glories. And shall the de- 
 votion which is properly and consistently bestowed here, be 
 wrested hence and lavished on the worthless baubles of a 
 day? Perish the thought! 
 
 Third. — Let not the concerns of life temporal take such 
 firm hold of your hearts and minds, as to unfit you for the 
 -superiour concerns of life eternal. It is when comparative- 
 ly disengaged from earthly fetters, that we can serve our 
 Creator to most advantage, most pleasure, and most accep- 
 tance. The world, like our evil genius, follo^^'s us even in- 
 to the divine presence, pollutes om* oiferings with its touch, 
 and mingles its unhallowed ^re witli the flames of sacrifice. 
 Hence it is that God « so frequently adored by the lips of 
 those whose hearts, in the mean while, are far from him. 
 Let Christians be reminded that one of their chief aims 
 should be tlie conquest of the world. It should not be their 
 serious or familiar friend, but their gay and passing ac- 
 quaintance, whose occasional society may be pleasing, but 
 whose constant and intimate converse is the thief of time, 
 the murderer of virtue. 
 
 Fourthly and lastly. — Suffer not the pressure of af- 
 fliction, whether it be on memory, anticipation, or present 
 feeling, to disturb your serenity, or deprive you of self-pos- 
 session. Self-possession — self-collection — serenity — even- 
 ness of mind — a calm and unruffled temper, proof against 
 the shafts of adversity — these constitute the ornament of 
 man. The ornament of man did I say? This, perhaps, may 
 be thought faint applause. I will say then that they exhi- 
 bit an instance of the sublime in morals. To the sublimity 
 of Christian morals they are undoubtedly essential. And it 
 is a splendid attestation to the dignity of our high calling in 
 Christ Jesus that to this sublimity of morals, this proud em- 
 K 
 
inence of virtue, the obscurest follower of the Lamb is inci- 
 ted daily and hourly to aspire. It is a commandment deliv- 
 ered to us all, and bindin.^ upon us all, that we «<take no 
 thought for the morrow, saying, what shall we eat, or what 
 shall we drink, or wherewithal shall we be clothed?" — that 
 we ''endure hardness as good soldiers of Christ"* — that we 
 "possess our souls in patience"| — and that "in suffering ac- 
 cording to the will of God, we commit ourselves unto him, 
 as unto a faithful Creator.":|: 
 
 Be assured, brethren, that unless you are cast into this 
 mould; unless you cultivate this even temper; unless you 
 acquire this mental habit of placidity, and rise superiour to 
 the vicissitudes incident to the present state; it is in vain 
 that you exptct to make any satisfactory attainments in the 
 "one thing needful." The tumult of the passions — the dis- 
 quietude of the soul — the paint i\l retrospect upon the past — 
 the gloomy foreboding of the future— -all this is at war with 
 religion. That peace of God which passtth understanding, 
 must keep the heart and mind, or the knowledge and the love 
 of him must remain unattainable by man. 
 
 Hear, now, brethren, the conclusion of the whole matter. 
 "Follow after godliness — for godliness with contentment is 
 great gain. Godliness is profitable unto all things — having 
 promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come." 
 "One thing is needful" — choose, therefore, "that good part 
 which shall not be taken away from you." 
 
 Which, may the Lord enable us all to do, and to his name 
 shall be the praise. — Amen. 
 
 •2Tim. ii, 3. f Luke, xxxi. 19. ± 1 Peter, iv. 19. 
 
©umii®^ Wc 
 
 FAMILY RELIGION 
 
 ACTS, X. 12. 
 
 There was a certain man in Cesarea^ called Corndiiis, a 
 centurion of the hand called the Italian hand, a devout man, 
 and one that feared God, with all his house, which gave 
 much alms to the people, and praijed to God alwaij." 
 
 Jlhe excellent and justly celebrated author of the Fami- 
 ly Expositor, remarking upon these words, has the follow- 
 ing expressions: '"'Most amiable and exemplary is tlic char- 
 acter of Cornelius, wlio, though exposed to all the tempta- 
 tions of a military life, maintained not only his virtue but 
 Lis piety too. He feared God, and he wrought righteous- 
 ness; and daily presented before God prayers and alms, 
 which added a beauty and acceptance to each other: and he 
 was also an example of domestic, as well as of personal re- 
 ligion, as if he had been trained up under the discipline of 
 that heroick general and prince, wbo so publickly and so 
 resolutely declared before an assembled nation, even on the 
 supposition of their general apostacy,"* "as for me and my 
 house, we will serve the Lord.''f 
 
 To recommend and enforce that domestic or family reli- 
 gion which deservedly attaches such veneration to the name 
 of this Roman officer, and which is so deplorably neglected 
 by multitudes among the professors of Christianity, is the de- 
 sign of the following discourse. May the good spirit open 
 our hearts that we may receive the truth in the love of it! 
 
 * See Doddridge, vol. ili, \ Joshua, xsiv. ir». 
 
When I speak of family religion, none can be at a loss for 
 my meaning. By family religion is understood, religious 
 instructions given to a family, and acts of devotion per- 
 formed by them jointly, or in their name and presence by 
 their head, or by some other person whom he may for wise 
 reasons employ, or whom circumstances may point out as 
 most fit, to be his substitute. 
 
 Family w^orship is, if I mistake not, a duty dictated by 
 what is termed the religion of nature. It is the voice of rea- 
 so)i that the Creator is entitled to all the homage his crea- 
 tures can give him; that it not only behoves us, but is our 
 interest to fear and adore him; that to entreat his blessing 
 is the most probable means of obtaining it; and to praise 
 him for his benefits is no more than the natural return of an 
 upright, an ingenuous, and grateful lieart. The same ar- 
 guments that lead to the performance of acts of religion, 
 generally establish the propriety of social and domestick 
 devotion. Society, in all its forms, but especially domestick 
 society, is of divine institution. "It is God who vsetteth 
 the solitary in families."* He who is the father of our 
 spirits and the former of our bodies, and hath united both 
 parts of our being so closely; hath appointed other relations 
 nearly as intimate; the relations of husband and wife, pa- 
 rent and child. Of a grade inferiour to these, and as the 
 result of posteriour coincidences, he hath ordained the im- 
 portant connection of master and servant. A society form- 
 ed by some or all of these relations, constitutes a family, or 
 household; and I would ask, is it not reasonable that all the 
 individuals composing such a social body, should join in 
 the service and adoration of that Almighty and most merci- 
 ful Being who hath created them with social affections, 
 whose benevolence hath capacitated them for the tender char- 
 ities of life, and whose providence hath conjoined them with 
 the soft but strong ties of blood, and kindred, and common 
 interest? The same reason that induces an individual to 
 
 • PBalm, Ixviii. 6. 
 
77 
 
 pray for personal favours, should lead his family to the 
 throne of gi-ace that they may obtain domestick mercies. 
 The same reason that induces an individual to acknowledge 
 his transgressions, tells his family that they should make 
 joint confession of their sins: for the sins of the domestick 
 relations, alas! are manifold, and none of them perhaps 
 more general and crying than the neglect of that very do- 
 mestick religion for whicli I am contending. The same 
 reason that induces an individual to make thankful mention 
 of the loving kindness of the Lord experienced in his own 
 person, informs his family that they should unitedly praise 
 the fountain of all good, nor be unmindful of the author of 
 their common happiness, the rock of their common salva- 
 tion. The same reason that induces an individual to study 
 the things which belong to his everlasting peace, and that 
 of all men, forbids his family to remain in ignorance res- 
 pecting these things, wai-ns them to seize every opportuni- 
 ty of acquiring instruction, and convicts him of most crimi- 
 nal negligence, who though appointed by nature and by na- 
 ture's God, to be their protector, tlieir guide, their teacher, 
 and their priest, withholds the faithful lesson it is his incum- 
 bent duty to give, sleeps over their soul's damnation, nor 
 leads them up to God, their rest. 
 
 Numerous are the examples on record in holy scripture 
 of the conscientious discharge of this duty. How honoura- 
 ble is that testimony given to the fidelity and loyal piety of 
 Abraham by the mouth of heaven itself! *«I know him, 
 that he will command his children and his household after 
 him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord."* What 
 magnanimity appears in the resolution of tlie illustrious 
 Hebrew chief, addressed to the assembled tribes of his coun- 
 try who had so often followed his banners to battle and to 
 conquest. Whatever you shall determine; whether to lis- 
 ten to my admonitions, and maintain unshaken fidelity to the 
 God of Israel, or traitorously to transfer your service to the 
 
 •Genesis, xviii. 19 
 
78 
 
 idols of the nations, however tliis may be, "as forme," your 
 general, "and my house, we will serve the Lord;*'* who de- 
 livered our fathers from slavery, and under whose ausi)ires, 
 I have so often led you to victory. Again, it is recorded of 
 David, tliat after certain solemnities of publick national re- 
 ligion celebrated with that splendour which usually attend- 
 ed the Hebrew worship, and in which the king himself bore 
 a principal part, he "returned," in pious duty, "to bless his 
 household."! From these instances, allow me to remark 
 in passing, the extreme vanity of the opinion, which I am^ 
 afraid is sometimes entertained, that family religion is be- 
 neatli the attention of men of a genteel and liberal spirit. 
 Mean pride! contemptible presumption! that sets itself 
 against the rights of God! The virtiies of kings and princes 
 and victorious captains, surely cannot be beneath the prac- 
 tice of a gentleman! 
 
 The text affords an additional instance of "one who was 
 a devout man." one, **who feared God with all his house-f 
 and prayed to God alway;" that is, mIio led his household 
 to the throne of the heavenly grace at all proper and con- 
 venient seasons. Indeed, so reasonable and evident is the 
 principle of this duty, that Cornelius might have imbibed it 
 in the school of Heatlienism. Every reader of ancient his- 
 tory must remember the I^ares, and Penates, the household 
 gods, to whom prayers and sacrifices were offered up in fa- 
 milies that knew not the true God. And shall it not be more 
 tolerable at the day of judgment for them, than for Chris- 
 tians, who, although God has manifested himself to them, 
 raise no domestick altar in honour of his name? 
 
 The advantages resulting from the faithful and steady dis- 
 charge of this duty are manifold. It throws a lustre on the 
 most elevated rank, and lifts the house of humble poverty 
 into a temple for the Most High. It calls down npon our 
 families the merciful regards of him whose favour is life and 
 whose loving kindness is more desirable than life. If any 
 
 * Joshua, xxiv. 15. f 2 Samuel, vi. 20. 
 
79 
 
 one part of our deportment more than another can influence 
 tlie Almighty to hless ms in our chihlren, to enrich our bas- 
 ket and our store, and to prosper and establish our tempo- 
 ral and domestick concerns, unquestionably it is this. For 
 God has peculiar blessings in store for the habitations of the 
 just, for the families tiiat call upon his name. 
 
 'Domestick religion is ordinarily productive of domestick 
 love and harmony. In its nature, it cannot but be a peace- 
 maker. It is the best reconciler of family differences; the 
 best cement of family attachments. It sanctifies the endear- 
 ments of connubial affection; inspires the infant mind with 
 that veneration for the paiental character which, next to 
 piety to God, is the first and n(»blest of human virtues; en- 
 hances the value of children in the parent's eye who consid- 
 ers them as young immortals whose everlasting destinies are 
 in no small measure committed to his care; and who shall 
 live in the world of spirits while the beloved forms they now 
 inhabit, and on whose tender charms they gaze with pardon- 
 able rapture, shall moulder in the dust — softens the asperities 
 of the superiour towards his servant and dependent, and so 
 moulds the heart and temper of the inferiour, that he will 
 most generally obey not only for wrath but also for con- 
 science sake. Did these obvious truths receive due atten- 
 tion; were they suffered to influence the conduct of men; fa- 
 mily infelicities, now, I fear, too frequent, would give place 
 to a tranquillity, a serene blessedness, approaching nearer 
 to the joys of heaven than any thing which this earth can 
 afford. 
 
 Domestick religion affords the most consoling reflections 
 to a parent and a master in tlie hour of death. Who would 
 not give worlds at such a time for the right of saying, with 
 our blessed Saviour, "I have manifested thy name to them 
 which thou gavest me.*' <«I have given unto them the 
 words which thou gavest me, and they have received them." 
 "Father keep through thine own name those whom thou hasi 
 given me!"* 
 
 • John, xvii. 6, 8 
 
80 
 
 But where shall I find language, my hrethren, to describe 
 the raptures of the rising dead followed into God's presence 
 by the blessings of those to whom they have given a second 
 birth in the regeneration of the soul, those whom they pre- 
 sent at the feet of the throne, saying, "behold us Lord and 
 the children whom thou hast given us!" 
 
 You have been viewing the advantages resulting from the 
 performance of this duty. It is time now to consider the dis- 
 astrous consequences arising from the neglect of it. 
 
 What reasonable and candid mar. will censure the equity 
 of the Most High in blasting all family comforts to those 
 who take no pains to make their families devoutly sensible 
 of the source whence their common comforts flow? W ho 
 would not expect domestick judgments where dcmestick 
 mercies are never thankfully acknowledged? Who is so 
 ignorant of the ways of providence as to wonder at the in- 
 quietudes of a house where family religion is unknown, and 
 the voice of social prayer unheard? No, "the curse of the 
 Lord is in the house of the irreligious." "He will pour 
 out his fury upon the Heathen and upon the families that call 
 not on his name."* 
 
 The neglect of family religion has a most deadly influ- 
 ence on the church at large. While the spirit of piety is 
 extinct in the domestick circle, it is in vain that you wish 
 and pray for a revival of it in the ecclesiastical assemblies. 
 Bar the inhospitable doors of your houses against the God 
 ©f heaven, and do you imagine he will lionour your temples 
 with his presence? Alas! when I reflect on our lamentable 
 dereliction of the usages of our pious forefathers in this res- 
 pect, I no longer wonder at the decay of the spii-it of true re- 
 ligion amongst us; I can no longer wonder at our base con- 
 formity with a vain and wicked world. If there be any pub- 
 lick spirit yet left, if there be any love of God who is the 
 hope of Israel and the Saviour thereto, if there be any love 
 of Christ and of the church, no longer neglect the oflices of 
 domestick religion. 
 
 •Jer. X. 25. 
 
Si 
 
 It is said of those who neglect to provide for their own, 
 and especially for those of their own household, that they 
 have denied the faith and are worse than infidels. If this 
 be true of persons who are remiss in consulting for the tem- 
 poral sustenance and comfort of their dependents, how much 
 more of the man who gives no diligence to ensure the eter- 
 nal salvation of his household, notwithstanding the admo- 
 nition to train up his children in the way they should go 
 that when they are old they may not depart therefrom; not- 
 withstanding he is commanded to *'bring up his children in 
 the nurture and admonition of the Lord?" Witliout your 
 stated instructions, expect not that your children will be 
 wise unto salvation. Expect not that they will make it their 
 concern to worship God, if you set them not the example; 
 if you do not persevere in praying, I do not say for them, 
 as this they cannot always know, but before and with them; 
 if you do not lead their devotions up to Heaven. Not more 
 true is it that the pastors of the church shall account for 
 their people, than that every parent shall account for his 
 child, every master for his dependent. If they perish through 
 your neglect "their blood will be required at your hands."* 
 Look for a moment within the black veil that covers the 
 realms of torure. Fix your regards on the wretched vic- 
 tims of eternal justice. See you none, not one — whose looks 
 strike reproach into your very souls? Behold thy depen- 
 dent, unhappy master. From ignorance he advanced to 
 vice, and has at length finished his career in perdition. 
 Had he breathed in thy service tlie air of religion; had he 
 seen aught in thy family to distinguish it from those pro- 
 fane houses that know not God; like Onesimus of old, he 
 might have been a son and member of the church on earth, 
 and a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in liglit. 
 Now, where is he; now, where shall he ever be? 
 
 Beliold thy child, unhappy father; given thee to be "thy 
 joy and crown,"f and in return solemnly devoted to God, 
 
 •Ezek. iii. 17. 18. f rhil.iv. 1 
 
83 
 
 in lioly baptism. Can it be possible that tlirougli eternity 
 he shall execrate thee as the author of his nusc » y? Can it 
 l)c possible that tliy irreligious example, thy neglect to af- 
 ford him Christian nurture and admonition, thy remissness 
 in leading his young devotions to his father and thy father, 
 to his God and thy God, hath brought thy child, once thy best 
 beloved, the pride of thine heart, the light of thine eyes, the 
 most cherished part of thy very self, hath brought him to 
 these abodes of horrour? 0! then, my brethren, if there be 
 any bowels of mercieS towards the tender offspring of your 
 love, no longer neglect the offices of domestick religion. 
 
 Talk, not to me of business and of your multiplied avoca- 
 tions. A Christian's first and principal concern ouglit ever 
 to be, to cultivate the life of God in himself and in the mem- 
 bers of his household. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God 
 and his righteousness," and all needful temporal benefits 
 "shall be added unto you.*'* Was the life of Joshua, an 
 idle life? Was the life of David, an idle life? Was the 
 centurion in the text exempt from military occupations, la^r 
 bours, and fatigues? My brethren, if you will not make 
 time to ask God's blessing on your pursuit of family inter- 
 ests, expect not that he will grant it. 
 
 Urge not, I beseech you, the plea of incapacity. It re- 
 dounds only to your disgrace. The Christian of sound fa- 
 culties, who has numbered thirty, forty, fifty years, ought 
 certainly to have acquired some knowledge of divine truth, 
 some capacity to communicate the result of his reading and 
 hearing, some aptitude to express his spiritual thoughts and 
 desires in prayer, and consequently, a sufficient command 
 of words and ideas, to qualify him for bearing the chief part 
 in the devotions of a family. 
 
 If this plea of incapacity be at all entitled to deference, it 
 is, when urged in excuse of deficiency in that part of do- 
 mestick religion which consists in offisring up the prayers 
 of a family. But I will at once destroy this plea by obserr- 
 
 * Matt. vi. 33. 
 
83 
 
 ing that our cliurch, altliough she certainly prefers the free 
 effusions of a pious heart adopting its train of thought and 
 expression to the circumstances in which it may be placed, 
 is by no means inimical to set forms of prayer, when, as in 
 the case supposed, they may be liclps to devotion. Use such 
 forms therefore, until you shall find yourself able to pray- 
 without them. Especially avail yourselves of the many par- 
 aphrases of that most excellent pattern, commonly called 
 the Lord's prayer. And to enable you to impart the ne- 
 cessary religious instructions to your families, besides the 
 reading of the Bible, call to your aid the Westminster cate- 
 chism, together with the most approved practical commen- 
 taries and discourses. 
 
 As to the most proper times for the exercises of domestick 
 religion, they must be in a great measure left to the con- 
 venience of every family. This much however I must be 
 allowed to insist on, that not a day should pass, on which 
 the sacrifice of prayer and praise does not ascend from 
 every Christian house. And with respect to the instruction 
 ot your families in the principles of religion, whilst every 
 convenient opportunity ought to be embraced, our church 
 hath wisely recommended that the sabbath evenings, after 
 publick worship, should be sacredly preserved for this pur- 
 pose. ''Therefore she highly disapproves of her members 
 paying unnecessary private visits on the Lord's day; ad- 
 mitting strangers into their families, except when necessity 
 or charity requires it; or any other practices, whatever 
 plausible pretences may be offered in their favour, if they in- 
 terfere with the above important and necessary duty." 
 
 To conclude; my brethren, if you value the everlasting 
 life of those who ought to be most dear to you; if you value 
 the prosperity of the church, and the advancement of pure 
 and undefiled religion; if you value the best interests of the 
 republick, which can never be so effectually promoted as by 
 the practice of piety and virtue; rebuild your domestick al- 
 tars; revive the spirit of family religion. — Amen. 
 
saiBisKDsr im, 
 
 THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST. 
 
 JOHN, i. 1. 
 
 «</n the beginning was the wordf aitd the word was with 
 God, and the word was God." 
 
 1 SHALI not, my brethren, go into a formal proof that the 
 word here alhided to is Jesus Christ. Neither will I con- 
 sume the short time I have allotted for this portion of ser- 
 vice by noticing the two first members of the text; the eter- 
 nity implied in the phrase, <<In the beginning;" and the 
 personal distinction of Deity revealed to us in the terms, 
 "the word was with God." My object is contained in the 
 last clause, "the word was God:" and I call for your atten- 
 tion whilst from this holy oracle I endeavour to vindicate 
 the most fundamental doctrine of our religion; the Godhead 
 of its author. 
 
 Blessed Saviour, to whose glory we consecrate this and 
 all Jier services, vouchsafe to guide us by thy spirit into 
 all truth, and keep us in it; and especially now, when we 
 are about to assert thine essential Deity, enlighten our 
 minds and affect our hearts; that being convinced of this 
 most important verity, we may honour thee even as we hon- 
 our the Father! 
 
 My Brethren, the divinity of a crucified Redeemer, is the 
 most mysterious article of the Christian's faith, "Without 
 controversy," says an apostle, "great is the mystery of 
 Godliness; God manifest in the flesh, justified in the spi- 
 rit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on 
 
85 
 
 in the world, received up into glory." The mystery we 
 presume not to scan. If we establish the fact, the humble 
 inquirer will be satisfied. If tlien, t?ie names — the attri- 
 butes — the works — the worship — and the prerogatives of De- 
 ity are ascribed in our scriptures to Jesus Christ, Jesus 
 Christ is God. Let us search tiiese holy treasures. Let 
 us bring to the inquiry, honesty and singleness of heart. The 
 result, it is hoped, will be the conviction of this simple truth, 
 "Jesus Christ is God." 
 
 First. — The names expressive of Deity are ascribed in 
 our scriptures to Jesus Christ. He is called God. Wit- 
 ness our text: *'In the beginning was the word, and the 
 word was with God, and the word was God." He is called 
 by St. Paul *<God manifest in the flesh" — and "over all, 
 God, blessed forever." Therefore the Lord himself shall 
 give you a sign." says the prophet; "behold, a virgin shall 
 conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Iramanu- 
 d,"* "which being interpreted," says the evangelist, "is, 
 God with us." "The Lord whom yc seek," says Malachi, 
 "shall suddenly come to his temple;"f which prophecy is 
 applied by St. Mark and St. Luke to our blessed Saviour.:}: 
 "For unto us a child is born," saith Isaiah, § "unto us a 
 Son is given, and tlie government shall be upon his shoul- 
 der; and his name shall be called the mighty God." "We 
 are in him that is true," writes St. John,i( "even in his Son 
 Jesus Christ." "This is the true God, and eternal life." 
 That the latter member of this passage refers to Christ, is 
 evident, from the force and position of the relative, «'tiiis," 
 particularly in the original. It is evident also from the 
 scope of the writer; which is to teach as that Christ hath 
 come into the world to give us the knowledge and fellow- 
 ship of God; and that we are in the true God by being in 
 his Son Jesus Christ, since Jesus Christ is himself the true 
 God and eternal life. To confirm this interpretation, we 
 
 * Isaiah, vii. U. f Mai. iii. 1. iMark, i. 2. Luke, i. 76. 
 
 ^Isaiah, ix, 6. H 1 John, v. 20 ^ 
 
86 
 
 may observe, that in the elevated style of St. John, the pan- 
 egyrical appellation <<eternal life" is never once assigned 
 to the Father, but very frequently to the Son. I have not 
 time to enumerate all the passages which vindicate the es- 
 sential Godliead of our Redeemer, Christians; and I must 
 be permitted to say that to believe him less than God, is to 
 charge the.holy scriptures with using expressions whose na- 
 tural and unperverted import is to lead us into the crime of 
 idol w orship. 
 
 This will hold equally true, when we consider, next, that 
 the attributes of Deity are ascribed in our scriptures to Je- 
 sus Christ — eternity — immensity and omnipresence — omni- 
 potence — omniscience — immutability. 
 
 Eternity. — He is Alpha and Omega; tlie first and the last; 
 the beginning and the ending; the Lord which is and which 
 was and which is to come."* "Having neither beginning 
 of days nor end of life."! This is unintelligible if we view 
 him merely as "the man Christ Jesus." It is unintelli- 
 gible even if we regard him as a super-angelick nature. It 
 is intelligible only when we believe him to be God, "Be- 
 fore Abraham was," says he to the Jews, "before Abraham 
 was, /ft?n."! lam? Mysterious expression! In me there 
 is neither past, present, nor future — I fill my own immortal 
 no7V — AVithin the circle of my eternal existence time re- 
 volves, but its revolution affects not me. lam? It is the 
 name worn by Jehovah when he commissioned Moses to he 
 the Saviour of his oppressed countrymen. "Thus shalt thou 
 tell the people; lam hath sent me to deliver you."§ 
 
 Immensity and Omniprescence. — Wherever two or three 
 are gathered together in his name, there is he in tlie midst 
 of them. II Hear his own declaration to his apostles and 
 ministers; "Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, bapti- 
 zing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 
 of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all tilings 
 whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you 
 
 >:^ev. i. 8, I Heb. vii. 3. i John, viii. 56, § Ex. iii. U. \\ Matt, xviii. 20, 
 
87 
 
 alway, even unto the end of the world."* "No~man hatli 
 ascended up to Heaven, but he that came down from Hea- 
 ven; even the Son of man whicli is in Heaven."f Jesus 
 Christ, «the Son of man," while speaking upon earth, 
 places himself in Heaven. But who can be at one time in 
 Heaven and on earth, unless it be he whose mysterious pre- 
 sence pervades all worlds^ By incarnation he descended to 
 dwell on earth who by the immensity of his divine nature 
 ever was and ever will be in Heaven. 
 
 Omnipotence. — In the visions of Patmos, Jesus Christ ex- 
 pressly designated liimself to the enraptured prophet, "The 
 Alniighty."^ And the inspired author of the Epistle to the 
 Hebrews represents him as "ujiholding all things by the 
 word of his power."§ "For our conversation is in Hea- 
 ven," writes St. Paul to the Phillipians,|t "from whence 
 also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; who 
 shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like 
 unto his glorious body; according to the working whereby 
 he is able even to subdue all things unto himself." The evan- 
 gelical histories record a multitude of facts which reflect the 
 omnipotence of Christ in the brightest colours. Unto the 
 tempestuous element he addressed himself, "peace — be 
 still." The obedient waters ceased to rage, and the storm 
 "became a calm. To the famished crowd t!iat followed him 
 he dispensed the blessing of food in that miraculous manner 
 to which none but divine power was competent. To those 
 who pined in darkness, unconscious of the lovely forms of 
 nature, he restored in a moment the lost power of vision; 
 and they on whose ear the melody of sound had long since 
 ceased to vibrate, heard the voice of our Redeemer. At his 
 command, the tongue, that had been sealed in silence, resu- 
 med its office — the palsied limb regained its strength — the 
 cripple threw by his staff and exulted in the renovation of 
 his vigour— the nearly extinguished spark of animation 
 
 *Matt- xxviii. 19. 20. fjolm, iii. 13. ^ Hev. i. 8. t Heb. i. 3. 
 D Philip, iii. 20. 21. 
 
88 
 
 briglitened to aflame — and even the dead, the entombed dead, 
 awoke at his call — burst their cerements, and emerged from 
 the cold horrors of corruption. Having power to lay down 
 Jiis own life, he had power also to resume it; and the same om- 
 nipotence that brought Christ our master from the dead, 
 shall one day rekindle the vital spark that lies buried amidst 
 the ashes of the Christian. 
 
 Omniscience. — When Jesus, to impress solemnity upon the 
 charge he was about to give St. Peter, three several times 
 put this question to him, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou 
 me?" — The apostle appealed to him as to that all-conscious 
 power before whom the human heart lies open, "Lord thou 
 knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee."* "Now 
 we are sure that thou knowest all things,"] said his disci- 
 ples on another occasion. "All the churches shall know 
 that I am he that searcheth the reins and hearts:" saith he 
 that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand; even Jesus 
 Christ the Almighty Saviour, himself. And what is this 
 but saying, **I am he of whom my prophet sings "0 Lord 
 thou hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest my 
 down- sitting and mine uprising; thou understandest my 
 thoughts afar off. Thou compassest my path, and my ly- 
 ing down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there 
 is not a word in my tongue, but lo, Lord, thou knowest 
 it altogether. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whith- 
 er shall I flee from tliy presence?"]; <'When our Saviour 
 was in Jerusalem at tlic passover, in the feast day," records 
 the evangelist,^ "many believed in his name, when they 
 saw the miracles which he did. But Jesus did not commit 
 himself unto them, because he knew all men; and needed 
 not that any should testify of man, for he knew what was 
 in man." 
 
 Immittabilitif. — "Jesus Chiist" is "the same yesterday, 
 and to-day, and forever." In that beautiful Psalm, || which 
 
 * John, XXI. 17. f John, xvi. 30. t Psalm, cxxxix. § John, ii. 23.-25. 
 8 Psalm, cii. 
 
89 
 
 is the fifth of those styled peneteiitials, the mourning pro- 
 phet thus addresses Jehovah; "The heavens shall perish but 
 thou shalt endure; yea, all of them shall wax old like a gar- 
 ment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall 
 he changed: But thou art the same, and thy years shall have 
 uo end."* On this place, a commentator makes the foUow- 
 ing remarks; <* Amidst the changes and chances of this mor- 
 tal life, one topick of consolation will ever remain; namely, 
 the eternity and immutability of God our Saviour: of him 
 who was, and is, and is to come. Kingdoms and empires 
 may rise and fall; nay, the heavens and the earth, as they 
 were originally produced and formed by the word of God, 
 the Son, or second person in the Trinity, to whom the 
 Psalmist here addresseth himself; so will they, at the day- 
 appointed, be folded up and laid aside, as an old worn out 
 garment; or, if the substance remain, the present form and 
 fashion of them will perish, and they will be utterly changed 
 and altered from the state in which they now are. But Je- 
 hovah is ever the same; his years lia\ e no end, nor can his 
 promise fail any more than himself." *'Heaven and earth," 
 saith he, "shall pass away; but my words shall not pass 
 away."f That it is Messiah, or Christ, my brethren, whom 
 the Psalmist addressr^s, is put beyond doubt by the express 
 testimony of inspiration. The writer to the Hebrews, in 
 his first chapter, quotes these very words and applies them 
 to our Saviour. 
 
 To close this argument, however; not one; not several; 
 nor yet most of the attributes of Deity are assigned to Je- 
 sus Cln-ist by the sacred books; but, as far as we can recol- 
 lect, all. 
 
 In the third place. — We find the works of Deity ascribed 
 in our scriptures to Jesus Christ. ^«A11 things were made 
 by him;" saith our context; "and without him was not any 
 thing made that was made." "Thou Lord," says the P^alm- 
 ist,^ in an address quoted by a New Testament writer and 
 
 * Psalm, cii,26, 27. fMatt. xxiv. 35. t Psalm, cii. 25. 
 
1)0 
 
 by iiim interpreted as having- the Son for its object; "ThoH 
 Lord in the beginning, hast laid the foundation of the earth; 
 and the heavens are the work of thine hands."* *«For by 
 him," declares St. Paul, ««\vere all things created that arc 
 in Heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, wheth- 
 er they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or pow- 
 ers; all things were created by him, and for him: and he is 
 before all things, and by him all things consist."! Besides 
 this most sign.il of all miracles, creation, a multitude of cor- 
 responding, though inferior miracles, glorified his ministry 
 on earth. These he performed either by the immediate ex- 
 ertion of his own power, or through the instrumentality of 
 his apostles and disciples. "For as the Father raiseth up 
 the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickened 
 whom he would.":|: "We will not enlarge upon these instan- 
 ces of supernatural energy, which establish incontroverti- 
 bly Christ's unlimited control over the creatures; lest we 
 should be chargeable with occupying the same ground we 
 took when speaking of his omnipotence. To his miracles 
 he himself appeals as incontestable proofs of his Divinity. 
 They were acts performed in his own name and by his own 
 authority, not ministerially, or by an adventitious and com- 
 municated energy. The extraordinary actions of his apos- 
 tles and disciples, on the contrary, however illustrious, were 
 achieved in the name and by the authority of Christ. "By 
 what power, or by what name have ye done this?"§ said 
 the priesthood of Jerusalem to St. Peter after he had per- 
 formed a beneficent miracle; "Then Peter, filled with the 
 Holy Ghost, said unto them, ye rulers ofthe people and eld- 
 ers of Israel, if we this day be examined of the good deed 
 done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole; 
 he it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, 
 that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye cru- 
 cified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth 
 this man stand here before you whole." To the paralytick 
 
 • Ileb. i. 10. t Col. i. 16, 17. t John, v. 21. § Acts. iv. 7—10. 
 
91 
 
 Eneas, also,, did the same apostle address liimself in this 
 style; «Eneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole; arise, and 
 make thy bed. And he ai-ose immediately."* 
 
 In like manner, the works of grace and redemption are 
 referred by scripture to our blessed Lord. But the prose- 
 cution of this subject must be deferred till evening service, 
 if God shall permit us to celebrate it, to whose name be 
 praise forever. — x^men. 
 
 ♦ Acts. ix. 34. 
 
©®iBir®s5 ^aaiio 
 
 THE DIVINITY .OF CHRIST. 
 
 JOHN, i. 1. 
 
 i'ln the beginning teas the ivord, and the 7V0rd was with 
 Godf and the word was God.'* 
 
 Tn discoursing from these words at morning service, my 
 brethren, we stated it to be our design to vindicate the doc- 
 trine of Christ's divinity. In the prosecution of this de- 
 sign, the following proposition was offered — If the names, 
 the attributes, the works, the worship of Deity, are ascri- 
 bed in our scriptures to Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ is God. 
 "We found that various names expressive of Deity are assign- 
 ed in scripture to Jesus Christ, that he is called the Lord — • 
 Ged — the mighty God — the true God and eternal life — and 
 we intimated that it was to charge upon divine revelation 
 language of a most pernicious and dangerous tendency, to 
 interpret these expressions and others of a similar kind in 
 any other than their most literal sense. We found also that 
 the attributes of Deity are ascribed in scripture to Jesus 
 Christ. As eternity; which, when asserted of our Saviour, 
 necessarily leads us to invest him with Divinity; since it 
 cannot be the property of a creature. Immensity and Om- 
 nipresence — to evince which, we cited, among other authori- 
 ties, his own promise to his apostles and ministers when he 
 commissioned them to preach and baptize, that his presence 
 should accompany them at all times, and in all places, in 
 the disch arge of their functions: — Omnipotence — displayed 
 
94^ 
 
 in several passages which we presented to your meditation; 
 and in the multitude of miracles he performed while minis- 
 tering on earth — miracles, differing from those of his apos- 
 tles and disciples in this, that he wrought in his own name, 
 and by his own authority, in the immediate exertion of in- 
 herent power; but they wrought in his name and by his au- 
 thority, in the exercise of communicated power; Omnis- 
 cience — exemplified, as in other instances, so in the con- 
 versation of our Lord with St. Peter, and in the oracle pro- 
 nounced by his own sacred lips when St. John beheld him 
 in prophetick vision: Immutability — confirmed by a passage 
 we produced from the ClI. Psalm and applied to our Sa- 
 viour by the inspired author of the Epistle to the Hebrews. 
 We found in the third place, that the works of Deity are as- 
 cribed in our scriptures to Jesus Christ. We found it, par- 
 ticularly, with respect to the creation and preservation of 
 all things, and the performance of miraculous acts. Thus 
 far we had proceeded; and will now resume the subject by 
 observing, under this head, that 
 
 Works of grace are referred by scripture to our blessed 
 Lord. Election is ascribed to him; *«I speak not of you 
 all," says he, "1 know whom I have chosen."* Redemp- 
 tion — '»Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves," says St. 
 Paulf to the bishops of Ephesus, "and to all the flock over 
 whicWhe Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the 
 church of God, whicJj he hath purchased with his own 
 blood." Vocation — "Other sheep I have, which are not of 
 this fold:" says Christ; "them also I must bring, and they 
 shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one 
 shepherd.":}: Sanctification — "Husbands, love your wives, 
 even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for 
 it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of 
 water by the word."§ The mission of the Holy Ghost — 
 "Nevertheless," says he to his disciples, "I tell you the 
 truth; it is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not 
 
 * John, xiii. 18. f Acts, xx. 28. i Jolm, x. IG 5 Eph. v. 25. 26 
 
95 
 
 away the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, 
 I will send him unto you."* "But when the Comforter ia 
 come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the 
 spirit of truth which procecdeth from the Father, he shall 
 testify of me."f Defence against spiritual enemies and the 
 gift of eternal life — «1 am come," said our Lord, "that they 
 might have life, and that they might have it more abundant- 
 ly.":}^ "And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall 
 never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand."§ 
 The reanimation of the body and the resurrection of the 
 dead are attributed to Christ; as we have already had oc- 
 casion to notice. To all these, I add, tlie general judgment 
 which will be instituted and conducted by Jesus Christ. 
 The works, therefore, of Deity; creation — providence — re- 
 demption — ascribed to our Saviour, demonstrate unanswer- 
 ably that he is God. But, perhaps, there can be no argu- 
 ment more illustrative of this position than that which con- 
 stitutes our fourth general head, and to that we will proceed. 
 The worship of Deity is ascribed in our scriptures to Je- 
 sus Christ. There is no princple of our religion more in- 
 contestable than this — that worship is to be offered to God 
 only. Idolatry is a crime which is classed with adultery 
 and murder, and at which the whole artillery of heaven's 
 vengeance is pointed. If notwithstanding this, we are led 
 by the fair construction of scriptural language to pay reli- 
 gious homage to Jesus Christ, liow shall we avoid the con- 
 sequence, Jesus Christ is God? Worship comprises faith — 
 hope — invocation — adoration, and ascription of glory. Each 
 of these acts of worship may terminate, on the warrant of 
 scripture, in Jesus Christ. Faith — "Ye believe in God; be- 
 lieve also in me:"|| said our Lord. "Blessed are all they 
 that put their trust in him;" saith the Psalmist;^ "but, cur- 
 sed be the man that trusteth in man;"** saith God by the 
 mouth of Jeremiah. Hope — "Paul, an apostle of Jesus 
 
 •John, xvi. 7. f John, xv. 26. + John, x. 10- § John, x. 28. 
 H John, adv. 1. f Psalm, ii. 12. •*.ler. xvii. 5. 
 
96 
 
 Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord 
 Jesus Christ, which is our hope."* Invocation — ««Grace 
 — mercy and peace — from God our Father, and Jesiis Christ 
 our Lord;"! is that of St. Paul in behalf of Timothy. And 
 such forms of invocation, which implore equal blessings from 
 the Son,an,d the Father, abound in t'le writings of that apos- 
 tle. Persuaded of this truth, tliat Jesus Clirist is iutitled to 
 the prayers of his people, we heai* St. Stephen address iiim 
 — «'Lord Jesus, I'eceive my spirit;" :|: and it is characteris- 
 tical of the faithful. generally, that they "call upon the name 
 of Jesus Christ our Lord."§ Adoration — The Epistle to 
 the Hebrews hath these words; "when he bringeth in his 
 first begotten into the world he saith, and let all the angels 
 of God worship him,."|| "Kiss the Son,"^ saith the Psalm- 
 ist, that is, be reconciled to his dominion — bow to his supre- 
 macy. *«For the Fatlier judgeth no man," saith our Sav- 
 iour, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: That 
 all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Fa- 
 ther."** "Wherefore, God also hath higlily exalted liim," 
 writes the apostle,ff "and given him a name which is above 
 every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should 
 bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things un- 
 der the earth; and that every tongue should confess that 
 Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." 
 Ascription of glory — "And every creature which is in Hea- 
 ven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are 
 in the sea, and all that are in them," were, heard by the 
 apostolical prophet:}::}: to say, "Blessing, and honour, and 
 glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, 
 and unto the Lamb, forever and ever." 
 
 My brethren; we have executed the })lan proposed in en- 
 tering upon this subject. We have found, in pursuing it, 
 that the names — the attrihutes — the works — the worship of 
 Deity, are ascribed in our scriptures to Jesus Christ: and 
 
 • 1 Tim. i. 1. f 1 Tim. i. 2. + Acts, vii. 59. § 1. Cor. i. 2. |1 Heb. i. 6. 
 1 Psalm, ii. 12. •• John, v. 22. 23. ft P'^i^'P- "• 9— H . +i Rev. v. 13. 
 
97 
 
 we, therefore, conclude that Jesus Christ is God. But be- 
 foi-e we dismiss the subject, you will allow me to touch brief- 
 ly upon three additional topicks. 
 
 FiuST.— I arg-ue the Deity of the Son from his equality 
 witl. the Father. "My Father workcth hitherto, and 1 
 work."* This passage, the Jews, to whom it was address- 
 ed, very reasonably understood as making Christ, from 
 whom it proceeded, equal with God. Therefore, we are 
 told, they sought to kill him. And how did our Lord treat 
 this inference from his words? Did he disown or confute 
 it? So far from this, that he justified and confirmed it both 
 from the equality of liis operations with those of the Father, 
 and from the equality of their honour. Equality of opera- 
 tions— "What things soever the Father doeth, these also 
 doth the Son lik8wise."f Equality of honours— "That all 
 men should honour the Son even as they honour the Fa- 
 ther.":^ 
 
 SEcoNnLT— I argue the Deity of the Son from his unity 
 with tlie Father. "I and my Father are one."^ To inter- 
 pret this as unity of consent only, and not of nature, is to 
 do violence to the words of Christ; because they are imme- 
 diately preceded by two verses which evince it to be his in- 
 tention to infer the unity of essence from that of power: 
 These are the verses, ««And 1 give unto them eternal life; 
 and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them 
 out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me. is great- 
 er than all; and no man is able to pluck them outufmy Fa- 
 ther's hand. "II From these words we learn the unity of 
 power in the Father and the Son. His own inference fol- 
 lows very naturally— "I and my Father are one"— one in 
 essence. This inteipretation is corroborated by the con- 
 versation of our Lord with the Jews, when, in consequence 
 of his declaring himself one with the Father, they took up 
 stones to stone him. "Jesus answered them, many good 
 
 • John, V. 17. f John, v. 19. :f John, v. 23. ■§ John. x. 10. 30. !| John, 
 X. 28. 29. 
 
98 
 
 works have I shewed you from my Fatherj for whicli of 
 these works do ye stone me? The Jews answered him, say- 
 ing, for a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy; 
 and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.'* 
 Did Christ repel the charge, and deny his divine character? 
 By no means. His answer served to encourage them in 
 their construction of his words, and he concluded it in this 
 remarkable manner; "That ye may know and believe that 
 the Father is in me, and I in him."* 
 
 FiNALXT. — I argue the Deity of the Son from his inedia- 
 torial function. To constitute a true mediator between God 
 and man, such a mediator as the exigencies of our fallen 
 race demand, the person bearing that character must be a 
 teacher whose influences, not confined to the external means 
 of instruction, enter within the veil of corruption; pour light 
 upon the darkness of the understanding; and change the evil 
 propensities of the heart. He must be a ruler that protects 
 his people from the assaults of earth and hell, and governs 
 them unremittingly by the potent agency of his spirit. He 
 must be a priest wlio can achieve the eternal redemption of 
 sinners; who can expiate human guilt, and satisfy divine 
 justice, by the merit of an equivalent anil corresponding sa- 
 crifice; and by one offering of himself can perfect forever 
 those for whom the offering is made. Now what being less 
 than divine — what being less than divine in nature and in 
 might, can effect these wonders? But such a teacher — such 
 a ruler — such a priest — is Christ. And must we not believe 
 liim to be God? "I speak as to wise men, judge ye."t 
 
 In entering upon this discussion, my brethren, we obser- 
 ved that the divinity of a crucified Redeemer is a mystery 
 we presume not to scan. We have, it is hoped, established 
 the fact to the conviction of such as will allow themselves to 
 regard tlie plain decisions of holy writ. Jesus Christ is 
 God equally with the Father; and yet there are not two 
 Gods, but one God. "God is in Christ." The manner in 
 
 • John. s. 32. 33. 38. f 1 Cor. x. 15. 
 
99 
 
 which the Almiglity exists in these personal distinctions baf- 
 fles our investigation. Nor is it our concern to ascertain it. 
 Perhaps it is inexplicable by the most perfect intellect of 
 the finite order. And who art thou, man! that launchest 
 thy frail bark upon the ocean of infinitude to explain what 
 thou canst never understand? And who art thou, especially, 
 that venturest to reject the testimony of Jehovah because it 
 may not be supported by thine own imperfect reason? Canst 
 tliou fathom the unfathomable abyss? Canst thou measure 
 the circle whose centre is every where and its circumference 
 no where? "Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst 
 thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? It is high as 
 Heaven; what canst thou do? It is deeper than hell; what 
 canst thou know?"* Retire into thyself, child of the dust; 
 be humble, and adore — be modest, and believe. 
 
 And you, brethren, who meekly receive this doctrine as 
 it is conveyed to you by the word of truth, beware of sup- 
 posing that in doing this you discharge yourselves of your 
 obligations: on the contrai'y, you make them more binding. 
 In the proportion that we elevate the dignity of the lawgiv- 
 er, in that proportion do we increase the guilt of those who 
 neglect or transgress the law. I cannot close the subject 
 in a better manner than by reminding you of some of the 
 obligations under which you come in receiving this doctrine 
 of Clirist's Deity. You must love that God with all your 
 heart who so loved the world as to humble himself for its 
 salvation. You must make this doctrine the foundation 
 whereon to build your noblest hopes. He that wore your 
 nature, and offered himself upon the cross to redeem you, 
 shall he not freely give you all things? You must imitate 
 the multitude of his virtues; but, particularly his humility; 
 and sacrifice, when requisite, the honours and the splend- 
 ours of the world. "Let this mind be in you, which was 
 also in Christ Jesus; who, being in the form of God, thought 
 it not robbery to be equal with God; but made himself of 
 
 • Job. xi. 7. 
 
100 
 
 no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and 
 was made in the likeness of men; and, being found in fash- 
 ion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto 
 death."* You must refiiect how much move inexcusable you 
 will be for sin than those to whom an incarnate God was 
 never revealed—reasoning as an apostle did in a similar in- 
 stance; <«For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, 
 and every transgression and disobedience received a just 
 recompense of reward, how shall we escape, if we neglect so 
 great salvation?"! Yon must habitually anticipate the day 
 when the despised Galilean shall come in the majesty of 
 the eternal Godhead to Judge all flesh; "when every eye 
 shall see him, and they also which pierced him."! When 
 «the sun shall become black as sack cloth of hair, and the 
 moon become as blond; when the stars of heaven shall fall 
 unto the eaith, even as a fig-tree casteth her untimely figs, 
 when she is shaken of a mighty wind; when the heaven shall 
 depart as a scroll that is rolled together, and every moun- 
 tain and island shall be removed out of their places; when 
 the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, 
 and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bond- 
 man, and every free man, shall hide themselves in the dens, 
 and in the rocks of the mountains; and shall say to the moun- 
 tains and rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of him 
 that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: 
 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able 
 to stund?^'§ Such must be your dispositions, my brethren; 
 such the exercises of your hearts, and the actions of your 
 lives; believing, as you profess to do, that Jesus is divine. 
 Forget not that it is the Almighty's will that you honour the 
 Sotj even as ycm honour the Father. Believe in him. therefore 
 — hope in him — invoke his name — adore him — lend your 
 voices to swell the seraphick harmonious *'Hallelujah, glo- 
 ry to the Lamb forever. — Amen." 
 
 * Philip, ii. 5 — 8. \Hth. ii. 2. 3. t Rev. i. 7. § Rev. vi. 12—17. 
 
iisiEir.®M asc 
 
 NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION. 
 
 ROMANS, i. 20. 
 
 'The invisible things of him from the creation of the world 
 are clearhj seen, being understood by the things that are 
 made, even his eternal power and Godhead.** 
 
 A siiGHT transposition of this passage may be expedient 
 for the purpose of illustrating it. *»The invisible things of 
 him," that is, of the divine Being, "even his eternal pow- 
 er and Godhead, are clearly seen from the creation of the 
 world," that is, from the earliest ages down through every 
 age, "being understood by the things that are made." 
 
 From these words, I think we may collect that, whether 
 the idea of God be, or be not innate in the human mind, 
 the mind is, at least, capacitated, when its faculties attain a 
 certain degree of expansion, to deduce inferences respecting 
 the Deity, and his perfections, founded in the i-elation of 
 cause and effect, which inferences coirstitute what may be 
 distinctively called natural religion, as opposed to such 
 knowledge of the same objects as may be derived from re- 
 velation, either immediately from heaven, or mediately 
 through tradition. 
 
 Now the importance of this natural religion cannot rea- 
 sonably be disputed; since even revelation itself presu])po- 
 ses it: presu])poses the existence of certain principles — cer- 
 tain notions in the mind, by which its own importance, ne- 
 cessity, and reality, are in a great degree, to be tested. And 
 it is observable, that however feeble the light of this natu- 
 
102 
 
 ral religion, it was sufficient, as we learn from the context, 
 to leave the Heatliens who had misimproved it, without ex- 
 cuse. 
 
 Let us discover, if we can, the extent of natural religion. 
 Let us ascertain its limits; so that we may avoid the two 
 opposite faults of undervaluing the intellectual faculties giv- 
 en us by the God of nature, and of derogating from the ne- 
 cessity and superiour excellence of that knowledge which is 
 communicated to us by the God of grace. 
 
 «'The invisible things of him, even his eternal power and 
 Godhead, are clearly seen from the creation of the world, 
 being understood by the things that are made." 
 
 The spirituality of God, renders his nature and his attri- 
 butes imperceptible by our senses. In condescension, there- 
 fore, to our wants and our inability, he is pleased, if we may 
 be allowed the expression, to embody himself in his works. 
 These give us somewhat more than an intimation of their 
 operator, and his transcendent majesty. The order of the 
 apostle's words, in which the eternal power of the Creator 
 precedes his Godhead, leads us to the manner in which the 
 objects that every where meet our eyes bespeak a great, an 
 Almighty, and all-wise first cause. No reasonable man who 
 contemplates the face of the universe can avoid concluding 
 immediately and unhesitatingly, that it is the production of 
 an omnipotent Being; and if so, of an eternal being; and 
 if so, again, of a divine being: for, combine the ideas of om- 
 nipotencie and eternity, and you necessarily have the idea of 
 Godhead. Every sound mind will concur in the reasoning 
 of Job; <*Ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and 
 the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee; or speak to the 
 earth and it shall teach thee; and the fishes of the sea shall 
 declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in all these that the 
 hand of the Lord hath wrought this?"* 
 
 The nineteenth Psalm affords a very beautiful and anima- 
 ted illustration of this subject. "The heavens declare the 
 glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handy-work. 
 
 • Job, xii. 7-^9. 
 
103 
 
 Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night shew- 
 eth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where 
 their voice is not heard. Their line* is gone out through all 
 the earth, and their words to the end ot the world. In them 
 hath he set a tahernacle for the sun; which is as a hride- 
 groom coming out of his chamher, and rejoiceth as a strong 
 man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the 
 heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is no- 
 thing hid from the heat thereof." 
 
 Thus, although the immaterial divinity eludes our sensible 
 perception, yet he cannot fail to be recognized by the eye 
 and ear of reason in the harmony, the beauty, and the splen- 
 dour of external nature. From the creatures, we ascend to 
 the knowledge of the Creator — from the excellence of the 
 things formed, to the glory of the mighty former. Years 
 have been gathered into the grave of time — age has succeed- 
 ed to age — still the worlds that lie scattered over yon im- 
 measurable expanse, continue to publish the nnwasting 
 grandeur of the Architect of nature. Still, 
 
 "The spacious firmament on hig-h. 
 With all the blue ethereal sky. 
 And spangled heavens, a shining frame, 
 Their great Original proclaim. 
 
 The unwearied sun, from day to dav. 
 Does his Creator's power display. 
 And publishes to every land 
 The work of an Almighty hand. 
 
 Soon as the evening shades prevail. 
 The moon takes up the wondrous tale, . 
 And, nightly, to the listening earth. 
 Repeats the story of her birth; 
 
 Whilst all the stars that rovmd her bur?i, 
 And all the planets in their turn. 
 Confirm the tidings as they roll. 
 And spread the truth from pole to pole. 
 
104. 
 
 What though, in solemn silence, all 
 Move round the dark terrestrial ball? 
 What though no real voice nor sound 
 Amid their rafiant orbs be found? 
 
 In reason's ear they all rejoice. 
 And utter forth a glorious voice; 
 Forever singing, as they shine. 
 The haiid that made us is Divine." 
 
 The la>ia:uaj^e f)f the creation is in very deed, a universal 
 langita.^p. It is addressed to all, and is intelligible by all. 
 It is not locked up in books; neither is it confined to a cho- 
 sen nation: all nations are blessed in it; all the inhabitants 
 of the earth ran read, und'-rstand, and profit by it. "From 
 the rising of the sun. even unto the going down of the same," 
 it carries the knowledge of the divinity, and makes his name 
 a praise in the earth. 
 
 But this knowledge of the divinity, necessarily implies a 
 certain measure of information concerning such of his ado- 
 rable attributes as have an influence more or less direct upon 
 human conduct: his power; his wisdom; his sovereignty^ 
 his holiness; his justice; his goodness. 
 
 His power and wisdom are alike discoverable by the at- 
 tentive observer; in the creation, preservation, and govern- 
 ment of all things. 
 
 Of his absolute sovereignty and uncontrolable dominion 
 every man must be convinced, who reflects that he who made 
 the universe, and for whose pleasure it is continued in exist- 
 ence, is of necessity the rightful proprietor of it; and may 
 do what he wills with his own. 
 
 Of big goodness no man can be insensible who beholds the 
 material sun shedding his genial and enlivening beams up- 
 on the evil as well as upon the good; the rains of heaven 
 falling in kindly showers upon the unjust as well as upon 
 the just; summer and winter, seed time and harvest, suc- 
 ceeding each other to all; and fruitful seasons crowning the 
 toils, and gladdening the hearts, of the children of men. 
 
105 
 
 His holiness and liis justice are perceivable by all wlio 
 will attentively follow the footsteps of his provulence, and 
 faitlifully com, tare the actions of moral ajajents with their 
 general consequences; the prosperous and adverse events 
 wliich occur in respect to individuals and communities with 
 the moral causes which give them birth. For surely the ho- 
 liness and justice of God may be inferred from that distribu- 
 tion of good to the righteous and evil to the wicked which 
 takes place even in the present life. 
 
 It is certain that where tliere is a law, there must be a 
 law-giver. The notion of the one can never be entertained 
 irrespectively of the idea of the other. The two are not to 
 be disassociated. 
 
 It is equally certain that the character of the law-giver 
 is rationally inferrable from the nature and qualities of his 
 system of laws. 
 
 But it would appear from experience, observation, and 
 history, that, as there is a law in our members, so there is 
 another law in our hearts, which scripture denominates the 
 law of God. It is a law which "is holy; and its command- 
 ments are holy, just, and good."* It is very evident, there- 
 fore, that t!ie giver of this law must be a lover of holiness 
 and justice; and that holiness and justice are among his 
 perfections. 
 
 On tiiis ground it is tliat our apostle in the context builds 
 his condemnation of the Gentiles: "Because that, when they 
 knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thank- 
 ful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their fool- 
 ish hearts was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, 
 they became fools; and changed the glory of the incorrupti- 
 ble God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to 
 birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. Where- 
 fore," adds the apostle, and the judicial recompense which 
 he records is truly formidable, "Wherefore, God also gave 
 them up to uncleaness through the lusts of their own hearts, 
 
 * Rom. vii. 12. ( 
 O 
 
106 
 
 who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped 
 and served the creature more than the Creator, w ho is bless- 
 ed forever. And even as they did not like to retain God in 
 their knowledge,'* (observe, it is not said that they did not, 
 or could not, know God, but that they did not like to retain 
 God in their knowledj^e; the fault being more in the will 
 than in the understanding) «God gave them over to a rep 
 rebate mind, to do those things which are not convenient."* 
 
 But, since such was the state, and such the deportment, 
 of those who were in possession of this natural religion, and 
 who ought to have been influenced by its principles, it is 
 obvious that, whatever discoveries it may make, and how- 
 ever it may snflice to render mankind inexcusable for their 
 sins, it is, of itself, inadequate to satisfy their wants — to 
 strengthen their infirmities — to lead them to Heaven. 
 
 Let us mark the principal particulars in which it falls 
 short of that perfection of religious knowledge which is in- 
 dispensable to human nature in its degenerate state. 
 
 It is deficient in certainty. This is its grand and distin- 
 guishing reproach. In many instances it amounts to little 
 more than surmise; and in no case perhaps reflects the un- 
 clouded light of truth. It must of necessity vary with the 
 different capacities and powers of different minds. Thus it 
 came to pass that however universal and permanent the im- 
 pression of the divine existence, the doctrine of the divine 
 unity gradually yielded to Polytheism; until, at length, the 
 idols of the nations were multiplied to a degree not less ab- 
 surd than wicked. And certainly the present state of the 
 unevangelized world, authorizes inferences respecting the 
 competency of natural religion altogether as unfavourable 
 as those derivable from the opinions and practices of pagan 
 antiquity. 
 
 Natural religion gives no assurance of a state of being af- 
 ter temporal death, how much s«)ever it may encoura.£;;e the 
 hope of it. The immortality of the soul was a point much 
 
 * Kom.i.21.— 28. 
 
107 
 
 contested among the learned Heathens. Many of them wish- 
 ed it to be true: some of them suspected it to be true: but I 
 think I am correct in afRrminf^, that not one of them can 
 with propriety, be said to liave believed it to be true. It 
 was reserved for the Son of God to bring life and immortal- 
 ity to light by the gospel; to certify the doubting, trembling 
 soul that she should survive the wreck of her material tene- 
 ment, and live forever. 
 
 Very little more than a superficial observation of the 
 world and what passes in it, may suffice to shew that, with res- 
 pect to intellectual and spii'itual things, it is the theatre of 
 disorder and irregularity. But on the origin and extent ot 
 that disorder and irregularity — on the cause and magnitude 
 of those evils both physical and moral, which disfigure the 
 creation of God — natural religion is, and cannot but be si- 
 lent. The knowledge of these, however, is of the last im- 
 portance; as it serves to vindicate and illustrate the pro- 
 ceedures of divine providence in the present state, and dis- 
 poses us to avail ourselves of those means which God has been 
 pleased to announce for tlie recovery of our lost virtue and 
 happiness. We must believe and know that the disease un- 
 der which we labour is rooted in our system, and threatens 
 to destroy, or, at least, to impair it, before we will either 
 seek after a remedy, or use it when found. 
 
 The religion of nature allows us to hope that repentance 
 may protect us against pnnishmejit, but not to believe that 
 it will so protect us; still less does it authorize the expecta- 
 tion that repentance will place us in the condition of those 
 who have never sinned. 
 
 From the religion of nature we may perhaps, learn the 
 placability of the divine Being; but we cannot learn from 
 it whether any, or if any, what atonement, or sacrifice, or 
 propitiation may be necessary to avert his just displeasure 
 against our sins. 
 
 There is one point on which this natural religion is per- 
 fectly barren of information — on which it throws not th^ 
 
108 
 
 most feeble glimmering of light — I mean the resurrection 
 of the body. This is an article of pure faith — a docti-ine 
 which reason never could have discovered^ but which, when 
 established by well attested revelation, converted and en- 
 lightened reason submissively and gratefully receives. If 
 any apprehensions of this truth existed without the pale of 
 God's covenanted people, they can only be regarded as the 
 feeble vestiges of primitive faith — the traditionary remains 
 of original revelation. When the wise and polished Athe- 
 nians "heard" St. Paul* discourse "of the resurrection of 
 the dead, some mocked; and others said we will hear thee 
 again of this matter." 
 
 Natural religion, thus uncertain — thus dark and obscure 
 — opposes an ineffectual shield against the terrors of death. 
 Reflect for a moment on the condition of the man, who, with 
 no higher attainments than such as he derives from this 
 source, finds himself placed on the connecting point between 
 time and eternity: life, with its tender ties and bland enjoy- 
 ments, receding, and the darkness of the grave, with all its 
 attendant horrours df suspense and fearful surmise, gather- 
 ing fast about liim. The household charities muster around 
 the departing spirit. The wife and infant cling to the heart 
 and intertwine themselves with its every string. Shall I 
 see them no more forever? Must love and happiness expire? 
 The light tliat shews me affection in anguish, is it, or is it 
 not to revisit these eyes? Objects dear to me as my exist- 
 ence, is our separation to be eternal? Or is there, indeed, 
 another state of being? If there is, what is to become of 
 me? Conscience has long since told me that I am a sinner; 
 and I have endeavoured to repent of my offences. But can 
 repentance save me? Can repentance blot out the hand- 
 writing of accusation, and snatch me from deserved punish- 
 ment? Is Heaven ready to pardon? Docs Heaven require 
 expiation for its violated laws? What shall be my propitia- 
 tory offering? Wherewithal shall 1 come before the Lord, 
 
 *Acts, xvii. 32. 
 
109 
 
 and bow myself before the high God? Who will be my ad- 
 vocate? O, for some arm to pluck the sting of death? O, for 
 some conquerour to triumph over the grave, and lead captiv- 
 ity captive! 
 
 Thus do the teachings of nature fall short of that perfec- 
 tion of religious knowledge which is indispensable to the 
 best interests of mankind. Thus are they inadequate to sat- 
 isfy our wants— to strengthen our infirmities — to lead us 
 to Heaven. 
 
 Let no one imagine however, that they are devoid of util- 
 ity. Although natural religion cannot do every thing for 
 us, yet it is very far from being unimportant. What was 
 said in the former part of this discourse, has shewn that it 
 is amply sufficient to convict men of transgression, and to 
 represent them in their own eyes as inexcusable for their 
 sins: and from this we may easily collect, that it is our best 
 preparative for the reception of the superiour light of divine 
 communications: that in proportion as men pr.ssess it in pu- 
 rity and power will be their disposition to subniitto revealed 
 truth, and their qualification to enjoy and improve the ad- 
 vantages of heavenly tuition. Accordingly, to use the 
 words of an eminent writer,* "we find, in fact, that where 
 there was any thing of the knowledge of the true God, eith- 
 er by light of nature, or by tradition, there the g spel was 
 soonest received; the minds of men were better fitted and 
 prepared for faith in Christ the Son of God, by this degree 
 of knowledge of God the Father." 
 
 I will conclude with a few words of improvement. And, 
 
 First. — I observe that there is a measure of respect due 
 to what is called the religion of nature; and to refuse, or 
 withhold it, does no service to the cause of revelation. 
 Whatever religious system purports to be a revelation from 
 God, must, to a certain extent, submit to be tested by tiiosc 
 universal impressions which are made upon the human mind 
 by the exercise of its own reasoning faculty. Thus, sup- 
 
 * Dr. Watts. 
 
110 
 
 pose that a rrlijE^ious system should he offered to our faith 
 containing dortiines and precepts at war with the plainest 
 notions of justice and equity; would not these notions at 
 once prompt us to doubt, or rather to deny that the system 
 proposed, came from God; and consequently, to reject 
 it? The truth is, natural reJijs^ion, considered as a series 
 of deductions made by the efforts of the unflerstandin.i?, is to 
 be traced to the same divine source whence revelation con- 
 fessedly emanates. Reason is the candle of the Lord in 
 man. I^et no one, therefore, imagine that he honours the 
 great fountain of light and truth, by magnifying one of 
 his gifts at the expense of another. All his ways are ways 
 of wisdom; and all his works minister to the glory of his 
 name. But, 
 
 Second. — I am sorry to say that there is much more need 
 to caution men against an over weaning deference to natu- 
 ral religion, than against the opposite error. Strange as it 
 may seem, and disgraceful as it undoubtedly is to the hu- 
 man understanding, there are those who turn in disgust from 
 the splendour of heavenly wisdom, or convert the very gifts 
 of revelation into engines by which to assault its strong 
 holds. Availing thenselves of knowledge which they ob- 
 tain solely from the teachings of the inspired servants of 
 God, they straitway become wiser in their own conceit than 
 their instructors; assert the sufficiency of natural light; and 
 boast that by tlie strength of their own reason they have 
 elicited truths for which they are indebted to the Bible 
 alone; and which the exalted intellect of a Socrates, a Pla- 
 to, or a Tully, was unable to discover. Absurd! to choose 
 a glimmering, rather than a blazing light. The bat and 
 the owl prefer the twinkling of a star, or darkness itself, to 
 the solar glory: and none but the fool, who is even disposed 
 in his heart to say there is no God, will forsake certainty 
 for doubt; the meridian lustre of truth, for the obscure in- 
 timations of probability. 
 Pleasant, my brethren, are the places in which our lot is 
 
Ill 
 
 castj and goodly is the heritage which we possess! The 
 Heathen prostrates himself in stupid and inefFertual worship 
 before the shrine of his dumb idol. The world by wisdom 
 knoweth not God. But the day-spring from on high hath 
 visited us: on us the Son of righteousness hath arisen with 
 healing under his wings: the night of ignorance hath retired; 
 and the clouds of uncertainty no longer rest upon the face of 
 day. What shall we render to the Lord for all his benefits? 
 for that law of his which isperfed, converting the soul: that 
 testimony which is sure, making wise the simple: those stat- 
 utes which are right, rejoicing the heart: that command- 
 ment which is pure, enlightening the eyes?* In every case 
 which the religion of nature leaves doubtful, the religion of 
 the Bible makes plain our way before us. The unity of 
 God; his moral attributes; the cause of those mixtures of 
 good and evil which characterize the dispensations of his 
 providence; his pi cability; the means of reconciliation with 
 him; the efficacy and happy consequences of repentance; the 
 immortality of the soul; the resurrection of the body; the 
 eternal life of the righteous; the everlasting destruction of 
 the wicked; such are the truths which we learn from the 
 sure word of inspiration; such the m'otives to deter from 
 sin, the allurements to persuade to virtue, held out by the re- 
 ligion of the Bible. 
 
 Soon may these truths be known to the wide world! Soon 
 may these motives and these allurements be published to 
 every descendant of Adam! Son of God! soon may the Hea- 
 then be given to thee for thine inheritance, and the utter- 
 most parts of the earth for thy possession! that the nations 
 may learn war no more— that the habitations of cruelty, 
 may echo the song of praise and thanksgiving— that those 
 who sit in darkness and in the shadow of spiritual death, 
 may exult in the inextinguishable light of Heaven— and that 
 righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost may de- 
 scend and abide forever in the regenerated dwellings of 
 mankind! — Amen! 
 • Psalm, xix. 7. J* 
 
OiaiBHKDSr Sc 
 
 WORLDLY-MINDEDNESS. 
 
 INIMICAL TO THE EECEPTIOjY OF SACREB TRUTH. 
 
 GENESIS, XIX. 14. 
 
 *^And Lot went out and spake unto his sons-in-law which mar- 
 ried his daughters f and said; Up, and get ye out of this place, 
 for the Lord will destroy this city. But he seemed as one 
 that mocked unto his sons-in-law. '' 
 
 The city here alluded to was Sodom. Its inhabitants 
 were preeminent in sin. Corrupted by the conveniences, 
 and yet more by the luxuries which they possessed; by abun- 
 dance, ease, and idleness; they gave themselves up to volup- 
 tuousness in its vilest and most unnatural forms. So mul- 
 tiplied and so atrocious were their piovocations, tliat the 
 Judge of all the earth, who cannot do wrong, saw fit to 
 awake his long sleeping thunder, and literally to burn them 
 up in the flames of destruction. 
 
 In this miserable city, ripe for the sacrifice of the divine 
 indignation, resided Lot, the nephew of the patriarch Abra- 
 ham. He was a righteous person, and therefore exempt 
 from the fate of his guilty countrymen. Two angels were 
 sent to him; who appeared in human shape, and were his 
 guests. <*And they said unto him; Hast thou here any be- 
 sides? Sons-in-law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and 
 whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this 
 place: for we will destroy this place; because the cry of them 
 P 
 
114^ 
 
 is waxen great before tlie face of the Lord; and the Lord 
 hath sent us to destroy it. And Lot went out and spake 
 unto his sons-in-law, which married his daiigl»ters, and said. 
 Up, get ye out of this place; for tiie Lord will destroy this 
 city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons-in- 
 law\"* 
 
 "He seemed as one that mocked unto his sons-in-law." 
 Not that they supposed him to tell them what himself be- 
 lieved to be untrue: his character was too well established 
 to countenance, or even admit such a supposition. But the 
 subject matter of the prediction appeared so improbable, so 
 imlike the ordinary dispensations of providence, that they 
 regarded their father-in-law as the victim of a superstitious 
 credulity. 
 
 On what would this vain imagination — these injurious 
 doubts be grounded? 
 
 Certainly, the subject matter of the oracle was of no com- 
 mon importance. It was the total perdition and annihila- 
 tion of their city and its dependencies. There was no time 
 to lose. The fulfilment of the prediction, was, as to time, 
 indefinite. The prediction, in itself, could not but derive 
 weight and consequence from the character of the person 
 predicting. He was a wise and prudent man; his integrity 
 well established, his domestick attachments well approved. 
 It was equally improbable that he should be deceived, and 
 that he should deceive others. Added to tliis, he evinced a 
 disposition to exemplify in his own conduct what he exhor- 
 ted others to perform. He manifested this willingness to 
 exile himself from a country which he was anxious to per- 
 suade his friends to abandon. 
 
 What he announced, was far from being improbable. — 
 There could be nothing incredible in the threatened des- 
 truction, considering the immutable justice of the Most 
 High, and the inordinate vices of those who provoked it. 
 The simple fact, that Sodom was to be destroyed, was all 
 of which a doubt could be entertained. And even of this 
 
 • Gen. xix. 12.— U. 
 
113 
 
 iaet, no doubt ought to have been suffered to remain on the 
 part of those who had been credibly informed of tlie decla- 
 ration of the angels appointed to reveal it. 
 
 To what, then, shall we ascribe the unbelief of the sons- 
 in-law of Lot? That, like the mass of their countrymen, 
 they were totally insensible to the principles and obliga- 
 tions of religion, is a supposition altogether inadmissible. 
 Whatever modern fathers may do. Lot would never have 
 thrown away his daughters upon irreligious and immoral 
 husbands. But a man may externally make a profession of 
 faith, and, to a certain extent, shape his actions according 
 to the divine rule of right, who, nevertlieless, is far from 
 believing in spirit and in truth. A man may lead what is gen- 
 erally called a moral life, and yet perish in the midst of the 
 wicked. Lot's sons-in-law were deficient in that faith which 
 is practical and operative. They walked by sight, rather 
 than by faith. Looking at the things which are seen, they 
 could not forsake Sodom. They were not to be persuaded 
 that a place which had subsisted so long the favourite seat 
 of pleasure and prosperity, should be thus speedily subvert- 
 ed. They apprehended that God was too lenient and com- 
 passionate to devote such multitudes to destruction. 
 
 Blinded by these and similar misconceptions, they yield- 
 ed no credence to the representations of their pious relative. 
 He had the mortification to find that all his warnings were 
 lost upon them; to see their hearts still cleave to the threat- 
 ened city; and to anticipate, with fearful certainty, the ex- 
 ecution of that menaced vengeance in which they were 
 about to participate. 
 
 And soon did that vengeance overtake them. The angels 
 expedited the escape of their righteous entertainer, his wife 
 and his daughters. The sun was risen upon the earth when 
 Lot entered into Zoar, a neighbouring city, exempted, on 
 his account, from the extended desolation. And **thei the 
 Lord rained upon Sodom, and upon Gomorrah, brimstone 
 and fire from the Lord out of Heaven. And he overthrew 
 
116 
 
 those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhahitants of the 
 cities, and that which grew upon the ground."* 
 
 Religion is an affair of the utmost moment and solemnity: 
 and yet, liow many are there who appear, like the sons-in- 
 law of Lot, to treat it as if it were a mockery! Whence does 
 this dreadful infatuation arise? and what have they to ex- 
 pect who are chargeable with it? 
 
 In the consideration of these particulars; in the answer 
 to these inquiries; you will be possessed of the subject of 
 this discourse. 
 
 In thejirst place. — Religion is an affair of the utmost mo- 
 ment, solemnity, and, let me add, certainty. Its solemn im- 
 portance, there lives not the man of sane mind who will de- 
 ny. It is too evident to require demonstration. It is of 
 all imaginable things the most awfully momentous. In the 
 emphasis of inspiration, it is the one thv g needfuL To be 
 religious, is to obey the laws — to keep the commandments — 
 to promote the glory — and to secure the favour of Omnipo- 
 tence. The salvation of the soul is staked upon religion. 
 Eternity, with all its horrours and its bliss, is staked upon 
 it. Yes- — religion, bear witness alike ye spirits of the dam- 
 ned, and ye glorified inhabitants of light; religion is solemn 
 as immortality is desirable— momentous, as the redemption 
 of the soul is precious. 
 
 But religion is matter of fact. There is all possible cer- 
 tainty in it. Not a doubt can shake its foundations. 
 
 The annunciation of the temporal judgment that was to 
 exterminate the guilty countrymen of Lot, as I have already 
 intimated, contained nothing that was improbable; and 
 therefore his sons-in-law were censurable for refusing obe- 
 dience to it, as though it were an idle tale. But, to say 
 that religion contains nothing that is improbable, would be 
 to say incalculably less than enough. There is not a solita- 
 ry doctrine, precept, or history, among those which it pro- 
 poses, that does not approve itself to sound reason and en- 
 
 • Gen. xix. 24. 25, 
 
117 
 
 lightened conscience. Let appetite and passion be at restj 
 let vanity and folly be awed into silence; and 1 scruple not 
 to assert that religion will enshrine itself in every heart as 
 the truth of tlic Most High. 
 
 The arrival of the commissioned angels in Sodom; and 
 the character of Lot, made venerable by wisdom, integrity, 
 and piety; ought to have recommended the annunciation of 
 the approaching event to the belief of his family. But is not 
 religion conveyed and confirmed to us by the only begotten 
 Son of God — the word made flesh — celestial wisdom sojourn- 
 ing on earth in human form? O ye, who are in search of 
 truth, what would ye more? After the attested manifesta- 
 tion, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, let 
 the gainsayer be dumb — let hesitancy be ashamed. 
 
 The family of Lot might have discovered the probable 
 truth of the denunciation of which they were notified,. in an 
 event which had already occurred in Sodom: 1 allude to the 
 blindness with which the heavenly strangers had affected 
 the mob tliat surrounded the house of their entertainer. In 
 like manner we ought to be convinced of the reality of that 
 future awful and impartial reckoning which religion fore- 
 tels as the sanction of its obligations, by a faithful retro- 
 spect of the various other predictions it has published. Con- 
 sider the subversion of the cities of the plain, and the exter- 
 mination of their inhabitants: Consider the universal deluge 
 of waters from above and from beneath, from which Noah 
 and his household alone were permitted to escape: both 
 which manifestations of divine justice were alike foretold 
 and disregarded: consider these events; and tell us if tlicre 
 is not a God who judgeth in the earth. Consider these 
 events; and tremble at the sure prospect of a judgment to 
 come. Listento the reasoning of an apostle: "If God spar- 
 ed not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, 
 and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved 
 unto judgment; and spared not the old world, but saved No- 
 ah, the eighth person, a preaclicr of righteousness; bringing 
 
118 
 
 in the flood upon the world of tlie ungodly: And turning 
 the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned 
 them with an overthrow, making them an ensamplc unto 
 those that after should live ungodlyj and delivered just Lot, 
 vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked; the Lord 
 knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to 
 reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished."* 
 
 In the second place — Although religion be an affair thus 
 solemn — thus momentous — thus unquestionable — how many 
 are there, nevertheless, who appear, like the sons-in-law of 
 Lot, to treat it as if it w^ere a mockery? 
 
 That I do not speak unadvisedly, a few observations may 
 convince you. Attend to the opinions entertained by the 
 greater part of mankind on the subject of religion. Do they 
 seem to you to consider themselves as under an obligation 
 strictly and scrupulously to cultivate a religious life? En- 
 force upon them the distinguishing principles of the gospel. 
 Recommend to them the love of God and the love of man. 
 Exhort them to renounce the world; to deny themselves; 
 to take up their cross; to be humble, lowly, contrite; to for- 
 give enmity, and return good for evil, blessing for cursing. 
 What, in general, will be the consequence? They will ar- 
 raign your system as oppressively severe. They will deny 
 that to embrace it is their indispensable duty. But would 
 they arraign your system, would they recede from their du- 
 ty, if tljey were convinced that the matters proposed to them 
 were serious truths? 
 
 Attend, again, to the external deportment of most men. 
 They, whom the kinsman of Abraham warned of the ap- 
 proach of a signal desolation, evinced their mistrust of the 
 admonition by remaining in the menaced city. In like man- 
 ner, is it not obvious that multitudes of those who name the 
 name of Ciirist, persist in refusing to depart from iniquity, 
 however faithful and vigorous the efforts made to reclaim 
 them? 
 
 * 2. Pet. ii. *, 5, 6, 7, 9. 
 
119 
 
 Sinners: the ministers of religion, anxious to pluck you 
 as brands out of the burning, entleavoui- to make you sensi- 
 ble of the tremendous consequences of enmity to God. Did 
 we not seem unto you "as those who mocked," could you be 
 content to sit down in calm indifference, persevering in in- 
 iquity, and fearless of the gathering storm? 
 
 We tell you, that, unless you be born again, you cannot 
 see the kingdom of God: that you must love and serve God 
 here, if you would aspire to his presence in Heaven; that 
 wisdom's ways are ways of peace, while the paths of the de- 
 stroyer, vice, lead down to the pit: that righteous disposi- 
 tions, and subjected passions and affections, must be your 
 preparation for a judgment to come. Did we not seem un- 
 to you "as those who mocked," would you delay your con- 
 version? would you say to us, go thy way for this time^ at a 
 more convenient season we will listen unto thee? 
 
 You often hear from us that sensual indulgence is poison 
 to the soul: that pleasure, inordinately pursued, is the grave 
 of virtue and tranquillity. Did we not seem unto you "as 
 those who mocked," would you still with unresisting submis- 
 sion wear the fetters of voluptuousness? 
 
 Contrast the conduct of numbers when the world courts 
 their regard, with that which they exhibit wiien religion 
 puts in her claim. The contrast, unfortunately for them, 
 is so marked, that the most inattentive observer cannot fail 
 to perceive it. The persons to whom I refer, (and there are 
 multitudes of them) will act, in the affairs of this world, with 
 deliberation, steadiness, perseverance, engagedness, vigour, 
 and zeal. However intrinsically inconsiderable the inter- 
 est which excites their pursuit, they are diligent — they arc 
 provident — they are indefatigable — they invite counsel — 
 they submit to rebuke — all their faculties are alive — every 
 procurable resource is put in requisition. But the most 
 weighty of all concerns, alas! how is it slighted! Here, in- 
 quiry is painful — here, conversation troublesome — here, ar- 
 dour is extinguished — exertion loses its spring — opportuni- 
 
120 
 
 ty passes by unimproved — and year follows year into the 
 Eternal Presence with the record of impenitency and obdu- 
 racy. But, vere this whole business of religion viewed as 
 any thing better than an idle deception, could men be thus 
 infatuated? 
 
 In the third place. — Whence does this dreadful infatuation 
 arise? Why is it that God, and they who speak for God, 
 should seem unto any <«as those who mock them?" 
 
 An unbelieving temper, and a worldly mind, wrought up- 
 on the sons-in-law of Lot, and induced them to undeivalue 
 the counsels of their venerable relation. An unbelieving 
 temper, and a worldly mind; a disposition to doubt when 
 God speaks; and an overweaning attachment to things 
 present and temporal; a predeliction for the walk of sight, 
 in contempt of the walk of faith; these form the sources of 
 opposition to religion in every age. I speak not now of the 
 avowedly profane — of the unblushing infidel. 1 speak of 
 unbelief in the household of faith — of irreligion in the ex- 
 ternal family of the Saviour. The majority of the nominal 
 friends of Christ have as little of the true and saving faith 
 as his undisguised enemies. Nor can it be otherwise. In 
 early life they are uninstructed by those whose duty, whose 
 privilege, and whose interest it is, to "train them up in the 
 way they should go;" "to bring them up in the nurture and 
 admonition of the Lord." In consequence of this neglect, 
 they are averse in riper years, to study and meditation on 
 these subjects. Whatever good impressions they may have 
 accidentally received, are checked by the cares and the 
 pleasures of after life. Under these circumstances, what 
 wonder if divine things be regarded as mockery by the eye 
 of an unimproved, if not a perverted intellect? 
 
 Indeed, so far are many who call themselves Christians 
 from possessing the true and beneficial faith of Jesus, that 
 they encourage themselves in notions diametrically opposed 
 to it, and fundamentally subversive of it: notions, calcula- 
 ted to banish the fear of God from the bosom of man. God, 
 
121 
 
 say they, is too lenient and compassionate to execute his 
 threatenin.^s. Were he to execute them, what multitudes,' 
 and among- them how many of our dearest friends, would 
 perish! And, after all, who is there amongst us, that can 
 lead such a life as the evangelical system requires? 
 
 Now, that men reasoning in this way, should cordially 
 emhrace religioii, is not to he supoi^sed. That they should 
 yield a i^cady assent to the promises, and, especially, to the 
 comminations of Christianity, is not to he expected. 
 
 An unbelieving temper, however, is not more inimical to 
 the reception of sacred truth than is a worldly mind. The 
 love of the pleasant places and goodly heritage of Sodom, 
 prevented the perverse part of Lot's family from pj'ofiting 
 by his careful admonitions. The love of the world, its plea- 
 sures, its wealth, and its honours, cannot co-exist, in equal- 
 ity of influence, with religious sentiment. The one, or the 
 other, must give place; and, as present feeling will gener- 
 ally be consulted by the infirmity of lapsed nature in prefer- 
 ence to the expectations of futurity, worldly-mindedness too 
 often succeeds in banishing the supei'iour affection. Yes, my 
 brethren: when we see you disposed to revolt against the 
 salutary restraints of religion, the inference cannot be eva- 
 ded, that the love of this pei-ishing— this treacherous world, is 
 paramount in your hearts: that you are strangers to the j)ow- 
 ers of the world to come: and that the unsullied and unde- 
 caying glories of the kingdom of heaven in vain solicit your 
 ^aspirations. You love this world! In other words, you 
 love a nothing! A nothing, did I say? Alas! would it were 
 nothing! You love that which every day betrays your hopes, 
 and will, sooner or later, pierce you through with ten thou- 
 sand sorrows; and, at the same time, you pour contempt 
 upon an inheritance which fadeth not away; you lightly festeein 
 a joy that is unspeakable and full of glory; you impiously 
 reject a crown of unalloyed and immortal splendour! 
 
 In the fourth^ and last place. — What haAe they to expect;, 
 who are chargeable with such deplorable infatuation? Thus 
 Q 
 
122 
 
 saith a voice from Heaven: hear it, despisers of the gospel; 
 hear it, ye uhom the God of this world hath blinded; hear 
 it, sinners in Zion; hypocritical formalists, hear it and trem- 
 ble: "As it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, 
 they bought, they sold, they planted, tiiey builded; but the 
 same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and 
 brimstone from Heaven, and destroyed them all; even tlsus 
 shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed."^ 
 Self-apologists, God leaves not liimsclf without witness 
 among you. In the awful reckoning which awaits you, 
 (and how soon it may be instituted, Omniscience alone can 
 tell) this day will be forced upon your recollection. This 
 day, in the name of God, I again admonish you of a judg- 
 ment to come — of a fiery indignation that shall devour all 
 those who are lovers of the world and its pleasures more 
 than lovers of God. By the mercies of God — by the love 
 of Christ — by your immortal spirits — by Heaven and hell — 
 I adjure you, prepare for your escape. <'Flee for refuge to 
 lay hold on the hope set before you." Embrace religion. 
 Be the followers of Jesus. Heirs of immortal blessedness, 
 or misery! let me once more remind you that this world of 
 gaiety, of fashion, and of folly, is not your resting place. 
 However you may desire it, you cannot be here forever. 
 There is a solemn hour approaching. It is an hour of ap- 
 prehension — an hour of hoiiest and searching potency— an 
 hour which teaches more than years had done— the hour of 
 death. At that hour, what shall become of those who know 
 not God, and obey not his gospel? At that hour, where 
 shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? 
 
 "When eternity opens upon the eye ere it closes in sepul- 
 chral darkness; when wife and children cling to the dying 
 couch; when the departing spirit casts a fond retrospect up- 
 on the loves of earth; sustain me, 0! my God, in the consol- 
 atory reflection that 1 have been a follower of Jesus; and 
 fearlessly I will march with thee through the tcrrours of 
 
 * Luke. xvii. 28.-30, 
 
12S 
 
 ilie valley — through the surging billows of the gulph — to 
 the promised rest of Heaven: and there, where no tear is 
 shed; no pang is felt; no groan of suffering is mingled with 
 the hallelujahs of the just made perfect; there, will I thank- 
 fully bless, and adore, and serve thee, with every faculty of 
 a glorified and imperishable existence. — Amen. 
 
©Ig]BlM®ir SHc 
 
 ON INCONSIDERATION. 
 
 AS CHARGEABLE AGALYST THE PEOPLE OF GOV. 
 
 ISAIAH, i. 3. 
 
 *'My people doth not consider.'* 
 
 The external cluirrli of God, or in other words, his cove- 
 nanted people, is divisible into two great classes. Those 
 who are in sincerity and truth of heart turned to God and 
 holiness; and those who, according to the scriptural phra- 
 seology, have a name to live while they are dead; who are, 
 by profession, !)elievers, and in practice, sinners. The 
 charge of inconsideration brought against Israel of old, will 
 lie in different degrees, and in a variety of ways, against 
 botli these classes at the present day. 
 
 My design, in the first instance, v/ith the blessing of God, 
 is to offer a few remarks upon it, as applicable to the gen- 
 erality of true believers; enlightened Christians; the cordial 
 friends of God; the sincere friends of righteousness; men 
 who «have thought on their ways, and turned their feet to 
 the way of Heaven's commandments." 
 
 Numbers there are wlio have thought with solemnity on 
 divine things; who have been deeply impressed with the con- 
 viction, that without holiness no man shall ever see the Lord j 
 and who, stimulated in consequence, to exertion, have labour- 
 ed successfully, under the siiperiour workings of the Holy 
 Ghost, to acquire habits of religion and vjrtue. Tlic fault 
 of inconsideration, however, still adhering to them in great- 
 er or less degrees, keeps them frequently far more short of 
 
1S6 
 
 their duty — far more bencatli the dignity of their high call- 
 ing in Christ Jesus, than otherwise they would be. What I 
 have now affirmed may be illustrated several ways. 
 
 If you look with attention upon the lives and deportment 
 of persons, in the main, good and upright, you find them at 
 times indulging in unjustifiable practices. You find them 
 indolent and negligent in religious matters; not rarely inde- 
 vout in temper, or indisposed to religious acts and exercises; 
 retreating before tlie assaults of adversity; impelled by an 
 ignorant and immoderate zeal; sinking into a melancholy 
 and dejection dishonourable to the gospel of Christ. 
 
 First. — You find them, at times, engaged in actual sins. 
 I do not allude to the infirmities, in a manner, inseparable 
 from our fallen nature. 1 allude to improprieties which a 
 reflection such as we ought to possess; a reflection always 
 alive — always awake — always operative, could not but make 
 avoidable. Persons, whose attachment to Christian purity 
 it would be alike uncharitable and unreasonable to doubt, 
 permit themselves occasionally to trespass upon its laws in 
 a very unjustifiable manner, and wound their own peace by 
 yielding to thi- solicitations of the world and the flesh. But 
 to what is this inconsistency imputable? Certainly to i?ico?i- 
 sideration. They do not reflect with sufficient steadiness 
 and seriousness upon the consequences of every deviation 
 from the strictness of religious principle. They do not 
 weigh with scrupulous exactitude the result of suffering 
 which is decreed to be the recompense of every sacrifice of 
 conscience to gratifications whose permissibility may be 
 doubtful. It is certain, that in proportion to a man's re- 
 flection, will be the congruity and uniformity of his deport- 
 ment. Levity and thoughtlessness are inimical to the Chris- 
 tian life. They are traitors in sworn league with tempta- 
 tion. Where they are admitted into the camp, alternate 
 triumph and defeat characterize the spiritual warfare. It 
 is carried on with various success. Persevering watchful- 
 ness alone can give decisive victory; confer ultimate success; 
 
1S7 
 
 and crown with permanent security. The utility and indis- 
 pensableness of deep, serious, and solemn thought, is by no 
 means confined to our entrance upon a religious course. 
 They are equally evident at every stage of our progress. 
 Godliness is a system of habits; and the same pious and 
 anxious solicitude is to be cherished for their continual 
 maintainance as for their original acquisition. And it is un- 
 deniable, that where pious and anxious solicitude; where 
 deep, serious, and solemn thought; where persevering watch- 
 fulness; where sober and steady reflection are wanting, the 
 character will also be defective in that sacred purity, and 
 that beautiful consistency of life and conversation which are 
 the highest glory of real Christianity. 
 
 Second. — If you look with attention upon the lives and 
 deportment of persons, in the main good and upright, you 
 find them sometimes reprehensibly indolent and negligent in 
 tjie concerns of their salvation. It may be that they do not 
 err and stray so far from the paths of heavenly wisdom as 
 they might, and as the earthly-minded multitude do. But 
 the important question is, do they advance? do they in- 
 crease? do they improve? Negative virtues do not suffice 
 for the disciple of Jesus. It is not enough that he is ex- 
 empt from the imputation of any marked evil. Mankind 
 are not unreasonable in expecting, what the evangelical stat- 
 utes require, positive good. Why is it that they who not 
 only name the name, but, as in a judgment of scriptual 
 charity we must suppose, have also imbibed the spirit of 
 Christ, yield so little of those fruits that bring credit to his 
 cause? Why is it tliat they are not more zealously affected 
 towards the good service in which they have enlisted? Why 
 is it that they redeem not more of their time from trifles un- 
 worthy the contemplation of a Heaven-enlightened spirit? It 
 is because they are not sufficiently considerate. Tliis is 
 their radical defect. We need go no farther to account for 
 the paucity of their attainments. Their minds are not en- 
 tirely intent upon the one thing needful; therefore, their pi - 
 
128 
 
 cty and their virtue are stationary. They are very prone 
 to forget the things which are behind," but, alas! it is too 
 seldom that they may press towards the thines ti-at aie Ite- 
 fore. Were it otherwise, would th< y not be moie diligent 
 in working out their own salvation? in making their calling 
 and election sure? 
 
 Third. — If you look with attention upon the liv es and de- 
 portment of persons, in the main, good and upright, you find 
 them not rarely indevout in temper, or languid and s|>irit- 
 less in the performance of religions acts and exercises. 
 This is a defect arising from inconsideration, more than 
 from any other cause. The more a Christian is addicted to 
 meditation, the more spiritual he becomes; anc! the more 
 cordially inclined to the various services of religion. 
 "While" the royal Psalmist "was musing" he tells us "the 
 fire burned within him,"* and his emotions forthwith found 
 utterance. How can a good man be habitually engaged in 
 the contemplation of the attributes of God; the favours com- 
 municated by his munificent hand; our obligations to adore 
 liim for his majesty, and love him for his goodness; the 
 number and magnitude of the advantages enjoyed by the 
 church and herchildren in virtue of the everlasting covenant 
 sealed and established in the blood of Christ; the experi- 
 ence of the pleasantness and peacefulness of wisdom's ways^ 
 and the certainty that a life of religion will issue in an immor- 
 tality of bliss; how can a good man be habitually engaged 
 in contemplating such things, and not be the better for the 
 contemplation? and not derive from it fresh vigour to his 
 Heaven-excited and Heaven-ascending passions and affec- 
 tions? The truly serious mind that would appreciate reli- 
 gious subjects, will not be remiss in reflecting upon them; 
 remissness in this particular being undoubtedly at the founda- 
 tion of much of the apathy and indevotion prevailing among 
 Christians. 
 
 Fourth. — If you look with attention upon the lives and 
 
 * Psalm, xxxix. 3. 
 
129 
 
 deportment of persons, in the main, good and upright, you 
 find them too frequently retreating before the assaults of ad- 
 versity. It is astonishing how closely the hearts of many 
 whose general conversation may be said to be in Heaven, re- 
 main wedded to the desire of temporal good; and how timid- 
 ly they shrink from contact with temporal evil. Surely in- 
 consideration is the root of bitterness from which these ill 
 weeds spring, to deface the new creation. Surely the man 
 who remembers, as he ought to do, that this life is a life of 
 vanity; that man cometh up to be cut down like a flower; 
 that the world, and tbe fashion of it, alike pass away; the 
 man who bears in mind the essential mutability and perpetu- 
 al fluctuation of the thirigs that now are; the impression of 
 the touch of death upon every object beneath the sun; and 
 the total and radical incompetency of this world to fill the 
 ever-asking and never-satisfied spirit; surely he who is wont 
 to reflect in this manner, cannot but experience a turning of 
 his views, his hopes and fears, his joys and sorrows, into a 
 channel widely different from that in which, without such 
 reflection, they would continue to flow. To men who accus- 
 tom themselves thus to think and meditate, afflictions make 
 their approach, in a measure, stingless and disarmed. If I 
 see you, notwithstanding your religious principles may have 
 estranged you to a certain extent from the world, still undu- 
 ly engaged in its pursuits; still inclined to dally with its 
 pleasures; still aspiring to its acquisitions; have I not reason 
 to conclude that you do not consider? But especially, if I 
 see you depressed to an extreme by this world's reverses, 
 bewailing its vanished joys, possessions, splendours, and re- 
 nown; thrown into inordinate agitation by the images of a 
 prosperity departed, as you figure to yourselves, to return 
 no more, have I not reason to conclude; and God, has he not 
 reason to complain, that you do not consider? Certainly, 
 were you to consider as you ought; were you to meditate; 
 were you to reflect; were you, retiring within the sanctuary 
 of your hearts, to hold communion there, in sacred stillness 
 
130 
 
 with God and youF own souls; views and emotions so erro- 
 neous would have no place. Habits of consideration would 
 discipline your virtue. They would enable you to endure 
 hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. They would 
 place your feet upon a rock, and establish your goings; and 
 convince you that a believer should glory in the tribulation 
 through which he enters into rest. 
 
 Fifth. — If you look with attention upon the lives and de- 
 portment of pei^ons, in the main, good and upright, you 
 find them very often actuated by an ignorant and immoder- 
 ate zeal. There is a zeal for God which displeases him, 
 because it is not according to knowledge; and not restrain- 
 ed by the wholesome limitations of religion. Perhaps there 
 is no period in the history of the church of Christ, that does 
 not disclose the pitiable ravages committed on her peace, by 
 irritable, and doubtless, in some instances, well-meaning 
 zealots. And why is it that accrimonious controversy has 
 separated, not only individuals, but entire sections of the 
 heritage of God? Alas! it is because "his people do not con- 
 sider." If they would but reflect — if they would but accus- 
 tom themselves to bear in mind, that zeal, like every other 
 virtue, has its limits — and that these are defined by the su- 
 periour law" of charity; internal persecutions, fiery contests, 
 exclusive claims to truth, preeminence,- and authority, would 
 be unknown in the household of faith. Caution and delibera- 
 tion would precede the adoption of opinions, and brotherly 
 kindness qualify the expression of them. God speed the 
 day when his church shall be purged of zealots! 
 
 Sixth and Last. — If you look with attention upon the 
 lives and deportment of persons, in the main, good and 
 upright, you find them sometimes, too often indeed, sinking 
 into a melancholy and dejection, dishonourable to the gospel 
 of Christ. Here, if any where, inconsideration is perni- 
 ciously at work. Who that possesses, and will exert the 
 faculty of reflection, can avoid perceiving that the tendency, 
 and not more the tendency, than the design of the religion 
 
I3i 
 
 qf the Son of God, is to make liis followers happy, and 
 through them to promote the happiness of all mankind? 
 How often have we to lament that either erroneous views of 
 the gospel, or a disordered constitution of body, and, per- 
 haps, both these united, throw an atmosphere of forbidding 
 gloom around men who fear the Lord? O! would they but 
 consider that God is good to all, and that his tender mercies 
 are over all his works! O! would they but consider that 
 like as a father pitietU his children, so the Lord pitieth them 
 that fear him; and that he who knows their frame, forgets 
 not that they are but dust! 0! would they but consider that 
 God, who is rich in mercy, hath given them a most expres- 
 sive sign of his favour and protection, by receiving them, 
 through baptism, into the number of his chosen people; into 
 the arms of his church, and the salvation of his holy cove- 
 nant! Inconsiderate Christian! "Why art thou cast down, 
 and why disquieted within thee? Hope thou in God; for thou 
 shalt yet praise him who is the health of thy countenance, 
 and thy God."* Let thy memory be faithful to the record of 
 his glorious deeds of compassion and condescension perform- 
 ed for believers in every age; and doubt not that he will ex- 
 tend his grace to thee. Avouch him to be thy God. Re- 
 pose thyself upon his care. Stay thyself upon his arm. 
 Rely with implicit confidence upon his holy promise; and 
 the sure covenant ratified in the blood of his dear Son. God 
 is incapable of deceiving the poor trembling spirit that takes 
 refuge under his paternal wings. The great interceding 
 angel perpetually beholds the face of thy Father who is in 
 Heaven; and he whose name is love, and whose essence 
 truth, will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. 
 
 Thus I have mentioned a few of the grounds which war- 
 rant the charge of inconsideration against good men — the 
 real people of God, I have specified several unhappy con- 
 sequences resulting from it; and also several benefits grow- 
 ing naturally out of its reverse, 
 
 *Psal,m, xlii, 11. 
 
I will conclude with one word of exhortation to those of 
 my audience who may hurahly hope that what has been said 
 has a particular reference to them. Brethren, abjure incon- 
 sideration. It has a most unpropitious influence upon your 
 present peace and satisfaction; and in proportion as it is 
 submitted to, it will disqualify you for the better life of the 
 world to come. Be instant in self-examination, meditation, 
 and prayer. Commune with your own hearts. Consider 
 your ways; and take heed unto your doings. Remember that 
 religion is a serious thing; salvation an arduous work; the 
 soul precious beyond calculation; life short, frail and pre- 
 carious; death certain, and near at hand; eternity before 
 you; and a deceitful world labouring to detain you from its 
 joys. Be sober; be vigilant. Grow in grace, and in the 
 knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 
 
 «'Now, the God of peace, that brought again from the 
 dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, 
 through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you 
 perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you 
 that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ: 
 to whom be glory forever and ever."* — Amen. 
 
 •Heb.xiii. 20.21. 
 
SISIB1I®3S saHc 
 
 ON INCONSIDERATION. 
 
 ^S CHABGEABLE AGALYST TIIE MERELY J\rQMIJVAL 
 CURISTIAJ^. 
 
 ISAIAHj i. 3. 
 
 **My people doth not consider.^'' 
 
 IVIy design, on the present occasion, with the hlessing of 
 God, is to offer a few remarks on this charge of inconsider- 
 ation as lying against a very different class of persons in the 
 church from those to whom it was applied in the morning's 
 discourse. 
 
 Among tlie outward professors of the gospel faith, there 
 are, undoubtedly, very many who, having a name to live, 
 are yet, to the best of purposes, dead; and who, submitting 
 in speculation to that doctrine which is according to Godli- 
 ness, are, in practice, sinners: for, that there are sinners 
 in Zion, is no new thing. 
 
 Now, that such people are inconsiderate, in a very con- 
 spicuous degree, and to a very deplorable extent, may be 
 made appear from the following observations. 
 
 First. — "The wicked, through the pride of his counte- 
 nance," says the Psalmist,* "will not seek after God; God 
 is not in all his thoughts." The nature and perfections of 
 the Divine Being; especially his essential disapprobation of 
 moral evil, and his fixed determination to avenge the viola- 
 ted laws of virtue in every unrcpented instance; these are 
 things which are rarely permitted to occupy the meditatiojis, 
 or disturb the enjoyments, of worldly men. They do not 
 
 ♦ Psalm, X. 4. 
 
134 
 
 reflect that while God, heing a spirit, is imperceptible by 
 mortal eyes, he is yet every where present; and that the eye 
 of infinite purity is in every place, beholding the evil, as 
 well as the good. They banish the remembrance of what 
 his inspired servants have written for their instruction; 
 *<that the foolish," or ungodly, "shall not stand in liis sight;" 
 that he "hateth all workers of iniquity;" that <'he is not 
 a God that hath pleasure in wickedness, neither, shall 
 Gvil dwell with him;"* that "indignation and wrath, tribula- 
 tion and anguish,"! shall be the inevitable portion of the 
 impious and unrighteous; of all those who shall be found ig- 
 norant of God and disobedient to the gospel. They will not 
 allow themselves to think on the immutability of Mm who, 
 to mark the perfection and stability of his works, is in scrip- 
 ture denominated a rock. They lose sight of the sword of 
 justice suspended by Heaven's unchangeable decree over 
 the heads of the impenitent. They try to forget that what 
 God hath once spoken, that will he infallibly perform; the 
 thrcatenings of his tribunal, being, like the promises of his 
 mercy-seat, sure of their accomplishment. Were these aw- 
 ful truths received into the bosom of serious consideration, 
 sinners would no longer persist in treasuring up unto them- 
 selves wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the 
 righteous judgment of God. Were these awful truths re- 
 ceived into the bosom of serious consideration, the vestibule 
 of the temple would, as in primitive times, be crowded with 
 weeping penitents, and the altar encompassed with contrite 
 adorci's. 
 
 Second. — The mass of nominal believers take no thought 
 respecting the end of their being, and the true felicity of 
 their nature. They may speculate handsomely upon the 
 subject, perhaps, but in this case they treat it rather as an 
 exercise of ingenuity, than as an inquiry fundamentally 
 connected with their salvation. The business of glorifying 
 their Creator and Redeemer is not in their contemplations. 
 
 • Psalm, V. 4. 5. f ^^^^- »'»• 8- 9. 
 
135 
 
 Their happiness is not found in the joys of tlie Divine Prfis-* 
 ence, because they will not sutfer their thoughts to run in 
 such a channel, or to rest on such an object. They seem 
 to be industrious in forgetting that in their formation God had 
 designs more exalted than in giving a temporary being to 
 the beasts that perish; that the supcriour faculty of intelli- 
 gence with which he has endued them, indicates a superiour 
 destination, and should coiiduct to superiour pursuits and 
 attainments; and that the interests of the soul require to be 
 consulted in preference to the demands of the flesh, and of 
 the sensual appetites and passions. They push from them 
 the reflection, as often as it intrudes, that, in the nature of 
 things, the chief good of a humaji being can no where be 
 found but in the bosom of his Eternal Parent: that to fear 
 God, is the beginning of wisdom, and its final issue, to be 
 received into his glorious and happy presence. 
 
 Third. — The inconsideration of most men is but too evi- 
 dent, if we regard the inexcusable ingratitude manifested iu 
 their deportment. Where is the tongue that can count up 
 the mercies of God's throne? Where is the power of calcu- 
 lation that is not left behind by those compassions of liis 
 which fail not — -which are renewed every morning and re- 
 peated every evening? Hath he not made us? Hath he not 
 endued us with the capacity to know him? Hath he not 
 opened his hand liberally and supplied our fast recurring- 
 wants? Hath not his kind providence prevented our 
 wishes? Hath he not healed our diseases, and preserved us 
 alive amidst countless invisible deaths and dangers? Hath 
 he not borne with our provocations — our treasons — our in- 
 fidelities — our stiff*-necked, rebellious, and ungodly mur- 
 murings? Hath he not given us redemption by the blood of 
 his Son, even the remission of sins? Is he not now in Christ 
 reconciling us unto himself, not imputing to us our flagrant 
 trespasses? Does he not bestow his holy spirit on all who 
 ask him? Does he not seal to us and to our children the 
 grace of his gospel in the laver of regeneration? Docs he 
 
136 
 
 not give us line upon line and precept upon precept; and 
 does he not send to us messenger after messenger, rising up 
 early and sending them — and sending them even at the 
 eleventh hour — warning us to break off our sins by repent- 
 ance, and adjuring us to live, and not die? 0, my soul! 
 what wilt thou — what canst thou render to the Lord for all 
 his benefits? 
 
 Great as these benefits are, however, there are men who 
 can forget them; there are multitudes — yes — multitudes — 
 whom we cannot persuade to think upon them with any de- 
 gree of seriousnes. If it were not so, would the sinner per- 
 severe in iniquity? If it were not so, would persons in co- 
 venant with God repay his goodness with ingratitude? Im- 
 possible! Men sin, because they undervalue that goodness 
 which should lead them to repentance; and that goodness 
 they undervalue, because they will not suffer their medita- 
 tions to rest upon it; because they do not consider. Shame- 
 ful inconsideration! The most stupid of reasonless animals 
 are wiser than the professed children of light; for thus saith 
 God, of old; and in every age the complaint is justifiable — 
 *<I have nourished and brought up children, and they have 
 rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the 
 ass his master's crib; but Israel doth not know — my people 
 doth not consider." 
 
 Fourth.— The indevout and impenitent do not reflect upon 
 the nature and inestimable value of the Christian salvation. 
 With eminent truth may it be said of them, that "this so 
 great salvation, they neglect." Little do they tliink on that 
 tremendous wrath which awaits tl e unrepenting children of 
 disobedience, and from which this salvation shields the re- 
 turning sinner! Little do they tliink what an awful fate it 
 is, to fall into the hands of the living God — to die in sin — 
 to come forth out of an unblest grave, and go away into ev- 
 erlasting punishment! And not much more do they think 
 of those eternal abodes of sinless virtue, of cloudless enjoy- 
 ment, and unsullied glory, to which the justiiying, adopting, 
 
137 
 
 and sanctifying salvation of the gospel elevates its humble 
 and self-denying followers. 
 
 Neither do men reflect more npon the nature, than upon 
 the worth of Christ's salvation. They do not reflect upon 
 the conditions of the covenant in which it is contained; upon 
 their suitableness to the relations subsisting between God 
 and man; the uniformity of their application; and the un- 
 changeableness of their character. They seem willing to 
 take for granted, without the trouble of examination, that 
 these conditions are not the same to all persons, and at all 
 times, indiscriminately. Some inconsiderately conclude that 
 they impose a yoke too grievous to be borne; and, trusting 
 in their vague apprehensions of divine mercy, give them- 
 selves no trouble about compliance with them. Others in- 
 considerately conclude tliat they are accommodated to the 
 lusts and evil-propensions of fallen man, relieving him from 
 the severity of God's law, and permitting him to live at his 
 ease; and imagine that outward profession affords evidence 
 sufficiently credible of their compliance with them. Neither 
 of these two descriptions of people will consider — neither of 
 them can be brought to reflect that he mistakes the condi- 
 tions of the covenant — that evangelical repentance implies 
 reformation from dead works — reformation unto life — a 
 hearty detestation and relinquishing of sin — a sincere love 
 and pursuit of holiness — that evangelical faitii is invariably 
 a faith that works by love — a faitli that purifies the heart — 
 and is victorious over a tempting world. How many mis- 
 conceptions respecting the nature of the covenant of grace, 
 and its mild, but equitable and holy conditions, are assigna- 
 ble to inconsideration? 
 
 Fifth. — Too many there are, it should seem, who pass 
 through life without bestowing a serious thought on the man- 
 ner in which they conduct themselves, or the result to which 
 their actions and conversation tend. It troubles tlicm to an- 
 ticipate consequences. They dread the pain of retrospec- 
 tion. "Every one that doetk evil," said our Lord on a 
 S 
 
138 
 
 certain occasion, "liatetli the light, neither cometh to the 
 light, lest his deeds should he reproved."* To business and 
 to pleasure he resorts that he may avoid self-accusation. 
 Amidst the din and bustle of tiie world, conscience is not 
 heard. From its facinating dissipations, sober thought re- 
 tires. The hojicst and faithful trial of self at the bar of en- 
 lightened reason, the persons to whom I have reference, 
 dare not abide. It would lead to a condemnation which 
 would be painful; in as much as it would demand the im- 
 mediate amendment of their ways and their doings; the im- 
 mediate dereliction of cherished iniquities; tlie immediate 
 divorce of the heart from its idols — of the senses from their 
 dear but destructive lusts. 
 
 Sixth. — The precarious tenure by which sinners hold 
 their present existence, is not weighed by them in the bal- 
 ance of just and sober reflection. They live as if death were 
 a chimera; as if this were their home; as if their foundation 
 were deeply, strongly, and immovably laid in a continuing 
 city, walled with everlasting adamant. They go forth in 
 the morning to their labours, or their wonted chase of en- 
 joyment. Funeral after funeral passes before their eyes. 
 At every turn, badges of mourning remind them that a spirit 
 has gone to its dreadful account. But how rarely does the 
 thought occur, even for a moment, «<this day may be mij 
 last: this very night, perhaps, mtj soul may be required of 
 me." 0, how do men presume upon a iiulse that beats this 
 moment, and may beat no more! They icnow not how soon 
 their last breath may go out, the last glimmer of the lamp 
 of life sink into darkness; they are in total ignorance of 
 this, and tliey will not consider! They sing and dance, and 
 carouse and revel, on the edge of damnation. Deluded 
 men! Think not, if indeed you wdll be at the pains to be- 
 stow a thought even /lere, think not that you can avert or 
 delay the visitation of death, by expelling the contemplation 
 of liis spectral horrours from your minds. Remember that 
 your times are not in your own hands. "With God the 
 
 John, iii. 20. 
 
139 
 
 Lord are the issues of death." "He bringeth down to the 
 grave, and bringeth up." You know not what the revolu- 
 tion of one hour may produce: and if you were wise, if you 
 would consider your latter end, you would live as though 
 every revolving hour were to be your last. 
 
 Seveivth, and last. — The greater part of the Cliris- 
 tian world will not allow themselves to look with steady re- 
 gard upon those eternal things which are invisible to the bodi- 
 ly eye. In their estimation, an air of uncertainty envelops 
 the other world. But were they to consider matters as they 
 ought, this uncertainty would afford them no solid plea for 
 continuing in sin. On their admission, there may be a state 
 of final recompenses. Would it not, then, he prudent to pre- 
 pare themselves for it? And should we grant that they will 
 experience no return of benefit and advantage hereafter, are 
 not wisdom's ways thick strewn with pleasures, which, even 
 in the present life, compensate the renunciation of vicious 
 indulgences? But, thanks be to God, even the Father of 
 our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, on this subject there is 
 110 uncertainty. Revelation divests it of every doubt. The 
 Divine Existence is not now more evident, than the everlast- 
 ing existence decreed for man. "Life and immortality are 
 brought to light by the gospel of him who hath abolished 
 death,"* and broken the prison bars of the grave. *-A res- 
 urrection both of the just and the unjust" is announced^ 
 and at the trumpet of the Archangel, the magnificent event 
 shall be accomplished. <'But who considers, as he ought, 
 this subject, at once so awful and so delightful? Who carries 
 his devout meditations within the veil that overhangs the in- 
 visible world? Who revolves in his mind the irreversible re- 
 compenses of eternity? Who ascends on the wings of a con- 
 templative faith to the abodes of the just made perfect, or 
 looks down with pious dread upon the habitations of des- 
 pair? Who weighs in the balance things future against 
 things present— things invisible against things which are 
 
 * 2. Tim. i. 10. 
 
140 
 
 seen— things eternal against things temporal.'" 0, thou 
 spirit of inconsideration! what ruin dost thou not carry 
 through God's moral creation? What sin is it that thou dost 
 not engender? What misery is it that thou dost not inflict? 
 "What thanks are not due to thee from the power of dark- 
 ness, for the souls which thou has bound in his chains? 
 
 Thus, I have made it ajjpear that inconsideration, in a ve- 
 ry conspicuous degree, and to a very deplorable extent, is 
 chargeable upon those who, while they are, outwardly, pro- 
 fessors of Christ's discipline, in works deny him. 
 
 If there be such in my audience, I must be permitted to en- 
 treat them to abjure this most pernicious principle of incon- 
 sideration. In vain has God given you reason, if you will 
 not use it. In vain has he recorded his will on the page of 
 inspiration, if you will not study it. In vain does he ad- 
 dress you in the words of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of 
 the Holy Ghost, if you will not lend a patient and attentive 
 hearing. Let me counsel you to seek after God, and to 
 keep him continually in your thoughts. Consult the end 
 of your being, and the true felicity of your nature. Weigh 
 well your great and manifold obligations to Heaven. Re- 
 flect much on the nature and inestimable value of the Chris- 
 tian salvation. Think seriously on your general course of 
 conduct, and the result to which your actions and conversa- 
 tion tend. Bear constantly in mind the precariousness of 
 the tenure by which you hold your present existence. "Look 
 not at the things which are seen, but at the things which 
 are not seen: for the things which are seen, are temporal; 
 but the things which are not seen, are eternal." Regard 
 not the present state as your final destination. Have res- 
 pect unto the recompense of reward. Meditate much upon 
 the ultimate issues of things — of death — ^judgment— Heaven 
 —hell — eternity. And pray to God that he would be plea- 
 sed so to teach you to number the days of the years of your 
 pilgrimage, that you may apply your hearts to the wisdom 
 of the just. — AmeNo 
 
©laiBsa®:^ saaac 
 
 ON INCONSIDERATION. 
 
 .IS CHARGEABLE AGAmsT THE MERELY JVOMLXAL 
 CHRISTIAJ^. 
 
 ISAIAH, i. 3. 
 
 i'My people doth not consider. 
 
 I HAVE already animadverted at some length on tlie fault of 
 inconsideration, as chargeable upon two descriptions of 
 characters in the visible church; the true believer, and the 
 baptized sinner; the man of real goodness, and the mere 
 nominalist. Deeming it advisable to pursue the subject far- 
 ther, as it respects persons of the latter class, my present 
 design is to represent to such, with all plainness and sincer- 
 ity, the pernicious tendency, and, in very many cases, the 
 fatal effects, of inconsLderation. And may the Holy Ghost 
 open their eyes and incline their hearts to attend to the 
 things which belong to their peace, before they be eternally 
 hidden from them! — Amen. 
 
 Inconsideration, then, let it be remarked, keeps men in 
 ignorance on the only points which are of essential impor- 
 tance to them. It deadens their moral sensibilities. It 
 renders them criminally and dangerously indifferent to the 
 great salvation of the gospel. It reduces and detains them 
 under bondage to corrupt affections. It contributes more 
 than any other thing, perhaps, to the victories of temptation. 
 It betrays them into refuges of lies, and encourages them 
 to build their confidence on the most deceptive foundations. 
 
 FjEST.-^Inconsideration keeps men in ignorance on the 
 
143 
 
 only points which are of essential importance to them; points 
 inseparably connected with their real felicity, both in this 
 life, and in the life of the world to come. To persons who 
 will not permit themselves to think— to reflect — to be seri- 
 ous — reason ceases to be a light — the Bible becomes a dead 
 letter — and the occurrences of providence, so many fortui- 
 tous accidents, without guidance, and without design. It is 
 only he who is in tlie habit of communing with his own heart, 
 and whose spirit makcth diligent search, that can become a 
 proficient in the science of religious truth and duty. Wliat 
 can he know of the divine Being, or his works and ways, 
 Mvho never turns his contemplations upon these noblest of 
 objects? What can she know of herself, who is always 
 abroad in quest of what may not immediately concern her, 
 and seldom, or never, at home, exploring her own heart, 
 and meditating on the end and aim of her existence? Now, 
 if acquaintance with these interesting subjects be desirable, 
 liow much is that inconsideration to be reprobated which de- 
 tains us from it? 
 
 Second. — This same fault deadens the moral sensibili- 
 ties of men. If the opinion be well founded, that before a 
 bad man can be converted, or turned to that which is right, 
 he must be convinced that he is a bad man, and that his prin- 
 ciples and deportment are wrong; it is equally certain that 
 before he can be convinced, he must be brought to reflection. 
 How can we reach the conscience wrapped up in the securi- 
 ty of indifference; or diverted from our appeal by the seduc- 
 tions of unreflecting levity? Unless we can prevail upon 
 the sinner to make a solemn pause, and deliberately to in- 
 quire what that thing is which we call sin, and which we 
 affirm to be exceedingly sinful, and in the divine view abom- 
 inable and detestable; unless we can prevail upon him im- 
 partially to scrutinize his own actions; unless we can pre- 
 vail upon him to open his eyes and fix his thoughts on the 
 perilous issues of unrepented vice; vain is the hope that wc 
 may bring him into the fold of salvation, or reclaim him 
 from sinful habits. He will be unconscious of alleged 
 
143 
 
 i^uilt. He will be insensible to threatened misery. The 
 longer he indulges himself in this absence of serious thought, 
 the more difficult it will become to work upon his appre- 
 hensions. The susceptibility, of which, at first, the o]>era- 
 tions were hut dormant, will at length be extinct; and what 
 began in lethargy, will end in death. 
 
 Third. — Inconsideration renders men criminally and dan- 
 gerously indifferent to the great salvation of the gospel. 
 Not reflecting that God is angry with the wicked every day, 
 it is not to be expected that they will seek to be reconciled 
 to him. Not aware that without shedding of blood, there is 
 no remission of sin, it is not to be imagined that they will 
 avail themselves of the blood of sprinkling, dropping from 
 the wounds of that Lamb of God who only taketh away the 
 sin of the world. Unimpressed with the conviction tlnit 
 they come from a degenerate stock, that they have lost the 
 moral image of their Maker, and that of themselves they 
 are incompetent for any thing of value in tiie sight of spot- 
 less excellence; it would be no better than absurdity to sup- 
 pose that they will discern tlie necessity of divine succours, 
 or feel an impulse to pray for the influences of God's reno- 
 vating and quickening spirit. "They that are whole, need 
 not a physician," said the Master, "but they that are sick."* 
 And surely we may add, that neither will these apply to the 
 physician, unless they believe themselves to be sick, and iu 
 need of his services. It is true, we readily admit, in a cer- 
 tain sense, that every man who wears the Christian name 
 pays respect to the Christian salvation. Amongst all the 
 sinners with which Zion abounds, there is not an iilvidual 
 who does not hope for happiness, and who does not profess 
 to hope for it, through the name of Christ. But what we 
 have to deplore is, that from this unfortunate temper of in- 
 consideration, the hope is too often such an one as must 
 eventuate in shame: a groundless, treacherous, and des- 
 tructive hope. 
 
 ♦Matth.ix. 12. 
 
144 
 
 J'oTJRTH. — Inconsideration reduces and detains men un-- 
 der bondage to corrupt affections. A little sobriety of 
 tliought, one should imagine, is all tliat is wanted to de- 
 monstrate to the sinner that every lust is a tyrant, and eve- 
 ry vicious habit slavery of the vilest and most ignoble spe- 
 cies. Men may glory in rejecting what they are pleased 
 to call the fetters of superstition; they may revolt against 
 the salutary restraints of wisdom and religion, as against a 
 yoke too grievous to be borne. But while they call them- 
 selves free, and promise freedom to all who will adhere 
 to them, they are, in truth, the bond slaves of corruption, 
 the veriest drudges in the service of Satan. Tlieir boasted 
 liberty is much like that political licentiousness which has 
 never yet failed to settle down into despotism. Happy they 
 whom the Son of God shall enfranchise! Happy they who 
 submit to the influences of true religion! — For where the 
 spirit of the Lord is, there, and there only, is liberty. But 
 who are they? Shew me the persons thus made free, and 
 thus voluntarily submitting to the wholesome government of 
 divine grace. Shew me these, and I will shew you in them 
 men who have accustomed themselves to think witli serious- 
 ness and sobriety; women who have brought themselves to 
 believe that they were placed in this world, and made to oc- 
 cupy the stations of daughters, wives, and mothers, for some 
 better purpose than to dress, to dance, to sing, to visit, and 
 be admired. It is not to be expected that persons blind to 
 their real situation; persons too thoughtless and careless to 
 be convinced that they are enthralled by sinful principles 
 and affections which say to them, come, and straightway 
 they come; which say to them, go, and with a promptitude of 
 obedience, equally despicable, they go; it is not to be ex- 
 pected that these unthinking persons will arise from their 
 degraded posture, and assert the holy liberty of redeemed 
 Christians; of enlightened believers; or of understanding 
 men. 
 
 Fifth. — Inconsideration contributes more, perhaps, than 
 
145 
 
 any other thing to the victories of temptation. Temptation 
 is indebted to this cause for by far the larsjest pr«>poition of 
 its powerj and generally retires from a conflict with the 
 man of thought and reflection. But inasmuch as human 
 nature is encompassed with infirmities; inasmuch as tlie 
 things of the present life assume a diversity of forms, each 
 captivating to the senses, tbe appetites, and the passions; 
 and inasmuch as our nature has to struggle, not only against 
 flesh and blood, but against spiritual vi^ickednesses in high 
 places; against the rulers of the darkness of this world; 
 against our original enemy, who is still intent upon our des- 
 truction; how can they be safe who will not permit them- 
 selves to reflect upon their dangers? How can they escape 
 present infelicities and future perdition who leave the passes 
 to their hearts unguarded by serious consideration? Per- 
 sons who cannot be brought to weigh in the balance of a so- 
 ber spirit the limited extent of this world's possessions, 
 splendours, and enjoyments, against the large ca]>acitips of 
 their minds; the insignificance of things temporal against 
 the dignity of their high calling in Christ Jesus; and the 
 mutable and fleeting character of the utmost good that can 
 now be attained, against the eternal duration of that state 
 to which their faith and hope should be directed; have no 
 shield to protect them in the day of trial; no armour which 
 can withstand the shock of the meanest of their spiritual 
 foes. 
 
 Sixth. — Inconsideration betrays men into refuges of 
 lies, and encourages them to build their confidence on the 
 most deceptive foundations. Hence it is that we so often 
 find sinners reposing themselves, amidst the uninterrupted 
 pursuits of iniquity and profligacy, upon the infinitude of 
 the divine mercy. They do not allow themselves to remem- 
 ber the multitude of comminations published on the part of 
 God against the impenitent workers of iniquity. They 
 have no memory for those terrors of the Lord, which are 
 set in array against the obstinate sinner by the volume of 
 T 
 
146 
 
 inspiration. They will not reflect that ue who has denom- 
 inated himself the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long- 
 suifering, slow to anger, abundant in goodness, keeping 
 mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression and 
 sin, has in the same breath, declared that he will by no 
 means clear the guilty. Neither will they reflect upon the 
 legitimate character of this attribute of God. Tliey will not 
 take the time or the trouble to discriminate between the 
 blind impulse of natural feelings amongst susceptible men, 
 and that compassion, which being in indissoluble union with 
 wisdom and righteousness, is worthy of the Supreme Ruler 
 of the universe. For what justice would there be to up- 
 right beings; what encouragement to virtue, if the wicked 
 were permitted to add sin to sin — outrage to outrage — in- 
 gratitude to disobedience — obduracy and impenitency to 
 ingratitude — and all this in peace and safety? But, in this 
 way, the inconsiderate never reason. On these things they 
 never think. And in this respect, it may well be said of 
 them, that they trust in a lying vanity. 
 
 Hence, also, it is not uncommon to find persons leaning 
 with full, but mistaken reliance, on the great atonement of 
 the gospel. They have been introduced into the church by 
 baptism. They have been educated in the Christian faith. 
 They have never renounced their creed, and feel no dispo- 
 sition to renounce it; and are they not told that whoever be- 
 lieveth on the Son of God shall not perish, but have ever- 
 lasting life? Would they but read and reflect, surely they 
 would learn that there is such a thing as a creed of no sig- 
 nificance as to our acceptance in the sight of Heaven; they 
 would learn that there may be a dead faith; a faith consis- 
 tent with the loss of the soul; a faith no better than that be- 
 lief which makes the devils tremble. Would they but read 
 and reflect, they would be convinced that for this purpose 
 was the Son of God manifested, that he might destroy the 
 works of the devil; that he cannot be in any sense the min- 
 ister of sin; that he was appointed to save his people from 
 
147 
 
 their sinsj and that no man who remains in his sins can of 
 right encourage himself in the hope that Christ's redemption 
 has had its full and proper effect upon him. Would they 
 but read and reflect, they would be satisfied that if it is writ- 
 ten, "there is now no condemnation to those who are in 
 Christ Jesus," it is thus written on the express supposition 
 that "they walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit." 
 
 Again — from this same unreflecting temper it is that men 
 are so prone to procrastinate in spiritual matters; and to 
 depend upon the anticipated reformation of some future and 
 more auspicious day. It is impossible to conceive of any tiling 
 more uncertain than tiie life of man, as it respects his own 
 knowledge of its duration, and his own power over it. Not- 
 withstanding which, so little do most men concern them- 
 selves to deliberate on their course of conduct with refer- 
 ence to this particular, that, were we to judge from ajipear- 
 ances, they count with all the fullness of assurance upon 
 length of days, vigour of faculties, and stability and con- 
 stancy of resolutions. Not only do they overlook the un- 
 certainty of life; but they forget that habit is a second na- 
 ture; that sin, like its opposite, holiness, is in its nature 
 progressive; that it acquires vigour from indulgence; that 
 to renounce it becomes a task every hour more difl5cult; and 
 that there is but too much reason to fear lest the difliculties 
 which are in present operation against the work of repent- 
 ance, may continue to operate; and that they will, most 
 probably, grow into more formidable dimensions, and forti- 
 fy themselves by auxiliary obstacles until oppositions shall 
 at length become morally insuperable. What thinking man 
 will neglect a comparative certainty for a real uncertainty? 
 But this does the man of inconsideration. What thinking 
 man will defer his most important concerns when he has it 
 in his power to attend to them? But this does the man of 
 inconsideration. What thinking man will retire from col- 
 lision with minor inconveniencies, and delay the encounter, 
 until from age they become more seriously formidable? But 
 
148 
 
 this does the man of inconsideration. What thinkings man 
 neglects tlie opportunity that serves for makin.a: his calling 
 and election sure, and establishing his hopes upon the rock 
 of everlasting ages? But this does tiie man of inconsidera- 
 tion. What thinking man defies the King of Terrors^ 
 makes a covenant with his eyes that they shall not look up- 
 on the yawning grave; presumes on long life and vigorous 
 healtli; builds on to-morrow's resolutions, and trusts in 
 next year's repentance? Bat this, all this, the man of in- 
 consideration does, or seems to do. And were we even to 
 admit that the accumulated transgressions of a long life may 
 be followed hy bitter regrets and poignant anguish in the 
 hour of death; what thinking man will stake his eternal re- 
 pose upon the sufficiency of a death-bed repentance — a point 
 ill almost every case, problematical? But this, it is to be 
 feared, the man of inconsideration is too prone to do. 
 
 Thus, I have, as was proposed, endeavoured to represent 
 with plainness and sincerity, the pernicious tendency, and, 
 in very many cases, the fatal effects, of inconsideration, 
 
 I cannot relinquish the subject without exhorting you to 
 guard against a fault so formidably inimical to your best 
 and highest interests. You have sometimes heard of fun- 
 damental errors and damnable heresies in doctrine. How 
 much soever these are to be deprecated, they are not more 
 pernicious, I am well persuaded, than the error of having 
 no doctrine — the heresy of having no thought. Inconsider- 
 ation is the root of all errors. Nor does any thing tend 
 with a more efficacious and rapid momentum to the ever- 
 lasting ruin of the soul, than inconsideration. 
 
 The capacity to tliink — to reflect — to compare — ^to con- 
 trast — to infer — to weigh and ponder things, is that which, 
 of all peculiarities, most eminently distinguishes you from 
 the brute tribes, and most nearly allies you to angelick na- 
 tures. Why, then, should you neglect your privileges? 
 Why undervalue your prerogative? Why betray the essen- 
 tial dignity of your rank in the scale of being? Why sink, 
 
149 
 
 aelf-degraded, into the level of baser natures? Made, in 
 tills respect, but a littJe lower than the angels; made lords 
 over this inferiour creation; let not the order of things be 
 so far inverted that your subjects may ascend to an unnat- 
 ural equality with those appointed to govern them. 
 
 Men are seldom indisposed to consideration on the pur- 
 suits and business of the present life. You can bring all the 
 powers of your minds, however enlarged these may be, to 
 bear upon a point of great temporal concernment. You do 
 not require much intreaty to induce you to deliberate ma- 
 turely in matters of worldly prudence. However you may 
 mistake in your reasonings here; however you may reason 
 yourselves into unjustifiable views of the importance of fa- 
 vourite objects of pursuit; you still reason. Whence is it 
 in the name of all that is valuable, whence is it that a con- 
 duct which you deem provident and wise as it respects things 
 temporal, is abandoned by you when things eternal are at 
 stake? It is true, things temporal are visible, tangible, au- 
 dible; things eternal are not. But is this sufficient to au- 
 thorize such fluctuation and diversity in the behaviour of a 
 rational nature? Take less thought hence forward, what ye 
 shall eat, and what ye shall drink, and wherewithal ye shall 
 be clothed; and provide with more diligent and anxious 
 study things that may be found unto praise, and honour and 
 glory at the coming of the great God, and our Saviour, Je- 
 sus Christ. 
 
 Put forth the exertions of an honest and resolute mind, 
 and doubt not of the propitious co-operation of the spirit of 
 God. He is never wanting to those who are not wanting 
 to themselves. 
 
 If you make vigorous efforts to fix your attention on the 
 realities of religion and the eternal world, he will crown 
 these efforts with success. If you consider what he says in 
 his word and providences, he will give you understanding 
 in all necessary things, and lead and guide you into all ne- 
 cessary truth. Pray fervently and importunately for iliu- 
 
150 
 
 minating, animating, and confirming gracej and it shall as- 
 suiedly be communicated for your furtherance and aid in 
 the spiritual life. What great works may not he do, who 
 has omnipotence working in him both to will and to do? 
 
 Although the difficulties attendant m the first instance up- 
 on the duty which I am enforcing, may present it in a repul- 
 sive attitude, yet this will not long continue. As you proceed 
 in it, it will acquire facility. It will assume a more win- 
 ning form. New habits will beget new tastes; and perse- 
 verance in sober reflection give you at length a disrelish for 
 inconsiderate levity. 
 
 If you will suffer yourselves to be prevailed on to think 
 upon your ways, then, and not before, will you be brought 
 to turn your feet into the happy paths of God's command- 
 ments: then, and not before, will you exhibit to Christ and 
 his church that reformation which is unto life, and which 
 shall never be repented of: then, and not before, will the 
 spell in which corruption has bound you, be broken, and 
 your eyes will be opened to behold your chains, and your 
 deliverer; your guilt, and your propitiation; your misery, 
 and your advocate; your danger, and your shield; your ig- 
 norance, and your teacher; your helplessness, and your sup- 
 porter; your indigence, and your portion; your depend- 
 ance, and your God, 
 
 And above all things, I beseech you to remember that the 
 duty which I am requiring at your hands, lies deep at the 
 foundation of whatever hope the Bible permits you to en- 
 tertain. As religious belief and religious practice are the 
 most serious of all serious things, so it is expected of you on 
 the part of Almighty God that you think upon them with all 
 imaginable seriousness. Do not allow yourselves to imagine, 
 for one moment, that Heaven is to be gained by the careless 
 and the inconsiderate. No: they that forget God shall sure- 
 ly be turned into hell. Those hopeless regions, where the 
 impenitent suffer the vengeance of eternal fire, could disclose 
 many a sad tale of inconsideratioiif and many an awful ca- 
 tastrophe of unthinking sin. 
 
151 
 
 There is a path in which the sober-minded few pursue 
 their patient and their thoughtful journey. It leads to the 
 gates of the new Jerusalem; to the abodes of the just made 
 perfect; to the everlasting rest in which the labours of virtue 
 are recompensed; to the immediate presence of Jesus. 
 Brethren, this — this — is the way: walk ye in it. — Amen. 
 
©IBSKDM mf^ 
 
 ON DEVOTION. 
 
 JS IJVCLUDIJK'G THE READI.YG AJ^TD HEARING OF THE 
 WORD OF GOD—MEDITATION'— PRAYER— PRAISE— AJVn 
 ATTENDANCE ON RITUAL ORDINANCES. 
 
 A SACRAMENTAL DISCOURSE. 
 
 PSALM, IXXIII. 28. 
 
 ^It is good for me to draw near to God." 
 
 ^'Jt is vain to serve God; and what profit is it that we have 
 kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully 
 before the Lord'of Hosts?"* «'What is the Almighty that 
 we should serve him? and what profit should we have if we 
 pray unto him?"f Such expressed or implied, is the lan- 
 guage of multitudes. But it is, in allv^ho use it, the lan- 
 guage of misconception: in some, of a misconception, crim- 
 inal in a very high degree, because with perfect ease vinci- 
 ble. No satisfaction that a j-ational nature can desire, 
 is foreign to those ways which are pleasantness, to those 
 paths which are peace. Every man who has tasted, has 
 found that the Lord is gracious. Every man who has 
 made the trial, will confess that God's commandments are 
 not grievous, and that in keeping them there is great re- 
 ward. Every man, tlie eyes of whose understanding are 
 opened upon the beauties of holiness, will be prompt to say, 
 in the words of the holy Psalmist, <*lt is good for me to draw 
 near to God.'* 
 
 • Mai. Hi, U. fJob, xxi. 15 
 
 U 
 
154 
 
 Devotion is "profitable unto men." This in brief, is the 
 proposition embraced by the text. 
 
 Devotion, with reference to this proposition, must be view- 
 ed comprehensively; as including the reading and hearing of 
 the word of God; meditation; prayer; praise; and attend- 
 ance on ritual ordinances. 
 
 It is my design, at present, to take this view of it. I hope, 
 through the divine favour, to recommend these particular 
 and highly important duties of Christian devotion, by illus- 
 trating the benefits to be expected from the serious perform- 
 ance of them. 
 
 In thefrst place. — "It is good for us to draw near to 
 God," in the devout reading and hearing of his most holij 
 word. "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: 
 the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple: 
 the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the 
 commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes: 
 the fear of the Lord is clean enduring forever: the judgments 
 of the Lord are true, and rigliteous altogether. More to be 
 desired arc they than gold; yea, than much fine gold: 
 sweeter also than honey, and the honey-comb. Moreover 
 by them is thy servant warned; and in the keeping of them 
 there is great reward."* "All scripture, given by inspira- 
 tion of God, is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for cor- 
 rection, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of 
 God may he perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good 
 works."! From this source we may derive <*understanding 
 in all things" necessary to virtue and happiness, to our 
 present sanctification and our future glory. God's word is 
 the best resolver of our doubts and scruples. It makes us 
 acquainted with ourselves. It is a mirror presenting to us 
 in their true appearance the thoughts and intents of our 
 hearts. He who reads his Bible, and with it collates the 
 ordinary operations of his mind, and general tenor of his 
 conduct, may, with no small measure of certainty, decide 
 
 * Psalm, xix. 7— 11. t2. Tim. iii. 16. 17. 
 
155 
 
 upon liis own moral standing. He will discover his peculiar 
 weaknesses, the points in which he is most exposed to vi- 
 cious influences and suggestions. He will acquire a famil- 
 iarity with the road delineated by the autlior and finisher 
 of his faith, which will enable him to walk in it with up- 
 rightness, resolution, steadfastness, and zeal. 
 
 I confidently appeal to the experience of believers when 
 I assert, that, for the most part, in no way is that langour 
 of spirits which too frequently depresses and retards the re- 
 ligious man, so effectually removed; in noway is his soul so 
 speedily and happily invigorated, as in the diligent read- 
 ing of the word of God, and attending upon its ministra- 
 tions. There is a voice in the word of God which will 
 make itself be heard. There is an agitating and vivifying 
 power in it which will make itself be felt. You peruse a 
 passage of it, and take fire at some burning thought. You 
 listen to the faithful exposition of it in the publick assem- 
 blies, and find a living and prolifick principle transfused by 
 it into your souls. 
 
 With equal confidence I make my appeal to the experi- 
 . ence of believers when I assert, that no where can the afflic- 
 ted saint look for so rich and sweet a consolation as in the 
 pages which record the sure mercies of David. Hence the 
 author of the CXIX Psalm; "Remember thy word unto thy 
 servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope." "This 
 is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quicken- 
 ed me."* There is no distress which may not find here both 
 its refuge and its balm. If worldly sorrows prevail; if the 
 tears of nature fall upon the tomb; if deep call unto deep, 
 and wave chase wave, the glqom thicken, and the tempest 
 lower; the Bible and the preacher tell you that whom the 
 Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgcth every son whom 
 he receiveth; that the more you suffer, being righteous, and 
 retaining your integrity, the nearer you approach in resem- 
 blance to the captain of salvation, who was made perfect 
 
 •Psalm, rxix, 49. 50. 
 
156 
 
 through sufferings,* while like him you shall be clothed with 
 a recompense proportioned to your obedience; in a word, 
 that <^your affliction," which, however poignant, is compa- 
 ratively <'light," and however protracted, is relatively "but 
 for a moment, worketh for you a far more exceeding and 
 eternal weight of glory."* 
 
 If you labour under the inward disquietudes of a wounded 
 spirit; if you walk in darkness, and see no light; if you la- 
 ment that God hath bidden his face from you; if you tremble 
 lest the spark of holy fire be extinct in your bosoms, or lest 
 you have deceived yourselves in imagining that it was ever 
 lodged there; if you fear that you are aliens from his mer- 
 cies who wore our nature; the Bible and the preacher tell 
 you to w ait for a God of providence in his mysterious ways: 
 the Bible and the preacher tell you, that though justice and 
 judgment be the habitation of his throne, mercy and truth 
 go before his face; that he is the father of mercies, and the 
 God of consolation; that he will not break the bruised reed 
 nor quench the smoking flax; that with him there is forgive- 
 ness, and with him plenteous redemption: the Bible and the 
 preacher bid you, in the language of divine compassion ad- 
 dressed of old to the weary and the heavy laden, "come unto 
 Jesus and find rest:" they place the cross before you, and 
 bid you confess, that it is impossible God should spurn the 
 trembling penitent — the broken spirit — the contrite heart — 
 for whom Christ died. soothing voice of truth! heal- 
 ing balm of heavenly consolation! lively oracles of that 
 God who is love! It is good for us to draw near where your 
 blessed influences are like the dew and the rain upon Is- 
 rael! 
 
 In the second place. — *<lt is good for us to draw near to 
 God," in devout meditaUon. I do not mean that solemn- 
 ity and fixedness of mind with which every religious duty 
 ought to be performed. I mean that particular collection 
 and concentration of thought on divine things, which exists 
 
 2. Cor. iv. 17. 
 
157 
 
 apart from other duties; which is, itself, a spccifick service, 
 ami direct act of religion. 
 
 That you may form an estimate of the benefits of medita- 
 tion, I will select for your consideration a few of those par- 
 ticulars which should form its subject matter. I will pro- 
 pose the chief end of man — the benevolence of the Deity — 
 the beatitude of Heaven. 
 
 1. — "What is the chief end of man?" This is the intro- 
 ductory question in the catechisms of our church; the an- 
 swer to which is thus made by the largest of these excellent 
 summaries; "Man's chief and highest end is to glorify God, 
 and fully to enjoy him forever." Yes, my brethren; such, 
 and no less than this, is the exalted destiny of human nature. 
 Look around you: is there that object in all the wide cre- 
 ation of matter and of form in which your souls can rest 
 with a plenitude of satisfaction undiminished by a farther 
 wish? a placidity of contentment unruffled by a higher aspi- 
 ration? Look within you: are there not capacities of wish- 
 ing — of desiring — of exjjecting — in whose boundless extent 
 all things beneath the heavens are lost? As well might the 
 maniac think to imprison the ocean in a cave dug by his 
 own vain industry, as the immortal spirit seek her being's 
 end and aim in things temporal. God has made all natures 
 for himself. "For of him, and through him, and to him, 
 are all things: to whom be glory forever."* All his works 
 bear the print of his perfections. All creation publishes 
 his praise. But man^ especially; man made after his im- 
 age; man endued with understanding to know liim; with 
 affections to love him; with capacity to imitate, serve, and 
 enjoy him; man should "glorify him, with the body and 
 the spirit which are his."t Thus glorifying him, thus ded- 
 icating your being to its mighty author, look forward 
 with exultation to the completion of your destiny, to the 
 magnificent recompense in which the services of a few fleet- 
 ing years shall eventuate. For man's chief end is not more 
 
 *Rom. xi. 36. | 1. Cor. vi. 20. 
 
158 
 
 to glorify God, than to enjoy him forever; eternally to pos- 
 sess tlie utmost possible good, in its uncreated fountain and 
 original. "Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and af- 
 terwards receive me to glory. Whom have I in Heaven but 
 thee? and there is none upon the earth that I desire beside 
 thee. My flesii and my heart faileth: but God is the 
 strength of my heart, and my portion forever."* How use- 
 ful, then, the meditation that fixes in the mind of man this 
 holy, this sublime truth, that lie is made for God! 
 
 II. — Consider, as a subject of meditation, the benevo- 
 lence of the Deity. In his essence, in his character, and in 
 his operations, <« God is love.'* <«His mercy endures forever," 
 But what is this quality in God? It has nothing of the weak- 
 ness of animal affection. It is wholly moral or spiritual. 
 It is not communicative in equal degrees, or in like manner 
 to all. All intelligent creatures, as such, are beloved of 
 their Creator; although by obduracy and impenitency in 
 crime, they may compel him, in vindication of his authority 
 as governor of the universe, to treat them with destroying 
 severity. But his more refined, his godlike benevolence; 
 that property of Ids nature, which among tlieologians bears 
 the name of complacential love, is reserved for upright and 
 holy beings; for the happy spirits, whether angelical or hu- 
 man, who are his children not more by production, than by 
 the stamp of his likeness in righteousness and true holiness. 
 <'The righteous Lord loveth righteousness, and, therefore, 
 his countenance belioldeth the upright."f His approbation 
 is proportioned to their attainments, and grows and advances 
 with them. What, my brethren, should constitute the chief 
 object of your pursuit, if not this special favour of God? 
 What will inspire you with true deliglit — what will surround 
 you with true glory — what will endow you with true riches, 
 and imperishable possessions, if not this complacential love 
 of him whose gifts and calling are without repentance? 
 
 If you reflect but for a moment on the character of the 
 
 » Psahn, Ixxiii. 24—26. f Psalm, xi. 7 
 
159 
 
 Almighty; if you keep in your minds this memorable account 
 of him, *'that he is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity,"* 
 and cannot look upon sin but with deep abhorrence; if you 
 maintain the impression of this solemn truth, that "without 
 holiness no man shall see the Lord;"| if your meditations 
 run customarily in this channel; blessed are the consequences 
 which may be expected to result from them. To secure 
 that favour of his which is life to the immortal soul; that 
 loving-kindness of his which is more to be coveted than the 
 highest felicities of your secular condition; 1 think 1 hear 
 you disclaiming all obedience to the law and its members; I 
 think I see you walking with invigorated step and blame- 
 less constancy in all the statutes and ordinances of the Lord, 
 III. — Consider, as a subject of meditation, the beatitude 
 of Heaven. "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither 
 have entered into the heart of man, the things which God 
 hath prepared for them that love him.":}^ But though the 
 soul be impeded in her flight, let her not cease to soar. The 
 proudest eminences of worldly splendour and felicity remain 
 so indescribably below "the glory to be revealed" in the 
 righteous, that there are few points of similitude, if any, by 
 which the one may be made illustrative of the other. Hence, 
 "it doth not yet appear what we shall be."§ But, however, 
 clouds and darkness rest upon our distant inheritance, the 
 darkness is not total; the clouds are not impenetrable. So 
 far hath the gospel of the Son of God "brought life and im- 
 mortality to light," that the fact of a future state of rest and 
 peace and glory for believers is irrefutably demonstrated; 
 and its character and pro])erties sufficiently developed to 
 convince us of its. unspeakable excellence and desirableness. 
 The present life is chequered by the alternations of pleasure 
 and pain. It is exposed to rapid changes; to deceptions 
 promises; to fearful apprehensions; to successive separations; 
 to crumbling fortunes; to withering attachments; to violated 
 trusts; to cankering ingratitude; to poverty, disease, and 
 
 • Habak, i, 13. f Heb. xii. 14. :^ 1 Cor. n. 9. § 1 John, iii. 2. 
 
160 
 
 death; and what is more bitter than all these, to that enemy 
 of God and man, that soul-murderer, sin. Turn tlien, from 
 this spectacle of vanity and disorder, and contemplate "tlie. 
 rest which remains for tlie people of God."^ Contemplate 
 that presence of God, and of the Lamb whence «»sorrow and 
 sighing flee away."t Contemplate that assembly where no 
 breath escapes that does not waft eternal hallelujahs. Con- 
 template that state of being which no impurity defiles, no 
 reverse impoverishes, no nialady afflicts, no death inter- 
 rupts, no vanity impairs. 
 
 It is not difficult, my brethren, to foresee the issue of 
 such contemplations It is not difficult, nor is it unreason- 
 able to believe that, with such objects in view, you will has- 
 ten to abjure allegiance to a world whose most flattering 
 prospects die upon the pained vision; whose most seducing 
 fashion passeth speedily away. Prefen-ing the feeblest 
 hope of a reception into tliese everlasting iiabitations, to this 
 world arrayed in its most fascinating attire, you will im- 
 plore the grace of the floly Spirit to cause you to abound in 
 this hope; you will improve the influences of God the sancti- 
 fier, to make you meet to be partakers of the inheritance of 
 the saints in liglit. 
 
 Need I ask you, then, if it be good to draw near to God 
 in devout meditation? Or is it a subject on which you can 
 permit yourselves to hesitate? Can you doubt that it is 
 profitable rightly to estimate the end and aim of your exis- 
 tence? Can you doubt that it is profitable to know as much 
 as you can know of the love of God? Can you doubt that 
 it is profitable to anticipate with the faith and hope of a re- 
 generated soul, the beatitude of Heaven?, No — I will not 
 suppose it possible that you can entertain a doubt on the 
 subject. 
 
 In the third place. — «<It is good for us to draw near to 
 God" in prayer. Having, not very long since, in several 
 successive discourses, treated at large of the duty of prayer, 
 
 *" Heb. iv. 9. | Isaiah, xxxv. 10, 
 
161 
 
 it is not necessary, at present, to say more in commenda- 
 tion of it, that that it animates those graces, in the exercise 
 of which every godly person finds liis surest comfort and 
 highest felicity. 
 
 I. — Prayer keeps alive in the heart the sacred fire of love 
 to God. I have proposed, as one subject of your medita- 
 tion, the love of God to man. It is a theme on which you 
 cannot long meditate until your souls burn within you. Soon, 
 however, will the fire become extinct, unless it be «*fanned by 
 the breath of prayer." Prayer familiarizes you with an 
 object which you cannot behold without a soul-possessing 
 interest. Prayer detains you in a presence whose attrac- 
 tions, the longer you contemplate them, the more you will 
 admire^ and the longer you admire, the more firmly will 
 your inclinations and wishes be rivetted to them. 
 
 As gratitude includes love, so does prayer generally in- 
 clude the expression of gratitude. Prayer, properly so call- 
 ed, or petition, is the language of anticipation; thanksgiv- 
 ing, the language of memory. If, then, you accustom your- 
 selves to record in your bosoms the mercies of God's throne; 
 if it be your habit to give thanks at the remembrance of his 
 deeds of power and wisdom, of holiness and justice, of faith- 
 fulness and truth, of goodness and compassion; you will act 
 more conformably to that statute which bids you "love the 
 Lord your God witli all your heart, and with all your soul, 
 and with all your mind;"*= "you will run in the path of du- 
 ty and not be weary, and walk in it and not faint;"f your 
 affection will soar with a bolder wing, and to a loftier 
 height. 
 
 II. — Prayer cherishes confidence in God. Prayer, in- 
 deed, to be acceptable, must be "the prayer of faith;" of re- 
 liance on God's promises; on his protecting care and pro- 
 viding goodness; his ability and his willingness to do what- 
 ever may be for our true interest, our everlasting welfare. 
 This is a disposition of mind which is improved by cultiva- 
 
 * Matth , sxii. 37. + Isaiah, xl, 31. 
 
 w 
 
163 
 
 tion, and derives solidity and force from habit. The multi- 
 plied and strongly-marked vicissitudes of providential ap- 
 pointment, have a tendency to confirm you in this holy confi- 
 dence; and their tendency, in this respect, will invariably 
 issue successfully, if with them you connect <»supp]ications, 
 prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks."* 
 
 Very opposite are the consequences ensuing to two oppo- 
 site descriptions of persons, from the trials through which 
 both are alike made to pass. The one consecrate their tri- 
 als by their 'prayers; the other do not; the one see God in all 
 events; to the other he is as invisible in his operations as in 
 his essence; thesCf therefore, are left, by every change of 
 circumstance, in disquietude and irritation; while those are 
 rendered more tranquil, more resigned, more submissive, 
 more patient, more meek, more dutiful, more unshaken in 
 confidence on him whose providence is over all. What, 
 then, my bretliren, cannot prayer do, when it thus extracts 
 sweets out of bitterness, and joy out of grief? 
 
 III. — It is of tl»e essence of prayer to spiritualize. So 
 long as you cultivate a praying temper of soul, you may be 
 said, in the strictest import of the phrase, to "have your 
 conversation in Heaven." This is the natural and only 
 practicable intercourse of man with God. And how desira- 
 ble the maintainance of this divine intercourse! How wor- 
 thy of pursuit and cultivation, that habit of sentiment and 
 action, whatever it may be, which promises most effectual- 
 ly to secure its continuance amidst so many seductions by 
 the world and the flesh! The spiritualization of man, bis 
 abstraction from the grossness of material and sensual in- 
 fluences, his deliverance from the dominion of principles 
 merely animal, the implantation of the kingdom of Heaven 
 within him, this is the grand aim of the gospel; this, the will 
 of God in Christ Jesus concerning us; and this aim, my 
 brethren, is then promoted; and this will of God concerning 
 us is then fulfilled, when we draw near to God in prayer. 
 
 * 1 Tim. ii. I. 
 
163 
 
 Habituatin,^ yourselves to think of the Almighty, and to 
 address him as the Creator and first cause of your well-be- 
 ing, you will not be able to divest your minds of the per- 
 suasion that he is that one great object^ the possession of 
 which comprises all that the most enlarged capacities can 
 contain, or the most towering desires pursue; the posses- 
 sion of which is in itself, the eternal life of the soul. But in 
 the continued workisigs of this persuasion, is it possible for 
 you not to discern your progress in spiritualization? Is it 
 possible that in the devout exercise of prayer, you can con- 
 template the Deity with eyes thus opened upon nobler scenes, 
 and turn them again with animal delight to "behold vanity?" 
 
 IV. — Prayer fosters piety not more than philanthropy. 
 Performed in the spirit and manner in which it ought to be, 
 and out of which it need not hope to be accepted, it express- 
 es love to man, as well as love to God; tlius casting the soul 
 into the mould of universal kindness; thus feeding in her 
 that holy flame of sweet affection, whic!i an apostle asserts 
 to be "the fulfilling of the law."* Accustoming yourselves 
 to unite in social addresses to the throne of grace, do you 
 not feel a growing interest in each others weal? I speak to 
 believers on whose souls faith has imprinted the image of a 
 benevolent God. Accustoming yourselves, in your pious 
 supplications, to identify your own helplessness with the ne- 
 cessities of others; to regard all mankind as one with you in 
 derivation from a sinful stock, and one with you in redemp- 
 tion by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ; are not your hearts 
 enlarged? Are not your sympathies enlivened? Are not your 
 aversions buried? Is not your love without dissimulation? 
 Do you not bow to the constraining power of that charity 
 which is "the end of the commandment," a charity proceed- 
 ing "out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of 
 faith unfeigned?"! 
 
 Since then, prayer keeps alive in* the heart the sacred fire 
 of love to God; since it cherishes confidence in him; since 
 
 • Rom. xiii. 10. f 1 Tim. i. 5. 
 
161 
 
 its distinguishing tendency is to spiritualize the liuniaft 
 character; since it fosters, expands, invigorates, and sancti- 
 fies the social principle; justifiable surely, and worthy of all 
 credit and acceptance is the assertion that "it is good to 
 draw near to God" in prayer. 
 
 In the fourth place. — "It is good for us to draw near to 
 God" in the celebration of his high praises. I mean particu- 
 larly that celebration in which musick is employed. The 
 introduction of musick into divine worship, has been nearly 
 universal; and that, both as to time and place. It has en- 
 tered into the rites of all religions. Paganism enlisted it 
 into its service, and fabled that the musical art was tlie in- 
 vention of its gods. And, indeed, I know not what art, 
 working upon the soul through a corporeal medium, merits 
 more than this the title of divine. The law of Christ's house 
 on this subject is too evident, one would suppose, to have 
 been mistaken. **Is any one rejoiced? let him sing psalms."* 
 It is the recommendation of one apostle, while another en- 
 joins the use of "psalms and hymns, and spiritual songs."t 
 Hence, one of the most admired, and most useful to the 
 church of the canonical books, derives its name. 
 
 The glory of musick, as connected with the worship of 
 God, the private devotion of believers, and the solemn ser* 
 vice of the church, is secured hy the frequent employment of 
 it in scripture to illustrate the occupations and pleasures of 
 the blessed in Heaven. There, with the loud and deep and 
 clear intonations of a musick in which the voice and the in- 
 strument are mingled, every thing that hath breath is made 
 to praise the Lord. *<I heard a voice from Heaven," writes 
 St. John, "as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of 
 a great thunder; and I heard the voice of harpers harping 
 with their harps; and they sung, as it were, a new song 
 before the throne. ":|: 
 
 Are there none of you, my brethren, who can sympathise 
 with the illustrious Augustine in the expression of his pious 
 
 * James, v. 13. f Eph. v. 19. i Rev. xiv. 2. 3, 
 
165 
 
 sensibilities? «'0! how have I wept," said this good pastor, 
 "how exceedingly moved and affected have I been at the 
 hymns, and songs, and harmonious voices of the church! 
 These voices pierced my ears; the truth penetrated my soul; 
 devout affections were stirred up; and tears of holy senti- 
 ment succeeded." Your experience can surely attest that 
 this eminent man stands not solitary among Christians, in 
 the confession, "it is good for me to draw near to God" in 
 the celebration of his high jnaises. 
 
 In the Jifth and last place. — "It is good for us to draw- 
 near to God" in attendance upon ritual ordinances, and more 
 particularly as it regards Christians, on the solemnity of 
 the holy communioii: I might say, indeed, in the use of both 
 the exhibitory seals of the covenant; but, at present, I will 
 confine myself to the ordinance of the supper. 
 
 My brethren, is it possible for you to conceive of truths 
 more important, facts more awfully impressive, than those 
 which the sacramental table submits to your view? It is a 
 monument erected to perpetuate the memory of the love of 
 God to a perishing world. It is an altar loaded with the 
 e:'iiblematical body and blood of Christ crucified. It re- 
 minds you that "God so loved the world, as to give his only 
 begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not 
 perish, but have everlasting life: for God sent not his Son 
 into the world to condemn the world; but that the world 
 through him might be saved:"* It reminds you that "Christ 
 also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us, an offer- 
 ing and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour."f 
 "The kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man"^ 
 thus "appearing" in these lively and eloquent tokens of the 
 atoning crucifixion; the Son of God thus "set forth before 
 you, humbling himself to death, even the death of the cross;"§ 
 are you not filled with the most exalted sensations? Do you 
 not experience a fulness of joy which the language of mor- 
 tals in vain essays to express? Supposing yourselves to be 
 
 • John iii. 16. 17. fEph. v. 2. +Tit. 3. 4. §PM1. ii. 8 
 
16(5 
 
 specially and savingly interested in the great events com- 
 memorated; of which you may he assured by a conscience tes- 
 tifying that you love God and make it your honest endeav- 
 our to keep his commandments; supposing this, where is 
 the favourite of high fortunes, proud prosperity, laureled 
 triumph, or gay revelry, with whom you would exchange 
 conditions? There lives not the man to whom you would 
 say, be mine thy fading and delusive gratifications, and 
 thine my hopes of heaven and glory. And do not these 
 hopes and joys add new weight to Ciiristian obligation? Do 
 they not lead you to conclude that if the Son of God "died 
 for you, you should not henceforth \Wq unto yourselves, but 
 unto him who died for you, and rose again?"* Assured, by 
 tlie memorials of divine grace exhibited before your eyes; 
 of a propitiatory oRVring made in your behalf by the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, can you hesitate to love him with the whole 
 heart, and obey liim witli the whole life? Can you liesitate 
 to bear about with you the dying of the Lord Jesus, that his 
 life also may be manifested in your mortal bodies? There 
 is no person, I am persuaded, who, partaking of this divine 
 ordinance with becoming affections, does not retire from it 
 with renewed zeal and animated loyalty. 
 
 Consider, also, that reflection which must suggest itself 
 to the mind of every devout communicant, "He that spared 
 not his own Son, but delivered him up for me, how^ shall he 
 not w ith him, also, freely give me all things?'*! Having be- 
 stowed on you this inestimable gift, is it to be supposed that 
 he will withhold aught that may he necessary to your true 
 felicity? What may you not expect from that loving kind- 
 ness, that tender mercy, which mingles its streams with the 
 blood of the Lamb? "Reconciled to God by the death of 
 his Son, shall you not much more be saved by his life?":}; 
 
 Such are some of the reflections which naturally grow out 
 of the service of the holy communion. Their beneficial com- 
 plexion is too evident to require illustration. 
 
 * 2. Cor. V. 15. fRom. viii. 32. ^ Rom. v. 10. 
 
i6r 
 
 It is good for us, therefore, to draw near to God in this 
 solemnity. 
 
 I have substantiated the position of the text to the full 
 extent of my design; I have demonstrated the profitableness 
 of devotion, in its most important particulars? and hasten 
 to relieve your attention. 
 
 God has commanded you to seek him while he may be 
 found, and to call upon him while he is near. He has, 
 moreover, taught you by his holy apostle that, if you draw 
 nigh to him, he also will draw nigh to you. The present 
 discourse has shewn you that a sense of interest, not less 
 than a sense of duty, demands of you submission to his les- 
 sons; obedience to his commandments. 
 
 Search the scriptures, therefore. Be not remiss in atten- 
 dance upon the ministry of the word. Meditate on God's 
 testimonies; on the end and aim of your being; the good- 
 ness of him who is your Creator, Redeemer, and Sancti- 
 fier; and the beatitude of those celestial habitations where 
 dwell the spirits of the just made perfect. Pray without 
 ceasing. Praise the Lord for his mercies, and for his won- 
 derful works. Lift up your hearts unto the Heavens. Unite 
 your voices with the angelick harmonies, and say, great 
 and marvellous are the works of God — worthy is the Lamb 
 that was slain to receive the blessings of a ransomed church. 
 
 Come to the altar of thank-offering, to tiie table of com- 
 munion; and there, with the cross before your eyes, take the 
 cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord; there, 
 be it said by each of you, "it is good for me to draw near 
 to thee, God! Unto whom should I go but unto thee? 
 thou hast the words of eternal life. Thou art my souPs 
 portion — thou my inheritance — thou my exceeding joy. 
 Draw me, and I will run after thee. O, that I knew where 
 I might find thee, that I might come even to thy seat!" — 
 Amen! 
 
©ISIBSI®^ S^?c 
 
 ON DEATH. 
 
 JOB, XVU. 11. 
 
 **My days are pasU my purposes are broken off, even the 
 thoughts of my heart.*' 
 
 These words were spoken in anticipation of the period of 
 death, wliich was then, as Job imagined, rapidly approach- 
 ing. The prospect aifectcd him, as if it had been the pre- 
 sent reality. *'If 1 wait,'' said he, "the grave is my house: 
 I have made my bed in the darkness; I have said to corrup- 
 tion, thou art my father; to the worm, thou art my mother 
 and my sister. And where is now my hope? As for my 
 hope, who shall see it?"* "My breath is corrupt; my days 
 are extinct; the graves are ready for me."f 
 
 Man's preeminence in the lower creation exhibits itself 
 in nothing witli more conspicuity than in his ability to 
 transport his thoughts into the regions of futurity, and 
 travel back in speculation to the scenes and occupations of 
 former years. There is a species of immensity in the hu- 
 man intellect. Its powers are circumscribed by no narrow 
 limits, unless they be considered relatively, and in contrast 
 with infinitude. Past actions and deportment — past senti- 
 ments and inclinations — give abundant employment to the 
 faculty of conscience. Events to come, their circumstances, 
 their cliararteristicks, their connections, their causes, and 
 their consequences, demand the exercise of human provi- 
 dence, 
 
 * Job, xvii. 13—15. f Job, xvii. 1 
 
 X 
 
170 
 
 Futurity is an object of deep concern to us, my brethren; 
 it can never be improper for us to take thought for to-mor- 
 row, or to frame purposes for to-morrow, provided that to- 
 morrow be eternity, for we are immortal beings. The great 
 error of mankind is that they do not extend their medita- 
 tions and their plans to a point sufficiently distant. They 
 are too apt to contract them within the limited sphere of 
 this system of vanity and shadows. Instead of thinking and 
 resolving with an eye fixed on everlasting objects, they are 
 all anxiety, and perpetually scheming, with reference to what 
 they shall eat and what they shall drink, and wherewithal 
 they shall he clothed; with reference to the interests, the 
 satisfactions, and the blandishments of a life that perishes. 
 
 Resolutions are sometimes formed which have an aspect 
 towards God and eternal things. But these are too often 
 the produce of necessity; the fruits of an agitated conscience, 
 apprehending the bitter consequences of past sins. It is 
 rarely tha:t we see them prosecuted with perseverance, or 
 performed with fidelity. The wound is soon healed over; 
 fear becomes pacified, and the resolution is forgotten or dis- 
 missed. You determine upon amendment of heart and life; 
 you determine to forsake the paths of folly, and to become 
 wise unto salvation. If you define the period when this pur- 
 pose is to be carried into execution, it is generally either 
 too remote to countenance any thing like the certainty of 
 attaining to it, or so unwisely selected with regard to at- 
 tending circumstances that any very desirable iinprovcment 
 of it need not be expected. It is either when advanced years 
 shall have destroyed that pliability so necessary to cliange 
 of habit, or when disease shall have impaired the powers of 
 the soul, and obscured her lights. 
 
 How frequently do you hear persons, not altogether blind 
 to the attractions of piety and virtue, express a design to do 
 great things for God and man. They will assist the poor. 
 They will reward the meritorious. Tliey will subscribe 
 bountifully to the establishment or repair of religious and 
 
i7i 
 
 cliai'itable institutions. Tliey will exert themselves to ex- 
 tend the interests of that kingdom which is not of tliis world. 
 But before they act upon these noble designs, they have 
 others, it seems, which more immediately and imperiously 
 demand their attention. They must labour for the meat 
 that perisheth. They must enlarge the curtains of their 
 habitations, and adorn their palaces with new magnificence. 
 They must make up a particular sum to invest in a certain 
 lucrative concern. They must add liouse to house, and field 
 to field. When the purposes of temporal interest, prosperi- 
 ty, and splendour are served, tlien, and not before, they will 
 act upon those nobler designs. Foolish calculators! who 
 would extend their operations into another year, while they 
 are ignorant what another day may bring forth; whose med- 
 itated "purposes" may be "broken off" by death. 
 
 As it fares with men's purposes, so fares it with "the 
 thoughts of" their "hearts;" their reasonings and their 
 hopes. Their condition, in this particular, is forcibly ex- 
 pressed in the Psalmist's exhibition of the delusive infer- 
 ences of the rich and powerful sinners of his times. "Their 
 inward thought is that their houses shall continue forever, 
 and tlieir dwelling places to all generations; they call their 
 lands after their own names. This their way is their folly; 
 yet their posterity approve tlieir sayings."* Not only do 
 mankind generally count upon the perpetuity of their secu- 
 lar establishments. They seem also, unwilling to admit the 
 possibility of any change affecting their persons and their 
 lives. Their mortal nature — the precarious tenure by which 
 they hold their present existence — is not retained with much 
 depth or permanence of impression in their remembrance. 
 They put far off the hour of death as an evil hour. It is 
 particularly difficult to persuade those of early years to view 
 it in any other light, or indeed to admit it at all into their 
 meditations. Go, they will say, to those whom time has 
 covered with his frost, or whom fatigues and cares may 
 
 •Tsalm, lix. 11. 13, 
 
±72 
 
 have reconciled to the prospect of a new state of things. We 
 have but just approached the festive table/ wliy should we 
 think of rising from it so soon? We have scarcely done 
 more than commence our onward march; why bid us pre- 
 pare already for a retreat? We will not interrupt our joys 
 by groundless surmises of an approaching end to them. 
 "The earthly house of our tabernacle" has all the stability 
 of a recent and unimpaired construction; and we cannot 
 allow ourselves to anticipate its ruin or its subversion. And 
 is it so? are these surmises groundless? May not a confla- 
 gration consume the house? May not a tornado tear down 
 its walls? May not an earthquake shatter its very founda- 
 tion and swallow up both its materials and its inhabitant? 
 Boast not thyself, youth, as the tenant of a castle of brass 
 and of adamant; but rather look upon thyself as a passenger 
 in a vessel of bulrushes over the trackless and perilous 
 main. Gaily careering over the billows, impelled by the 
 gentle but swift winged breeze, thy bark touches the con- 
 cealed rock, and in an instant, thou are lost. 
 
 If it be asked, "do not multitudes attain to a far greater 
 number of years than I have as yet been suffered to reckon 
 up?" the answer is presented in another question; **do not 
 multitudes, also, descend into the tomb with fewer years than 
 those which thou canst reckon up?" does death spare the 
 vigorous, or the beautiful form? has he pity on the infant of 
 days? The dark and silent grounds where the dust of thy 
 forefathers and thy brethren sleep, will teach thee a reply. 
 
 Expectations of bright, glowing, and felicitous scenes are 
 apt to animate the bosoms of all, but, in a peculiar manner, 
 those of young persons. These are fondly industrious in 
 painting for themselves highly coloured prospects of gaiety, 
 enjoyment and worldly success. They look forward with 
 confidence to the possession of every means of happiness, 
 every facility for the gratifying of their wishes; as if the 
 control of all occurrences were lodged in their hands. 
 Hope, certainly, is not a companion interdicted to the pil* 
 
173 
 
 grim of earth. Sad would be his journey uncheered by this 
 ana;el hope. But that hope ceases to be innocent which 
 blinds the soul's eye to the all governing providence of God; 
 of that infinite Being who has both the power and the right 
 to order all things according to the council of his own most 
 holy will. What multitudes has not this insubordination to 
 Deity — as I must be permitted to call it — this presumptuous 
 and sanguine temper — what multitudes has it not ruined? It 
 issues in vanity and lies. He who cherishes it "walketh in 
 a vain show." In this view, how pertinent that sentiment 
 of the wise king; "childhood and youth are vanity;" vain ' 
 are the pictures of unchastened fancy; and vain its airy 
 flights. One touch of the darkening hand of death may, in 
 an instant, obliterate them forever. The short span of life 
 forbids us to lengthen out our prospects or our plans. ««My 
 days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts 
 of my heart." 
 
 We are not to suppose that the power of thought is des- 
 troyed by the event which separates soul and body. The 
 material part of man moulders into temporary ruin. This 
 soul survives, perceives, is happy, or is miserable. Neither 
 are we to suppose that the interruption of our upright and 
 holy purposes which such an event effects renders them entire- 
 ly abortive. The fulfilment of them may be prevented; but 
 they are remembered and recompensed. The failure of 
 their accomplishment, being grounded in the decree of him 
 with whom arc the issues of life, is not imputed to us; but 
 on the contrary, our intentions are infallibly and most gen- 
 erously accredited. 
 
 No; my brethren: it is meant that man's mortal houi' pre- 
 cludes the acting upon his thouglits; the effecting of his pur- 
 poses. When this hour arrives, his plans present the ap- 
 pearance of a work commenced upon a large and magnifi- 
 cent scale, but never to be brought to its completion. "His 
 breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very 
 day his thoughts concerning worldly undertakings per- 
 
171 
 
 isli."* ««The livinj; know that they sliall die; but the dead know 
 not any thing, neithei- have they any more a reward," here; 
 '»for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and 
 their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have 
 they any more a portion forever in any thing that is done 
 under the sun.^f ''There is no work, nor device, nor 
 knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave.":j: There "I shall 
 behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world. "§ 
 "There is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout 
 again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease. 
 Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stpck 
 thereof die in the ground, yet through the scent of water it 
 will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant. But man 
 dieth and wasteth away; yea, man giveth up the ghost and 
 where is he?"|] He is in the land of silence, where no pro- 
 ject heaves his bosom, and no fancy rekindles the extin- 
 guished fire of his eye. 
 
 And how rapidly, in many instances, is this change effec- 
 ted? how momentary is its process? Death met the mighty 
 Julius, in the midst of his plans, civil and military; and all 
 his thoughts of glory, his purposes of conquest, his schemes 
 of municipal reformation, and political economy; all his 
 clustering laurels and proud hopes; perished by the unfore- 
 seen blow of the dagger of Brutus. 
 
 The king of the Chaldeans was arrested in the midst of 
 his lewd and idolatrous revels. The holy vessels of gold 
 and silver which his father, tlte victorious Nebuchadnezzar, 
 had brought from the temple of Jerusalem to Babylon, this 
 voluptuous prince sacrilegiously employed in his banqueting 
 house, where he was on a certain occasion, entertaining his 
 concubines and his courtiers. He lifted them to his own 
 iniliallowed lips: he passed them into the impure hands of 
 his guests: he poured out of them libations to his Gods. 
 To-morrow, he vainly promised himself, shall be as to day, 
 and more abundant. I will cat and drink and be merry as 
 
 • Psalm cxlvi. 4. f Eccles. ix. 5. C. i Eccles. ix. 10. § Isaiah, xxxviii. 11. 
 ji Job, xiv. 7.— 10. 
 
17i» 
 
 I now am. Carcj go thou to tlic winds. The king's plea- 
 sure shall staiul. The garland which crowns BelsliazzaP 
 cannot wither. My mountain stands strong, and I shall 
 never be moved. Ill fated Prince! more wretched amidst 
 his pomp and his viols than the meanest of his slaves! In 
 the same hour came forth a man's hand that wrote before 
 his eyes the sentence of his terrible downfal; and "in that 
 night was Belshazzar, the king of the Chaldeans slain."* 
 
 Those numerous determinations and plans which men are 
 so apt to form, without attempting to accomplish them, arc 
 broken off by their mortal hour; and they are taught, when 
 it is too late, that purposes, unproductive of deeds, do not 
 qualify the soul for eternal salvation. Chaff driven by the 
 wind is not more light and worthless tlian these fruitless re- 
 solutions. Their only effect is to render men more inexcu- 
 sable; inasmuch as they made it evident that they knew the 
 will of God, but would not obey it; that they were not ig- 
 norant of their obligations, but perseveringly faithless to 
 them. 
 
 My brethren: what improvement shall we make of these 
 meditations? 
 
 Were there no difference in death between man and the 
 brute creation, it might not be thought very unwise to spend 
 our years as a tale that is told, provided it be an agreeable 
 tale; or as a dream in the visions of the nigiit, provided its 
 images be those of pleasure. But you must consider that 
 death is not more certain than succeeding immortality; yoii 
 must consider that there is a spirit in man which lives when 
 the animal breath expires, and the pulsations of the heart 
 are still; you must consider that after death cometh the judg- 
 ment; that we are accountable agents; that our condition 
 hereafter \Aill take its character and complexion from our 
 deportment here; and that as we sow in the field of trial and 
 discipline, we shall undoubtedly reap in the harvest of eter- 
 nal recompenses. 
 
 • Dan. V. 30. 
 
17« 
 
 Considering these facts, you cannot be insensible, in the 
 first place, that all thoughts and purposes should be exclu- 
 ded from the mind which are not decidedly good and ration- 
 al; all which, however remotely, come into collision with 
 the law of God; or with the obligations of piety, benevo- 
 lence, and self-control: that remembering the limited pow- 
 ers of our nature, we should not aim at objects whose dis- 
 tance renders them unattainable; whose vastness defies our 
 grasp; or whose properties have no connection with our ne- 
 cessities or our duties. For, surely, it is not for man, the 
 offspring of the dust, the child of a day, to pass his life in a 
 round of schemes and projects, issuing, he knows neither 
 when nor how. It was said by a historian of Cataline, a 
 very profligate and unprincipled Roman, and a man whom, 
 it is presumed, no Christian would wish to imitate, that his 
 capacious genius was perpetually employed about high mat- 
 ters exceeding all bounds of moderation and credibility: an 
 employment worthy of Cataline, but totally unworthy of a 
 good and wise man. It will rather be the endeavour of such 
 a man so to conduct himself that he may be able conscien- 
 tiously to make the appeal which David once made; *<Lord, 
 my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I 
 exercise myself in great matters, or in tilings too high 
 for me."* 
 
 But, in the second place: — granting that our thoughts and 
 purposes be, in themselves, decidedly good and rational, it 
 is very possible that an unadvised indulgence, or an undue 
 prosecution of them may, in a great measure, alter their na- 
 ture; may make them, in a degree, not good, and not ration- 
 al. We may permit certain plans to monopolize our minds; 
 certain ideas inordinately to rule over our imaginations. For 
 example; we may bestow more of our attention on that house 
 of clay, which the spirit inhabits, than on the nobler inhab- 
 itant. Now it is perfectly consistent vvith both reason and 
 religion that we should make provision for the body, since 
 
 • Psalm, cxxxi. 1. 
 
177 , 
 
 this is a constituent part of our being; but it is not at all 
 consistent with either reason or religion that we should 
 make an idol of the body; that we should allow it to occupy 
 the chief place in our regard; or treat its concerns with a 
 deference which is claimed of right by those of the immor- 
 tal soul, in exclusion of all rival interests. 
 
 In the third place. — Since man is mortal — since his days 
 pass quickly by — since his purposes, and the thoughts of his 
 heart are liable to be suddenly broken off — it is evidently 
 wrong to disquiet ourselves in vain respecting the event of 
 our plans. We cannot, by all the anxious cares of which 
 we are capable, i)roduce a cliange in one feature of that 
 system by which divine providence conducts all things to 
 their destined completion. The events and ultimate issues 
 of things must rest with him. "The lot is cast into the 
 lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord."* <'Go 
 to now, ye that say. To-day or to-morrow w^e will go into 
 such a city, and continue there a year, and buy, and sell, 
 and get gain; whereas ye know not what shall be on tlie 
 morrow. For wliat is your life? It is even a vapour that 
 appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For 
 that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do 
 this or that."! Let not your heart be set so devotedly upon 
 the accomplishment of any particular object in future life, 
 as to be made unljappy by disappointment; for against dis- 
 appointment you cannot secure yourselves. However sweet- 
 ly tho face of nature may smile upon you now; however 
 cheerily the sun may gild your prospects; the revolution of 
 a moment may unexpectedly reverse the scene. The tem- 
 pests may gather; the skies may blacken; and the cold floods 
 of death and desolation overwhelm every hope but that vviiich 
 fixes its hold upon the Heavens. 
 
 Once more, — Our meditations are certainly calculated to 
 warn us against procrastinating the fulfilment of those pur- 
 poses which it is our bounden duty both to form and to exe- 
 
 * Prov. xvi. 33. + James, iv. 13—15. 
 
 Y 
 
178 
 
 cute. Defer not until to-mojTow that which can be clone to- 
 day; and which because it can be done, ought to be done. 
 "Think on thy ways, man! and turn thy feet to the testimo- 
 nies of God. Make haste, and delay not to keep his command- 
 ments."* Talk not of a season more convenient than the 
 present. Such a season exists but in thy dreams. Time 
 is not at thy control. The period is hastening on when thy 
 place shall know thee no more. "This night thy soul may 
 be required of thee."| Then it will be found an unavaila- 
 ble excuse to say, "My days are past, my purposes are 
 broken off, even the thoughts of my heart." 
 
 Look forward to the miseries that must unavoidably en- 
 sue to all who die without having formed pious resolutions, 
 or who, having formed, never executed them. Evil cannot 
 dwell with God; neither shall the foolish stand in his sight. 
 Dying thus, your portion can only be amongst accursed 
 spirits, ''hateful and hating one another." 
 
 Turn now to those fair and ever-shining scenes which 
 stretch themselves farther than even the pure vision of the 
 just can see, to the right of the throne of God, and of the 
 Lamb; those cloudless Heavens irradiated by the beams of 
 a glory brighter than the sun; those regions of incorrupti- 
 ble delight, where sin, disease and death are names un- 
 known. Children of mortality! these are the fair and ever- 
 shining scenes — these are the cloudless Heavens — these the 
 regions of unsuffering life, and undying glory, which the 
 son of man hath prepared for your residence, if you will 
 think, and purpose, and act, in obedience to his gospel; if 
 you will think, and purpose, and act, for eternity. 
 
 » Psalm, cxix. 59. 60. fLuke, xii. 20. 
 
©ii3Bm®sr sm 
 
 THE DISPENSATIONS OF GOD VINDICATED. 
 
 ISAIAH, V. 4. 
 
 "What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have 
 not done in it?'* 
 
 This inquiry may be urged in reply to all the expressions 
 of dissatisfaction with the ways of God, in which mankind 
 are so prone to indulge themselves. The existence of this 
 proneness to be dissatisfied — this spirit of impious complain- 
 ing, is a fact too obvious to be denied or concealed; nor is it 
 an easy matter to number the grounds which seem to a dis- 
 ordered imagination to justify the permission of it. Strange 
 to tell, the greatest advantages we receive at the hand of 
 Heaven are too frequently made the subjects of inculpation; 
 and God is reproached for his very goodness. Some there 
 are, for instance, who would appear to murmur at the liber- 
 ty with which man is endued as a moral agent. They are 
 displeased that it is left at his option whether to be virtu- 
 ous or vicious, and consequently happy or miserable; pre- 
 ferring that he should be impelled by resistless necessity in- 
 to those courses which issue in tranquillity and enjoyment. 
 Others there are who repine at the superiour advan- 
 tages enjoyed by the generations of old, for whose guid- 
 ance, instruction, and confirmation, miraculous deeds were 
 wrought; who require that, as in the days of former years, 
 the sea should be turned into dry land — streams should be* 
 made to gush from the rock of the desert — tlie luminaries 
 of Heaven interrupted in their bright career; the living 
 
180 
 
 struck lifeless by a word; and the dead raised from their 
 graves. Who can discern no propriety or utility in "all 
 things continuing as they were from the beginning of the 
 world,"* without any of those occasional and auspicious 
 suspensions, revolutions and mutations which excited the 
 wonder, strengthened the faith, quickened the devotion, and 
 sanctified the lives of the men of antiquity. Nothing now 
 occurs, say they, to provoke the conviction and acknow- 
 ledgment that •*this is the finger of Go(i."f 
 
 Others are offended because in the present state of things 
 the tares and the wheat grow together indiscriminately; be- 
 cause prosperity and adversity are alike indecisive of man's 
 moral contlition; the race not always being to the swift, nor 
 the battle to the strong; success frequently being wanting 
 to the exertion of the upright, while she follows in the train 
 of the most unworthy; because, as they reason, this imdis- 
 tinguishing treatment of the good and the wicked, with- 
 draws encouragement from virtue, and administers it to vice. 
 
 And others, again, cavil at the Almighty, because, when 
 iniquity abounds, he sees fit, in certain cases, to abandon 
 things to their natural operation; to permit corruption to 
 engender corruption, vice to feed on vice, misery to become 
 more miserable, and the counsels of folly to eventuate in 
 the perdition of the fool; instead of interposing his irresisti- 
 ble exertions in some preternatural or novel manner, to 
 restore righteousness, order, and peace to their station in 
 the world. 
 
 Many of you, doubtless, will perceive at a glance, that 
 these views are entirely erroneous. What is it that can 
 give rise to them? Where are we to look for the causes of 
 this j)erverse spirit of dissatisfaction? This must be an- 
 swered in the first place; and afterward I will advance a few 
 particulars that may place, in a striking point of light, the 
 9 ^reat impropriety of such views of the divine procedures. 
 
 In the first place. — What is it? Self-conceit — an inordi-. 
 
 * 2 Peter, iii. 4. f Exodus, viii. 19. 
 
181 
 
 iiate estimation of our own understanding — is no incon- 
 siderable source of this vicious propensity. It often hap- 
 pens that men think themselves wiser than their Maker; at 
 least, we can account for their conduct on no otlier princi- 
 ple. They constitute their judgment the criterion of fitnt-ss 
 and unfitness in the dispensations of providence. "Such a 
 method appears to them to be the most eligible for the gov- 
 ernment of the world; therefore, it is the most eligible. 
 They would have adopted such a particular plan, had things 
 been under their direction; therefore, the Deity ought to 
 have adopted it." This language may be thought too ex- 
 travagant to be imputed to any of God's rational creatures; 
 but if there be such a thing as language in conduct, it cer- 
 tainly is the language of a multitude of inflated mortals, 
 who presume with their measured capacities to embrace in- 
 finitude. The human intellect is well fitted to the sphere 
 through which it was designed to range; but let it not as- 
 pire to scale the Heaven of Heavens. 
 
 While counterfeit wisdom is one source of this perverse 
 propensity, real ignorance is undoubtedly another. I do not 
 mean that imperfection which characterizes every finite 
 mind when contrasted with boundless intelligence; nor yet 
 that imbecility which unavoidably adheres to the intellectu- 
 al faculties of fallen man. I mean the absence of that 
 knowledge which results from the diligent study of divine 
 things, from humble, devout, and assiduous meditation on 
 the ways and works of God. **The works of the Lord are 
 great,"" says the Psalmist, "sought out of all them tliat have, 
 pleasure therein;"* but there are numbers who have no 
 pleasure in them, and will be at no trouble to investigate 
 them. And yet these of all others, are the very men most 
 ready to criticise and censure them. 
 
 Further. — A certain hastiness or temerity of temper be- 
 trays not a few into this sin against God. A hasty decision 
 is very rarely a correct decision. A wise and candid man 
 
 * Psalm, cxi. 2. 
 
182 
 
 will be cautious how lie permits himself to pass sentence on 
 the conduct of his neighbour — to charge him with folly — 
 or to ascribe evil motives to his transactions. How much 
 more so when he thinks or speaks of the ways of him whose 
 understanding is infinite — whose faithfulness reacheth un- 
 to the clouds — whose compassions fail not — whose purity is 
 totally insusceptible of a stain. But, inasmuch as wise and 
 candid men are rare; and inasmuch as no man upon earth 
 is always as wise and always as candid as he ought to be; 
 the dispensations of God's providence and grace are apt to 
 be estimated with a precipitancy of decision wiiich cannot 
 be too pointedly censured. It is with reference to this 
 fault, among others, that the author of Ecclesiastes has 
 given us the following advice: <'Be not rash with thy mouth, 
 and let not thy heart be hasty to utter any thing before God; 
 for God is in Heaven, and thou upon earth; therefore let thy 
 words be few."* 
 
 Jgain: — how often does it happen that men murmur be- 
 cause they forget; and call Heaven unkind because their 
 own memories are faithles;?, or their own perceptions dull? 
 Such is the wretched disingenuousncss, or the carnal stupid- 
 ity of our nature, that those mercies of God, which are new 
 every morning, and repeated every evening, are wont to 
 pass by unobserved, or noticed only for a moment. What 
 one of God's works is it that does not record his tender mer- 
 cies.' What one among the nations of men is it in which he 
 hath left himself "without witness?"! «0 how great is his 
 goodness to the children of men?" — too many of whom, in 
 the mean while, unmindful of the rock whence they are hewn; 
 of the shield that protects; and the sun that lights, warms, 
 and nourishes them, ask, "why is not that goodness greater?" 
 
 Once more: — Vitiated habits and affections dispose men 
 more powerfully, perhaps, than any other cause, to com- 
 plain of the ways of Heaven. When men become so inured 
 to vice — so perfectly enthralled by the spirit that works and 
 
 * Eccles. V. 2. t See Psalm cxlv. 
 
183 
 
 rules in the children of disobedience* as ^<tocall good evil, and 
 evil good; to put darkness for light, and ligiit fur darknessj 
 bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter;"* it is not to be imag- 
 ined tliat they can avoid running into perpetual mistakes 
 in attempting- to reason respecting the divine operations; 
 neither is it to be imagined tliat they will forbear murmur- 
 ing against an order of tilings which imposes unwelcome 
 restrictions on the right of sinning. Nothing is more com- 
 mon than to hear persons who have involved themselves in 
 crimes cognizable by the civil tribunals, declaiming against 
 the whole system of the jurisprudence uiider which they suf- 
 fer, and reviling those wiio are appointed to administer it. 
 
 I am, in the next jdace, to offer a few particulars that may 
 place in a clear and striking point of light, the great impro- 
 priety of indulging in this querulous temper, in relation to 
 the divine works and ways. 
 
 And first; let it never be forgotten that he who made all 
 things, is inconceivably wise. He hath ordained all his 
 works by number, weight, and measure. The Lord is a 
 God of knowledge. His understanding is infinite. He is 
 light; and in him is no darkness at all. The system of 
 the universe argues the perfect intelligence of its Creator. 
 His revelation establishes irrefutably the same truth. We 
 are taught that all things are naked and open to his eye, in 
 all their indefinitely multiplied connections and dependencies; 
 that he cannot be in ignorance; that he is incapable of er- 
 ror; that all his work^. are done in truth; that whatsoever 
 he doeth, nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken 
 from it. 
 
 Second. — It is of equal importance to keep in mind con- 
 tinually, that the Divine Goodness is unsearchable; and 
 that its operations are directed by that infinite understand- 
 ing and perfect knowledge, of which I have just been speak- 
 ing. It is a provident goodness; a methodized benevolence, 
 if I may venture to say so without irreverence. It proceeds 
 
 * Isaiah, v. 20. 
 
184 
 
 upon a plan. It acts with a design. It is shaped to an end 
 becomin.g the holiness and majesty of the ineffable nature in 
 which it is found. In virtue of his essential power and un- 
 controled dominion, God could do numberless things, no 
 doubt, which he refrains from doing, knowing that it would 
 not be right or fit to do them. Who will deny, for example, 
 that he might, if he should see proper, make all his moral 
 creation holy and happy by one general and instantaneous 
 act? Perhaps this very thing he would do, were he to be 
 actuated by a goodness of no higher or purer character than 
 the mere impulse of natural benignity. But goodness, in 
 the Deity, is, undeniably, something infinitely more noble 
 and refined than this. It is no blind and indiscviminating 
 inclination. It is a worker together with the wisdom that 
 is from everlasting. 
 
 Thikd. — Co-eternal wisdom and goodness having con- 
 curred in ordering all things, it would be, beyond all apolo- 
 gy, unreasonable in any man or angel to expect that the 
 appointed plan should be interrupted, enlarged, abridged, or 
 in any way, how inconsideiable soever, altered, except at 
 the bidding of necessity. But who is to be the judge of this 
 necessity? Shall miracles be r' peated to gratify the unbe- 
 liever and the doubter until they shall cease to be miracles, 
 and the order of things interrupted by them, become in its 
 turn miraculous? Shall the dead be raised for their convic- 
 tion who have resolved to be convinced by nothing sliort of a 
 visible resurrection? '*Shall the earth be forsaken, and the 
 rock removed out of his place,"* to accommodate the4ilans 
 of the restless projector? Shall the good Lord — the only 
 wise God — who has the greatest conceivable objects con- 
 stantly in view in all his acts and determinations, step aside 
 from the path he has marked out for himself in deference to 
 the murmurs of discontented mortals? 
 
 Fourth. — As the pr* sent state is a state of trial or disci- 
 pline, the divine dispeiisations are moulded and directed ac- 
 
 • Job, xviii. 4, 
 
185 
 
 cordingly. Who will undertake to affirm that heaven with- 
 holds from him what the circumstances of such a state re- 
 quire; or appoints him what they render inexpedient or im- 
 proper? What duty is assigned to you — wliat obligation 
 imposed on you — which you are essentially incapacitated to 
 discharge? Ignorance cannot incapacitate you; for, on 
 every indispensable point, ignorance is vincible. Natural 
 corruption cannot incapacitate you; tor if you believe on the 
 Son of God, he will make you free from the law of sin and 
 death, and his Spirit will mortify natural corruption. Of 
 all people upon earth, Christians have the least cause to be 
 dissatisfied. If others are ungrateful when they murmur 
 and complain, they more. Have they not redemption by 
 the blood of Jesus, even the forgiveness of sins? Have they 
 not the unction of the Holy Ghost to heal their moral 
 diseases — to renovate their hearts ami their principles — and 
 to make them victorious in the conflicts of temptation? 
 Have they not the lively oracles of truth — and the ministry 
 and sacraments of reconciliation? <»What could have been 
 done more to Christ's vineyard, that he has not done in it?'* 
 «0 foolish people, and unwise!" thankless people, and 
 dead to every generous and upright sentiment; who permit 
 themselves to complain of those trials through which their 
 faith, "being much more precious than gold that perisheth, 
 though it be tried with fire, may be found unto praise, and 
 honour, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ."* 
 
 1 hope the few intimations which have been thrown to- 
 gether on this subject may induce us to act an ingenuous, 
 honest, and candid part towards Heaven. Let him who is 
 your Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, have credit for the 
 ample care he has been pleased to take of your present and 
 everlasting interests. Every privilege you enjoy, and 
 many, assuredly you do enjoy, brings in its train, a result- 
 ing duty. Your life is admitted to be a succession of labours 
 and struggles. But make the expected use of it, and it wil} 
 
 • 1. Peter, i. 7. 
 
186 
 
 comluct you to an eternity of rest. Cultivate faith and ho- 
 liness. Fear God, and keep his commandments. For great 
 will be your condemnation, if, at the last great vintage, tl»e 
 Lord of the vineyard shall see cause to make the expostula- 
 tory appeal, "what could have been done more to my vine- 
 yard that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked 
 that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild 
 
^la^iiosr sialic 
 
 THE INTERNAL SUFFERlIfGS OF CHRISTY 
 
 MARK, XV. 34. 
 
 *<And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice^ saying, 
 Eloi! eloi! lama sabachthani? which is, being interpretedt 
 My God! my God! why hast thou forsaken me?'* 
 
 Great and marvellous is the work of redemption; the God 
 of Heaven manifested in human flesh; "coming to his own, 
 and his own rejecting him;"* eternal justice, truth, and good- 
 ness, apparently sanctioning tlie iniquity and oppression of 
 wicked men, by abandoning the most excellent of the sons of 
 men, the chiefest among among ten thousand, to the malev- 
 olence of triumphant enmity. Never, through thirty-three 
 years of humble suffering, did the man of sorrows experi- 
 ence such anguish of soul as when he uttered the exclama- 
 tion, "My God! my God! why hast thou forsaken me?" 
 
 This expression, which is contained in the latter clause 
 of the verse that has been read in your hearing, shall form 
 the subject of the present discourse. 
 
 Let us consider the import of the expression, "forsaken," 
 as here used; let us endeavour satisfactorily to ascertain in 
 what sense it might be said that God, whose love of moral 
 goodness is unchangeable, whose compassions are infinite, 
 whose truth and whose faithfulness endure forever, aban- 
 doned our guiltless Saviour, his own beloved Son. in the 
 struggles of the cxpirin^i; hour. This is the more necessa- 
 ry, as many mistaken notions, I am persuaded, are enter- 
 
 •John, i.ll. 
 
188 
 
 tained on this subject, and many unadvised explications 
 given of it. Nor can it be improper that we endeavour to 
 instamp on our minds correct and lastin.a^ impressions of 
 every incident and circumstance of our Lord's mediatorial 
 functions; inasmuch as not his death only, but all the events 
 of his publick and official life, have this day been commemo- 
 rated in the holy Eucharist. 
 
 Certainly, then, we are not to infer from this exclama- 
 tion of Jesus Christ, that he was under the least ap])rehen- 
 sion that God, his father, was actually displeased with him, 
 or that the thunders of the divine wrath and indi.ejnation 
 were, in very deed, directed against him as against a sin- 
 ner. It is impossible that he sliould apprehend what, in the 
 nature of things, could not be true. "No man knoweth the 
 Father save the Son;'* and he well knew him. He well 
 knew that "the righteous Lord loveth righteousness, and that 
 the eyes of his favour behold the upright." As long as 
 God exists, he cannot cease to delight in piety and virtue; 
 he cannot cease to cherish the pious and virtuous. What- 
 ever some may think of the imputation of our guilt to the 
 Redeemer, there can be no imputation of guilt, except as to 
 its penal consequences. A God of unsearchable wisdom 
 and infinite understanding may see fit to appoint an inno- 
 cent being to sustain the severest of temporary sufferings, 
 in the place, and for the benefit of a guilty being; but a God 
 of everlasting truth and faithfulness can never so far for- 
 get his gracious promises, nor ever so far confound the un- 
 changeable distinctions of right and wrong, as to be dis- 
 pleased with t!ie most perfect obedience that couid possibly 
 be rendered to his will, or to recompense the most transcen- 
 dant virtue with the manifestations of his fierce anger. So 
 that with respect to this doctrine of the imputation of sin, 
 we ought ever to discriminate between God's indignation 
 against sin, and the penal effects of it. He cannot but be 
 indignant against a sinner, although for wise and gracious 
 reasons, the penal effects of his indignation may be trans- 
 
1^9 
 
 ferred from the sinner to one who knows no sin. It would 
 have ill-befitted the character and office which Jesus was 
 appointed to fill, that guile should be found In his moutli. 
 Spotless perfection was essential to the merit of his atone- 
 ment. With this perfection he was lichly adorned. ««He," 
 of a truth, "knew no sin; neither was guile found in his 
 mouth." He was a man after God's own heart. And is it 
 to be imagined that he was, at any period of his sufferings, 
 or in any circumstances of melancholy or desertion, the 
 true and proper object of God's fiery indignation? It is 
 not to be imagined; for it is impossible. It is not to be imag- 
 ined; for holy scripture asserts the contrary. Holy scrip- 
 ture declares that because <*Like a good shepherd, he laid 
 down his life for the sheep of his Father's pasture, thereforef 
 did his Father love him."* And is it to be believed that God 
 can both love and be enraged against any being at one time 
 and in the same event? Is it to be believed that God could 
 love his Son because he died for us, and yet that the suffer- 
 ings experienced by that Son in doing that for which he was 
 beloved, were the visitations of God's anger against him? 
 
 Now, as such a transfer of displeasure tVom sin, that 
 merits it, to the most excellent virtue, which cannot possibly 
 provoke it, is unreasonable, absurd, and by no means to be 
 imagined, I must be allowed to repeat what has already 
 Tieen observed, that our Lord, in making the exclamation 
 in the text, did not, in the most remote degree, apprehend 
 himself to be the object of his F'ather's displeasure. With 
 such an apprehension, many cin umstances of his conduct 
 are irreconcilable. Was the memorable prayer which he 
 offered for his murderers consistent with such an apprehen- 
 sion? "Father forgive them; for they know not what they 
 do!"f Ought we not in reason to conclude from this prayer, 
 that he was secure of possessing his Father's love, which 
 alone could entitle him to intercede in this manner in be- 
 half of others? Was the assurance which he gave tJie peni- 
 
 • >lohn, X. 17, f Luke, xxiii. 34, 
 
19a 
 
 tent malefactor consistent with such an apprehension? <'To- 
 day thou shalt be with me in Paradise."* Ought we not 
 in reason to conclude from this assurance, that he was in- 
 fallibly certain the Heavens were to receive him, till the 
 times of the restitution of all things? That he had power 
 to admit others into an association with him in glory? and, 
 consequently, that he had not lost his Father's love «,nd ap- 
 probation? Were his dying words consistent with such an 
 apprehension? "Fatiier, into thy hands I commend my 
 spirit."! Do not these words imply a conviction that his 
 Father was well pleased with him, and disposed to receive 
 liim into his bosom? Finally; were those expressions of his 
 to which I have already alluded, consistent with such an 
 apprehension? "I am the good shepherd: the good shep- 
 herd giveth his life for the sheep. ":j; "Therefore doth my 
 Father love me, because 1 lay down my life."§ 
 
 Thus, we have seen both that our blessed Lord had no 
 reason to suppose himself the object of his Father's dis- 
 pleasure, and that, in fact, he was in no degree apprelien- 
 sive of it; and consequently, we must account, on some other 
 principle, for his exclamation, *«My God! My God! why 
 hast thou forsaken me?" 
 
 Our Lord may be said to have been forsaken by his Fa- 
 ther, in that those mighty succours were withdrawn which 
 had favoured him in the extremity of former conflicts. He 
 was left to tread the wine-press alone. In his own stiength 
 he had to encounter the malice of enmity, and the weakness- 
 es of nature. On a former occasion, in his agony, "there 
 appeared an angel unto him from Heav«Mi, strengthening 
 him."|| "Now, without friend or auxiliary, he contended 
 against "principalities ajid powers, against the rulers of the 
 darkness of this world, against spiritual wickednesses in 
 high places." 
 
 ^^am;— Our Lord may be said to have been forsaken by 
 his Father, inasmuch as the light of the divine countenance 
 
 • Luke, xxiii. 43. f Luke, xxiii. 46. ^ John, x. IL § John, x. 17. 
 R Luke, xxii. 43. 
 
191 
 
 was obscured to him. It is evident and undeniable that 
 good men enjoy a certain freedom of intercourse with the 
 God of Heaven, to which men of the world, and men of 
 pleasure, that is, the mass of unbelievers, are utter stran- 
 gers. And it is reasonable to suppose that this intercourse 
 would subsist in a more than common degree of familiarity 
 and suavity between God the Father and his only begotten 
 Son, the brightness of his glory, and the express image of 
 Lis person. Long had such intercourse subsisted. But at 
 length there was a time when its freedom was restrained. 
 At length there was a time when Jesus cried with a loud 
 voice, and said, "My God! my God! why hast thou forsaken 
 me?" Why is it that this darkness that covers the earth is 
 but a faint emblem of the black and comfortless clouds that 
 shrouds my soul? Why must thy Son, in whom thou hast 
 declared thyself well pleased, and whom thou hast permitted 
 to walk in the light of thy countenance, why must he breathe 
 his last sigh in the unpropitious midnight of impervious and 
 joyless gloom? 
 
 Further: — Our Lord may be said to have been forsaken 
 by his Father, in as far as his extreme sufferings were pro- 
 longed. For six hours had he endured the pains of cruci- 
 fixion, together with the contemptuous insults of a misguid- 
 ed people. At the ninth hour, when the bloody and savage 
 scene was drawing near a close, he uttered the pathctick 
 exclamation, "My God! my God! why hast thou forsaken 
 me?" 
 
 To what has been said, I will only add, it appears to me 
 not improbable that our Lord, at the time he made this ap- 
 peal to his Father's love, was, more than he commonly had 
 been, exposed to the malevolent attempts of the evil spirit. 
 You cannot forget his own words to the chief priests and 
 captains of the temple, and the elders, who came to take 
 him; words spoken in the near prospect of his extreme and 
 most bitter passions; words of mysterious and frightful im- 
 port; "This is your hour, and the power of darkness."* It is 
 
 *Luke.sxii. 52.53. 
 
19?i 
 
 in seasons of melancholy and dejection; it is in pains of body 
 and mental agitations,* that this formidable angel has us 
 most at his command. To his noxious power I am inclined 
 to ascribe much of that de])ression of soul which prom oted 
 the cry, *«My God! my God! why hast thou forsaken mt ?" 
 To the same source, indeed, may be referred many of those 
 circumstances of extreme distress that signalized the last 
 moments of his unparalleled life. Hence, "was his soul 
 exceeding sorrowful, even unto death."* Hence, was "his 
 sweat, as it were, great drops of blood falling to the ground."! 
 Hence, "he fell on his face, and prayed, saying, 0! my Fa- 
 ther, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me!":j; The mar- 
 tyrs of Jesus have, witliout shrinking, encountered death in 
 its most appalling forms; Jesus himself was cast down and 
 disquieted as the last hour of agony drew near. Is there not 
 something preternatural in this? something that leads us to 
 ascribe it immediately to the accursed power of darkness? 
 
 But it is time that I endeavour to assign some reasons for 
 that desertion in the hour of needed assistance, concerning 
 which our Lord tlms affectionately expostulates with his 
 Father. 
 
 First. — Christ was forsaken, in the view that has been 
 taken of the expression, in order to enhance the worth of 
 the sacrifice which he offered for the sins of the world. 
 That he did in reality offer himself up, a sacrifice of pro- 
 pitiation for human guilt, is a truth which cannot be deni- 
 ed. It is an all-important pillar of the divine fabrick of 
 Christianity, and that fabrick must stand or fall with it. 
 Verily, "he bare our sins in his own body on the tree."§ 
 Verily, "we have redemption through his blood, the forgive- 
 ness of sins, according to the riches of" the divine "grace."|{ 
 Ts'ow, it is to be observed that the sentence of condemna- 
 tion denounced against sinners, by no means terminates in 
 bodily sufferings. Its execution reaches to the very soul; 
 which, sooner or later, it pierces with unutterable anguish, 
 
 * Matth. xxvi. 38. f Luke, xxii. 44. :t Matth. xxvi. 39. § 1 Per, ii. 24 
 llEph. i.7. 
 
193 
 
 Hence, it became necessary that our blessed Redeemer, in 
 sustaining for us the penalty of our guilt, sliould suffer in 
 his spiritual, as well as his material part. But in what way 
 could the soul of innocence itself be made to suffer? Con- 
 science, the worm that never dies, could find no food for 
 his cori'osive tooth in the heart that never knew a sin. 
 Fears of futurity could have no place with him who knew 
 that he was shortly to regain the glory which he had en- 
 joyed before the world was. The soul of the great Re- 
 deemer could only be made to suffer by that desertion con- 
 cerning which he uttered the filial and fiducial lament, "My 
 God! my God! why hast thou forsaken me?" The soul of 
 the great Redeemer could only be made to suffer by the 
 mysterious interruption of that fellowship with the Father of 
 spirits wiiich he had enjoyed to an inconceivable degree, in 
 consequence of the substantial union between the Father and 
 the Son. By this spiritual desertion, superadded to his bod- 
 ily sufferings, he brought a sacrifice to the altar, whose 
 meritorious perfection hath redeemed a fallen world. This, 
 therefore, we may, without hesitation, admit as one reason 
 why our Lord was "forsaken," in our view of the expres- 
 sion. 
 
 Second. — We are taught to regard it as a very great re- 
 commendation of our blessed Master in the discharge of his 
 intercessory office, that "we have not an high priest w ho can- 
 not be touched with a feeling of our infirmitiesj but was in all 
 points tempted like as we are, yet without sin."* Hunger, 
 thirst, grief, poverty, contempt, oppression, persecution, 
 bodily weakness, anguish of mind; these he knew, intimate- 
 ly and experimentally knew; and at the last was forsaken 
 by the consolations of the paternal presence. Tlie soul of 
 the upright can bear without sinking the pressure of all the 
 evils of this momentary life, if God is pleased to lift up the 
 light of his countenance upon her. But when that Heav- 
 enly light is overshadowed^ when the sun of her glory is 
 
 • Heb. iv. 15. 
 
 Aa 
 
194 
 
 shorn of liis beams; when Jehovah witljdraws the manifes- 
 tations of his presence, or when melancholy persuades her 
 that he hath forgotten to be gracious; whither shall she di- 
 rect her flight in quest of peace and happiness? To «*him 
 whom it behoved in all things to be made like unto his suf- 
 fering brethren:"* to that "merciful and faithful high 
 priest in t!)ings pertaining to God," who, "for in that he 
 himself has suffered, being tempted, is able to succour them 
 that are tempted." To him, wlio, knowing experimentally 
 what it is to be debarred the light of God*s countenance, can 
 sympathize with the ingenuous soul when left to walk in 
 darkness; and who at a proper season, will disperse the 
 intervening clouds, and again illuminate her path. Here, 
 then, we are furnished with another reason why Jesus was 
 at this time forsaken by his Father in our view of the ex- 
 pression: it was in order to magnify his priestly and inter- 
 cessory office. 
 
 Once more. — Our Lord, being the predicted seed of the 
 woman, was deserted for a season, that, in the event he 
 might triumph more gloriously over the ser'pent and his 
 seed. Satan had tempted him in the wilderness, and had 
 been repulsed. A contest of superiour magnitude now cal- 
 led for our Redeemer's highest exertions. He was exposed 
 to the infuriate malice of men and devils. Angels, that mi- 
 nistered to him after the temptation in the wilderness, now 
 stood aloof. God, who, at his baptism and transfiguration 
 had proclaimed him his well-beloved Son, withdrew his pre- 
 sence. "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? 
 why art thou so far from helping me?"t "0 blessed Jesus! 
 when thou wert forsaken, then wert thou most beloved." 
 The God who seemed to forsake thee, the God who hid his 
 countenance like the sun that would not behold thy awful 
 struggles, was planning new triumphs for thee. He left it 
 to thine own right arm to work salvation for thee. It was 
 then that satan fell like lightning from Heaven. It was 
 
 • Ileb, ii. 17. 18. f Psalm, xxii. 1. 
 
195 
 
 then that clioirs of angels who delighted to minister unto 
 thee, shouted thy victory over the powers of darkness. 
 "Who is this that cometii from Edom, with dyed garments 
 from Bozrah? This that is glorious in his apparel, travel- 
 ling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righte- 
 ousness^ mighty to save. Wherefore art thou red in thine 
 apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the 
 wine-fat? I have trodden the wine press alone:"* "mine own 
 arm and my right hand have gotten methe victory."f Thus 
 was our Lord Jesus Christ for a season deserted, that in 
 the issue he might triumph more gloriously in the redemp- 
 tion of the world. 
 
 I might add that another Aery probable reason for this 
 desertion, was, tliat our Redeemer might exemi)lify in his 
 own life and death, the exalted virtues of patience, resigna- 
 tion, and perseverance, together with their sure, though of- 
 ten long-delayed rewards. But I will detain you no longer 
 than simply to remark, how different the present state of 
 the divine Jesus from that in which he uttered the exclama- 
 tion, "My God! my God! why hast thou forsaken me?'* 
 Then, suspended on the cross, a spectacle to angels and to 
 men; now, exalted at the right hand of God the Father Al- 
 mighty, in glory everlasting! then, breathing out his soul 
 under the weight and penalty of transgressions not his own; 
 now, seated on the throne of immortality, dispensing life 
 and salvation to the world! then, insulted by the outrages 
 of the most worthless of mankind; now, adored by thou- 
 sands of thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand min- 
 istering spirits of light! then, hunted to death by the denun- 
 ciations of a savage multitude, "crucify him — crucify him;" 
 now, saluted by the armies of Heaven, "saying with a loud 
 voice, worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, 
 and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glo- 
 ry, and blessing!" then, singly, and without helper or 
 friend, conflicting with earth and hell; now, by his spirit 
 
 * Isaiah, Ixiii. 1.— 3. f Psalm, xcviii. 1. 
 
196 
 
 most powerfully and effectually interceding for the whole 
 human race; and especially leading the sacramental host of 
 his elect to victory, defending, encouraging, redeeming, and 
 crowning those who swear fidelity to him in the everlasting 
 covenant sealed by liis blood; and wl.o testify their love to 
 him, by endeavouring, in the integrity of their hearts, to 
 keep all his commandments] 
 
 It is thus, my beloved brethren, that we should testify our 
 love to Christ. It is not enough that we in words acknow- 
 ledge him to he our only Saviour. It is not enough that we 
 praise him with our lips. Our hearts must adore him. Our 
 lives must do him homage. Remember it was for us that 
 lie willingly endured the last possible extremity of wretch- 
 edness, the deprivation of God's consoling presence: for us 
 he "cried with a loud voice, saying, My God! my God! why 
 hast thou forsaken me?" And shall we not love him who 
 first loved us? loved us even unto death? Yes, Lord Je- 
 sus, our adorable Saviour! we do love thee; and to prove 
 our sincerity we will endeavour to keep thy commandments. 
 Thy commandments are not grievous. They lead to true 
 felicity here and hereafter. Assist us by the all-powerful in- 
 fluences of thy Holy Spirit to follow thy steps; and in the 
 uprightness of our lives to transmit some features of thy 
 great and bright example to those who shall come after us? 
 —Amen. 
 
ON THE DEATH OF CHRIST. 
 
 A SACRAMEJ^T.iL DISCOURSE. 
 
 ST. MARK, XV. 37. 
 
 ^*Jlnd Jesus cried with a loud voicCf and gave up the Ghost.^* 
 
 These words, brethren, refer to an event, at the consum- 
 mation of which the veil that covered the most holy place 
 was rent from tlie top to the bottom, the graves yielded up 
 their dead, the earth quaked, the Heavens were enwrapped 
 in clouds, and nature was convulsed to her centre. This 
 awful event we are now assembled to commemorate. 
 Lend me your attention, therefore, whilst, waving* the cere- 
 mony of preamble, I enter upon the immediate considera- 
 tion of it. 
 
 The present exercise shall offer four views of the death of 
 Christ; it is an atonement for the sins of the world; it is the 
 substance of ancient types and the accomplishment of ancient 
 predictions; it is a crime on the part of his murderers, un- 
 paralleled in the annals of human guilt; it is a source and 
 spring of perfect morality. 
 
 In the first place. — We are to view the death of Christ 
 as an atonement for the sins of the world. That such was 
 its nature and tendency; is abundantly evident from the cir- 
 cumstances attending it; and perhaps from nothing more 
 than the otherwise inexplicable terrors which seized our 
 Lord at the prospect of his decease. Never, apparently, 
 was any man more shaken at the approach of death than 
 
198 
 
 was Jesus Christ; and yet certainly never liad any man so 
 little cause of alarm at the approach of death. 
 
 Never, apparently, was any man more shaken at the ap- 
 proach of death than was Jesus Christ. Witness Gcthsemane 
 and witness Calvary. The sacred writers tell us of the 
 sorrow he experienced. "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, 
 even unto death."* They tell us of his agony: "and heing 
 in an agony, he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat was 
 as it were great <u ops of blood falling down to the ground."f 
 They tell us of his cries and tears: "in the days of his flesh, he 
 offered up prayers and supplications, with strong crying and 
 tears, unto him that was able to save him from death.":]: 
 They tell us that he used such words as these, "0 my Fath- 
 er, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me:**§ and in the 
 extremity of his sufferings, wlien earth and Heaven seemed 
 to keep aloof from the persecuted victim, they xlescribe him 
 as raising the cry of importunate agony to the Almighty 
 Father; "My God! my God! why hast thou forsaken me?"|| 
 Such were the terrors of our Lord at the prospect of death. 
 
 But certainly never had any man so little cause of alarm 
 on this ground: never man might be expected to meet dis- 
 solution with so much firmness: and that for the following 
 reasons. 
 
 First. — Christ died confessedly in the service of God 
 and man. But when men suffer for those \\hora they love 
 and revere, their sufferings are ordinarily borne with more 
 patience and tranquillity. 
 
 Furthtr. — Christ died perfectly assured of the justice of 
 his cause and the guiltlessness of his life. When, in his ex- 
 piring moments, conscience recalls to the sinner the memo- 
 ry of his crimes, where is the heart that will not feel its 
 lash? But who will name the crime that could excite re- 
 morse in the breast of our Redeemer, whose life was a con- 
 tinued exhibition of every virtue and every duty, faith and 
 righteousness, zeal and charity, prayer and meditation? 
 
 • Mat, xxvi. 38. \ Luke, xxii. 44. \ Heb. v, 7. § Mat. xxvi. 39. 
 tlMat. xxvii. 46. 
 
199 
 
 Ji gain.— Chi'ist died fully couvincctl of the soul's immor- 
 tality. He who, having lived an infidel, expires in doubt; 
 wlio, like the emperor of old, asks of his departing spirit, 
 whither, poor flutterer, whither art thou going, and where 
 is thy destination? may well shudder at the black and shore- 
 less gulph of non-exist once. But he who knows that when 
 dust returns to dust, the spirit returns to God who gave it; 
 and that beyond these visible Heavens, blissful abodes are 
 prepared for the spirits of the just made perfect; from him 
 less terror might be expected. Jesus Christ knew this. He 
 knew that the soul is immortal and destined to live ever 
 happy in the realms of glory and peace. For by him who 
 now died was life and immortality brought to light. 
 
 Finallij. — Christ died assnred of the heavenly recompense. 
 The place of torment; the worm that never dies; the fire 
 that is not quenched; could convey no fears to the divine 
 Saviour, who saw Heaven open to receive him. There were 
 circumstances of more than common splendour to attend 
 his reception. Because he had made himself of no reputa- 
 tion, God was in return to exalt him highly and give him a 
 name above every name. The clouds of Heaven were to 
 form his triumphal car; and angels and archangels and the 
 glorions hosts above were to hail his approach; ^'Lift up, 
 your heads, ye gates; and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting 
 doors; and the King of glory shall come in."* 
 
 I have read of martyrs who have braved all that is se- 
 vere and terrible in death: I have somewhere read of a Chris- 
 tian woman, who, when persecution was at work and mul- 
 titudes having fallen beneath its arm, had reddened with 
 their blood her path to suffering, forgetting the timidity of 
 her sex, said with a heavenly smile, "our persecutors are 
 distributing crowns, and I am going to receive one:" but 
 Jesus, in the prospect of death, sweated as it were great 
 drops of blood; and in the pains of death, cried aloud, "My 
 God! my God! why hast thou forsaken me?"t Inexplicable 
 mystery! 
 
 * Psalm, xxiv. 7. f Mat. xxvii. 46. 
 
soo 
 
 And is it, then, really inexplicable? To them who reject 
 the atonement, un<iuestionably it is. To them who in faith 
 receive this doctrine, the mystery is unfolded. Christ "was 
 wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our ini- 
 quities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with 
 his stripes we are healed."* <'God spared not his own Son, 
 but freely gave him for us all — he made him sin for us — he 
 made him a curse for us."f And in order more effectually 
 and perfectly to accomplish this great purpose, tlie prince 
 of darkness, we have reason to believe, was allowed a more 
 than ordinary freedom of access to his soul. Well, there- 
 fore, might the Saviour of the world, pressed by the load 
 of its accumulated sins, and encompassed moreover, by the 
 inconceivable horrours of satanic influence, tremble in every 
 limb, agonise at every pore, and raise the loud cry, "My 
 God! my God! why hast thou forsaken me?"| 
 
 In the second place: — We are to view the death of Clirist 
 as the substance of ancient types, and the accomplishment of 
 ancient predictions. On whatever period of the church we 
 fix our meditations, we discern some emblem, or some inti- 
 mation of redemption by the blood of Christ. No sooner 
 had Adam sinned, than the promise was given, "the seed of 
 the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent;"§ and this 
 promise was renewed to Abraham and the patriarchs. If 
 the blood of a lamb was sprinkled on the doors of the Jews, 
 it was typical of "the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb 
 without blemish and without spot; who verily was fore-or- 
 dained before the foundation of the world. "|| If the rock 
 stricken in the desart gave water to the tribes of Israel, 
 "that rock," says the aprtstlf, "is Christ."^ If the brazen 
 serpent, lifted up for them to look to, healed their wounds, 
 even so was the Son of man lifted up on the cross, that all 
 the ends of the earth might look to him and be saved. The 
 sacrifices refer us to him who was "set forth to be a pro- 
 pitiation for sin."** The victims rofer us to him "who 
 
 • Tsaiah, lii. 5. f Cor. v. 21.— Rom. viii. 2.— Gal iii. 13. t Mat. xxvii. 46. 
 § Genesis, iii. 15. || 1 Peter, i. 19. 20. H 1 Cor. x. 4. *• Romans, iii. 25. 
 
201 
 
 throu.i^li the eternal spirit, offered himself without spot to 
 God."* The animal who went into the wilderness loaded 
 with the curses of Israel, refers us to him "who suffered on 
 Mount Calvary, without the gates of Jerusalem."! Let us 
 hear what the prophets say of Christ, in allusion to the sa- 
 crifice which he was to accomplish for the sins of the people. 
 By Isaiah it is written, <*He was oppressed, and he was afflict- 
 ed,- yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to 
 the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, 
 so he openeth not liis moutli. He was taken from prison 
 and from judgment: and who shall declai-e his generation? 
 for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the trans- 
 gression of my people was he striclven."^ By Daniel it is 
 written, "Messiah shall be cut off, but not for himself."§ 
 By Zechariah it is written, "Awake, O sword! against my 
 shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the 
 Lord of Hosts; smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be 
 scattered." II By David it is written in a psalm, applied by 
 our Lord to himself, "My God! my God! why hast thou for- 
 saken me? Why art tliou so far from helping me, and from 
 the words of my roaring? O my God! I cry in the daytime, 
 but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not si- 
 lent. But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, 
 and despised of the people. All they that see me, laugh me 
 to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, 
 he trusted in the Lord, that he would deliver him: let him 
 deliver him, seeing he delighted in him."^ 
 
 In the third place: — We are to view the death of Christ 
 as a crime on the part of his murderers, unparalleled in the 
 annals of human guilt. Here, brethren, language fails; nor 
 can any images be found to approach the horrible reality. 
 Let us bring to our remembrance that mildness of character 
 ever so conspicuous in our blessed Master; the fervour of his 
 piety; the humility and benignity of his intercourse with 
 
 *Hebrews, ix. li. f Hebrews, xiii. 12. tlsa. lui. 7. 8. § Daniel, ix. 26. 
 If Zechariah, xiii. 7. 1 Pgalm, xxii. 1 . 2. 6—8. 
 
 Bn 
 
202 
 
 the world; the purity of his life; the favours lie had confer- 
 i-ed on liis persecutors; the affectionate exhortations be had 
 addressed to them; the miracles he had wrought for them, 
 in healing their sick, and raising their dead: and after con- 
 templating this picture of consummate excellence, let us call 
 to mind the treatment he experienced; the calumnies level- 
 led against him by bis persecutors; their lies; their perju- 
 ries; their savage importunity to procure his death, which 
 had merited everlasting infamy and execration, bad it been 
 exercised against the vilest criminal. Above all let us ad- 
 vert to the nature of the death to which he was condemned; 
 crucifixion, a fate reserved for slaves, and the refuse of 
 malefactors; in which the unhappy sufferer was fastened to 
 a cross by nails driven through his bands and feet; his body 
 racked; and bis blood flowing drop by drop; until death 
 should put an end to his lingering agonies, wliicb often con- 
 tinued so long as to require the interposition of some fresh 
 torment to give nature the concluding shock; as was the 
 case in the instance of the two thieves crucified in com- 
 pany with our Saviour. But let us not stop here. Why 
 should we forget the scarlet robe; the crown of thorns; the 
 mo(-k sceptre; the insolent defiance, «'be saved others, him- 
 self he cannot save?" Let us combine all these circum- 
 stances, and we may form some faint idea of the crime of 
 those who murdered the prince of life. Let nature and the 
 elements accuse them. Let the prodigies that accompanied 
 the crucifixion, convict them. Let the darkness that cover- 
 ed the earth, the sun veiling his face in clouds, that be might 
 not behold the accursed parricide: Let the veil of the Tem- 
 ple rent, to be the habiliment of mourning for the mur- 
 der of the Temple's Lord; let the eartli convulsed as if she 
 trembled at the bloodiest deed that ever stained her bosom; 
 let the rocks split; the graves opened; the dead arising as if 
 the trumpet of eternity called them to judgment; let these — 
 let these substantiate the guilt of our Lord's murderers, and 
 
203 
 
 justify the decree by which their children are at this mo- 
 ment scattered tiirough the world, marked by a portion of 
 that infamy in which they sought to involve liim. 
 
 In the fourth place. — We are to view the death of Christ 
 as a source and spring of perfect morality. If it becomes 
 us to fear the retributive justice of Heaven, where shall we 
 go to learn that salutary fear, with better prospect of suc- 
 cess, than to the cross of Jesus? Contemplated from that 
 elevation, how formidable will Heaven's justice appear? 
 Even from the Heaven of Heavens she draws her victim: 
 even from the bosom of God she draws him: she has an al- 
 tar not made with hands, and on it slie binds a divine lamb, 
 without spot and without blemish. Surely then, sinners, 
 who can,* in themselves, offer nothing to their judge but what 
 will unavoidably provoke his indignation, shall not escape, 
 if they trample on the gospel, thus rendering themselves tlie 
 more guilty, in that this very gospel alone furnishes them 
 the means of escape. 
 
 If we would learn to see sin, or moral depravity, in its 
 true colours, as a hateful and despicable departure from 
 what is the glory of a reasonable and immortal being, where 
 shall we go with better hopes of success than to the cross of 
 Jesus? They who roll sin, as it were, a sweet morsel un- 
 der the tongue, and who drink in iniquity like water, to this 
 cross let them repair; let them learn the cause from its ef- 
 fects; and when they devise sin in their thoughts, let them 
 remember the blow which it struck at the heart of God's 
 most blessed Son. 
 
 If we would have a model to imitate, where shall we find 
 one more worthy of imitation than on the cross of Jesus? 
 
 Ambitious man! come to the cross of my Saviour, and I 
 will shew you meekness and lowliness incarnate; I will 
 shew you him who, although he thought it not robbery to be 
 equal with God, yet for the benefit of others, took on him 
 the form of a servant, and died the death of a slave. 
 
204 
 
 Voluptuary! come to tjie cross of my Saviour, and I will 
 shew you pleasure mortified, and the flesh crucified with its 
 affe< tions and lusts. 
 
 Revenjseful spirit! come to the cross of my Saviour, and 
 I will shew you one who prayed for liis murderers, and died 
 for his enemies. 
 
 Finallii. — If we would love our Redeemer, whence shall 
 we derive a more powerful motive to that love than from his 
 cross? There we see the evidences of his love who first 
 loved us. We see his hands and feet pierced; his side open- 
 ed; his wounds bleeding; his body torn by tlie wbips of Al- 
 mighty justice; and all for our salvation. At a sight so 
 affecting, where is the obstinacy so invincible as not to 
 yield? Where the heart so flinty as not to melt?' Where 
 the love so ardent as not to burn with a renewed and bright- 
 er flame? 
 
 Thus we have taken a fourfold view of the death of 
 Christ; we have considered it as an atonement for the sins 
 of the world; as the substance of ancient types, and the ac- 
 complishment of ancient predictions; as a crime on the part 
 of his murderers, unparalleled in the annals of human guilt; 
 and as a source and spring of perfect morality. 
 
 This death, brethren, you are now about to commemorate 
 at the holy table. Endeavour, therefore, to afffect your 
 hearts with a })ious and thankful recollection of it. Recog- 
 nize in the bread the broken body of your Lord, and in the 
 wine his shed blood; and when you raise to your lips the 
 consecrated symbols of salvation, see that you make the 
 sincere return of love for love, and life for life. Retire not 
 from these heavenly contemplations and performances with- 
 out growth in grace. Let not your affections, plighted at 
 the very altar to your dying Saviour, be as the early dew- 
 drops which glitter in the morning sun, but disappear as 
 the hours advance. Let the cross ever occupy your minds, 
 your hearts, your lives; and in the chamber where you meet 
 
205 
 
 your fate, let the cross be lifted up to dissipate the terrors 
 of the grave. And may God vouchsafe, by his Holy Spirit, 
 so to strengthen you in that dread moment, as that you may 
 look from Christ crucified, to Christ risen; glorified; inter- 
 ceding; prevailing; and extending his arms to receive your 
 departing spirits; tliat having passed through things tempo- 
 ral, you may finally attain the things eternal. — Amen. 
 
susBSKDS? wm^ 
 
 THE UNSATISFYING NATURE OF SUBLUNARY 
 ENJOYMENTS. 
 
 ECCLESIASTES, i. 2. 
 
 (Vanity of vanities^ saith the Preacher; vanity of vanities; 
 all is vanity." 
 
 J3Hy Brethren, if experience can teach knowledge, the 
 preacher to whom our text alludes was the wisest of men. 
 He was not one of those whom providence deprives of the 
 means of enjoyment. Born of royal parents, his earliest 
 years were passed in a court. Long hefore he wrote this 
 book he was seated on the throne of Israel. He was pos- 
 sessed of all that could instruct or amuse; all that could 
 delight or persuade; all that could thrill che heart with rap- 
 ture, or warm it with the glow of ambition. He had traver- 
 sed the field of human knowledge. Nature had taught bini 
 her mysteries. History had made him familiar with the 
 wisdom of past ages. Philosophy and poetry were rivals 
 for his heart. Authority was his. The wealth of an em- 
 pire lay at his feet. The luxuries of the east supplied his 
 banqueting house. Festivity reigned in his palace. Beau- 
 ty brought him her tribute, the rose entwined with the lily: 
 and love was the monarcii's banner. Princes and queens 
 were emulous of his favour. Distant nations spoke his 
 praise: and even popularity, fickle popularity, was true to 
 the glory of Solomon. Never man, then, so well qualified 
 to pass judgment on this world and its pursuits. Happiness 
 
208 
 
 was the object oi' his search. He had sought her through 
 every avenue. Like the bee he had roved from flower to 
 flower. The cup of enjoyment stood before him; he came 
 — he tasted — and pronounced it vanity. In this book of 
 Ecclesiastes, which contains the result of his experiments 
 upon human life, he teaches us that the objects which most 
 generally invite the pursuit of mortals are unsubtan- 
 tial, unprofitable, unsatisfactory, deceitful, and hurtful. 
 All these qualities would have been well expressed by one 
 word, "vain." But this was not enough to indicate the ex- 
 treme emptiness and wortlilessness of sublunary matters. 
 They are not only vain, but "vanity" itself; "vanity" in 
 the abstract. Nor would this suflice. They are "vanity of 
 vanities;" a pliraseology which the Hebrew language em- 
 ploys to express the superlative degree. And, to evince yet 
 more clearly the energy with which this truth struck the 
 mind of the royal preacher, the charge of vanity is redui)li- 
 cated, "vanity of vanities; vanity of vanities;" and sum- 
 med up in that pithy conclusion, "all is vanity." Nor may 
 it be forgotten that the heart which indited, and the hand 
 which wrote this conclusion, were directed by the spirit of 
 God. 
 
 Let us, my brethren, by meditating, at present, on some 
 of the many sources of w orldly happiness, endeavour to ob- 
 tain that deeply rooted conviction of their insufiiciency, 
 which gave nerve to the instructions of Solomon. For this 
 purpose, may the divine blessing attend us, and the unction 
 of the holy one inspire us with understanding! 
 
 There are four principal objects of human pursuit; the 
 wealth of this world; its glory; its pleasures; its wisdom. 
 On each of these is inscribed vanity. 
 
 First. — The wealth of this world is vanity. The desire 
 of wealth is insatiable. "He that Joveth silver shall not be 
 satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with in- 
 crease."* The farther he proceeds in the business of amas- 
 
 ♦Eccles. V. 10. 
 
S09 
 
 sing, the more intent he becomes to pursue the glittering 
 object; and when it is attained, new prospects of affluence 
 open to his view. The possession of wealth is unprofitable, 
 "When goods increase, what good is to the owners thereof, 
 save the bi^holding of them with their eyes?"* ♦♦T ;cy that 
 trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude 
 of their riches; none of them ran by any means redeem his 
 brother, nor give to God a ransom for him."f And if their 
 wealth is unprofitable to others in the moment of need, it is 
 equally so to themselves. Wealth cannot purchase peace of 
 mind. Wealth cannot cure a diseased body. Make the ex- 
 periment. Recline upon a bed of gold. Will the palsied 
 limb regain its strength? Let oppression mark thee for its 
 victim. Let adversity inflict its lightest stroke. Will gold 
 give thee equanimity? And death; will he esteem thy riches? 
 No, "not gold, nor the multitude of thy possessions." Look 
 round, and see the rich man die and leave his wealth to 
 others. His inward thought is, my house shall continue 
 forever, and my dwelling place to all generations. I have 
 goods laid up for many years. My warehouses are replete 
 with the materials of gainful traffick. My granaries are 
 inexhaustible. My vessels waft me the produce of every 
 clime. Soul, take thine ease — eat — drink — and be merry. 
 Ah! fool — this night thy soul may be required of thee — and 
 then whose shall these things be? Or grant that thy life 
 is prolonged; art thou sure of seeing the travail of thy soul? 
 The malice of evil men may pillage thy warehouses. Fire 
 may consume thy granaries. The winds of Heaven may 
 scatter thy proud fleets and leave not a wreck behind. Riches 
 are too uncertain to be made an object of trust. Riches 
 make to tliemselves wings and flee away as an eagle towards 
 Heaven. "t Often they prove a snare to their possessor. 
 Judas, the anostate Judas, betrayed his master with a kiss; 
 and with the same treacherous blandishment did wealth be- 
 tray Judas. My brethren, let us not be unnecessarily anx- 
 
 * Eccles. V. 11. t Psaims, xlLx. 6. 7. t Prov. xiUi. r. 
 Co 
 
210 
 
 ious to amass these earthly possessions; but let us never be 
 remiss in seeking to lay up treasures in Heaven, wliich nei- 
 ther moth nor rust will corrupt, and which wicked men can 
 never take from us. Let us make Christ our own. He is him- 
 self a treasure. "Richesandhonour are with him; even dura- 
 ble riches and righteousness. His fruit is better than gold; 
 and his revenue than choice silver. He will cause them that 
 love him to inherit substance; and he will fill their treasures."* 
 
 Consider, next, the glory o/'this world. This also is van- 
 ity; and the pursuit of it, vexation of spirit. How many 
 disappointments — how many mortifications — harass the 
 children of ambition; let their object be civil distinction, 
 or the fame of letters, or of arms! Observe the man emu- 
 lous of civil distinction. How many days of vanity, and 
 wearisome nights, does he employ to attain his ends! How 
 many artifices, perhaps, to bribe that esteem which he can- 
 not merit! And at all events, how many reproaches! and 
 how much abuse must he sustain from the uncharitable spi- 
 rit of opposition! Suppose him possessed of his desired ob- 
 ject. Place on his head the civic crown. He is restless 
 still. More towering prospects arise. A nobler guerdon 
 challenges his ambition. Some new office — some new dis- 
 tinction — rekindles the flame, and sounds the alarm to a 
 fresh contest. Let this issue favourably to his wishes; joy, 
 indeed, may brighten his countenance; but, when the cir- 
 cumstances which produced it become familiar, this joy will 
 pass, and be forgotten. Let it issue unfavourably; disap- 
 pointment and disgust are marked on every feature. Tell 
 him not of former objects of pursuit attained. Disappoin- 
 ted in this one matter, past attainments are remembered 
 with little relish. 
 
 Observe the chief wlio seeks honour in the field of dan- 
 ger, and amidst the ranks of death. You may know him by 
 the laurel of victory which he wears. Blood marks his pro- 
 gress over conquered provinces. He spares nor age, nor 
 
 • Prov, viii. 18.— 21. 
 
2il 
 
 sex, nor office. He rases the temple to the ground, or pro- 
 fanes it to the unhallowed purposes of war. After countless 
 battles and sieges, he gains the empire of a world; and then 
 sits down to weep because more worlds are not within his 
 grasp. Herein is vanity; that he who sows in the pros- 
 pect of joy, should reap in tears. How often does envy raise 
 her surmises, and malignity seek to obscure the hero's re- 
 nown! "This battle was prematurely fauglit," says one: 
 <»it was the rashness of the general that disgraced our arms." 
 *'That retreat, to be sure," says another, "was unavoida- 
 ble, but it is a pity that so many gallant men siiould fall a 
 sacrifice to the incapacity of their leader." "After all," 
 adds a third, "I do not see that this man is entitled to so 
 much praise, he had intelligent officers and a brave army; 
 and any other man, under equal circumstances, would have 
 acted an equal part." Such, my brethren, is the portion of 
 all who make worldly glory the object of their confidence. 
 So are they disappointed — so are they mortified. 
 
 AYhat is this glory? It is a bubble; a gilded folly; an un- 
 substantial phantom; a thing of nought. "A breath creates 
 it and a breath destroys." How variable the opinions of 
 men! how different their decisions, as circumstances differ, on 
 the character and conduct of each other! "The Gods are 
 come down to us in the likeness of men,"* said the Lyca- 
 (mians, full of admiration at the eloquence and miraculous 
 powers of Paul and Barnabas. "Then," to be sure, "the 
 Priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen 
 and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice 
 with the people."! And yet, not long after, the people 
 were persuaded to stone Paul until they supposed him dead. 
 With what triumphant shouts, did the citizens of Jerusa- 
 lem welcome the approach of the Redeemer; spreading their 
 garments in his path; "Hosanna to the Son of David; bles- 
 sed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord: hosanna in 
 the highest!"! And how did the same stupid and malig- 
 
 • Acts, xiv, 11. f Acts, xiv. 13. + Mat. xxi. 9. 
 
212 
 
 nant people, afterward, without the ,^ates of the city, rend 
 the air with the cry of "crucify him, crucify him;"* and im- 
 precate the curse of his blood upon themselves and their 
 children! My brethren, let such views of human glory mor- 
 tify our desires after it, and engage us in the pursuit of that 
 glory which is spiritual and eternal; that glory which is 
 the meed of holiness and the offspring of grace. 
 
 The pleasures of this world form another object of human 
 pursuit. The pleasures of this va orld are also vanity. ♦«! 
 said in my hea t, go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, 
 therefore enjoy pleasure; and behold, this also is vanity. I 
 said of laughter, it is mad; and of mirth, what doth it?"f 
 *<'rhere is a laughter in the midst of which the heart is sor- 
 rowful The end of such mirth is heaviness.":}: The 
 more tumultuous our pleasures, the more indistinct and 
 imperfect; the more intense, the shorter their duration. 
 Do the nightly revels of the voluptuary leave him that 
 placid content vhich is essential to true enjoyment? 
 Whence, then, that haggard visage? Why that contrac- 
 ted brow? "I have tried," says the voluptuary, "all the 
 delights of the sons of men. Every wish has been con- 
 sulted. Every joy that crossed my path I have detained 
 for myself. I have culled the sweetest flowrets of spring to 
 weave a chaplet for my head. I have got me men-singers 
 and women-singers. I have spent the day in planning 
 schemes of enjoyment and the night in executing them. I 
 have thrown the reins upon the neck of my lusts, and given 
 scope to my loose desires. But a disordered fj-ame and a 
 sick heart tell me it is all vanity and vexation of spirit. I 
 have found that "there is a way which seemeth right unto a 
 man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. "§ I have found 
 that "wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging; it giveth its 
 colour in the cup; hut at the last it biteth like a serpent and 
 stingeth like an adder."|l I have found that "the house of 
 the strange woman inclineth unto death; her feet go down 
 
 • John, xix. 6. f Eccles. ii. 1. 2, t Prov. xiv. 13. § Pi'ov. xiv. 12. 
 n Prov. XX. 1. xxiii. 31. 32. 
 
213 
 
 to the grave; her steps take hold on hell,*'* Yes; pleasure 
 is vanity: the pursuit of it vanity, and I, who have enga- 
 ged so eagerly in the pursuit, the greatest of all vanities." 
 And allowing tliat a diseased hody and an impaired mind 
 should not be the consequences of his criminal indulgence; 
 yet even in this case his palled appetites would lead liim to 
 the same conclusion. Happiness consists not in the grati- 
 fication of animal passion, however lawful and moderate. 
 The joy of a moment, however intense, is not happiness. 
 Let this joy pass, and what will it leave us? Its image on 
 the mind. But will the image of what passed in the gay 
 and festive hour delight as did the present reality? Memo- 
 ry, it is true, dwells <iften upon departed pleasures. AVe de- 
 rive satisfaction from retracing tlie scenes of former joys; 
 but it is a satisfaction mingled with much alloy of melan- 
 choly. I speak of gratifications wliich may be repeated. 
 But there are many which having once tasted, we never taste 
 again; many which disappear to return no more. Of these 
 how painful the remembrance! 
 
 Even the more exalted pleasures of friendship and affec- 
 tion are not exempt from the general charge of vanity. Sus- 
 picions and jealousies interrupt the closest alliances. Fre- 
 quently, where you expect integrity, you find deceit, and 
 court the sting of a serpent. "The best of them is as a 
 brier," says the prophet Micah, "the most upright is shar- 
 per than a thorn hedge: trust ye not in a friend, put ye not 
 confidence in a guide; keep the doors of thy mouth from her 
 that lieth in thy bosom."f Sincere love is often its own 
 tormentor. Kindness wounds itself; and affection proves the 
 source of misery. Friends must be separated; if not by the 
 duties and avocations of life, yet assuredly by that power who 
 triumphs over the fondest and the proudest hopes of worldly 
 happiness. How often must the tear fall on the urn of friend- 
 ship? How often must the heart bleed at the stroke of death? 
 How often must tenderness feel the shock of separation? Ah! 
 
 • Prov. ii. 18. V. 5. * t Micah, vii. 4. 5. 
 
214 
 
 it is not in the parting moment only; but as often as memory 
 recalls the image of what it once held most dear on earth. 
 
 Such, my brethren, arc this world's joys. Favour is de- 
 ceitful; affection short-lived; sensual pleasure destructive; 
 and "all is vanity." Let us, then, direct our views to 
 higher sources of happiness. Let us pray to God that he 
 may give us to partake of that fulness of joy which his pre- 
 sence inspires; and to bathe in that river of pleasures which 
 flows with a pure, a perpetual, and an equal current, at his 
 right hand. Let us seek to be united to his Son by a vital 
 faith. Christ is a friend in need — our own friend — and 
 our father's friend — a friend who will cleave closer than a 
 brother; wliose friendship will be more watchful than a fa- 
 ther's care, and softer tliaii a mother's love. Death, that 
 cuts all other ties, shall not divide us fi'om him, whose alli- 
 ance with his redeemed shall be eternal as himself. 
 
 Once more: — The wisdom of this world is vanity; its policy; 
 its arts; its learning. "I gave my heart to seek and search out 
 by wisdom, concerning all things that are done under Heaven; 
 I have seen all the works that are under the sun: and behold, 
 all is vanity and vexation of spirit."* "And I gave my 
 heart to know wisdom; I perceived that this also is vexation 
 of spirit: for in much wisdom is much grief; and he that in- 
 creaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow."! The mind of man, 
 like his body, is susceptible of satiety in its pursuits; a sa- 
 tiety caused, perhaps, by the connexion of soul and body. 
 "Much study is a weariness of the flesh;"! ^"^ when the 
 flesh is weary, the spirit will lose its ardour. All mental 
 pursuits, therefore, whicli terminate in any object short 
 of God, from the very constitution of our nature, must be 
 vain. Equally vain, however, are their objects. 
 
 Is it the policy of this world which invites the eagerness 
 of pursuit? AVhat is this policy? A system of deception, 
 contemptible in its nature, and, God be thanked, very gen- 
 erally frustrated in its ends. Is it the knowledge of the 
 world, as it is termed, that tempts our acquisition? Alas! 
 
 * Eccles. i. 13. 14. f Eccles. i. 17. 18. * Eccles. xii. 12. 
 
S15 
 
 how dearly is this knowledge purchased! How often at the 
 exi)cnse of health — innocence — peace — the immortal soul 
 itself! 
 
 Shall we apply to history to make us acquainted with the 
 ages that are goue? Bat raany things reco»'ded in history 
 ari^ unwoi'tliy of credit; many others are of dubious author- 
 ityj and, of those entitled to our belief and dependence, few 
 are calculated to produce that satisfaction which vvc are 
 wont to connect with the pursuit of knowledge. Benevolence 
 is called at every page to weep over the miseries of man. 
 The heart sickeus at the talc of cities sat ked — empires 
 overthrown — rapes — assassinations — tyranny — rebellion — 
 crooked politicks — and bloody violence. If some fair spot 
 appears amidst the general waste, even there we cannot re- 
 pose ourselves with unmingled pleasure. There is in man 
 a disposition to magnify past times at the expense of the 
 present. The excellencies of our own age shine with a lus- 
 tre almost extinct amidst tltc blaze of recorded glory. We 
 arc prone to fear that virtue died with our forefatliers, anil 
 lament that their children inherit only their vices. This con- 
 trast of past excellence with present inferiority, how little 
 soever it may be warranted by fact in the degree to which 
 it is extended, affects the mind with melancholy impres- 
 sions. This also is vanity. "He that increaseth know- 
 ledge, increaseth sorrow."* 
 
 Nor do the pretensions of philosophy merit more respect. 
 Observe her motley children. Their bosoms swell with 
 pride, or rankle with envy, as their tenets are admired, or 
 discarded for others more acceptable. Their systems fluc- 
 tuate with every wind of opinion. The fashionable philoso- 
 phy of to-day will be in dispute to-morrow. <«Self is the 
 spring of human actions;" says one, '-all our affections and 
 passions are but different modifications of self-love." This 
 fashion obtains, until anot!ier philosopher arises and teaches 
 
 Eccles. i. 18. 
 
316 
 
 universal benevolence. AVe have no concern in our own 
 conduct, believe this sage, unless it may be incidentally* 
 Our finite minds must grasp the universe of being before 
 their actions or volitions can be determined. Men, tired 
 of old vanities, are ever ready to embrace new ones. This 
 opinion wears the charm of variety. It dureth, therefore, 
 for 1^ while. But, by and by, the novelty ceases, and time 
 banishes the system, with its author, into the regions of 
 absurdity. Thus it fares with the wisdom of tliis world; it 
 is foolishness; it is vanity. 
 
 True wisdom is Heaven-descended. Seek her not in the 
 schools; she dwells not there. Seek her not in the world; 
 she has no fellowship with the unfruitful works of dark- 
 ness. Go to the hallowed retreats of inspiration, and seek 
 her amidst prophets and apostles at the feet of Jesus. Let 
 us pray to God that he may make Ciirist our wisdom; 
 so shall we possess the wisdom that cometh down from 
 above; the wisdom "whicli is first pure, then peaceable, 
 gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good 
 fruits, without partiality, and witho=!t hypocrisy."* 
 
 This wisdom is, indeed, no vanity; no unreal mockery. 
 It is all substance. It is productive of lasting profit and 
 iinmingled bliss. Its dominion is an endless dominion, in- 
 dependent on time, or chance, or the fluctuations of caprice. 
 Its throne rests on the moveless base of everlasting truth. 
 
 Now to God, only wise, be glory in the church, by Christ 
 Jesus — throughout all ages. — Amen. 
 
 * James, iii. 17. 
 
iiamn®!^ .SEo 
 
 THE ETERNITY OF GOD. 
 
 PSALM, XC. 11. 
 
 "Fi-ovi everlasting to ererlasting, thou art God. 
 
 Eternity, or everlasting duration, in its scriptural use, 
 has three several significations. Sometimes it is expres- 
 sive of H very prolonged period of time, which, however, is 
 still a period of time; and which, in its nature, must have 
 an end, as it had a beginning Hence we read of the rite of 
 circumcision being appointed for an everlasting covenant: 
 tliat is, it was designed to last while the covenant of wliich it 
 was the seal should last. In the same manner, the promised 
 land was said to be given to Abraham for an everlasting 
 possession; although we well know that the possession of 
 it has long since departed from his children. By the Jew- 
 ish law, ifaseryant refused emancipation, and chose to re- 
 main with his master, he was ordered to comply with cer- 
 tain ceremonial regulations, after whfch he became his mas- 
 ter's servant, as it was said "forever;"* that is, till the next 
 year of jubilee; the jubilee revolving every fiftieth year. I 
 shall instance but two. particulars more. The meat offer- 
 ing which it was ordained that Aaron and his sons should 
 ofTer unto the Lord, was denominated a perpetual meat of- 
 fering; and the ordinance of the passover was to be observ- 
 ed by the church forever. But it is very certain that all 
 such rites and observances were superseded by the new dis- 
 pensation of the evangelical covenant. Perpetuity, then. 
 
 • Dent. sv. 17. 
 
218 
 
 vvc see, is asserted of all these practices, institutions, and 
 privileges, which hail a beginning, and as undeniably have 
 had an end. 
 
 Jgain. — Angels, and human souls, and in general, all spi- 
 ritual substances, except the infinite Creator spirit, by what- 
 soever name they may be known, have had an introduction 
 into existence, but, we are told, shall never cease to exist. 
 And in this sense, perpetuity of being is ascribed to them. 
 In this sense, they arc eternal. Although there was a mo- 
 ment in which they were spoken into existence out of noth- 
 ing, yet the moment shall never arrive when they shall be 
 commanded bark from existence into nothing. 
 
 But in the strict and literal acceptation of the term, eter- 
 nity is duration without beginning and without end; and 
 it is in tliis sense that it is always ascribed to the great 
 God. 
 
 Lend me your f^ttention, therefore, while I humbly and re- 
 verently essay to consider that perpetuity — that eternity — 
 which is essential to the divine existence and character. 
 Here I shall endeavour to remember, that, as God is in 
 Heaven and we on the earth, it is peculiarly proper that our 
 words be few, and our imaginations unassuming. 
 
 The text naturally leads me to observe that the Divine 
 Existence never had a beginning: "from everlasting— thou 
 art God." If his being had been derived from any extra- 
 neous source, he would not be God. He would be a depend- 
 ent nature. He would be an inferiour agent, indebted for 
 his powers and perfections to a superiour; and instead of 
 being, what we are taught to believe him, the first cause of 
 all things, would himself be no more than an effect proceed- 
 ing from a cause. Between time and eternity there is no 
 middle ground. AVhatever does not pertain to the one, 
 must be referred to the other. Now, the earliest probable 
 date of time can go no farther back than the first act of 
 creation. But creation supposes a Creator. Before the 
 foundation of this visible universe, before the production of 
 
219 
 
 intelligences to number the periods of successive being, their 
 Maker existed, supremely blessed in his own inconceivable 
 perfections. The Ancient of days dwelt in essential glory 
 when as yet time was not. Millions of millions of years 
 before the creation, his existence was no nearer its com- 
 mencement than in the moment that ushered in creation's 
 birth. "Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever 
 thou hadst formed the earth and the woiU, from everlasting 
 — thou art God^'* and not only from everlasting, but to 
 everlasting also; "fo everlasting thou art God." Tliat is, 
 the Divine Existence, as it is without beginning, so shall it 
 never have an end. Beautiful is that picture in the CII. 
 Psalm, in the colouring of which the divine eternity is so 
 inimitably contrasted with the fleeting and decaying forms 
 of creation. "My days are like a shadow that declinetli; 
 and 1 am withered like the grass. But thou, O Lord! shalt 
 endure forever, and thy remembrance unto all generations."* 
 "I said, my God! take me not away in the midst of my 
 days: thy years are throughout all generations. Of old 
 hast thou laid the foundation of the earth, and the Heavens 
 are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou 
 shalt endure; yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; 
 as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be chan- 
 ged: but thou art the same, and thy years shall have no 
 end."t 
 
 In this perpetuity of the Divine Existence there is strict- 
 ly speaking, no succession of periods; no distinction of past, 
 present, and future. All things are at all times present to 
 him. Neither is there any change produced in God by the 
 lapse of ages. No diminution, no increase, of parts or 
 perfections, of knowledge or of counsels. Ever constant to 
 himself, he is unaffected by the fluctuations of things. From 
 age to age he has looked down on the revolutions of this 
 world, and he is still the same. The creatures have their ' 
 rise and fall; their birth and their destruction. The Crea- 
 
 ♦ Psalm, cii. 11. 12, f Psalm, cii. 21'.— 27, 
 
220 
 
 tor is now what he ever has been — the Creator ever sliali 
 be what lie now is. Lternity, immeasurable, incomprehen- 
 sible eternity, is the crown of all his perfections. 
 
 It has been said, and with great justice, that the name 
 by which God Avas pleased to make himself known to Mo- 
 ses, is cx])fessive of his eternity. ♦»! AM THAT I AM."* 
 I, of whom it cannot with propriety be said, either that 1 was 
 or that 1 will be; but that / aiu, at all times am,* the Being 
 underived himself, from whom all other beings spring; the 
 root and source of immortality; the everlasting God; Jeho- 
 vah: "1 AM THAT 1 AM." 
 
 The eternity of God is evidently asserted in those words of 
 our Saviour; "The Father has life in hiniself."f That 
 is, the Father hath life originally, radically, essential- 
 ly. He may and does communicate, but receives nothing. 
 Accordingly our Lord says, "as the Father hath life in him- 
 self, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself." 
 Tl»at is a remarkable expression of St. Paul concerning the 
 immortality of God; **who only hath immortality :":J: who 
 alone is unavoidably and necessarily immortal; to whom 
 alone perpetuity ot being is not a gift; from whom aloneit 
 is inseparable. <'The God of Daniel," said Darius, "the 
 God of Daniel is the living God, and steadfast forever."§ 
 
 I have already observed that eternity, is the crown of all 
 the divine perfections. If God were not to endure "from 
 everlasting to everlasting," what would become of the 
 infinitude of his attributes? And without infinitude in every 
 excellence both natural and moral, where would be our 
 God? 
 
 If God were not eternal, where, for instance, would be 
 bis immutability, that firmest jjillar of the confidence and 
 the hopes of man? Surely we liave reason to think that a 
 being who begins to exist, will be in some way or other af- 
 fected by the changes that attend its progress in existence. 
 But our God is immutable. "I am the Lord; I change not."}' 
 Therefore he is eternal. 
 tExod. iii. U. fJohn, v. 26. .j 1. Tim. vi. 16. § Dan. vi. 26. Ii Mai. iii. « 
 
221 
 
 Jgain. — If God were not eternal, where would be his 
 most pure and unalloyed blessedness? Surely, whatever 
 measure of enjoyment he might experience, it would be di- 
 minished by the prospect of returning into non-existence, 
 how distant soever the period of that return might be. But 
 our God is ever happy. <*He is blessed from everlasting to 
 everlasting."* I have only to add, God's eternity is one of 
 his incommunicable perfections. He can no more impart 
 absolute unbcginning perpetuity of existence to a creature, 
 than he can produce two equal infinities, and make a mere 
 man essentially God. 
 
 Let these few remarks suffice for the doctrinal part of the 
 subject, on which, indeed, much cannot be said without pre- 
 sumption. I proceed to the practical application of it. 
 
 And first. — The consideration of God's eternity should 
 effectually deter us from provoking his displeasure. Per- 
 petual duration certainly empowers him to protract the 
 punishment of offences committed against his government. 
 "The Lord is the true God, he is tl»e living God, and an 
 everlasting king; at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and 
 the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation."! Be- 
 ware, then, of his displeasure, who, when he draws his glit- 
 tering sword^ may never return it to the scabbard; who, 
 when his hand takes hold on judgment, may never loose 
 that hold; who may render perpetual vengeance to his ene- 
 mies, an endless reward to them that hate him. 
 
 Second. — The consideration of God's eternity should 
 lead us to take comfort from the perpetuity of his covenant. 
 The fulfilment of his promises is secured by his everlasting 
 duration. Hence the gospel, which is the form and expres- 
 sion of this covenant, and the sum of its promises, is denom- 
 inated the "everlasting gospel."^ 
 
 In thi^ covenant, God hath pledged himself to be our God. 
 He is, therefore, our chief good, the centre of our felicity, 
 the rest of our souls; and will be so while we exist, that is, 
 
 • P'^alm, xli. 1-. ".Ter. x. 10. '- Kcv. xiv. 6. 
 
S23 
 
 both here and hereafter, if we refuse not to credit his oatli^ 
 <«This God is our God forever and everj he is a dwelling 
 place in all generations."* On this rock the church erects 
 the edifice of her hope, as we read in the CII. Psalm, al- 
 ready quoted, "Thou art the same, and thy years shall have 
 no end. Tlie children of thy servants shall continue, and 
 their seed shall be established before thee."f And hence 
 it is tliat the prophet Habakkuk exclaims, "Art thou not 
 from everlasting, Lord my God! mine holy one? we shall 
 not die.":|: Building on t!ie same foundation, Jesus Christ 
 being the chief corner-stone, all who have laid hold on tlie 
 hope set before them, all wiio liave set to their seals that 
 God is true, all who have subscribed to the terms of the 
 fBverlasting covenant, which is well ordered in all things, 
 and sure, may say, with reference to the pleasures and 
 blessings of the life to come, «soul, take thine ease, thou 
 hast goods laid up for many years," even for eternity. 
 
 In what do these goods, those blessings and pleasures con- 
 sist? In the vision of God, "whose presence is fulness of 
 joys, and at whose right hand there are pleasures forever 
 more." Now, after ages spent in this beatifick state, its 
 pursuits and gratifications will continue to interest, to occu- 
 py, and to charm, with as much life and power as when an 
 entrance is at first administered into it. If God is eternal, 
 the vision and fiuition of him shall be eternal also. The 
 bliss of Heaven is unconscious of termination. The flow- 
 ers of Paradise never wither. The river of delights flows 
 on with an even and unwasting current forever and ever. 
 To the rising dead their light shall come, and the glory of 
 the Lord shall arise upon them. Let ages on ages take 
 their flight to join the years before creation; the sun of glo- 
 ry shall not set. Let millions of millions of ages retire in- 
 to the same oblivion of departed time, the sun of glory shall 
 still shine, and its light enligliten eternity. 
 
 The truth of these things rests on the firm ground-work 
 
 * Psalm, xlvlii. 14. f Psalm, cii. 27. 28. ^ Hab. i. 12. 
 
2S^ 
 
 of the everlastinfij covenant, established by him whose word 
 is unchanging truth,* who is the same throughout all genera- 
 tionsj whose years fail not; who is the same yesterday, to- 
 day, and forever; who only hath inimbrtality; who from 
 everlasting to everlasting, is God. Rejoice, then, in the 
 Lord, ye righteous; and triumph in the consolations of his 
 eternity. 
 
 Third. — The consideration of God's eternity should 
 check, the risings of pride. How Httle do we know, how 
 little can we know of this essential perfection of Deity? 
 Our discourse on it resembles the babbling of children, and 
 our conceptions of it are more feeble than the impressions 
 made on the infantine understanding. How should this 
 mental impotence humble us in the presence of God? 
 
 This consideration should check the risings of pride in 
 another view. It should repress that presumption which as- 
 pii'es to sit in judgment on the ways of eternal providence. 
 "Known unto God are all his works, from the beginning of 
 the world." But are they known unto us? No more than 
 they are our works, and not his. Is our undeistanding 
 infinite? Is our wisdom unsearchable? Are we acquainted 
 with the natures, the associations, the tendencies, the sym- 
 pathies and antipathies, so to speak, of all things? It is un- 
 necessary to answer these questions. We are beings of 
 yesterday, and know nothing*"* 
 
 "We arc beings of yesterday." It is here that the con- 
 sideration of God's eternity is most powerful to repress the 
 pride of man. Contrasted with him who liveth foreter and 
 ever; who never began to be, and whose existence shall 
 never end; what are we who "are beings of yesterday, whose 
 foundation is in the dust, and who are crushed before the 
 moth?"f Is not our life, at its longest period, compared 
 with the duration of our Maker's existence, of a proportion 
 infinitely less than that of a drop of water to the collected 
 waters of the universe? Infinitely less than that of a grain 
 
 * .Tpl), viii. 9. fjob, iv. 19. 
 
2M 
 
 of sand to the collected matter of the universe? What is 
 «ur life? A vapour — a smoke — a bubble that no sooner 
 floats into view, than it bursts, and is no more. What is 
 our life? A moment — a point of time — what is past of it 
 cannot be recalled; what is future cannot be counted on; we 
 enjoy the present instant, but lose the pastj and shall imme- 
 diately lose the present in the next that is to come. When 
 did we begin to live? After incalculable years of pre-exist-^ 
 ing eternity had rolled on, while the place that now knows 
 us, knew us not. How long shall we enjoy this life? A few 
 score fleeting years, at most, and then the place that now 
 knows us, shall know us no more. 
 
 And should not the brevity and frailty of our lives hum- 
 ble us in the presence of God, "with whom our days are as a 
 hands-breadth, and our age as nothing? The angels, who are 
 coeval with the Heavens and the earth, cover their faces be- 
 fore him, and cast their crowns at his feet. The Heavens 
 melt, and the mountains flow down at his presence. And 
 shall we, who are but of yesterday, lift up aspiring thoughts 
 and vain imaginations towards him? 0! Father of eternity! 
 hide pride from our eyes, and clothe us with humility. 
 
 Fourth. — The consideration of God's eternity should 
 weaken our attachment to the world, and draw our aff'ec- 
 tions from it. «I speak as to wise men, judge ye what I 
 say." Would reason lead you to prefer a temporal and 
 perishing world, to an eternal God? What is this world, 
 admitting that you had the entire possession of it, what is it 
 to the Universe of worlds? An atom to the Andes. And 
 what is the universe of worlds, but a created system that 
 had a beginning and might have an end? But God is from 
 everlasting to everlasting — without beginning and without 
 ending. He bath offered himself to be your God, your 
 portion, and your exceeding joy. Which do you prefer? 
 God who is eternal? or the world tliat perisheth? <' Choose 
 ye this day whom you will serve." 
 
 Six thousand years have not quite elapsed since the fouu- 
 
2^5 
 
 dations of this world were laid. When they will be sub- 
 verted, we know not. But if our great progenitor had lived 
 to the present day, and had enjoyed as absolute and uncon- 
 trolled a sovereignty over his posterity as that which God 
 gave him over the fish of the sea, and the fowl of the air, and 
 every living thing that moveth upon the earth; would all this 
 have sufficed to fill the desires of his soul? Would all this 
 have given rest to his soul? Would he not, even on this 
 supposition, have acted an irrational part, to prefer a crea- 
 ted enjoyment of circumscribed duration, to the everlasting 
 Creator of all things? 
 
 Marked with the lines of vanity, the fasliion of this 
 world passeth away. "A kingdom, with the glory of a 
 throne, may be cut off in a morning."* Ajid is this depart- 
 ing pageant to be preferred by the rational mind as the su- 
 preme object of . affection, before the everlasting God, the 
 Lord, the Creator of the ends of the eartii? 
 
 O! my brethren, let me persuade you to appreciate the 
 sublimity of your vocation, that you may walk worthy of it; 
 that you may live above this perishing world. You are born 
 for immortality. Why should you grovel on the earth? 
 Heirs of the eternal God; joint heirs with his eternal word 
 made flesh; are not the vows of holy baptism on you, and is 
 it not one of these vows that you will renounce the world? 
 Let me prevail on you to withdraw your attachment from 
 objects that will only deceive and disappoint you. "Lay 
 not up for yourselves treasures on earth, where the moth 
 doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal; 
 buf lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where nei- 
 ther the moth corrupts, nor thieves break through and steal: 
 for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."f 
 Raise your affections to things above, where your Redeem- 
 er sitteth at the right hand of God. Judge ye rightly, that 
 the time past of your lives may suffice to have had your con- 
 versation in the lusts of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of 
 
 * Charnock. f Matt. vi. 19.— 21. 
 
 ££ 
 
286 
 
 the flesh, and of tlie mind. "Walk by faith, and not by 
 sight."* "Look not at the things which are seen, but at the 
 things wliich are not seen: for the things which are seen are 
 temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternaL"\ 
 Now to the KivG eternal, immortaU invisible; the only wise 
 God, and our Saviour: to the blessed and only Potentate, 
 King of Kings, and Lord of Lords; who only hath iminor- 
 iality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach un- 
 to; whom no man hath seen, nor can see; be honour and 
 power everlasting! — Amew. 
 
 •2. Cor. V. 7. t2. Cor. iv. J 8 
 
gIS3BM®S5 SSHc 
 
 THE ATONEMENT. 
 
 I, PETER, 111. 18. 
 
 / 
 
 •^For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the 
 unjust, that he might bring us to God,"' 
 
 This verse is in substance, an epitome of the ,^ospeI. It 
 establishes irrefutably a doctrine which is the marrow of 
 correct belief; the life and soul of Christianity; the origina- 
 ting principle of evangelical morals; the sun of that divine 
 system whose author is the word and wisdom of Jehovah. 
 You must at once perceive that I allude to the doctrine of 
 the atonement. The religion that we preach, tear from it 
 this doctrine, would aj)pear to me to resemble a superstruc- 
 ture resting on no solid ground- work — a beautiful statue 
 devoid of animation; pleasing, in a certain measure, to the 
 eye, but incapable of influencing, affecting, or even reach- 
 ing the heart. The scheme which omits this capital article, 
 has been aptly denominated the frigid zone of Christianity. 
 There is no warmth in it: nothing genial: nothing produc- 
 tivej nothing that moves, expands, or encourages. Tell me 
 that God, who is holy, expects me to be so, if I would be 
 happy in his presence — tell me this, and no more — and you 
 only chill desire and deaden exertion; because I cannot be 
 ignorant of the radiral defect in my moral condition; I can- 
 not be ignorant of my moral distance from God. But tell 
 me that "Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for 
 the unjust, that he might bring us to Godj" te,ll me this, and 
 
22H 
 
 hope revives. Immediately I take encouragement to act, to 
 labour, and to pray. 
 
 Every word of our text lias force and meaning. To use 
 a popular style of emphasis, every word tells. You have 
 here the annunciation of the fact, that Jesus, anointed of 
 God, and sent, to be a Saviour — a mediating priest — pro- 
 pliet — and king — hath suffered. You have the ground or pro- 
 curing cause of his suflfering. *'He hath suffered for 
 sins." You have the information that his suffering hath ac- 
 complished its intended result; that it is not to be repeated 
 or renewed; and that nothing additional in the nature of 
 atonement is necessary or admissible. *<He hath once suf- 
 fered." You have his moral or spiritual excellence expres- 
 sed; "the just." You have the demerit of those for whom 
 he suffered declared; "the unjust." You have the final 
 cause of his suffering; "that he might bring us to God." 
 
 May the spirit which guided the pen of Peter, aid us in 
 our meditations on his words; that our faith may be strength- 
 ened to rest with a holier and more unshaken confidence on 
 our Saviour Jesus Christ! — Amen. 
 
 First. — Jesus, anointed of God, and sent, to be a Saviour 
 — a mediating priest, prophet, and king — hath suffered. Of 
 this no man can doubt who will not refuse to accredit histor- 
 ical evidence of. the most unexceptionable character. The 
 evangelists represent him as participating in the infirmities 
 of our common nature; and what is more in point, as exposed 
 to distresses bodily and mental, of peculiar character and 
 aggravation. And this rej)resentation harmonizes, in every 
 particular incident, with the predictions concerning his state 
 of humiliation. The whole tenor of his eventful life, and all 
 the circumstances connected with his unexampled decease, 
 fully justify what is said of him; that "lie was a man of 
 sorrows and acquainted with grief." The great enemy 
 whose works he came to destroy stirred up the prejudices 
 of men already disposed to evil, or excited passions and an- 
 tipathies which might otherwise have had no existence 
 
239 
 
 He was assailed in his good name; defamed as having a dev- 
 il; as casting out devils through Beelzebub, the pl'ince of 
 tlevils; as a wine-bibber, and a friend of publicans and sin- 
 ners; as a mover of sedition; as an aspiring mal-content; 
 as an enemy of man, and a blasphemer against God. He 
 was outraged in his person; buffetted; scourged; spit upon; 
 made to toil under the weight of the cross on which he was 
 condemned to die. On that cross he was unrighteously and 
 inhumanly put to torture; being placed between two con- 
 victs as though he had been a more flagrant sinner than 
 either. Ci-ucifixion, as all know who are acquainted with 
 the history of the countries where it was a customary mode of 
 capital execution, was attended with the utmost imaginable 
 disgrace, being most frequently inflicted on slaves. Hence, 
 says the scripture, <'he humbled himself, and became obedi- 
 ent unto death, even the death of the cross."* «'He endured 
 the cross, despising the shame."f On that cross also, a dis- 
 tress of a nature and severity altogether singular, overtook 
 him; a mysterious agony which drew from his lips, until 
 then uncomplaining, that loud cry, "My God, my God! why 
 hast thou forsaken me?" For it was not without "the de- 
 terminate counsel and fore-knowledge of God that he was 
 delivered." "It pleased Jehovah to bruise him;"^: it was 
 "he" who "put him to grief." It was his sword, bathed in 
 the Heavens, that smote this Lamb, 
 
 To justify this dispensation, note well. 
 
 Secondly. — Its ground or procuring cause.. "He hath 
 suffered for sins." But for whose sins? Certainly, not his 
 own. Notwithstanding the number and acuteness of his 
 griefs and pains; notwithstanding he might, without exag- 
 geration, exclaim from the cross on which he was lifted up, 
 <'behold, all ye that pass by, and see if there be any sorrow 
 like unto my sorrow;" yet his deportment had been, not per- 
 fectly inoffensive only, but perfectly holy; not merely blame- 
 less, but unmixedly excellent. "He hath suffered for sins." 
 
 • Phil. ii. 8. fHeb. xii. 2. :;: Isainh, liii. IC 
 
.230 
 
 But for whose sins? Certainly, not theirs who fled from his 
 rebuke on earth, proclaiming him their conqueror and their 
 tormentor; not for the sins of the spirits once excelling in 
 strength before the throne of God, and afterwards banished 
 with everlasting destruction from his presence. "For, veri- 
 ly, he took not on him the nature of angels." "He hath 
 suffered for sins." But, once more, for whose sins? For 
 ourSf my brethren; for the sins of believers. He was the 
 promised "seed of the woman." "In the fulness of time 
 God sent forth his Son made of a woman."^ He is bone of 
 our bone, and flesh of our flesh; and wearing our nature, 
 "his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree."t 
 As we were under a law which we had violated, so was he 
 made under the same law to fulfil it in our behalf; to expiate 
 our offences against it; and to deliver us from its penalty. 
 <«He hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made 
 a curse for us.":t^ Moral evil is a direct outrage upon the 
 Creator. It is a species of defiance hurled against his pro- 
 vidential rule. Divine justice, therefore, will not pass it 
 over with impunity. But instead of exacting from believ- 
 ers a rigid satisfaction for sin in their own proper persons, 
 it has pleased God so to charge it to the account of the pro-^ 
 pitiating Jesus, that all its penal cansequences lie vicarious- 
 ly upon him. "Surely, he hath borne our griefs, and carri- 
 ed our sorrows." "For the transgression of God's people 
 was he stricken."§ "All we like sheep, have gone astray; 
 we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord 
 hath laid on him the iniquity of us all."|( So perfect is 
 the atonement thus effected by the vicarious suffering of our 
 Lord, that it does not require to be repeated or renewed; 
 neither is any other atonement or propitiating oblation, re- 
 quisite or admissible. Hence, says our text. 
 
 Thirdly. — "Christ hath once suffered." The intended 
 result of his bitter passion is accomplished. Sin is remittejd. 
 The penitent is dismissed in peace. Why, then, should the 
 
 • Gal. iv. 4. -j- 1. Pet. ii. 24. + Gal. iii. 13. § Isaiah, liii. 4. 8. 
 II Isaiah, liii. 6. 
 
S31 
 
 altar of oblation again be dressed? Why should blood still 
 be shed? Why should the victim expire afresh? Why should 
 the Son of man continue to be numbered with the transgres- 
 sors? In the iteration of tjie sacrifice, I can discern neither 
 the spirit nor the letter of the covenant. On the contrary, I 
 read that "Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many."* 
 I find a high authority inferring the inadequacy and inef- 
 ficiency of the sacrifices of the ancient dispensation, from 
 their periodical recurrence; "The law having a shadow of 
 good things to come," says the writer to tlie Hebrews, "and 
 not the very image of the tilings, can never, with those sa- 
 crifices, which they oftered year by year continually, make 
 the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not 
 have ceased to be offered? Because that the worshippers 
 once purged, should have had no more conscience of sins. 
 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made 
 of sins every year."! I find thi same high authority de- 
 monstrating the value and competency of the one sacrifice of 
 the gospel to take away sin, from that very circumstance, 
 that it is but 07ie, and but once offered. "By the which will 
 we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus 
 Christ once for all. And every priest standcth daily minis- 
 tering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can 
 never take away sins; but this man, after he had offered one 
 sacrifice for sins, forever sat down on the right hand of God; 
 from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his foot- 
 stool. For by one offering he hath perfected forever them 
 that are sanctified." :{: Upon whatever* specious and plausible 
 pretexts, therefore, men may ventUi-e to perpetuate sacrifi- 
 cial institutions in the church of Christ, the practice is no 
 better than superstition. All such observances are unau- 
 thorized by Christ himself; and immediately derogate from 
 the dignity of that one great oblation which, through the 
 Eternal Spirit, he made of himself to take away sin. No 
 sophistry can transubstantiate such falshood into truth. God 
 
 * Heb. ix. 28. f Hcb. x. 1.-3. Uleb. x, 10.— 14. 
 
232 
 
 speed the time when the dark places of the church which 
 now know it, shall know it no more! For it is one among 
 the brood of pestilent errors which unblushingly oppose them- 
 selves to the revealed mind of the spirit. 
 
 Fourthly. — "Christ hath once suffered for sins," al- 
 though himself a "just" and sinless being. I have already 
 incidentally touched upon this point. Himself had no sin, 
 of any description or degree, for which to account. The 
 Saviour of the world was the only perfect character that 
 can be found to adorn its history. He was the eternal word 
 of God assuming flesh in time, and dwelling amon 'st ns. 
 He was miraculously produced; not shapen in ini<j|Uity, nor 
 conceived in sin. Totally unspotted by original corruption, 
 his actions, also, were such as to defy reproach. He was 
 holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. He 
 knew no sin, neither vvas there any guile found in his mouth. 
 This innocence— this uprightness— this purity— this unqualifi- 
 ed perfection of lieart and life, was required to ajccomplish him 
 for the sacerdotal charge, aiid to magnify the worth of the pro- 
 pitiatory offering which he made of his precious life. The 
 same high authority before quoted, reasons, on this matter, 
 with his usual energy. *'Such a high priest became us, who 
 is holy, iiarmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and 
 made higher than the Heavens; who needeth not daily, as 
 those liigh priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own 
 sins, and then for the people's; for this he did once, when he 
 offered up himself. For the law maketh men high priests, 
 which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was 
 since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated forever 
 more."* 
 
 Fifthly. — "Christ hath once suffered for sins, the just 
 for the unjust." The race of man is carnal, sold under sin. 
 «^«Theie is none righteous; no, not one." "All the world is 
 guilty before God." Inheriting from Adam a patrimony of 
 corruption, we have improved and extended it with most 
 
 * Heb. vii. 2C.— 28. 
 
233 
 
 pernicious industry; "drawing iniquity as with cart ropcs;*^ 
 "drinking it in like water;" "rolling it as a sweet morsel 
 under the tongue." Even where principles of heavenly 
 origin have been wrought into the soul, there is a law 
 in -the members warring against these principles, and 
 captivating them to the inferiour powers of appetite and pas- 
 sion. "Who can understand his errors?"* "For tJiere is 
 not a just man upon earth that doeth good, and sinnetU 
 not."| Such is man. Such are they whom Jesus came from 
 Heaven to save. It is not a flattering picture, for truth sel- 
 dom flatters. Is there not in the conduct of man, in the ag- 
 gregate, evidence too unanswerable to impartial observation, 
 of something that cannot properly be called by a softer name 
 than that of hostility against God? Are not jus-tice and 
 equity, benevolence and mercy, while admired in theory, 
 and celebrated by the declaimer and the poet, I'emote from 
 general practice? Does not the precipitating impulse of 
 fleshly desire too commonly break down the barriers of rea- 
 son, and defy the controlling power of God's, word and pro- 
 vidence? 0! how has the gold of man's early glory become 
 dim! This district of the creation is peopled by a family of 
 sinners; this fair earth, which, with the fulness thereof, is 
 the Lord's, formed by his hand and designed for his praise; 
 sustains those who are his enemies by wicked works. And 
 such were some of you, men and brethren. But you are 
 washed — but you are sanctified — but you are justified in the 
 name of the Lord Jesus, and by the' spirit of our God. What 
 a world, then, was this for God's blessed Son to visit! But 
 what do I say? Our necessity was his glory .^ Our deep 
 degeneracy moved his commisseration; and this Just one died, 
 that the unjust might live. 
 
 Once more. — He suffered "that he might bring us to God." 
 This was the final cause of his suffering; "that he might 
 bi'ing us to God." Not but that there are other important 
 uses of the passions of our Mediator. One of these uses more 
 
 • rsalm, six. 12. f Eccles. vii. 20. 
 
 P K 
 
234 
 
 immediately respects himselfj it is, that the captain of sal- 
 vation misjht be made perfect. Anotlier of these uses, in 
 which we are deeply concerned, is intimated by our apostle, 
 who points us to the Son of God as a pattern of submission 
 and fortitude in adversity. *<For as much, then, as Clirist 
 hath sutfered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise 
 with the same mind.'** Another object of great moment to 
 us promoted by the passions of Christ, is the forming of the 
 Christian's mind to habits of self-denial — the mortifying of 
 the body of sin — the separating of the heart from carnal at- 
 tachments — the opening of the eyes upon the vanity of all 
 secular anxieties and joys, and upon the futility and perish- 
 ableness of all human glory. *'God forbid," says Paul, 
 <*that 1 should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and 1 unto 
 t^e world,"! A fourth consequence of magnitude effected 
 by the passions of Christ, is the superiour qualifications 
 which tliey wrought in him for the office of our advocate. 
 <«Wherefore, ii> all things it behoved him to be made like 
 unto his brethren^ that he might be a merciful and faithful 
 high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconcilia- 
 tion for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath 
 suffered, being tempted, he is able to succour them that are 
 tempted.":}: But, my brethren, not one of these uses of the 
 passions of Jesus — not one of these benefits resulting from 
 them — and uses and benefits of essential importance I ac- 
 knowledge them to be; much concerns that man whom Je- 
 sus does not bring to God. Exhibit not Jesus as a pattern 
 of fortitude and submission in adversity, to those who have 
 not been taught of God the sweet and sanctified uses of ad- 
 versity. Talk not of denying self, and taking up the cross, 
 to those who have not been drawn to that cross on which the 
 Saviour was lifted up. These are duties to which they are 
 disinclined until his spirit work in them to will and to do. 
 And why should you speak of a Redeemer made perfect 
 
 ■ 1. rcter, iv. 1. j Gal. vj. 14. iHeb. ii. 17. 18. 
 
S35 
 
 tlirougli suffering; of a priest and intercessor vested by it 
 with superiour qualifications to advocate a sinner's cause; 
 unless it be to announce bim as a Redeemer in fact — a priest, 
 intercessor, and advocate in very deed bringing the penitent 
 to God? This, then, after ail, is the final cause why "Christ 
 hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust:" "that 
 he might bring us to God." 
 
 For it is a solemn truth, my brethren, that sin had form- 
 ed a separating wall between man and his Creator. Our 
 state, irrespectively of a Redeemer, is a state of alienation 
 from God. The Redeemer hath suffered to recover us from 
 this state of alienation — to demolish that separating wall. 
 "In him God is reconciling the world unto himself, not im- 
 puting trespasses and sins." By him peace is effected, 
 <*peace for thein that are afar off" from God. By him 
 every legal demand was met, and every award of divine 
 justice fulfilled. "All have sinned, and come short of the 
 glory of God; being justified freely by his grace, through 
 the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God hath set 
 forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood, to de- 
 clare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are 
 past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say at 
 this time his righteousness; that he might be just, and the 
 justifier of him which believeth in Jesus."* "Without shed- 
 ding of blood, there is no remission."! "But now in Christ 
 Jesus, ye, who some times were far off, are made nigh by 
 the blood of Christ. For he is o«r peace.*' ^ 
 
 But our distance from the author of our being implies 
 more than this. It is not merely as criminals, convicted by 
 his law, and exposed to its penalty, that we are restored, 
 and brought to God by his Son. We are estranged also in 
 mind and will, in temper and inclination. The fellowship 
 of our spirits is not with God's spirit. To reclaim us from 
 this perverse bent of the affections, that divine spirit must 
 form us anew. "Except a man be born of water, and of the 
 
 •^ Horn. iii. 23-26. f ^^^^- i^- 22. + Ephes. ii. 13. U. 
 
236 
 
 spirit, lie cannot enter into the kingdom of God."* But this 
 reforming and regenerating spirit is the purchase of the 
 blood of Jesus. It is «<with his precious blood, as the blood 
 of a lamb without blemish and without spot, that we are re- 
 deemed from our vain conversation."} Hence that prayer 
 of an apostle: "iVow the God of peace, that brought again 
 from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the 
 sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make 
 you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in 
 you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus 
 Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. — Amen.*':(: 
 
 Christ, by suffering for sins, "the just for the unjust," 
 hath made the throne of Alniighty God accessible to the 
 penitent. A ceremonial purification was prerequisite in 
 certain cases, by the ancient law, in order to gain for the 
 worshipper an entrance anto the Temple. In like manner, 
 in every supposable case under the new dispensation, pol- 
 luted, as we are, by vice and folly, our approaches to God 
 are sanctioned and consecrated only by the obedience and 
 blood of the suffering Mediator. Hence that reasoning of 
 an inspii'ed author: "If the blood of bulls and of goats, and 
 the ashes of an heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to 
 the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood 
 of Christ, who, through the eternal spirit, offered him- 
 self without spot to God, purge your conscience from 
 dead works, to serve the living God?"§ "The blood which 
 cleanses from all sin, gives us boldness to enter into the ho- 
 liest." || Although the God we serve is undoubtedly of 
 purer eyes than to behold evil; although he cannot look up- 
 on iniquity but with abhorrence; yet have we a "High 
 Priest over tlie house of God, who hath consecrated for us 
 a new and living way, tlirough the veil, that is to say, his 
 iiesh;"|[ in "whom we have boldness, and access, with con- 
 fidence, by the faith of him."** 
 
 * John, Hi. 5. f 1 Peter, i. 18. 19. + Hcb. xiii. 20. 21 . '^ Ilcb ]x. 13^ 1 4. 
 •\\ Heb. X. 19. %_ Heb. x. 20. •• Eph. iii. 12. 
 
237 
 
 Christ, "by his once suffering for sins, the just for the 
 unjust," hath opened the kingdom of Heaven to all believ- 
 ers; <'hath purchased a possession" of eternal glory for the 
 myriads whom he has reconciled to God, reclaimed from 
 sin, and consecrated to be holy, upright, exemplary in life, 
 and pure in heart. "Return, O! Lord, how long? When 
 shall I come, and appear b'efore God? 0! that I might come 
 even to thy seat! As the heart panteth for the water brooks, 
 so panteth my soul after thee. My heart and my flesh cri- 
 eth out for the living God. How lovely are thy dwelling 
 places, my King and my God! How desirablethe altars of thy 
 Temple, not made with hands! Open to me the gates of 
 Heaven, that I may go into them and praise tliee!" Such 
 are the desires of pious men — such the animated breathings 
 of the believer's spirit; and they shall be fulfilled; and ac- 
 cording to their hope, it shall be done unto them; because 
 <«Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the un- 
 just, that he might bring ns to God;" because "Christ also 
 loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might 
 sanctify and cleanse it with the wasliing of water, by the 
 word; that he might present it to himself a glorious church, 
 not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it 
 should be holy, and without blemish;"* because he who once 
 suffered for sins, designs to come again without sin unto 
 salvation, when he shall "present you," believers, "faultless^ 
 before the presence of his glory, with exceeding joy."f 
 
 Let no one impeach the righteousness of God in ordain- 
 ing this substitution of an innocent being in the sinner's 
 place. The dispensation was not imposed upon Christ 
 against his consent. It was not more an ordinance of his 
 Father than his own voluntary assumption. "Lo! I come 
 to do thy will, 0! God; the body which thou hast prepared 
 for me," I come to offer upon the cross for the sin of the 
 world! At once he presented himself as the victim, and the 
 priest. And the imagined iniquity of the appointment by 
 which he agonized, bled, and expired for trespasses not his 
 
 • Eph. V. 25.-27. t Jud. i. 24. 
 
own, is lost in the triumphant splendours of that crown 
 which he now wears; in the unrivalled glories of that name, 
 that dignity, that authority, and that power, with which he 
 is now recompensed. 
 
 Suffer, now my brethren, a few words of exhortation.. 
 
 It must be obvious that nothing can be more sacredly in- 
 cumbent on the Christian than to, maintain in his heart a 
 lively impression of the benevolence of the Son of God. 
 Contemplate with fixed eye that splendid representation of 
 moral dignity — of the virtue and perfection of the celestial 
 regions — which the character and transactions of Jesus af- 
 forded, when he sojourned on earth. Contemplate the suc- 
 cessive griefs through w hich he passed from his birth to his 
 crucifixion. See him on the fatal tree, cut off, but not for 
 himself; struggling under the pressure of your sins, and 
 bathed in blood by the stripes of mortal execution due to 
 you. It was y^ur offences that planted the cross on the en- 
 sanguined hill of Calvary. It was your rebellion that mur- 
 dered this prince of life. It was to bring you nigh to God, 
 who were afar off from him, that this just one suffered for 
 sins. And remember that the sufferer was God's own Son; 
 uniting a nature derived from the eternal Deity, with human 
 flesh, human feelings, and human sympathies. This being 
 recollected, the poet's language will not be thought unsound, 
 *'Heaven wept, that man might smile — Heaven bled, that 
 man might never die." Let love to this divine sufferer, ' 
 then, be a passion in your souls, second only to love to the 
 Father of mercies, who gave him for the life of the world. 
 Turn with disgust and abhorrence from sin, as that which 
 occasioned his suffering — that which crucified the Lord of 
 glory — and that which, as often as it is repeated or indulg- 
 ed, crucifies him afresh, and puts him to open shame. Shall 
 I say, let not sin reign in your mortal bodies? I will not 
 say this; for if you be true believers on the name of the Son 
 of God, you have imbibed his spirit; in habit you are holy; 
 in you, sin cannot reign. But I will say, resist temptation: 
 
239 
 
 banish the evil thought; strangle the incipient lust — the in- 
 fant principle of sin; crush the young serpent's head before 
 his sting can have strength to dart the moral poison. For- 
 swear the accommodating and supple spirit which is so apt 
 to lure the Christian into worldly compliances. Remember 
 that you are redeemed to be a holy seed. Let not the Re- 
 deemer be reproached in the bosom of his own family. 
 
 <'He hath suffered to bring you to God!" to establish for 
 you a communion with the Father of your spirit here, that 
 you may be trained up for the holy fellowship of Heaven. 
 Draw near, therefore, in full assurance of faith. Lift up 
 pure hearts and holy hands. In private and in publick; 
 in the closet, the dwelling, and the diurch; let the altar 
 of incense be raised, and pure offerings of praise and tlianks- 
 giving ascend. And if it be only through the suffering of 
 Christ that you are brought into peace with God, and re- 
 ceive the privilege of apia'oaching him acceptably, there is 
 no need of many words to prove that you must draw near in 
 his name and in dependence upon his merits. "He is the 
 way, and no man cometh unto the Father, but by him."* 
 
 One word to unthinking sinners, and I have done. If no 
 man can be brought to God but by a suffering mediator — if 
 no man can appear before God's face in Heaven, except 
 through the righteousness of that mediator, imputed to him, 
 and received by faith; and on this point you have a full and 
 fair opportunity to satisfy yourselves by collating the differ- 
 ent scriptures on this subject, and inferring effects fron^ 
 causes — conclusions from premises; what madness possesses 
 you, that you should renounce your only refuge? I entreat 
 you to pause. Surely you are not aware of the bitterness 
 of God's eternal displeasure. If sin required such an ex- 
 piation as was made for it by the unequalled suffering of the 
 Son of God, surely, they whom faith and repentance have 
 not interested in his merits, must acknowledge tliemselves 
 to be in imminent and awful peril. •♦If such things were 
 done in a green tree, what shall be done in a dry.?"f 
 
 • John, xiv, 6. f Luke, xxiii. 3! . 
 
THE FEAR OF MAN SUBORDINATE TO THE 
 FEAR OF GOD, 
 
 ST. MATTHEW, X. £8. 
 
 ^'Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill 
 the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both 
 sotd and body in hell," 
 
 To know equally the chief good and the chief ill; to hav^ 
 distinct views of what we should most dread and what we 
 should most desire; is a useful, and cannot but be an all-im- 
 portant acquisition. It is attainable at the feet of Jesus 
 Christ. He has told us that the happiness of man consists in 
 the knowledge, of God; in divine love; and in the everlast- 
 ing enjoyment of heavenly communion. He has told us, 
 also, as in our text, that the misery of man consists in the 
 eternal privation of these joys, and the eternal sufferings of 
 a torment infinitely more to be deprecated than the pains of 
 this life, however severe, and the terrors of death however 
 alarming. The holy confessors and martyrs of God have 
 studied this lesson in all ages, and at all times it is a lessoa 
 ■worthy of Christian meditation. Exempt, as we are, for 
 the present, from the lash of persecution, there are few who 
 are not impressed with greater anxiety on the score of tem- 
 poral evils, than apprehension as to what are eternal; few 
 who do not dread weak men more than the Almighty God; 
 and none who do not need instruction from Heaven as to 
 whom and what they ought^ and whom and what they ought 
 Gg 
 
^4S 
 
 not to fear, in the line of their duty. Let us all, therefore, 
 with meekness, receive the ingrafted word, which, through 
 faith, is able to make us wise unto salvation. Let us heark- 
 en to Jesusf whilst he teaches us, in the text, to what fear 
 it is that we should never degrade ourselves; the fear of 
 death: and what we should dread far more.than death, and 
 them who may have the power of it; the judgment of God. 
 "Fear nut them which kill the body, but are not able to kill 
 the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both 
 soul and body in hell." 
 
 Man, brought into the world with so many principles 
 tending in their nature to unite and bind us to each other; 
 man, wiiose every breath should emit the fragrance of the 
 heavenly plant of love; has become cruel and ferocious; 
 more cruel than the Lion; more ferocious than the Tyger. 
 These respective species of animals are generally at peace 
 among themselves; but with man, neighbour against neigh- , 
 hour, brother against brother, puts himself in arms. Reli- 
 gion itself, which, unless perverted, entenders and human- 
 izes the heart, is too often made the pretext of cruelty. By 
 pronouncing this hallowed name we would consecrate our 
 furious passions, whilst wc seek to appease our hatred by 
 the destruction of its object. How often, since the incarna- 
 tion of Christ, has his church been defiled by murder, mas- 
 sacre, and devastation? How often has she seen her children 
 led to the wheel, the cross, the scaffold, the gibbet, and the 
 stake? Contemplating this weight of woe, all of which he 
 foresaw in vision, and part of which he personally experien- 
 ced, St. Paul says, in the words of the XLIV Psalm, "for 
 thy sake are we killed all the day long, we are counted as 
 sheep for the slaughter." Contemplating these events as 
 shortly about to involve his disciples, Jesus Christ thought 
 fit to encourage them with these words; «Fear not them 
 which kill the body." 
 
 To men, who, professing the feeling of humanity, are not 
 Insensible to pain and misery, this exhortation would seem 
 
243 
 
 unnatural, did not our Saviour ground it on the most sub- 
 ;stantial reason, that they "are not able to kill the soul." 
 
 The soul, freed from material fetters, rests in peace, 
 amidst the bowers of Paradise, and on the- bosom of God. 
 There, arrayed in felicity and glory, she is unruffled by pas- 
 sion, and unconscious of pain. Did the wicked forbear 
 their rage; were the sword of enmity sheathed; still, the dis- 
 solution of the body is the debt of nature, a debt we all must 
 pay. Let time take its course, and thoug;. enmity should 
 spare, disease or decay shall claim you. Let violence and 
 murder do their worst; they only acctnnplislLwhat the con- 
 stitutional principle of mortality would in time have effect- 
 ed, with less severity and anguish, it may be, but not with 
 less certainty. Let them rend the garments, let them pull 
 down the abode, of man; the spirit, which is peculiarly the 
 man, and which wears these garments, and inhabits this 
 abode, the bright unsuffering spirit ascends to God. "Fear 
 not them," therefore, "which kill the body, but are notable 
 to kill the soul; but rather fear him which is able to destroy 
 both soul and body in hell." 
 
 An ancient sect, who combatted all tlie passions, aimed 
 their principal attacks against Fear. They contended that 
 the wise man should be, not only intrepid in danger, but in- 
 sensible to it. Passion, however, is necessary in the econo- 
 my of human life. Jesus Christ, therefore, more wisely and 
 compassionately, does not require us to eradicate fear, but 
 labours to give it a true direction. "Fear not them which 
 kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but. rather 
 fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in 
 heli." 
 
 Nor yet does he absolutely forbid all fear but that which 
 terminates in God; or proscribe that fear of man, that dread 
 of the evils of life, which is natural and reasonable, if con- 
 fined within due limits. But he teaches that this emotion 
 is infinitely more becoming, infinitely more necessary with 
 regard to God, and the everlasting ills which it is in his power 
 
M4 
 
 to inflict, than with regard to men, and the temporary 
 evils of this life, or even death itself, independent of future 
 suffering. And this his doctrine is in perfect conformity 
 with the dictates of nature and common sense. God claims 
 a greater proportion of our reverence than the greatest and 
 most powerful of our fellow creatures, in that his nature and 
 dignity excel theirs. Whenever, therefore, God and man 
 invite us to different and opposite performances; when me- 
 naces from each impend over us to effect our compliance; we 
 cannot hesitate whom to fear and how to act. ''We ought 
 to obey God rather than men." Surrounded by the sor- 
 rows of life, or having the pains of death In prospect, the 
 emotion of fear is natural and unavoidable. But when the soul 
 is in danger; when her interests are at variance with those 
 of the body; we should give ourselves up to the movements 
 of a greater fear lest we be overtaken by the terrible des- 
 truction of soul and body in hell forever. In the daily oc- 
 currences of life, we cannot but observe that when a man i§ 
 called to experience a variety of griefs, the more light will 
 not be felt under the pressure of one more severe. Let the 
 fear of poverty, for example, be set off" against the fear of 
 death, and a man shall cast the coffer that contains his all 
 into the sea to save himself from shipwreck. Thus, Jesus 
 Christ, who knows our frame, designs that one fear should 
 destroy another and an inferiour; and therefore says, ««fear 
 not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the 
 soul; but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul 
 and body in hell.'* 
 
 This hell, my brethren, is not a black abyss of non-ex- 
 istence, swallowing up equally our hopes and our fears, and 
 rendering us as though we had never been. It would not 
 then be an object more terrible than that death which the 
 cruelty of man might inflict on ns. The same event would 
 deliver us at once from the enmity of the world and the re- 
 tribution of God. Were annihilation the issue of all things, 
 -we should shrink from the fires of martyrdom and its tor- 
 
2W 
 
 turing racks, though every step we retired should awaken 
 the anger of Jehovali. What is this hell, then? It is a 
 place of extreme contempt; it is a state of extreme anguish. 
 The original word, which the translators of the scriptures 
 have thus rendered, signifies "the valley of Hinnom." This 
 was a valley in the vicinity of Jerusalem which the execra- 
 ble superstition of the Jews has immortalized to infamy. In 
 the times of their idolatry, it was here that they sacrificed 
 their infant children to Moloch; placing them in hrazen 
 statues, and consuming them gradually hy the application 
 of slow fires. Afterwards, as the Hebrew Doctors inform 
 us, to render yet more profane and abominable a place de- 
 filed by the most detestable crimes that ever idolatry per- 
 petrated, or superstition inspired, it was made a receptacle 
 for the bodies of executed malefactors and the refuse of the 
 victims used in sacrifice. Having no idea of any place more 
 odious than this, the Jews, employed its name to designate 
 the state of rejected souls and the place of their torments; 
 and Christ couched his instructions in the language of the 
 day, as most intelligible. 
 
 Let iis now concentrate these ideas. There is a great 
 and terrible God — the avenger of guilt — the all righteous 
 judge — who hath power to cast into hell both soul and body; 
 that is to say, the entire man, with all his faculties of sensa- 
 tion and reflection. They who have been accomplices in the 
 crime shall be associated in the punishment. The bodies of 
 the wicked shall be raised, and, being reunited to their souls, 
 shall suffer with them. Both soul and body shall be des- 
 troyed in hell — in the lake of fire and brimstone — tlic habi- 
 tation of the worm that never dies, but corrodes with una- 
 bated sharpness — amidst tears, and lamentations, and gnash- 
 ing of teeth, and the roarings of ever quenchless flames. 
 
 My brethren, let us not wrest from the Almighty tlie ma- 
 jesty of terror which surrounds liim. A God disarmed is a 
 God despised. If the infernal world with all its horrors is 
 often insuflicicnt to make us fear and obey him, what wnrM 
 
246 
 
 be the consequence were we no longer influenced by the ap- 
 prehension of eternal misery? /There are persons who affect 
 to be superiour to such motives; to be proof against the im- 
 pressions of terror in religion; to call the dread of futurity 
 weakness and cowardice. But is it true magnanimity to 
 disregard so great and inevitable an evil? an evil that shall 
 co-exist with eternity? an evil from which we may be sepa- 
 rated by a mere point Of position or duration? Is it true 
 magnanimity to sleep while sentence Is pronounced upon us, 
 or on the brink of the precipice whose foot is lashed by the 
 billows of destruction? Is. it true magnanimity to look with 
 iudifference on the blackness of everlasting darkness, and 
 to contemplate unmoved an eternity of suffering? Men and 
 brethren, it is self willed obduracy; it is brutish stupidity. 
 "Fear not them," therefore, "which kill the body, but are 
 not able to kill the soul; but rather fear him which is able to 
 destroy both soul and body in hell." 
 
 This subject, my brethren, is not devoid of utility, al- 
 though it may not be thought probable that you or I shall 
 ever be precisely in the situation of those to whom the words 
 were originally addressed. I will remind you of a very nat- 
 ural, reasonable, and scrij)tural inference from it. If We are 
 exh(»rted to fear not even death in th^ path of duty, and if, 
 from the manner in which the exhortation is conveyed, we 
 are compelled to believe that fear in such a case is crimi- 
 nal, how. much more when it terminates in inferiour evils; 
 when it is excited by the scoffs of the impious and profane, 
 by the contemptuous smile of the worldling, or the insolent 
 pity of the sci<dist and tiic witling; when you relax in piety 
 and virtue, intimidated by every little inconvenience that 
 meets you from the world; when bad company, bad exam- 
 ple, comi)laisance for those around you, the mere request of 
 persons who might be disobliged by a refusal, when cither 
 of these circumstances is sufficient to divert you from Chris- 
 tian purity and sanctification? It is in vain that we preach 
 the doctrine of future and eternal punishment; that wo rca^ 
 
247 
 
 son eoncerninj^ riajliteousness, temperance, and judgment to 
 come; if we produce no impression that can stem the tor- 
 rent of fashionable errors, or mortify the most inconsidera- 
 ble propension to vice. It is in vain that we preach the 
 spotless sanctity, the severe justice, and the resistless pow- 
 er of God; if the fear of man can prevail to defeat the influ- 
 ence of his laws. 0! how many sins of omission and com- 
 mission take their rise in this base principle! 
 
 Heads of families; we tell you to make your houses, 
 houses of prayer; to lead your children and servants to the 
 knowledge and communion of that God who is the author of 
 domestick happiness;^ but family worship is not the fashion, 
 and you are afraid to be singular. 
 
 Young people; we tell you to remember your Creator in 
 the days of your youth; we tell you that peculiarly grace- 
 ful, in early life, is a religious dcjjortment, and followed by 
 the especial favour of God; that filial piety is the first and 
 noblest of social duties; and that respect for the authority 
 of age is essential to your best interests; but your compan- 
 ions make a mock at all these things, and you are afraid to 
 incur their ridicule. 
 
 Professors of our holy religion; we tell you, be not con- 
 formed to this world; renounce its vanities; disclaim its 
 principles; abstain from the appearance of evil; avoid mo- 
 dish dresses, modish places, and modish amusements, that 
 minister to sin; walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye 
 are called; and adorn the doctrine of God your Saviour in 
 all things; but this is being righteous over much, say the 
 men of this world; and ye are afraid that they should enter- 
 tain a mean opinion either of your understanding or your 
 spirit. 
 
 Perhaps in no one instance is this misplaced fear more 
 conspicuous than in the practice of duelling, so frequent in 
 the present day; a practice, in wliich it is hard to determine 
 what most to admire, its stupid absurdity, or its audacious 
 wickedness. It is absurd; stupidly absurd; because it can 
 
^8 
 
 'bring na real satisfaction to the injured party. It is wick- 
 ed; audaciously wicked; because it directly and darinj^Iy 
 contravenes the law of God, which, on this point, as on all 
 others that involve moral obligations, is express, unequivo- 
 cal, and unqualified, and which, although it allows us to re- 
 pel forcible aggression, does not allow us wantonly to de- 
 stroy, or even expose our own lives, or the lives of others. 
 Thoughtless of this, bow many professing Christians are 
 there whom the fear of the world and of its scoffs and of its 
 frowns sends unbidden into the Eternal Presence! Pre- 
 sumptuous sins are, of all others, most dangerous to the soul; 
 and a sin so presumptuous as this can scarcely be named. 
 He who takes hours, if not days and months, to deliberate, 
 before he commits^the crime, if there be truth and justice in 
 God, provokes that God to cut him off before he can repent; 
 and in the records of my faith I learn that no mirepented sin 
 shall ever be forgiven. It is not for me to limit divine mer- 
 cy; it is not for me to decide the destiny of the duellist, or 
 of any other criminal; but this I will say, ten thousand u-'i- 
 verses sliould not bribe me to stand with him in judgment. 
 But, my brethren, were I to pretend to calculate the full 
 effect of this pernicious principle, the fear of the world, its 
 laugh, and its frown; I should not know where to stop. Suf- 
 fice it to say, that it is not more pernicious than unreasona- 
 ble. Suppose you were to gain the wh«>le world, uli its 
 smiles, and all its caresses, would this be a compensation for 
 the loss of the soul? 0! consider those awful w«)rds, "who- ' 
 soever shall deny me before men, him will i also deny before 
 my Father which is in Heaven." ^'Whosoever sliall be 
 ashamed of me and of my words, in this adulterous and sin- 
 ful generation, of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed 
 when he cometh in the glory of his Father, with the holy 
 angels." "Fear not them," therefore, "which kill tlie body, 
 but are not able to kill the soul;" far less be ye afrai(] of 
 those whose contempt or hatred may be directed against 
 Christian piety and virtue; "but rathiM- fear him which is 
 able to destroy both soul and body in hell." 
 
249 
 
 Spirit of my God! Vouchsafe to enforce the admonition 
 upon the consciences of this, people, that in this their day, 
 they may attend to the things which belong to their peace, 
 before they be hidden from their eyes forever. — Amen. 
 
 Hh 
 
THE CAUSES OF INCONSTANCY IN RELIGION, 
 
 GALATIANS, V. 7. 
 
 *'¥e did runivell; who did hinder ijou, that ye should not 
 obey the truth?" 
 
 It must be evident to every attentive observer of biiman 
 nature, as exhibited in real life, that steadfastness, fixed- 
 ness, and perseverance in the practice of piety and virtue, 
 is an excellence extrcjmely rare. Impressions of truth and 
 goodness too generally become faint, where they are not to- 
 tally effaced; religious zeal languishes, where it is not ex- 
 tinguished; the purposes of virtue are broken off in the 
 midst; and to multitudes, the apostle's expostulation is not 
 inapplicable, "Ye did run well; who did hinder you, that ye 
 should not obey the truth?" There is a particular refer- 
 ence in these words, it is true, to a mischievous interference 
 with the faith of the Galatians, in consequence of which 
 they had stepped aside from the simplicity of the truth as it 
 is in Jesus; endeavouring to connect it with the obsolete ri» 
 tuals of Judaism. But in the very same style, with the very 
 same earnestness of address, ministers of Christ may re- 
 monstrate against every aberration from sound doctrines 
 once received; against every deviation from the course of 
 duty; every intermission of pious activity; every dereliction 
 of good and lioly undertakings. "Ye did run well; who 
 did hinder you, that ye should not obey the truth?" 
 
 Men are mutable in that which is good; they permit 
 
252 
 
 I 
 
 themselves to be hindered in their upright course, and di- 
 verted from it. Assuming this as afact^ I propose to trace 
 it to its sources; to expose the springs of an evil so hostile 
 to the peace and salvation of tlie soul. 
 
 These are not to be found either in deficiency of means, 
 or in deficiency of motive. 
 
 Not in dejicienctf of means. God demands nothing of his 
 creatures which they are not ca]mcitated to perform. They 
 know him not who imagine him to be ''a hard master, reap- 
 ing where he has not sown, and gathering where he has not 
 strawed." They know him not who discern any likeness 
 between him and that tyrant of Egypt, who exacted more 
 toil of an enslaved people, without removing or alleviating 
 the difficulty which retarded their compliance with his will. 
 The claims of the divine Majesty are a|; once just and mer- 
 ciful. They are always proportioned to the ability of his 
 subjects, who receive from him strength equal to their day 
 of trial and service. Much is required of him only to whom 
 much is given; much asked of him only to whom much is' 
 committed."* And if you can suppose a moral agent alto- 
 gether powerless, you may be satisfied that, from him, nothing 
 is expected. If, then, having run well the race of duty, 
 your career be unhappily arrested, say not that it is arrest- 
 ed by deficiency of means. 
 
 Neither may you ascribe it to defciency of motive. Mo- 
 tives abound. Every thing that can confirm; every tiling 
 that can justify; every thing that can inspirit, quicken, and 
 impel, is presented to the soul. What more can be desired 
 for this purpose, than is contained in this noble scripture? 
 "The grace of God that bringeth salvation, hath appeared 
 to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and world- 
 ly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and religious- 
 ly in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and_ 
 the glorious appearing of the great God, and our Saviour 
 Jesus Clirist."f All to whom the gospel is preached, and 
 
 * Luke, xii. 48. fTit. ii. 11— X3. 
 
253 
 
 they to whom it is entrusted, are commanded, as far as they 
 may find it practicable, to preach it to every creature; all 
 are taught, not feebly to attempt the restriction of evil pro- 
 pensities, but resolutely, laboriously, manfully, and totally 
 to resist, renounce, and deny the gratification of them; to 
 habituate themselves carefully to self-respect, to justice to- 
 wards their neighbour, and piety towards God. And as an 
 inducement of ample weight and power, all are directed to 
 anticipate with triumphant certainty the crown of their 
 hopes and struggles in the glorious advent of the Redeemer, 
 which shall be without sin unto eternal salvation. 
 
 It is life and immortality that invite you to persevere. 
 The very genius of the evangelical constitutions is, work, 
 for God worleth in you; and if you improve the grace al- 
 ready received, more shall be imparted. Tliat spirit shall 
 descend upon you in seven-fold energy, whose province and 
 whose delight it is to sanctify the depraved heart; purify 
 the troubled conscience; succour tlie helpless; encourage the 
 diffident; quicken the dull; and establish, strengthen, and 
 settle the unsteady. , 
 
 Exceedingly great and precious are the promises, both of 
 present favour, and everlasting glory and felicity, held out 
 to allure mankind into patient continuance in well doing; 
 to purify them from the corruption that is in the world 
 through lust; and to elevate them to the dignity of a parti- 
 cipation of the divine nature.- "Omnipotence hath given 
 unto them all things that pertain unto life and godliness, 
 through the knowledge of him that hath called thcili to glory 
 and virtue."* 
 
 If, then, having run well the race of duty for a time, yon 
 sufi'er yourselves to be arrested in your bright career, charge 
 this unfortunate issue upon any thing rather tlian deficiency 
 either of motive or of means; of ability or of inducement. Be 
 jiist to Heaven, and criminate yourselves. Accompany me 
 into your own bosoms, and thero recognize the sources oP 
 
 * 2. Vcter, 5. 3. 4. 
 
254} 
 
 this evil; the veritahle springs of this instability. Recog- 
 nize them in that no more than superficial attention which is 
 too commonly bestowed upon the subject of religious and 
 moral duty; in that indecision of mind which is so apt to be 
 occasioned by the collision of different and opposing views 
 of things; in the incautious tampering with those incentives 
 and provocatives to evil which the world and its ruler, aided 
 by the corruptions of the heart, are so forward to offer; and 
 in the neglect of the instituted means of grace, publick and 
 private. 
 
 Recognize them in that no more than superficial attention 
 which is too commonly bestowed upon the subject of reli- 
 gious and moral duty. 
 
 This is a radical defect. It may with eminent propriety 
 be styled a fundamental error. Until it be corrected, men 
 cannot be consistent, uniform, and persevering Christians. 
 An insufficient ground-work can promise no stable or dura- 
 ble superstructure. Hence it is, perhaps, more than from 
 any other single cause, that the moral state of most persons 
 is so variable and fluctuating. They do not reflect with 
 adequate depth and seriousness upon the nature and iextent 
 of a religious life; or upon the reasons which support their 
 obligations to pursue it; or upon the diligent and laborious 
 exertion necessary in the prosecution of it. 
 
 First. — Men do not reflect with adequate depth and seri- 
 ousness upon the nature and extent of a religious life. They 
 seem to imagine that if they reform in certain particulars, 
 they may freely indulge themselves in others. And even 
 where they profess to reform themselves, they seem to be 
 satisfied with very meagre and imperfect conceptions of the 
 business of reformation. They know not, or remember not, 
 or, at least, appear indisposed to admit, this apostolick 
 truth. "Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend 
 in one point, he is guilty of all:"* the same insincerity of 
 heart which leads him habitually to violate one of the divine 
 
 * James, ii. 10. 
 
255 
 
 commandments, being calculated to lead him into the viola- 
 tion of the rest. They do not bear in mind that no one 
 worldly lust can be in reality denied where all are not deni- 
 ed; that no real transformation of life can be effected inde- 
 pendently of a renewed spirit; and that where the spirit is 
 renewed, there, not one, or two, or any limited number of 
 vicious habits and practices, but all, are renounced. They 
 do not bear in mind the intimate connection subsisting be- 
 tween the different branches of duty; or the imperfection of 
 each, contemplated apart. For assuredly, although it is 
 well to cultivate purity, temperance, continence, chastity, 
 and moderation, yet to add to them the social virtues, is still 
 better; while at the same time, the union of both these class- 
 es of excellence cannot but be extremely defective, and in 
 a sense, vain and unprofitable, unless crowned, sanctified, 
 refined, and exalted, by piety towards God. 
 
 Without meditation on God's law, is it probable that men 
 will uniformly obey it? without investigating the full bearing 
 of his preceptive will in all its parts, is it probable that they 
 will yield it a minute and unlimited compliance? Withoutclear 
 ideas on moral points, shall we expect from them right con- 
 duct? Look not for steady virtue in him who thinks any 
 less of repentance than that it is a total reformation in the 
 habits of acting; not in particular and temporary instances, 
 but in habiis: who thinks that he has "sufficiently mortified 
 a corrupt affection by now and then refraining from the gra- 
 tification of it, though he may as often induge as deny it:" 
 who thinks that he has "acknowledged and discharged his 
 duty as far as necessity requires, by shewing an occasional 
 regard to it." Look not for steady virttie in this man; for 
 you look in vain. 
 
 Secondi^y. — Men do not reflect with adequate depth and 
 seriousness upon the reasons which support their obligation 
 to pursue a religious life. When they do what they ought 
 to do, or leave undone what they ought not to do, it is more 
 frequently the result of some peculiar and passing excite 
 
256 
 
 ment, than of a well-informed and well-directed understand- 
 ing. If they arc stretched upon a sick bed; if they endure some 
 more than cotiimon hardness; if some favourite object eludes 
 their grasp, or some untoward event thwarts their views; they 
 are disquieted; they are intimidated; they are affected; they 
 are melted. They become for a season disgusted with them- 
 selves — the world — and all things. They tell you, and for a 
 little while it may seem to be so; that they abjure their sins as 
 the procuring cause of their calamities. If they attend up- 
 on the ministrations of God's word, something either in the 
 matter which they may hear, or in the mode in which it may 
 be conveyed to them, strikes and effects them; and stirs 
 them up to purposes of amendment. But in the midst of all 
 these trials, these agitations, these workings of the passions, 
 the affections, and the feelings; the genuine, the only solid 
 and time-defying basis, on which to erect the steady pur- 
 poses of piety and virtue, is unseen or disregarded by them. 
 What I mean is, the essential demerit of moral evil; its 
 intrinsically odious and deleterious nature; its perfect 
 incompatibility, whilst unrepentod of and unrenounced, 
 with comfort, tranquillity, and hope, in this world, and with 
 the joys of the Divine Pi-esence in Heaven. Wliat 1 mean, 
 further, is, the essential beauty and worth of holiness; its 
 intrinsically lovely and beneficial nature; its infallible ten- 
 dency towards present peace, and future and everlasting glo- 
 ry. He who builds not his religion and his morals on this 
 foundation, cannot be steadfast; cannot be unmoveable; can- 
 not always abound in the work of the Lord, or in the per- 
 formance of duty. Unless you hate sin with a perfect and 
 unmixed hatred, a hatred growing out of the persuasion of 
 its extreme deformity, loathsomeness, vileness, and malig- 
 nity, how can you, with fixed purpose, rise above its influ- 
 ence? It has been finely said, that 
 
 \ Vice is a monster of such hideous mien 
 
 As, to be hated, needs but to be seen. 
 
%o7 
 
 But can you see the true character of this moral monster 
 without viewin,a: it attentively? No — its unqualified u^^Iiness 
 was never yet visihle to inconsideration. On the other handy 
 unless, you admire that which is morally heautiful and di- 
 vinely excellent; unless you are enamoured of it, for its own 
 sake; and love it with an attacliment derived from the ap- 
 prehension of its supereminent loveliness, value, and utility; 
 how can you, with unshaken fidelity, persevere in the culti- 
 vation of it? But can you appreciate the excellence of true 
 religion and virtue without the diligent contemplation of this 
 holy object? If your designs and plans, your actions and 
 deportment, be regulated merely by a heart affected, or an 
 imagination excited, while the soul is not exercised to dis- 
 cern between good and evil; your attainments in godliness 
 must be few, and your virtue mutable as the shifting winds. 
 Third. — Men do not reflect with adequate depth and 
 seriousness, upon the diligent and laborious exertion neces- 
 sary in the prosecution of a religious life. They form good 
 designs, for which surely they are to be commended; but 
 they form them precipitately and unthinkingly; they form 
 tliem as thougli they had nothing to do but to say, and it 
 must be done; to command, and it must stand fast; they 
 form them without being sufficiently aware of the obstacles 
 which they will have to encounter, or of the foes with whom 
 they will have to wage determined conflict. They forget 
 the exhortation of Jesus: ««Strive to enter in at the strait 
 gate; for many will seek to entei* in, and shall not be able."* 
 They forget these apostolical counsels: "Know ye not that 
 they which run in a race, run all; but one receiveth the 
 prize? So run, that ye may obtain."! "Put on the whole 
 armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the 
 wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and 
 blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the 
 rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wick- 
 edness in high places. Wherefore, take unto you the whole 
 
 * Luke, xiii. 24. 1. Cor. ix. 24. 
 
 It 
 
258 ^ 
 
 armour of God, that ye may be able to stand in the evil day# 
 and having done all to stand."* There was a time, we 
 read, and it is a melancholy piece of information, when ma- 
 ny of the earlier disciples of Jesus <<went back, and walked 
 ,no more with him.'*f Would to Heaven that the incident 
 had continued without a counterpart even to the present day! 
 So far is it, however, from being so, that every successive 
 age of the church has witnessed the like infidelity in innu- 
 merable instances^ and always from this principle of prac- 
 tical error; men count not the cost of Christian obedience. 
 Hear the reprehension of this improvidence from the mouth 
 of Christ himself. "Which of-you intending to build a tow- 
 er, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he 
 have sufficient to finish it? lest haply, after he hath laid the 
 foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it be- 
 gin to mock him, saying, this man began to build, and was 
 not able to finish. Or what king, going to make war 
 against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth 
 .whether he be able, with ten tliousand, to meet him that 
 Cometh against him with twertty thousand? Or else, while 
 the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, 
 and desireth conditions of peace. So likewise, whosoever 
 he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot 
 be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, 
 and come after me, cannot be my disciple.":}: 
 
 It fares with numbers in the journey of life, as with the 
 pilgrim, wh(f, when the green summit of the mOuntain meets 
 his eye, fancies himself near the end of his wanderings and 
 liis toils, until a full view of the intervening valley unde- 
 ceives him. You enter upon the course marked out by reli- 
 gion, imagining no obstacles, anticipating no defeat. Easi- 
 ly, therefore, are your energies repressed. Temptations, 
 perils, incnnveniencies, take you off your guard. Thus sur- 
 prised, you fall an almost unresisting prey. It escaped 
 your notice, that, to insure success and safety, you should 
 
 * Eph. \i. 13. t John, vi, 66. + Luke, xiv. 27.-33. 
 
259 
 
 have «<a{l(le(l to your faith, fortitude;" that you shouhl have 
 armed yourselves for the combat; that you shouhl have been 
 sober and vigilant; ever active, and ever on the alert. You 
 did not take time to think that attainments in the spiritual 
 life are gradual; that virtue consists not in an interrupted 
 and chequered course of individual acts, but in right habits; 
 while these habits, again, are created by successive acts; 
 that the transformation of an habitual sinner into a man of 
 piety and virtue, is rarely indeed the exploit of a moment; 
 that every retreat protracts the contest; and that every ad- 
 vantage which you suffer to be wrested from you, renders 
 the ground less tenable, the victory more remote, and the 
 danger more aj)paliing. 
 
 I propose, through the blessing of God, to, pursue this 
 subject at evening service. 
 
gisiasa®sr ssai^c 
 
 THE CAUSES OF INCONSTANCY IN RELIGION. 
 
 GALATIANS, V. 7. 
 
 "Fe did run well; who did hinder you, that ye should not 
 obey the truth?" 
 
 IV^EN are mutable in that which is good. They permit 
 themselves to be hindered in their upri.^ht course, and di- 
 verted from it. Assuming this as a fact ^ 1 proposed, in the 
 discourse of this niornini^, to trace it to its sources; to ex- 
 pose the springs of an evil so hostile^to the peace and salva- 
 tion of the soul. 
 
 It. was demonstrated that these are not to be found either 
 in deficiency of means, or in deficiency of motives. Not in 
 deficiency of means; because God demands nothing from his 
 creatures which they are not capacitated to perform. Not 
 in deficiency of motive; because there is in the gospel an 
 abundance of the most cogent motives; and especially because 
 the promised influences of the Holy Ghost, and the promised 
 recompenses of eternal glory and felicity, are inducements 
 than wliich it is impossible that any should be stronger. 
 
 If, having run well the race of duty for a time, you suffer 
 yourselves to be arrested in your bright career, you were 
 cautioned to charge this unfortunate issue upon any thing, 
 rather than deficiency in him who hath called you. You 
 were invited to recognize the sources of this evil, the verita- 
 ble springs of this instability, in your own bosoms. You were 
 primarily directed to recognize them in that no more than 
 
26S 
 
 superficial attention, which is too commonly bestowed upoa 
 tiie subject of religious and moral duty; in that indecision of 
 mind, whicli is so apt to be occasioned by the collision of dif- 
 ferent and opposing views of |;hin.a;s; in the incautious tam- 
 pering with tliose incentives and provocatives to evil, which 
 the world and its ruler, aided by the corruptions of the 
 heart, are so forward to offer; and in the neglect of the in- 
 stituted means of grace, publick and private. 
 
 To the brief consideration of the first of these defects, 
 which I affirmed to be radical, the discourse alluded to was 
 confined. I now proceed to discuss the remaining particu- 
 lars. 
 
 Recognize, then, another source of this evil, another 
 spring of this instability, in that indecision of mind, which 
 is so apt to be occasioned by the collision of different and 
 opposing views of things. To this we are directed by the 
 authority of an apostle. "A double minded man," says St. 
 James; or, as it might better be rendered, to avoid an equiv- 
 ocation which, certainly, he never contemplated, "a man of a 
 divided mind; or *«a man of two minds; is unstable in all his 
 ways."* A man who "halts between two opinions" cannot 
 be expected to w-alk undeviatingly in the course marked out 
 for him by that which only is the right opinion. You can- 
 not be uniform in conduct, if you are not fixed in principle. 
 You cannot pursue, with steady and vigorous step, the 
 strait and narrow road which leads to Heaven, if the mo- 
 tives which religion proposes are not suffered to njaintain 
 their legitimate ascendency over all meaner inducements. 
 ««No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the 
 orte, and love the other; or else he will hold to tiie one 
 and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and Mam- 
 mon."t Admitting, then, that religion claims, as a matter 
 of unyielding necessity, a thorough conversion of the soul 
 to God; an admission which no serious and reflecting read- 
 er of the scriptures can withhold; whence conies it that men 
 
 • James, i. 8. f Matthew, vi. 2i. 
 
363 
 
 who do not deny tlie justice of this claim, or the binding 
 force of this necessity, do. nevertheless, determine feebly 
 and imperfectly upon a religious course? Whence comes it 
 that they set out, and return; resolve, and stop; hesitate, and 
 retrace their steps? It is because their minds are variably 
 applied; now to Heaven, and then to the vVorld; one while 
 to piety, and another to pleasure; to-day to*sa!vation, to- 
 morrow to vanity, folly, idleness, and vice. It is because 
 they too generally permit their attention to be drawn off by 
 sense and passion from those objects vvhicli are of everlast- 
 ing concern. It is because their apprehensions of interest 
 and of happiness vibrate from things animal and secular, to 
 tilings spiritual and eternal, and back again from these to 
 the others; because the law of the members and the law of 
 the mind nraintain an equipoise of influence; and tlie seduc- 
 tions of present feeling, are allowed to contest the supremacy 
 of power with the invitations of faith. 
 
 Recognize a farther source of this evil, an additional 
 spring of this instability, in the incautious tampering with 
 those incentives and provocations to sin, which the world 
 and its ruler, aided by the corruptions of the heart, are so 
 forward to offer. "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into 
 temptation;" is the injunction of Christianity; and every 
 man trained in the school of Jesus, lifts up this petition, 
 "Lead us not into temptation*" Temptation, however, is 
 rarely avoided with that scrupulous care which is alive to 
 tlie dangers of the soul. If the vicious or the irreligious en- 
 tice, how few are they that do not consent? How few they 
 who adopt the Psalmist's words, "Depart from me ye evil 
 doers; for I will keep the commandments of my God!"* 
 How many they "who walk in the counsel of the nngodly; 
 who stand in the way of sinners; who sit in the scat of the 
 scornful !"f But how is it to be expected that men should 
 come forth unstained from such associations? How is it to 
 be expected that intercourse with the wicked should not di- 
 
 • rsalra , cxix. 1 1.5, -j- Psalm, i . 1 . 
 
^64 
 
 vert even the righteous from their own steadfastness? Will 
 the stream that mingles its waters with impurity, long re- 
 tain its limpid beauty? Can you take fire into your bosoms 
 and not be burned? Is it impossible for you to inhale dis- 
 ease from the atmosphere of hospitals and lazarettos? Is it 
 impossible for evil communications to corrupt good man- 
 ners? The society of impious or immoral, of earthly or 
 sensual men, cannot consist with the steady pursuit of holy 
 purposes. The dread of singularity — the dread of reproach 
 and hostility — is too apt to shake the resolution of \vell-dis» 
 posed minds; and nothing but a total and decided renuncia- . 
 tion of familiar intercourse with those that know not, or re- 
 gard not God, can save them from falling. 
 
 Unfortunately there are too many besetting sins — too 
 many particular and bosom temptations — which draw men 
 away from the onward path, and entice them to evil. 
 Where these are not spiritedly resisted, it is in vain that 
 you expect perseverance and constancy. It is a melancholy 
 consideration, that experience is so seldom permitted to in- 
 struct, caution, and fortify. Guilty desires cherishedj sen- 
 sual appetites flattered; have, more than once, prostrated 
 your virtue. You have not been insensible to the dangers 
 which accompanied them. You have deplored your weak- 
 ness, and a thousand times reproached your folly, and your 
 inconsideration. Where, then, is your resolution? Whei*e 
 the dignity of your rational nature? Where the strength of 
 your faith? that these desires should again be cherished, and 
 these appetites again be flattered? When lust hath con- 
 ceived, must it not inevitably bring forth sin? When the 
 heart is allowed to wander after forbidden joys, must not 
 the deportment be mutable? Must not the life be a life of 
 fluctuating acts, rather than of steady habits? 
 
 Many things, not in themselves sinful, may yet be the causes 
 of sin. These, therefore, it becomes a matter of solemn du- 
 ty to repudiate. If this be not done; if you do not deny 
 yourselves on points which, altiiough they may not, in them- 
 
265 
 
 selves, be criminal, are so nevertheless, in their issues; 
 points which, how insignificant soever, considered apart 
 from consequences, in their tendencies, for the most part, 
 minister to sin; you may calculate on being frequently and 
 deplorably turned aside from the holy course of piety and 
 virtue. 
 
 Once more. — Recognize a source of this evil; a spring of 
 this instability, in the neglect of the instituted means of 
 grace, publick and private. Tliese form the armour of the 
 soul. They fortify it against the attacks, and give increas- 
 ed efficacy to its vigilance against the stratagems of temp- 
 tation. Reading, hearing, meditation, prayer, the devout 
 participation of the holy communion, render opposition to 
 sin less difficult, in proportion as they are cultivated, and 
 obedience more practicable and pleasing. I need not take 
 time to demonstrate this fact. The experience of every in- 
 dividual who has paid the least attention to these things, 
 can sufficiently attest it. 
 
 Having traced this evil to its sources; having exposed the 
 springs of this instability; allow me now to demonstrate 
 that an obedience so defective and fluctuating, will not be 
 crowned with the divine acceptance. 
 
 The gospel being, in the first instance, addressed to man- 
 kind in their sins, requires of them conversion and sanctifi- 
 cation. The preparatory dispensation of the law had done 
 the same; and had even promised blessings and recompenses 
 to the obedient. ♦'He that covereth his sins shall not pros- 
 per; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them, shall find 
 mercy."* According to this ancient scripture, it is not 
 enough that men acknowledge their misdeeds with their lips^ 
 they must renounce the practice of them. "Wash you; make 
 you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before 
 mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well; seek judgment; 
 relieve the oppressed; judge the fatherless; plead for the 
 widow. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the 
 
 ^ PrOT. xxviii. 13. 
 
 Kk 
 
S66 
 
 Lord; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white 
 as sno^v; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as 
 wool."* <'Trust ye not in lying words; for if ye thoroughly 
 amend ynur ways and your doings; if ye thoroughly execute 
 judgment between a man and his neighbour; if ye oppress 
 not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed 
 not innocent blood, neither walk after other gods; then will 
 I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to 
 your fathers, forever and ever.''f ^'Therefore, now, afiiend 
 your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the Lord 
 your God; and the Lord will repent him of the evil that he 
 hath pronounced against you.":}:, "What is the language of 
 these exhortations and counsels, but simply this? Exhibit 
 a radical and entire reformation of manners and of conduct, 
 and it shall be well with you. "Blessed are tlie undefiled 
 in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord. Blessed are 
 they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the 
 whole heart. They also do no iniquity; they walk in his 
 ways. Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts dili- 
 gently. 0! let me not wander from thy comn.andments! 
 Teach me, 0! Lord, the way of thy statutes; and I shall 
 keep it unto the end. Then shall I not be ashamed, when 1 
 have respect unto all thy commandments/'^ Self-reproach — 
 confusion of face — are to be avoided only by a steady^ uni- 
 form, and universal compliance with the divine instructions. 
 Now, although these are extracts from the Jewish scrip- 
 tures, yet they turn upon points of moral obligation, and 
 are, consequently, perpetual and immutable. Thoy are the 
 directions of God under every dispensation of the true re- 
 ligion. Under that which now exists, they are more clear- 
 ly irevealed; more forcibly conveyed; and more affectingly 
 authenticated. "To call mankind to repentance," or refor- 
 mation, was the purpose of the Redeemer's coming; and his 
 apostles and heralds were commanded to insist on the ne- 
 cessity of conversion from iniquity to holiness. *«Eternal 
 
 ' Isaiah, i. 6.— IS. f Jer. vii. 4.— 7. + Jer. xxvi. 13. § See Psalm cxix, 
 
367 
 
 life is secured to those who, hy patient contimiaiire in well- 
 doin,2f, seek for glory, honour, and immortality.*'* *«The 
 unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God."f *« Vjtl,. 
 outholiness, no man shall see the Lord.":(: The Son of Gnd, 
 being made perfect through sufferings, hath ''hecom- t';e 
 author of eternal salvation unto all them that ohey hini."<S 
 
 Conversion and sanctification, tliereforc, are unequivocal- 
 ly required of all men by the gospel; or, which is the same 
 thing, in the present view, by the books containing the rev- 
 elation of the mind and will of Gotl. 
 
 But, assuredly, the unstable and changeable purposes, the 
 alternation in practice between good and evil, vvhich I have 
 submitted to your consideration, do not amount to this con- 
 version and sanctification. The denial of all ungodliness and 
 every worldly lust, is something more than the mere acknow- 
 ledgment of transgression. "To break off your sins by re- 
 pentance," is something more than that self-accusation in 
 which a sincere heart may not participate; something more 
 even than that inward agitation which the sincerity of a mo- 
 ment may produce, (if, indeed, there can be such a principle 
 admitted in the science of religion as the sincerity of a mo- 
 ment,) but which it does not support or perpetuate. There 
 are such things as "fruits meet for repentance." There arc 
 such things as *« works worthy of repentance." These are 
 only manifested in steadfast purposes — unmoveable deport- 
 ment — abounding godliness. Does the man who professes 
 to be sensible of his sins, and sorry for them, and vvlio yet 
 returns to the commission of them; who lives sometimes re- 
 ligiously, and at other times negligently; to-day crucifying 
 the flesh, to-morrow giving a loose to desire; does he bring 
 forth fruits meet for repentance? Does he perform works 
 worthy of repentance? "If any man be in Christ, he is a 
 new creature," says our apostle; but is that man renewed, 
 in whom ancient impurities remain unmortificd? In whom 
 early principles of evil are suffered to maintain so firm a 
 
 • Romans, ii. 7.. f * Cor. vi. 9. + Hebrews, xii. U. «, Hebrews, v. 9. 
 
268 
 
 footing, as from time to time to allure him back into the 
 oblique ways of error? "Ye have not so learned Christ,'* 
 my brethren, "if so be that ye have heard him, and have 
 been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus; that ye put off 
 concerning the former conversation, the old man^ which is 
 corrupt, according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in 
 the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, 
 which, after God, is created in righteousness and true holi- 
 ness;"* righteousness — not transient resolutions, or occa- 
 siniial acts, but rooted and continued habits; true holiness — 
 not intermitted devotion of the heart — not a perpetual vacil- 
 lation in obedience, but abiding and progressive sanctifica- 
 tion. "Whosoever abideth in God, sinneth not,"f writes 
 St. John; that is, bath no habit of sin; "whosoever sinneth," 
 habitually, "hath not seen him, neither known him. Let no 
 man deceive you; he that doeth righteousness is righteous." 
 Who else can be righteous but he, the tenour of whose life 
 is upright, virtuous, and pious? In the ordinary commerce 
 of mankind, who is it that you denominate kind and merci- 
 ful? He whose general demeanour is disobliging; he who 
 only now and then relents from the purposes of seveiity, 
 cruelty, or revenge; he whose common rule of action is a 
 gloomy spirit, from which forbearance is a rare exception? 
 3Vo — you call him kind, in whose heart and life the soft af- 
 fections and the benevolent graces predominate. You call him 
 merciful whose character is cast into the mould of tenderness 
 and benignity, clemency and sympathy; who is not accustom- 
 ed to avenge himself; who, if angry impulses carry him, at 
 times, beyond those limits of long-suffering moderation which 
 he has prescribed to himself, is the first to condemn his fault, 
 and sets a fresh and more rigid guard upon his spirit. Is it 
 possible, then, that you can admit that man*s claim to the 
 praise of righteousness, whose conformity to the law of 
 God, and th6 precepts of religion, is no more than tempora- 
 ry or occasional? Whose repentance, like the triumphing 
 
 * Eph. iv. 20.— 24. f 1 John, iii. 6. 7. 
 
of the Wicked, is but short — like the joy of the hypocrite, 
 but for a moment? Who reforms, again to be vitiated — 
 who is reclaimed, aj^ain to be lost? 
 
 If conversion and sanctification are unequivocally requir- 
 ed of all men; if the unchangeable and unstable purposes, 
 the alternation in practice between good and evil, which I 
 have submitted to your consideration, do not amount to this 
 conversion and sanctification; and if it be an undeniable posi- 
 tion, that God will receive none into the joys of his heav- 
 enly presence who do not walk with persevering step in the 
 ways of his appointment; then is your condition, 0! ye ir- 
 resolute, wavering, halting, temporizing Christians, envel- 
 oped in dangers inexpressible. *'God hath appointed a day 
 wherein he will judge the world in righteousness by that 
 man whom he hath ordained." '<Every secret thing shall 
 be brought to light;" and tried, *»whether it be good, or 
 whether it be evil." The great Judge will "render to every 
 man according to his deeds; unto them that do not obey the 
 truth, but obey unrighteousness; unto every soul of man 
 that doeth evil," and persists impenitently in iniquity, how 
 often soever he may put on the forms of goodness; "indig- 
 nation and Avi'ath, tribulation and anguish."* But unto 
 whom, I pray you, will he <<render" the award of "eternal 
 life?" of "glory, honour, find peace?" To the virtuous; 
 you will say; to the upright; to the benevolent; to the char- 
 itable; to the penitent sinner; to the sanctified believer. Be 
 it so. But who are these? Not they whose only claim to 
 notice may be a few splendid actions proceeding from equiv- 
 ocal motives. IS'ot they whose repentance leaves them un- 
 holy; or whose faith receives no perfection from their works. 
 But they who turn not aside from the holy commandment; 
 they who faint not, neither are wearied; they who endure 
 unto the end; they who run well,- with minds undiverted, 
 and an activity not to be hindered, the race set before them; 
 they who "seek immortality by patient continuance in well 
 doing." 
 
 * Romans, ji. 6.— 10 
 
270 
 
 Banish, my brethren, banish the hope that an extraneous 
 righteouness si all save him wiiose own soul remains unright- 
 eous. Banish the hope that any un regenerated spirit may 
 find its way into a holy Heaven. The thing is impossible. 
 I am not impairing the merits of tlie Redeemer. God de- 
 liver 'me from this sin! If I do not misapprehend the doc- 
 trine which I preach, T magnify these precious merits. They 
 save — and they save to the uttermost. They save from sin; 
 bat they do not save in sin. It is the glory of the Re- 
 deemer, that whom he justifies, he also sanctifies; whom he 
 frees from the penalties of transgression, he also makes ho- 
 ly. If, then, you have any regard for your eternal safety, 
 indulge no hope from the righteousness of Christ, indepen- 
 dently of the effects which it produces in your own conver- 
 sion and spiritual improvement. If it be written, <'there 
 is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus," I 
 charge you to remember what follows; **who walk not after 
 the flesh, but after the spirit.'** No man, indeed, can be 
 truly in Christ, wiiose life is carnal, whose character is not 
 spiritualized. If you are truly in Christ, "you are created 
 anew unto good works." If you are truly in Christ, you 
 are ingrafted into a living and inspiring Saviour; you are 
 become members of a b.ody of which he is the head; and the 
 life that is in him, animates you. This, my brethren, is the 
 root of evangelical holiness. This is the gospel. Receive 
 it; and you will be thoroughly furnished unto every good 
 word and work. Receive it; and you will pursue your 
 course without any formidable molestation, and, through the 
 grace that shall be in you, persevere unto the end — and be 
 saved. — Amen. 
 
 * Romans, viii. I. 
 
siiai!i)S3 ssT. 
 
 THE MEANS BY WHICH INCONSTANCY IN RE- 
 LIGION MAY BE PREVENTED. 
 
 GALATIANS, V. 7. 
 
 '«Fe did run well; who did hinder you, that ye should not 
 obey the truth?^' 
 
 In addressing you lately from these words, my brethren, 
 I traced the sources of the fault implied in them; and ex- 
 posed the springs of man's instability in that which is good.- 
 
 I have demonstrated that an obedience defective and fluc- 
 tuating, will not be crowned with the divine acceptance. 
 
 My business, at present, is to administer a few words of 
 advice towards the rectification of this evil; and then to 
 conclude the whole of what shall have been said, by a di- 
 rect and practical address. 
 
 In the first place. — I am to administer a few words of ad- 
 vice towards the rectifying the dangerous error of an unsta- 
 ble Jlnd mutable obedience. 
 
 As the principles, elements, and seeds of this error have 
 been ascertained, it is obvious, that if you would avoid it, 
 you must direct your primary endeavours against these; you 
 must sliun with scrupulous assiduity every thing that has a 
 tendency to generate this fickle and moveable conduct. Be- 
 stow a deeper attention on the subject of religious and mor- 
 al duty.* Reflect more profoundly, and with a greater 
 measure of seriousness, upon the nature and extent of a re- 
 
 • See Sermon 23. 
 
-272 
 
 ligious life. Consider well the reasons which support your 
 obligations to pursue it. Let not the genuine, the only solid, 
 aiid time-defying basis on which to erect the steady pur- 
 poses of piety and virtue, remain unseen or disregarded by 
 you. Establish your resolutions to forsake sin, on the essen- 
 tial demerit of sin; its intrinsically odious and deleterious qual- 
 ities; its perfect incompatibility, wbilst unicpented of and un- 
 renounced, with comfort, tranquillity . and hop6 in tbis world^ 
 as well as with the joys of the Divine Presence in Heavtn. 
 Establish your resolutions to follow holiness, on its essential 
 beauty and worth; its intrinsically lovely and beneficial quali- 
 ties; its infallible tendency towards present peace, and future 
 and everlasting glory. Keep in view the diligent and laborious 
 exertions necessary in the prosecution of a religious life. Form 
 your designs deliberately and providently; and count well 
 the cost of Christian obedience, before you enter upon the 
 profession of a sincere attachment to it.* Abjure that in- 
 decision of mind which is so apt to be occasioned by differ- 
 ent and opposing views of things. <*No man can serve two 
 masters." No man can v alk with a firm and determined 
 step, who "halts between two opinions." "A house divided 
 against itself, cannot stand." It was wisely, as well as pro- 
 phetically said by the patriarch Jacob of his son Reuben, 
 "unstable as water, thou shalt not excel." Tamper not in- 
 cautiously with those incentives and provocations to, sin, 
 which the world and its ruler, aided by the corruptions of 
 the heart, are so forward to offer. Neglect none of tbe in- 
 stituted means of grace, whether publick or private. "For- 
 sake not the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner 
 of some is."t "Take heed how ye hear.":t^ "Search the 
 scriptures; for in them ye have eternal life; and tliese are 
 they which testify"^ of Jesus, of his doctrines, and his 
 great salvation. "Continue in prayer, and watch in the 
 same with thanksgiving."ll Seek, in a devout attendance 
 
 • See Sermon 24. f Heb. x. 25. ± Luke, viii. 18. § John, v. 39. 
 11 Col. iv. 2 
 
273 
 
 on the holy communion, divine j^race to "stablish, strength- 
 en, and settle you" in holy habits. 
 
 Contemplate tlie vanity of the world, and its inability to 
 make you happy; the dignity of your immortal spirits; tlic 
 continued presence and inspection of Almiglity God; and 
 the awful importance of that eternity, on the borders of 
 which you stand, and which will be to you happy or miser- 
 able, according as you improve or neglect the advantages 
 of the present state. Habituating yourselves to such con- 
 templations, they will, at length, become i)itcrwovcn with 
 your very springs of action. Tlicy will operate as a re- 
 straint upon sensual propensities, and a protection against 
 tempting allurements, and discouraging opposition. What 
 is the world to him whose serious thoughts are lixed ou 
 Heaven? Where things spiritual arc paramount in the mind, 
 how powerless are things temporal! The man who frequent- 
 ly and feelingly asks himself this question, "what would it 
 profit me were I to gain the whole world, and lose my own 
 soul? or what can I give in exchange for my soul" to re- 
 cover it back into my possession? this man will not easily 
 «be hindered, that he should not obey the truth." 
 
 Repeat the dedication of yourselves to God as frequently 
 as possible. Frequently call up to view your solemn cove- 
 nant to be for him, and for none else. I speak to all'bapti- 
 zed persons, for according to the principles of our church, 
 they are in covenant with God. With the return of every 
 day, array yourselves in this divine armour before you en- 
 ter upon secular occupations. One determination is not 
 sufficient. Another, and another must succeed. 
 
 "Lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easi- 
 ly beset you, if you would run with patience the race that is 
 set before you."* If you overcome your reigning propen- 
 sity — your dominent enticement — all others will with ease 
 be defeated. If you direct your aims against minor sins on- 
 ly, which is the too common practice of mankind, while you 
 
 ^ Heb. xii. 1. 
 
^74' 
 
 cherish this bosom foe — ^this more powerful iniquity; if you 
 abstain only where abstinence imposes no heavy cross; you 
 are in danger of being deceived into the persuasion that you 
 have "slain the body of sin," while in effect, you have mere- 
 ly inflicted on it a slight, though irritating wound; that >ou 
 have conquered yourselves, while you have not even burst 
 the chains in which selfish affection holds you imprisoned; 
 that you have "entered into the kingdom of Heaven," while 
 you are at a remote distance from it. Be it your aim there- 
 fore, to reduce those passions which are most inordinate; to 
 curb those desires which are most imperious; to refrain from 
 those indulgencies which are most seducingly importunate. 
 Be counselled by the Son of God; "If thy hand or thy foot 
 offend thee, cut them off and cast them from tliee; it is bet- 
 ter for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than 
 having two hands, or two feet, to be cast into everlasting 
 fire. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out. and cast it 
 from thee; it is better for thee to enter into life with one 
 eye, rather than, having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire."* 
 Bethink yourselves of the rapid approach of death and 
 eternity. While you are undecided what part to act; while 
 your purposes are unsteady, and your conduct changeable; 
 year follows year in quick succession. Death waits no 
 man's pleasure; time, no man's resolutions; eternity, no 
 man's opinions. Every repetition of sin incurs renewed 
 danger. Know you the moment in which you may be cut 
 off? If not, why suffer a single moment to earn the wages 
 of sin? Why not redeem every instant of precious time, and 
 appropriate it to such designs and pursuits as shall not black- 
 en the account which you may be unexpectedly bidden to 
 render? Everlasting things are suspended on that brittle 
 thread which holds you in existence; and you cannot tell 
 how soon that thread may be broken. Should you not, 
 therefore, my bret^iren, should you not cultivate with dili- 
 gence and eagerness, those habits, and that deportment> 
 
 * Matthew, xviii. S. 
 
275 
 
 which promise most tranquillity, most complacency, most 
 gratification, in the retrospect? Should it not be your con- 
 tinual and assiduous endeavour so to form, regulate, and 
 conduct your life, that you may he warranted to look for- 
 ward to the close of it without fear? ' 
 
 I hasten to conclude the whole of what has hitherto heen 
 discussed from the text, by addressing you in the language 
 of practical application. 
 
 My brethren; let nic beg you to examine yourselves, your 
 own conduct, your own moral condition, your own spiritual 
 standing, in order that you may ascertain to what extent the 
 discussion has reached you. In general, the ministiy of 
 the word can do no more than exhibit religious truth; God, 
 and a man's own conscience, must tell the relation which it 
 bears to individual cases. It is not improbable that on a 
 review of what has been said, tbe majority of my hearers 
 will be inclined rather to self-condemnation than to self-ac- 
 quittal. It is not improbable that among those who have 
 admitted religion into their thoughts, the greater number 
 are conscious tliat although they have entered upon the race 
 set before them, and for a season have seemed to themselves 
 to run well, ihey have too often, and too soon, suffered them- 
 selves to be '^hindered that they should not obey the truth;" 
 that they should desist from active duty; that they should 
 swerve from the holy paths of God's commandments; that 
 they should faint and be w eary in well-doing. Let me urge 
 upon you, then, the following inducements to a better mind^ 
 and a more consistent conduct. 
 
 First. — If, having run well, your course be hindered, in- 
 terrupted, or broken off, you experience much of the pain- 
 fulness incident to repentance and conversion, with yery few 
 of their advantages. Every kind of work, but especially, 
 every work of a moral complexion, is more arduous, and 
 more formidable in its commencement, than at any subse- 
 quent period in its progress. When a man, long accustom- 
 ed to sin, is induced to alter his line of conduct, the first act 
 
1376 
 
 of self-denial is like tearing out a right eye. If he proceeds, 
 the severity of the conflict ahates. He acquires an acces- 
 sion of strength and ability, while the evil habit loses by 
 degrees its tenacity. How little enviable, then, is the con- 
 dition of those who are perpetually commencing, and never 
 advancing! perpetually setting out on the course, and never 
 approaching the goal! How much do they resemble the tra- 
 veller who enters upon a journey, and after going over just 
 so much of the road as is most rough arid unpromising, mea- 
 sures back the distance, and has to enter upon it anew; who 
 repeats the same outset and the same return, instead of pur- 
 suing his steps through all the unevennesses of the first 
 part of the road, until the green fields, and rich pastures, 
 the gentle acclivities, and smiling prospects in distant view, 
 shall remunerate his early perseverance! 
 
 Now, compare the situation of these irresolute and unsta- 
 ble men, who run some little distance on the course of duty, 
 and return again; with the situation of the persevering 
 Christian. At first, they have all the same obstacles to 
 surmount; the same perils to encounter; the,same opposition 
 to conquer. But mark the difference. The persevering 
 Christian has once surmounted; once encountered; once 
 overcome. He leaves his foes behind him; looks not back; 
 presses onward to the mark for the prize of the high calling 
 of God in Christ Jesus; and gloriously attains it. These ir- 
 resolute and unstable men have again to surmount; again 
 to encounter; again to overcome; with this additional dis- 
 couragement, thatevery instance of recession from the spir- 
 itual contest, weakens them, and transfers the power of suc- 
 cessful resistance to their enemies. Yes, my brethren; if 
 you think the work of salvation >difficult — if you think it 
 painful — you will find it made doubly painful — doubly diffi- 
 cult to you, by broken plans and interrupted purposes. Let 
 a regard to your own ease, therefore; let the proispect of ac- 
 complishing with comparative facility, a work the most ar- 
 duous, and, at the same time, the most necessary; induce 
 
^77 
 
 you to maintain a steady course, and persevere unto the end. 
 Secondly. — Ijistability deprives you of the pleasures of 
 duty and religion. He who conquers himself — he wiio tri- 
 umphs over his appetites and passions — he who acquires 
 new attainments in the divine life — he who prepares him- 
 self hy growing habits of purity and obedience to be a "par- 
 taker of the inheritance of the saints in light" — this man 
 possesses an inward peace, a holy and unutterable joy, 
 which approaches nearer to the delights of Heaven than 
 docs any other conceivable state of mind. <»Tiie fruit of 
 righteousness is peace; and the effect of righteousness, quiet- 
 ness and assurance forever." But what peace is there to 
 you, who, if there be tri^th in the account which I have giv- 
 en of the righteous, can have no pretensions to be classed 
 with them? What quietness is there to you, who are tossed 
 about by every blast of caprice? What assurance to you, 
 who "halt in opinion" between God and the world? who 
 are of two minds, each drawing you away in its own direc- 
 tion, but both alike from the heavenly course? whose pur- 
 poses are not more durable than the grass that to day is, 
 and to morrow is cast into the oven; not more steady than 
 the winds. What kind whisper can conscience minister to 
 you, who, if you forsake a sin, quickly return to it? if you 
 form a pious resolution, are swift to abandon it? if you seize 
 some spoil in an occasional victory over temptation, in the 
 very next onset render it back to a triumphant foe? What 
 contentment, what enjoynjent, can you hope for in a state of 
 suspense? Even the avowed contemner of religion has less 
 anxiety than you. He has never been brought under the 
 pains of conviction, or the goadings of awakened conscience; 
 while, at the same time, he is free from the restraints of 
 those principles which connect vice with suffering. But you 
 haA^e neither the tranquillity of this man, nor the consolations 
 of the real Christian. You have too much religion to allow 
 you to sin without dread, and too little to fill you with all 
 Joy and peace in believing. liet a regard to your own per- 
 
278 
 
 manent happiness, therefore^ let the wish to enjoy in per- 
 fection even this present life, induce you to maintain a 
 steady course, and, having entered upon a religious life, 
 «to run, and not be weary, to walk, and not faint." 
 
 Thirdly. — After a succession of resolutions broken, 
 plans interrupted, and promises violated, there is but too 
 much reason to apprehend that the deceitfulness of sin will 
 blind your minds and harden your hearts. My brethren, 
 this is a reflection of more awful moment than I have words 
 to express. What can be expected of a man who treats 
 e^-^rnal things with so little deference? who, by the levity 
 and fickleness of his conduct in relation to eternal things, 
 would seem to reduce them to the level of the most unim- 
 portant concerns of the present state? Continue yet a little 
 longer to resolve, and counter-resolve — to sin, and to re- , 
 pent — to abjure the \Norld, and return to it — to mortify the 
 deeds of the body, ard resume the practice of them — to re- 
 sist the tempter, and then fall down and worship him — yet a 
 little longer continue, this unworthy course; and do you 
 think that your perception of divine things will not be dead- 
 ened? Do you think that your moral taste will not become 
 less pure? your conscience less tender? your spirit less sus- 
 ceptible of salutary impressions? Ah! my brethren, I trem- 
 ble for your safety: for I cannot forget that there is such 
 a thing as a <'seared conscience;'* that there is such a thing 
 as a soul "given up to strong delusions;" such a thing as 
 a "hardened heart," and a "blinded mind." Let a regard 
 for your ow n safety, therefore, a dread lest you be ultimate- 
 ly abandoned to your own infatuations, induce you to with- 
 stand whatever may "hinder you in the obedience of the 
 truth;" whatever may essay to divert you from tiie career 
 of duty. 
 
 Finally, my brethren; will the memory of this criminal, 
 this indefencible mutability, contribute to smooth the pillow 
 of death? Not unless reflection upon vanity and folly can 
 console. It is a season when persevering virtue labours its 
 
279 
 
 last stroke for immortality. "I have fought the good fight;'^ 
 she says; «I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up 
 for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the right- 
 eous Judge, shall give me." I go to receive it. But, my 
 brethren; is this the language of a soul that wavered on 
 through life in the idle business of endeavouring to serve two 
 masters? Are these the last words of the fickle-minded 
 worldling? Altogether the reverse. Every unexecuted pur- 
 pose; every deserted undertaking; every changed plan; 
 every forgotten promise; every violated vow; is a thorn in 
 the bed of the dying sinner. Jesus have mercy on the spi- 
 rit when it stands disembodied before him! Saviour! canst 
 thou, in such a case, say, "well done, good and faithful ser- 
 vant! enter thou into the joy of thy Lord?" It is a thought 
 of agony, my brethren; and 1 leave it. 
 
§3IBa!®a SSWc 
 
 THE VARIOUS WAYS IN WHICH MEN GRIETVE 
 THE HOLY SPIRIT. 
 
 EFHESIANS, iv. 30. 
 
 "^And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God." 
 
 The. economy of redemption, by establishing certain rela- 
 tions between God and man, exacts from us the perfor- 
 mance of certain duties. These duties are owing to Deity 
 in the threefold existence of Father — Son — and Holy Ghost. 
 By withholding from the third person of the blessed Trini- 
 ty those acts of affection for which he has a claim on us, we 
 are gUilty of the sin against which the Ej)hesians are ad- 
 monished in the text, "grieving the Holy Spirit of.God." 
 
 It is hardly necessary to observe, with respect to the terra 
 <<grieve," that it is not susceptible of a literal interpretation; 
 because the divine nature, infinitely pure and perfect, is not 
 affected by that conflict of passions which agitates the hu- 
 man bosom. *'Let not your deportment towards tlie Crea- 
 tor spirit be such as would excite grief if exhibited towards 
 a creature spirit liable to that emotion." This is the im- 
 port of the text. 
 
 First then. — We grieve the Holy Spirit when we refuse 
 to acknowledge his deity, or to glorify him as God. The 
 true faith teaches us his co-equal and co-cssential divinity 
 witli that of the Father and the Son. It ascribes to him all 
 the perfections of Godhead as much as to them, and, at the 
 Mm 
 
28S 
 
 same time, distinguishes bim from them by certain person- 
 alities. It reveals him as co-operating with th m in the 
 works of creation, providence, and redemption; and pre- 
 scribes that formula of baptism which has been generally 
 understood by the church to imply the equal deity of Father, 
 Son, and Holy Ghost. In proportion, therefore, as the cor- 
 ruption of nature, or any other cause, leads us to harbour 
 doubts and suspicions concerning this bis divine personal 
 dignity, we are chargeable with grieving him; esj)ecially 
 when these doubts and suspicions induce us to withhold di- 
 vine honours from him; when we refuse or hesitate to offer 
 him religious worship — to adore and reverence his blessed 
 name — to devote ourselves wholly to him — to exalt him in 
 our publick and private services — and to invoke him in our 
 prayers. 
 
 Secondly. -^We grieve the Holy Spirit when we entertain 
 dishonourable notions of his operations in saving men. The 
 true faith teaches us that he formed the humanity of Christ; 
 anointed him to the priestly, prophetical, and royal offices; 
 and was present to yield him propitious aid in his estate of 
 liumiliation; that by his energy, communicated to the means 
 of grace, they are made effectual to convince and convert — 
 to enlighten, purify, and renew — to quicken and console — 
 to uphold, strengthen, and establish — to form us for Heaven 
 and preserve us for the enjoyment of it. We grieve him 
 therefore, when we disbelieve or doubt these truths; or when 
 we ascribe these divine operations on the human soul, to 
 the distemper of the brain, or the delusions of the devil. 
 The true faitli teaches us that we must be "strengthened with 
 might by the spirit in the inner man;"* and that "except 
 we be born of tlie spirit, we cannot enter into the kingdom 
 of God."f We grieve him, therefore, when we deny or 
 weaken the necessity of his influences to enable us to per- 
 form Christian duties, and lead good lives; when we return 
 no gratitude for that infinite condescension which prompts 
 him to apply divine grace to the heart; which prompts him, 
 
 * Eph.jii. 16: fJohn, iii. 5, 
 
283 
 
 in the forcible languaj^e of scripture, to wait to be g-racious 
 to us; which [)ronii>ts Iiini to continue to strive with us, un- 
 til he conquers our reluctance to be holy. 
 
 Hence, thirdlyf we may very naturally be supposed to 
 grieve him when we restrain prayer before God for the effu- 
 sion of this sacred comforter. God has promised to «<give 
 the Holy Spirit to them that ask him."* And wlicn the in- 
 dispensable necessity of his indwellins^ influences to 6uv 
 present and etei'nal felicity is considered, when it is recol- 
 lected tliat he is the alone author of holiness here, and 
 happiness hereafter, who is there that to obtain his divine 
 manifestations, would not raise the humble and believing 
 voice of importunity to the throne of the Heavenly grace? 
 Who is there that would not adopt these words, "Awake 
 blessed spirit! upon the garden of thy grace, that the flow- 
 ers may expand, and the spices sjiread their fragrance! 
 Awake blessed spirit! and like tlie wind that bloweth where 
 it listeth, let thy purifying breath blow over my soul, that 
 every corruption withering, every virtue may revive and 
 flourish!" Who is there that would refuse to say with the 
 Psalmist, "Cast me not away from thy presence, and take 
 not thy holy spirit from me; restore unto me the joy of thy 
 salvation, and uphold me with thy free spirit!"! 
 
 When, in opposition to this, we neglect to pray for the 
 '^communion of the Holy Ghost;" when we neglect to pray 
 that God would shed the Holy Ghost upon us abundantly, 
 through Jesus Christ our Saviour — when we neglect to pray 
 that he would pour his spirit upon all flesh; that he "would 
 put his spirit within us, and cause us to walk in his statutes, 
 to keep his judgments and do them,":j: concerning which 
 thing he will be in(|uired of by men, if he ever does it for 
 them; in a word, when we neglect to pray for ourselves, as 
 the apostle did for the Ephesians, that God would give unto 
 us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of 
 Christ, the eyes of our understanding being enlightened, 
 
 *Luke, xi. 3. f Psalm, li. 11. 12. tKzek. xxxvi. 27. 
 
S84 
 
 tliat AVe may know what is the hope of his calling, and what 
 the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and 
 what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who 
 helievej"* when we neglect to pray in this wise for divine 
 manifestations, we grieve the Holy Spirit. 
 
 Fourthly. — We grieve the Holy Spirit when we withdraw 
 or ahsent ourselves from the means of grace and the institu- 
 tions of religion. Prayer is not the only means of obtain- 
 ing the effusions of the Eternal Paraclete. Frequently the 
 pious meditant perceives him in the solitary hour of contem- 
 plation; like David whose «*heart was hot within him; lor 
 whilst he was musing, the fire burned." Frequently the 
 chosen few, who, though on earth, walk together by boly 
 converse, "high in salvation and the climes of bliss," are 
 surprised by the sudden appearance of this divine visi- 
 tant, whose presence animates their faith, hope and charity; 
 as the hearts of the disciples whom our Lord accompanied 
 to Emmaus, burned within them whilst he enlightened their 
 minds to discern the truth. If, then, you shun the silent 
 retreat of meditation; if you industriously avoid all occa- 
 sions of religious society and pious discourse, you grieve the 
 Holy Spirit. But, if in addition to this, you seldom or 
 never peruse the sacred pages of inspiration; if you allow 
 every pitiful call of business, or every more criminal call of 
 pleasure, to detain you from the publick services of the 
 sanctuary; if you close your ears, when providence invites 
 you to hear that gospel which is expressly styled "the min- 
 istration of the spirit,"! because he accompanies it with his 
 energy, and by it effects the salvation of men; if, knowing 
 it to be your sacred duty, in obedience to the dying injunc- 
 tions of your Redeemer, to commemorate the sacrifice of the 
 cross, by receiving t^ie holy communion, you nevertheless 
 voluntarily absent yourselves from that august sacrament; 
 in which the blessings of the cross are sealed to the souls of 
 the faithful; in a word, if you shun every walk where you 
 
 •Eph.i. 17.-19. t2Cor. iii.8. 
 
285 
 
 may meet tin's celestial spirit; every place whence lie dis- 
 penses his influences to convince, convert, instruct, console, 
 and sanctify; to melt the frozen, to soften the ohdiirate, to 
 animate the dead, to heal the diseased, to revive the lan- 
 guishin.^, to confirm the weak, to mortify the corrupt, to dis- 
 pel douht, and excite hope, to extinajuish fear, and s;ive 
 birtli to heavenly joy; think you that all this is not grieving 
 the Holy Spirit? 
 
 F1FTHI.T. We grieve the Holy Spirit, when we neglect 
 
 his movements within us. Perhaps I am safe in asserting 
 that, of those who are favoured with the institutions of the 
 gospel, there are none who have not felt, how unregarded 
 soever by them, the motions of this spirit reproving them 
 for sim and encouraging them to virtue. Wherever we go, 
 or wherever we stay, we are surrounded by this infinite 
 spirit. Abroad— at home— alone— in company— he is still 
 with us. When you devise wickedness upon your beds, he 
 is there to warn yon nf the consequences, and if you will 
 listen' to him, to deter yon from executing what you have de- 
 vised. How often does he seize the moment when awful 
 providences impend over you, to impress conviction on your 
 minds, and salutary terror on your consciences! To re- 
 present to you the vanity of this world, and the necessity of 
 Christ's religion, and a life in conformity with its sacred 
 laws, to make you happy! How often does he struggle with 
 you to deprive you of your false refuges; to subvert the 
 treacherous foundation of your hopes; to persuade you to 
 turn to the strong hold of redeeming mercy and unmerited 
 grace! to restrain you from iniquity, and encourage you 
 to obedience! And how often has he to contend with thee, 
 believer; thy doubts — thy fears— thy despondence— that he 
 may inspire thee with those consolations which are only his 
 to give! If, then, the sinner, obstinately deaf to these warn- 
 ings; blind to these convictions; forgetful of these terrors — 
 these representations—these struggles— and these persua- 
 sions—spurning these restraints— rejecting these encoor- 
 
286 
 
 agements — persists in liis evil courses; if thy doubts — tliy 
 fears — thy despondence — believer, still continue; in each, 
 and in all of these cases, the Holy Spirit is grieved. 
 
 FiNAULT. — ;We grieve the Holy Spirit when we live in 
 a manner wliich does not correspond with his design in ap- 
 plying redemption to us. The end of redemption is to make 
 us holy. For this cause, the Son of God gave himself for 
 us that he might redeem us unto himself a peculiar people 
 zealous of good works. And for this caus.e, may we add, 
 does the spirit of God apply redemption to us that he may 
 sanctify us unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good 
 works. But, if we live in the spirit; if he is the principle 
 and source of the life of grace, let us also walk in the spirit, 
 says the apostle. What ideas are conveyed by the words 
 walk in the spirit, I cannot so well, describe as in his own 
 language. "This I say then, walk in the s]>irit, and ye 
 shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. Now the works of the 
 flesh are manifest, which are tbpse; adultery, fornication, 
 uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, 
 variance, enjulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, en- 
 vyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like; of 
 the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time 
 past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the 
 •kingdom of God. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, 
 peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, 
 temperance; against such there is no law. And they that 
 are Christ's have crucified the flesh, with the affections and 
 lusts. If we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the 
 spirit."* This quotation is from the Epistle to the Galatians. 
 One, equally apposite we will offer from ourcontext. "Yehave 
 not so learned Christ; if so be that ye have heard him, and 
 have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus; that ye 
 put off concerning the former conversation, the old man, 
 which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be re^ 
 newed in the spirit of your mind; and that yc put on the new 
 
 * Gal. V. 16. 19.— 25. 
 
287 
 
 man, which after God is created "in righteousness and true 
 holiness. Wherefore, putting away lying, speak every man 
 truth with his neighbour; for we are members one of anoth- 
 er. Be ye angry and sin not; let not the sun go down upon 
 your wrath; neither give place to the devil. Let him that 
 stole, steal no more; but rather let him labour, working 
 with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have 
 to give to him that needeth. Let no corrupt communica- 
 tion proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good. to 
 the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hear- 
 ers. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye 
 are sealed unto the day of redemption."* In these scrip- 
 tures, my brethren, you have the duties stated which are in- 
 cumbent on those who are subject to the law of the spirit of 
 life, and by the omission of which they grieve the Holy 
 Spirit. You have also that conduct marked out by which 
 you offend the Divine Spirit, and the contrary duties pre- 
 scribed; so that you can be at no loss to decide that you sin 
 against the injunction of the text, whenever you are charge- 
 able with an unholy act, or vicious affcrtion. 
 
 It remains that I conclude the subject by a brief im- 
 provement. This I shall do no otherwise than simply by 
 exhorting you, my brethren, to the performance of those 
 duties, the omission of which, as you have seen, grieves the 
 Holy Spirit. Acknowledge his deity; and glorify him as 
 God. Entertain the most honourable conceptions of his 
 agency in the economy of grace. Tray fervently to God 
 for the effusion of this sacred comforter. Never unnecessa- 
 rily deny yourselves the means of grace, or keep aloof from 
 the institutions of religion. Neglect not his movements with- 
 in you. Lead lives corresponding with his designs in ap- 
 plying redemption to you, and conformable to the princi- 
 ples of that gospel which is the ministration of tlie spirit. So 
 doing, you shall not grieve him. So doing, yo* shall meet 
 his approbation. May he guide us into all truth, and par- 
 don our defects for Christ's sake.— Amen. 
 
 » Eph. iv. 20.— 30. 
 
©iiiBii®!^ srf aac 
 
 GRATITUDE PECULIARLY INCUMBENT ON 
 CHRISTIANS. 
 
 / ST. LUKE, xvii. 15. 16. ' 
 
 '^dnd one of them, when he saw that he was healed^ turn- 
 ed backf and with a loud voice glorijied God, and fell 
 down 071 his face at his feet, giving him thanks; and he 
 was a Samaritan.^' 
 
 *^As Jesus,'*" says the context, "entered into a certain vil- 
 lage, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood 
 afar off; and they lifted up their voice, and said, Jesus, 
 master, have mercy on us. And, when he saw them, he 
 said unto them, go, shew yourselves unto the priests. And 
 it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed." 
 A situation similar to this, was yours, my brethicn, this 
 morning. Infected with the leprosy of sin, you met Jesus 
 Christ at the holy communion. You lifted the voice of sup- 
 plication, saying, "master, have mercy on us." You be- 
 sought him to heal you hy imparting his sanctifying bene- 
 diction to his august sacrament. If you wci-c sincere, of 
 which God and your own consciences must judge, your pray- 
 ers were heard— ybur sins forgiven— your souls accepted. It 
 remains for you to imitate the pious Samaritan, who, when 
 he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud 
 voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at the feet of 
 his sacred benefactor, giving him thanks. 
 
 These words I intend to make the ground of our evening 
 
 meditations. 
 
 N-N ^ 
 
S90 
 
 I remark on th em, /rsf, that but one man returned to thank 
 his deliverer; although ten had experienced Itis mercy. 
 Men are stranj^ely mouhled; ever ready to receive, but sel- 
 dom to acknowledge; piompt in asking favours, but cold 
 when called to be grateful. Let afflictions, poverty , or sick- 
 ness befall them; "Ij^ey will not be remiss in crying with the 
 lepers, Jesus, master, have mercy upon us. But let tliem 
 emerge into prosperity and abundance; let their counte- 
 nance resume the bloom of health; and you will, with diffi- 
 culty find one among them who will concern hims'p|t to give 
 thanks. In trouble tliey visit the Lord; they pour out a ])ray- 
 er when his chastening hand is upon them; and are profuse 
 in promises, at all times more easily made than pesforraed. 
 If you believe that sick man, God can do nothing for liim 
 that shall surpass his gratitude. What alms — what pray- 
 ers — win he not give in payment for his cure! If you be- 
 lieve that penitent who this morning deplored at the altar 
 his spiritual leprosy, and sent up 1 is cries to the car of 
 mercy; the disease, once hoaled, shall never cover him 
 again; nor shall his heavenly physician ever charge him 
 with an unpaid debt of gratltud\ But how treaclierous is 
 thy memory, restored penitent! how inconstant thy resolu- 
 tion, privileged communicant! May I not question whether 
 even one in ten of you performs bis vows? This solitary 
 instatice of piety in the cleansed leper, may remind us of a 
 very melancholy truth. It is, that the number of the good 
 is quite inconsiderable, when compared with that of the 
 wicked. The family of the faithful have ever been a little 
 flork. Noah preached righteousness in the midst of a cor- 
 rupted world. Elias made an almost solitary profession of 
 the truth, wiiilst the idols of Israel had their worshippers 
 on every high place. Truth, however, ceases not to be 
 truth; nor does virtue lose its nature because both are em- 
 braced by the minority. And gratitude, the more rarely it 
 is seen, becomes, therefore, the more inestimable. Our en- 
 deavours must be to enter by the strait gate tind the narrow 
 way which lead to life, and which so few are ^ble to find. 
 
291 
 
 On, these words T remark, secondly^ tliat tliis noble mind* 
 ed individual was a Samaritan. From the distinc tion made 
 by the evantjclist between him and his company, we may 
 conclude chat the remaininj^ nine were Jews. But had we 
 been witnesses of the miracle, my brethi'en, we slundd have 
 looked for this conchjct from them, rather than from the 
 Samaritan; very reasonably supposin.8; tliem to be better in- 
 structed in true principles than this stranjn;er. The Jews 
 were extremely anxious to distinguish themselves, on all oc- 
 casions from the Samaritans; whom they effrcted to reajard 
 as a people hostile to God, and exposed to his hatretl and 
 contempt. Why, then, did they not aim at surpassing this 
 poor outcast — this alien from the commonwealth of Israel — 
 in praising God, and giving thanks to their beneficent deliv- 
 erer? Why was the Jew, the beloved of Heaven — why was 
 be deficient in a duty which the Samaritan, the enemy of 
 God, punctually discharged? Ah! bow little reliance is to 
 be placed on appearances! bow mistaken the decisions of pre- 
 judice! bow often do men entlirone themselves in onr es- , 
 teem, elevated merely by some circumstances of country or 
 of education! We forget that piety is not the exclusive pri- 
 vilege of any country, nor a patrimony attached to this or 
 the other extraction. We forget that eternal election is 
 free; and in its operations frequently stains the false glory 
 of man by making the first last, and the last first. We for- 
 get that "God is no respecter of persons; that in every na- 
 tion, be that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is ac- 
 cepted with bim." 
 
 THiRDiiY.-'l remark on these w^ords, the action which 
 they attribute to the Samaritan. «*When be saw that be 
 was bealed, be turned back." There are many who do not 
 absolutely forget the benefits they receive, allbough they are 
 tardy in acknowledging them. Most men treat this duty 
 as they do what depends on them in the business of conver- 
 sion. They procrastinate the performance of it; deferring 
 to the moment of death, what should be the employment of 
 
a whole life. For if not eternity, still less the inconsidera- 
 ble span of earthly existence, sufficeth to celebiate the prais- 
 es of God. So thought the pious leper; who, when he saw 
 that he was healed, immediately tuvned back. 
 
 "When he saw that he was healed." It is not every man 
 that perceives grace imparted. The generality are insen- 
 sible to heavenly benefits. They are surrounded by them 
 without seeing them; they are pressed by their weight with- 
 out feeling them. The sick man attributes his cure to the 
 physician and the remedy, but God is not in all his thoughts. 
 True it is, God ordinarily avails hiiiiiself of the instrumen- 
 tality of second causes. But the Christian, eyeing the hand 
 of providence in all events, should pay no respect to second 
 causes independently of him who conducts them. At the 
 same time, there certainly are blessings so signal, deliver- 
 ances so astonishing, that, without judicial blindness, it is 
 impossible to mistake them. Such was the miracle wrought 
 for the Samaritan; and which, perceiving it in its true 
 light, he turns back to acknowledge. In this, his action, 
 then, three things are observable. He separates himself 
 from his thankless associates. He glorifies God publickly. 
 He humbles himself on the reception of mercy. 
 
 In the first place. — He separates himself from his thank- 
 less associates. So let us keep aU)of from the ungrateful. 
 Local separation is not required; if it were, I fear we niust 
 needs go out of the world. It is a moral separation of which 
 I now speak. One that consists in our refusing to imitate 
 their ingratitude; and in our adopting a line of conduct dia- 
 metrically opposite to theirs. 
 
 In the second place. — The Samaritan glorifies God pub- 
 lickly. To glorify^ God, my brethren, is the occupstion of 
 angels, and the spirits of the just made perfect. To glori- 
 fy God, all creatures may be said, in various ways, to con- 
 spire. And shall not man, the creature's Lord, take the lead 
 in this concert? Of all the employments of the believer, there 
 is not one more noble and exalted than this. It brings him 
 
293 
 
 to Heaven's gate, and approximates him to the beatifick 
 presence. It fills our contemplations with deity; in our 
 lips it places a name, at the mctition of which hell and its 
 monarch tremble; and it purifies our souls by the energies 
 of a passion whose object is the glory of the eternal. Prajcr 
 is of a nature more inercenarij^ if you will allow me the ex- 
 pression. So are faith and hope. They explore the mines 
 of heavenly treasure to enrich us. There is something self- 
 ish in all this. But in glorifying God, Chi-istians, you 
 drown self-interest in concern for his honour. Other vir- 
 tues mark your indigence. You would not pray; you would 
 not believe; you would not hope; but that you are poor, and 
 miserable, and blind, and naked. But when you glorify 
 God, you, in effect, restore him what is his own. Your 
 gratitude is the production of his grace, implanted in your 
 hearts; and from the abundance of the heart, the mouth 
 speaketh. Hence the Samaritan is said to have glorified 
 God "with a loud voice." 
 
 Gratitude cannot be silent; it w ill break forth into praises. 
 "Bless the Lord, O! my soul!" says the Psalmist, "and let 
 all that is within me bless his holy name." Let my under- 
 standing be convinced of the magnitude of the benefit, and 
 the majesty of the benefactor. Let my heart love him. Let 
 my tongue speak of his glory, and my hand and my pen 
 consecrate his praises, and extend the savour of his name 
 throughout all generations. You who are mute in the holy 
 assemblies; who never, with a loud voice glorify God; ac- 
 cuse me not of uncharitableness, if 1 call into question your 
 zeal — your love — your gratitude. 
 
 In the third place. — The Samaritan humbles himself on 
 the reception of mercy. He falls down on his face at the 
 feet of Jesus, giving thanks. The more the believer re- 
 ceives, the more is he impressed with humility; and the 
 more earnestly he endeavours to render back in gratitude 
 what was given him in mercy. All that we can bring to 
 him is his, whether we bring it to him or not; and our 
 
294 
 
 thankfulness itself is an affection implanted and clierished 
 in us by his grace. "What shall 1 render unto tiie Lord 
 for all his benefits towards me?" "0! my soul! thou hast 
 said unto the Lord, thou art my Lord; my goodness extend- 
 eth not to thee." 
 
 It is a flagrant abuse of the divine benefits to convert 
 them into fuel for our pride; an abuse, however, too com- 
 mon in the world; but an abuse to which the example of the 
 pious Samaritan gives no countenance. Before he was healed 
 he united the voice of importunity with the cry of his associ- 
 atesj "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us." Behold him now, 
 prostrate on the earth; cleaving to the feet of his benefac- 
 tor; and refusing to quit that position till he should be rais- 
 ed from it by the voice which had commanded deliverances 
 for him. It is thus that the pious man devotes himself, and 
 all that he possesses, to the glory of his Redeemer, reserving 
 to himself only his vileness and his nothingness. He re- 
 turns all to him who hath given him all. 
 
 Thus we have imperfectly commented on this very inter- 
 esting passage of scripture. 
 
 After having received the seals of the covenant. Chris- 
 tians; (for this service is especially dedicated to communi- 
 cants;) after having received the .seals of the covenant; after 
 having celebrated your communion with God, with Christ, 
 with the Eternal Spirit, and with the body of the faithful, 
 in the holy supper; your hearts must be harder than the 
 nether mill-stone if they are not inflamed with gratitude; if, 
 surrounded by benefits, and reposing on the bosom of mer- 
 cy, you forget the benefactor. I hope better things of you, 
 and things that accompany salvation. You are here, I 
 trust, as at all other times, so especially now, to return 
 thanks at the feet of Jesus Christ. Like the grateful Sa- 
 maritan, then, now and henceforward glorify him with a 
 loud voice. Open your lips, that your mouths may shew 
 forth his honours. Let these holy walls re-echo *^ is praises. 
 *<0 come! let us sing unto the Lord; let us make a joyful 
 
295 
 
 noise to the rock of our salvation.'* "Bless the Lord at all 
 times; a!;d let his praise bfe continually in your mouths." 
 Like the flower that with an ever constant aflfection turn8 
 her bosom to the sun, let your gratitude ai company the sun 
 of righteousness in his course. If such are your disposi- 
 tions, and such your intentions, 1 consider them as evi- 
 dences of grace, ami deem myself warranted by Jesus Christ 
 to say, "Arise," my brother, "arise," my sister, "go thy 
 way; thy faith hath made thee whole." Pass hut the -few 
 fleeting liours of thine ap]>ointed time, and after glorifying 
 God on earth, thou shalt assist in Heaven the eternal hal- 
 lelujahs of tiie blest. 
 
 Grant this, O Jesus! thou Avho takest away the sins of the 
 world, and thine be the praise. — AMJijr. 
 
§S]B1!(DM ^T^mi:, 
 
 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD. 
 
 EPHESIANS, 1. n. 
 
 'In whom also we have obtained an inheritance^ being pre- 
 destinated according to the purpose of him who workethall 
 things after the counsel of his own 7villJ* 
 
 J HE writings of Paul may be said to contain the liigli 
 philosophy of the Clinstim school; a philosophy making 
 God the originator and the end of all things; his providence 
 a circle, within the impassable boundaries of whose peri- 
 phery all things revolve. 
 
 It is not my design to consider the long debated question 
 of predestination as it regards the future destinies of elect 
 and non-elect, or to intrude upon your present meditations, 
 the conditionality or unconditionality of God's decrees res- 
 pecting man's eternal state. Confining myself to the latter 
 words of the verse, my single object is briefly to illustrate 
 this general proposition; "all tilings come to pass in pur- 
 suance of a divine predetermination." God "vvorketh all 
 things after the counsel o! his own will." 
 
 It is the perfection of a rational nature to act with de- 
 sign. Consequently the most perfect of all beings must act 
 so; although, certainly, witiiout any of that tedious process 
 of reasoning and inward debate, which necessarily marks 
 the operations of a finite mind. Creature spirits cannot in- 
 clude any great number of objects simultaneously in one vol- 
 ition. The Creator Spirit can; and being every where 
 Oo 
 
398- 
 
 present at the same point of time, and knowing all things 
 intuitively and intimately, the conviction is unavoidable that 
 he does. The occurrences which successively exhibit them- 
 selves on the vast theatre of being, constitute one integral 
 system whose termination is immeasurably remote from its 
 commencing point. Surely, then, the infinitely wise author 
 of this system must have it completely arranged, and entire- 
 ly under his view at the very instant when it first emerges 
 into operation. 
 
 God's prescience evidently establishes the fact of his pro- 
 viding for things future, and his pre-ordaining their circum- 
 stances and their eventuation. Knowing, for example, the 
 deeds and thoughts of voluntary natures thousands of ages 
 hence, in any supposable state of being; and determining to 
 place them in such state of being, the consequence cannot, in 
 my view, be evaded, that he foreordains the permission of 
 such deeds and thoughts for the wisest and best of purposes. 
 That he foreordains any event, or circumstance, incompat- 
 ible with the honour of his own benevolence and wisdom, 
 able as he is to prevent it, is an inadmissible surmise. Tlie 
 inference, therefore, is plain; that he so circumscribes, re- 
 strains, and otherwise controls, the actions and purposes of 
 all created beings, as to educe general, and even in many 
 cases particular good, from whatever they do. 
 
 Thus is this sublime point of doctrine apprehended by- 
 sound reason. And what does revelation say? "The coun- 
 sel of the Lord standeth forever, the thoughts of his heart 
 to all generations."* "Known unto God are all his works 
 from the beginning of the world."f "For of him, and through 
 him, and to him, are all things, to whom be glory forever.":}; 
 And to add no more, "he worketh all things after the coun- 
 sel of his own will." "All things come to pass in pursu- 
 ance of a divine predetermination." 
 
 In treating farther of this doctrine, it will be proper to 
 notice the extent of ground, so to speak, occupied by the 
 divine purposes, and their peculiar characteristicks. 
 * Psalm, xxxiii. 11. f Acts, xv. 18. ^ Romans, xi. 36. 
 
S99 
 
 III the Jirst place. — The extent of ground occupied by 
 the Creator in the operations of his predetermining voli- 
 tions. How fai' may we trace them? What objects, or what 
 number of objects, do they reach? Obviously, to all things, 
 all occurrences, all persons, all communities, all states and 
 modes of existence, through nature's widest range, from the 
 worm to the angel; from the radiant orb that rolls near its 
 Maker's throne, to the molehill trodden under foot of man; 
 from the pure spirit of the celestial worshipper, to the grass 
 that to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven; from the 
 pebble of the brook, and the grain of sand upon its shore, 
 to the innumerable worlds of matter and of mind. Travel 
 as far as the powers of the most vigorous intellect can trans- 
 port you; you must rest at length, while undiscovered re- 
 gions stretch and deepen before you. Hills on hills — and 
 Alps on Alps will rise, whose tops you cannot surmount — 
 whose wonders you cannot fathom — while all around you 
 are the vestiges of Deity, and voices swelling in every wind 
 proclaim that God is here. 
 
 But we may undoubtedly contemplate the doctrine to most 
 advantage, by reposing ourselves on a few attainable par- 
 ticulars. 
 
 First. — God is the maker of all matei-ial substances; 
 preserves them in being and in operation, and directs every 
 thing relating to them. From the first, he had full in his 
 view, all the delicate, finely-turned, secretly-intervolved, and 
 reciprocally and harmoniously dependent parts of the com- 
 plicated system. What he made, he declared to be good; 
 perfect in its sphere; corresponding to its pattern in his own 
 mind; and adequately adapted to the end of its creation. 
 The perpetuation of vegetable and animal life on fixed prin- 
 ciples; the unintermitted maintainance and constant trans- 
 mission of the original and inherent properties of natural 
 productions; the regular successions of the seasons; the 
 equable movements of the planetary w(jrlds; the universal 
 law of gravitation; and innumerable other exemplifications 
 
300 
 
 of wise desi,^n, afford a luminous comment on the language 
 of scripture, viiich speaks of God's *<covenant being with 
 day and niglit," and tells of his having "appointed the or- 
 dinances of Heaven and earth:"* which says "forever O 
 Loj-d, thy word is settled in Heaven. Thy faithfulness is 
 unto all generations; thou hast established the earth, and it 
 abileth. They continue this day according to thine ordi- 
 nances; for all are thy servants."! 
 
 Secondly. — Men attach great importance, and not with- 
 out reason, to the vicissitudes of their social and political 
 condition. There are very few who think these things un- 
 worthy the interposition of Deity. And, in fact, so far is he 
 from thi iking them so liimself, that he rides in the whirl- 
 wind which roots up the tyrant's throne, and directs the 
 storm of misrule and popular tumult, until, having purified 
 the corrupted and blasting atmosphere, it settles into a calm. 
 The rise and fall of empires betoken his awful march. The 
 race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong. «Pro- 
 inoti:»n Cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor 
 from the south; but God is the judge; he putteth down one 
 and setteth up another. For in the hand of Jehovah there 
 is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture, and he 
 poureth out of the same; but the dregs thereof all the wick- 
 ed of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them.":}: 
 "Blessed be the name of God forever and ever; for wisdom 
 and might are his; and he changeth the times and the sea- 
 sons; he removetli kings, and setteth up kings."§ The 
 most remarkable vicissitudes in the political state of man- 
 kind, related by the pen of history, have been predicted by 
 some one oi- more of the propliets of God, and his agency 
 in effecting Ih-m described in all the terrible magnificence 
 of inspiration. 
 
 Tim?DLY.—Xot confining himself to these more conspi- 
 cuous and elevated operations, he carries his superintend- 
 ence to the concerns of every individual of his creatures. 
 * Jcr. xxxiii. 25. f Psalm, cxix. 89.-91. i Psalm, Ixsv. 6.-8, § Dan. ii. 20. 21 
 
301 
 
 "Not a sparrow falletli to the ground without" his privity 
 aud permission; and "the very hairs of our heads arc all 
 numbered" by hinj.* He who "hath made of one blood all 
 nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, liath al- 
 so determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of 
 their habitation."! All tlie circumstances under which we 
 enter upon life, pass through it, and go out of it, are of his 
 allotment. Joy ebbs, and the flood of sorrows comes in at 
 his appointed season. With him are tlie issues of our life. 
 By his order the graves are ready for us. "Our days are 
 determined, the number of our months are with him. He 
 hath appointed our bounds that we cannot pass."! 
 
 FouKTHLY. — God has a controlling power which he ex- 
 erts in various degrees and measures, as to him may seem 
 best, over human actions and volitions, collectively and sepa- 
 rately. We know, because we feel, that we are free agents. 
 Free agency is an indispensable attribute of our condition 
 as accountable beings. Yet it is equally certain that our 
 freedom is not, and cannot be, unqualified independence. 
 Freedom of this description, among beings vested witli so- 
 cial rights, and formed for social purposes, is an idle dream. 
 Set up in opposition to God's providential control, it is not 
 more idle than wicked; not more absurd than ruinous. No 
 being, how exalted soever, is independent of his Maker. 
 No one action or opei'ation of any being is effected apart 
 from the permission or occurrence of his superiour will. 
 Not that the minutest violence is offered to the human will. 
 It is left in the enjoyment of all tliat freedom, [jcrfect with- 
 in its sphere of operation, wliicii reason admits to be com- 
 patible with a creature's dependence on his God. And so 
 far is this doctrine from subverting, that did time permit, it 
 could easily be proAcd to establish the liberty and contin- 
 gency of second causes. 
 
 Fifthly. — The beautiful succession of revelations, 
 forming the parts of one glorious and extensive plan, giad- 
 
 * MMh. X. ■29. 30. + Acts, wii. 2i5. ■■ .lo!). xiv. 5, 
 
303 
 
 iially developed, and in their devolopement disclosing the 
 mind and purposes, the righteousness and the merry of God, 
 was arranged by him, and adapted to the progressive w ants 
 and capacities of mankind. So wise is this adaptation — so 
 gracious — so beneficial in its bearings on human virtue, 
 civilization, improvement, and happiness — that no brighter 
 illustration need be desired of the propitious agency of him 
 «who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will." 
 
 I proceed to notice, in the second place, the peculiar char- 
 acters of this divine predeteimination. 
 
 First. — It is from everlasting in the divine mind. I do 
 not mean from everlasting, as I would use the exp ession 
 with reference to tlie duration of God's existence. I mean 
 simply that is from everlasting with relation to us; because 
 it is totally out of our ability to fix upon any point of time 
 from which to date its origin. "Before the foundation of 
 the world; before all ages;" these mighty plans were form- 
 ed; but ivheUf what daring tongue shall say? The goings 
 forth of wisdom have been of old, even from everlasting; 
 and the time oftlie end, far distant as it maybe, and veiled 
 in darkness too gross for a creature's penetration, was 
 known to God from the beginning. 
 
 Secondly. — The divi)ie predetermination is, in the pre- 
 sent sense of the expression, the result of freedom of voli- 
 tion. It is the act of an absolute sovereign* governed by 
 no other impulse tlian his own option, enliglitened in its 
 proceedings by the uncreated radiance of his own wisdom, 
 and directed by the essential workings of his own benevo- 
 lence. There is a very important distinction, not suffi- 
 ciently noticed in the ardour of controversy, between the 
 proper sovereignty of God. and a species of arbitrary and 
 capricious volition which can have no existence in the all 
 jierfect mind, whatever it may enjoy in the fancy of men 
 who will learn nothing from God's word, until they have 
 asked leave of some favourite system of theology. The so- 
 ber truth is, that the Divine Sovereignty, with reference to 
 
303 
 
 providential dispensation, is the divine reason, selecting out 
 of various plans and operations, that which, under all cir- 
 cumstances, promises most to the divine glory; and the di- 
 vine glory, be it remembered, is inseparable from the gen- 
 eral good of sentient beings. Far from us be the supposi- 
 tion that any created mind can discern the grounds and 
 reasons of God's dispensations; but equally far from us be 
 the surmisii that any of his dispensations are without grounds 
 and reasons amply suiiitient to vindicate them in his own 
 view. Far from us be the allegation of arbitrary and ca- 
 pricious rule, against the Almighty fountain of all reason 
 and intelligence. 
 
 Thirdly — From the intimations already given, we are 
 prepared to admit that God must predetermine ail things in 
 infinite wisdom. The wisdom of every moral agent con- 
 sists in his aiming at ti.e best ends, through the instrumen- 
 tality of the fittest means. The very best ends must of ne- 
 cessity be open to the view of the supreme agent who is om- 
 niscient; and no pious mind can entertain a doubt of his em- 
 ploying the most eligible means for the attainment of them. 
 Every subordinate ai,ent in the worlds of being, holds his 
 faculties at the pleasure of his omnipotent sovereign. No 
 subordinate agent, therefore, can thwart his views in prose- 
 cuting to completion the universal scheme. Look abroad 
 through nature — look inward upon yourselves — contemplate 
 the face of the moral w'orld — mark the footsteps of God 
 along the luminous track of revelation — and tell me what it 
 is that does not assert the wisdom of his pre-ordaining coun- 
 sels. I will grant that this is not universally legible. But 
 why? Because the glorious page is not impi-inted with its 
 marks? Sound reason, and true faith, will concur in find- 
 ing another cause. Sound reason, and true faith, with one 
 voice, will say, that the dim vision of a limited intelligence 
 cannot hope to reach the hidden wisdom of God. 
 
 Fourthly. — God's prodetei'inir>i»)gcoinis<'l is arrayed in 
 all the beauty of holiness; in ail the refulgence of purity. 
 
304 
 
 truth, and essential virtue. "The Lord is righteous in all 
 his ways, and holy in all his works."* "All liis works are 
 A^erity and judgment." "His counsels of old are faithful- 
 ness and truth."! Sweet waters, surely, flow not from a 
 bitter fountain; neither do grapes come of thorns; or figs 
 of thistles. The effect characterises the cause; and from the 
 excellence of God's works, you will not refuse to collect the 
 integrity, purity, and simplicity of his designs. 
 
 Once more. — The predeterminations of the divine mind are 
 immutable and irreversible. All G d's works from the be- 
 ginning of the world are known to him." "His counsd is 
 sure to stand, and he doeth all his pleasure." Linked as are 
 his designs with the purposes and thoughts of multitudes of 
 free agents through the numberless departments of being, 
 they, nevertheless, advance to their accomulishment, at an 
 hour which no man knoweth, with steady and infallible pro- 
 gress. The crucifixion of the Lord of glory involved no 
 circumstance of torture to the victim, or atrocious guilt to 
 his murderers, or immediate suffering to his disciples, or 
 consequent advantage to the woild, which had not been be- 
 fore determined by the permissive and controlling counsel of 
 God, in full compatibility with his own unspotted holiness, 
 justice, and goodness, and with the moral liberty of those 
 who perpetrated the crime. This instanre, adduced from 
 the highest authority, puts doubt at defiance. A sovereign 
 intelligence orders and disposes all events; while, at the same 
 time, the human will is unfettered by it; guih attaches, in 
 all its awful force, to the criminal; and the obedience of the 
 just is a voluntary oblation, acceptable to the Lord, their 
 righteous judge. "There are many devices in a man's 
 heart; nevertheless the counsel of Jehovah, that shall stand "^ 
 
 In what respects is the doctrine which we have been con- 
 sidering profitable? A very few words in reply to this in- 
 quiry, shall conclude the discourse. 
 
 Is it not evident, then, that chance, and accidejitf and/or- 
 
 • Psalm, cxlv. 17. f Isaiah, xxv. i. + Prov. xix. 21. 
 
305 
 
 tunCf and fortuitousy are words which should he admitted 
 with caution into a Christian's vocabulary? How absurd to 
 indulge in such language, when, in fact, all things are fixed, 
 and all occurrences are parts of a stupendous plan, moving 
 by sure advances to maturity! How impious to withhold 
 the recognition of his superintending providence, in whose 
 hands our breath is, and whose are all our ways! How 
 transcendently worthy of veneration does the divine Majes* 
 ty exhibit himself — thus devising before all ages the general 
 scheme of his counsels — unfolding them by degrees, from 
 the birth of time to its last retiring pulse — prosecuting to 
 their magnificent and awful issues those high purposes of 
 which no mind inferiour to his own is conscious. <«0! the 
 depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of 
 God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways 
 past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the 
 Lord? Or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath 
 first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him 
 again? For of him and through him, and to him are all 
 things, to whom be glory forever. — Amen. 
 
 Further. — Since all things come to pass in pursuance 
 of a divine predetermination, nothing can be more obligato- 
 ry on a Christian, than tranquil acquiescence in that which 
 must of necessity occur, and which he neither has the pow- 
 er, nor ought to have the inclination to contravene or defeat. 
 In every painful circumstance of depression and woe, re- 
 member that it is the Lord, and let him do what seemeth to 
 him good. If it be your fate to suffer from the hostility of 
 others, be careful that you suffer as Christians; grave this 
 motto, as with an iron pen, upon the shield of faith, "The 
 will of the Lord be done;"* and let tlie indignant purpose of 
 revenge upon the perpetrators of your wrongs, be merged 
 in resignation to his will who said unto Shimei, curse David. 
 
 Again. — How black soever the clouds above; how chill- 
 ing soever the atmosphere around; how fierce soever the 
 
 • Acts, xxi. 14. 
 Pf 
 
306 
 
 ra?^e of the elements; how lan^iishing soever the hopes of 
 the righteous, and flourishing the horn of the wicked; al- 
 though truth, virtue, and religion, should lie prostrate in 
 the streets; although error, vice, and hlasphemy should pos- 
 sf^i-j tlie popular car, and the respect of mankind follow in 
 the train of the enemies of God; yet leave the event with him 
 who worketh all tilings after the counsel of his own will.- 
 He !ias not seen fit to prevent this disordered state of things. 
 Conclude, therefore, that it enters mysteriously into his 
 views. Wait the issue of the universal plan. In patience 
 possess your souls. The period is hastening to meet you 
 that will rectify this seeming inversion of things, and shew 
 to the house of Israel that God's ways are equal. 
 
 Vet, Jigain. — The doctrine which has been laid before yoiij 
 abounds with encouragement to all godly and virtuous en- 
 terprizes. Tlie cause of righteousness is the cause of God. 
 He who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will, 
 hath pledged himself for its ultimate success. Let no bland- 
 ishments, then, withdraw you from its standard. Let no 
 perils drive you from its ranks. The hour of victory is 
 covered by the thick veil of God's decree. But it shall 
 eome. Courage; fight on; keep the faith; the hour of vic- 
 tory comes; and patient duty, and struggling virtue, wear 
 the immortal crown. 
 
 Finally. — The truth on which we have been meditating 
 may be perverted; and it becomes us to set a guard upon the 
 deceitfulness of the heart, that we may not be betrayed into 
 the sin of perverting it. God's predetermining counsel does 
 not exonerate us from the obligation to personal diligence, 
 activity, and obedience. The use of means on our part, enters, 
 no less essentially into his eternal schemes, than the ends 
 for which those schemes were devised. No criminal habit 
 or principle can be permitted to derive its sanction or its ex- 
 cuse from the foreordaining will of the Most High. No 
 evil consequence of our own fatuity or improvidence, is im> 
 |>utable to the Eternal Disposer of events, who has unques- 
 
307 
 
 tionably capacitated us to see our true interests, and pursue 
 successfully our highest happiness. Reason, faith, and con- 
 science, are helps available in every case, and to every per- 
 son. These, brethren, are given to be the rule of your con- 
 duct — your square — and your compass; not the hidden pur- 
 pose of God. Infinite wisdom has his laws of action within 
 himself. Secret things belong unto him. He has been mer- 
 cifully pleased to set before you directions too plain to be 
 mistaken. By these you are to be governed. By these 
 you will be tried. Every man's sin will lie at his own door^ 
 and no good deed shall go without its just and appropriate 
 recompense. «<Give all diligence, therefore, to make your 
 calling and election sure; for if ye do this, ye shall never 
 fall." 
 
©i3]Bm®:a ssaso 
 
 CONFIDENCE IN THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD 
 RECOMMENDED. 
 
 MATTHEAV, Vi. 34. 
 
 *' TakCf thereforef no thoiight for the morrow; for the mor- 
 row shall take thought for the things of itself. Siiffi- 
 cient unto the day is the evil thereof.** 
 
 These are the concluding words of an exhortation of our 
 Saviour when uriving upon those to whom it was addressed, 
 the duty of placing an unreserved trust in the providence 
 of God. 
 
 The first words of the text are unha])pily translated. 
 They are far from expressing the force of the original. The 
 simple thought respecting futurity was not meant to be pro- 
 hibited; but undue thought; anxious cares; corroding solic- 
 itudes. The same verb is somewhat more accurately ren- 
 dered in the Epistle to the Philippians, <»be careful for 
 nothing; hut in every thing by prayer and supplication, with 
 thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God."* 
 Even here, the phrase would have been better rendered, "be 
 anxious about nothing;" "for doubtless we ought not to be 
 careless about whatever is worthy to be the subject of a re- 
 quest to God."f The justly celebrated Dr. Camjjbcll, in 
 his notes critical and explanatory upon Matthew's gospel, 
 thus introduces his remarks upon our text; "I do not think 
 there is, in the common version, a more palpable deviation 
 than this, from the sense of the original." No translation 
 
 ♦ Phil. iv. 6. t See Campbell. 
 
310 
 
 it is presumed, can be found superiour in fidelity and cor- 
 rectness, to that of the great annotator alluded to; which, 
 therefore, I will take leave to submit to you; "be not, then, 
 anxious about the morrow; the morrow will be anxious 
 about itself. Sufficient for every day is its own trouble." 
 
 "To take no thought about what concerns our own sup- 
 port, and the support of those who depend upon us, would 
 inevitably prove the source of that improvidence and inac- 
 tion, which are, in the New Testament, branded as criminal 
 in a very high degree '* What says the apostle of the Gen- 
 tiles? "This we commanded you, that if any man would 
 not work, neither should he eat."* "If any provide not for 
 his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath 
 denied the faith and is worse than an infidel. "f Thus by 
 the received version of the text there is exhibited a glaring 
 contradiction between the Lord and his apostle, while a true 
 and accurate version would represent them as they invaria- 
 bly and infallibly are, in perfect accordance. 
 
 The expressions "the day" and "the morrow," are not 
 to be limited to that precise measure or mark of time which, 
 in common speech, they are understood to denote. A refer- 
 ence to many passages of scripture which it is not necessa- 
 ry now to specify, will shew clearly that these expressions 
 are very frequently employed as descriptive of time present 
 and time future; thin future fn»e, or mon-ow, however, being 
 understood to be a space brief and transient, when mention- 
 ed or contemjjlated in relation to eternity. What can be 
 more affectingly appropriate than the term *'to-morrow,** 
 literally designating no longer a period than the revolution 
 of a natural day, to figure to us the short duration of our 
 concern with this world and its occurrences, and the insig- 
 nificance of all that passes beneath the sun, to man, the in- 
 kcritor of an immortal existence? 
 
 After these preliminary explanations, we are prepared to 
 take a more enlarged view of the divine prohibition publish* 
 ed by the text. 
 
 *2 Thess. iii. 10. fl Tim. v. 8. 
 
311 
 
 '»Take, therefore, no tliouglit for tlie morrow; for the 
 morrow shall take thouj^lit for the things of itself. Suffi- 
 cient unto the day is the evil thereof." 
 
 "Be not anxious, then, about the morrow; the morrow 
 will be anxious about itself. Sufficient for every day is its 
 own trouble." 
 
 What fault — what erroneous and sinful conduct is here 
 forbidden? From the explanation given of the term, it evi- 
 dently is by no means fore-thought, simply considered, or 
 the prudent anticipation of what may come to pass; but an 
 undue thoughtfulness — an unnecessary care — a painful anx- 
 iety — a perpetually corroding solicitude. "Be not anxious 
 about the morrow.*' Let not the multitude of your thoughts 
 be entirely composed of gloomy or disagreeable apprehen- 
 sions; let not your imaginations be so perverted, that sad 
 forms of evil and adversity shall be perjjetually passing and 
 repassing; let not the "soul be ever abroad, transporting 
 itself into distant time, and taken up with the things which 
 are supposed to happen in it; let not your melancholy med- 
 itations be pursued with the friendly call of tired nature's 
 sweet restorer, balmy sleep, and resumed with the returning 
 light."* 
 
 «<Be not anxious about the morrow." "Walk not in a 
 vain shew; disquiet not yourselves in vain." Be not de- 
 jected — overwhelmed — perplexed — agitated — terrified — by 
 forebodings of what may be to come on earth. "Man, like 
 the benighted traveller, is apt to imagine dangers where there 
 are none, and trembles at every step he takes. "Between the 
 future and the time that now is, a cloud interposes so thick 
 that no eye can pierce it; and persons, influeiiced by melan- 
 choly, will fancy to themselves awful forms of terror and dis- 
 may, veiled by this cloud. In vain do you attempt to en- 
 courage them. Exhort them to hope that the cloud will dis- 
 till the dews of gladness, and may, ultimately, cause their 
 l>earts to sing for joy. In vain do you tell them that ap- 
 
 • Grove. 
 
313 
 
 pearances are not such as to warrant the apprehension 
 of evils, or to lay a ground-work for fearful forebodings; 
 no ray of light will they admit to cheer their determined 
 gloom; they would seem to have made up their minds to 
 helieve every thing that is evil, and nothing that is good. 
 They are desirous of some good which, therefore, they 
 are confident they will never obtain. They deprecate 
 some evil, and therefore infer that it will assuredly occur to 
 them. In conduct and disposition they are the direct op- 
 posite of a class of persons, who "boast themselves of to- 
 morrow, not knowing what a day may bring forth." These 
 look forward into futurity, nothing doubting, hoping all 
 things, calculating unhesitatingly upon the accomplishment 
 of whatever their hearts can wish, or their heads devise. 
 Hope, no matter whether well or ill founded, is their master 
 principle. Herein is their error. The error of those whose 
 minds are the prey of care and anxiety respecting the fu- 
 ture part of their temporal existence, is placed in the con- 
 trary extreme. Fear is their governing principle — their 
 mainspring; a depressing fear; a fear that enslaves; that 
 tortures; that cuts the very sinews of comfort; that vstabs 
 the very vitals of felicity; that blots the faii'cst pictures of 
 delight; and casts a sable and unlovely veil over the smil- 
 ing face of nature. 
 
 <'Be not anxious about the morrow." It is injurious to 
 the providence of God. It argues mistrust of him whose 
 "kingdom ruleth over all;" who "knoweth the things of 
 which we stand in need;" who "numbereth the very hairs of 
 our heads," so that "not one of them can fall to the ground 
 without his permission." This excessive thoughtfulness 
 concerning the future, is a blot in the faith of the believer. 
 By him, the continual operations of the all-forming, all-sus- 
 taining hand, should invariably be traced, in the labyrinth 
 of human occurrences. Future events, therefore, whether 
 felicitous or adverse, he ought cheerfully to commit to the^ 
 superintending wisdom and goodness of the Almighty; not 
 
313 
 
 permitting the consideration of what may happen, to aj^on- 
 ize, or, even to depress, his spirit. Tlioy, on the other 
 hand, who cherish undue thoughtfulness concerning the fu- 
 ture, <«are" constantly ««afraid of evil tidings;" and why? 
 "because their heart is not fixed, trusting in the Lord."* 
 
 <*Be not anxious about the morrow." Anxiety like this, 
 swallows up the recollection of much that should never be 
 forgdtten by us; especially the divine goodness, and our per- 
 sonal unworthiness. May I not appeal to reason in justi- 
 fication of this assertion? When the future, with its imagin- 
 ary occurrences, fills our minds, what room is there for re- 
 collecting the real transactions of time past? May I not 
 call upon experience to justify me in the assertion? You who 
 are habitually anticipating what may come to pass, do you 
 remember faithfully the multitude of your sins so provoking 
 to the justice of God? Do you remember the mercies of 
 his throne which, notwithstanding these sins, have been 
 poured upon you with an unsparing hand? the remembrance 
 of both of which is indispensable to lead you to acceptable 
 penitence — to pious gratitude — to holiness — and to Heaven? 
 
 **Be not anxious about the morrow." Anxiety like this 
 is not more inimical to the right improvement of the time 
 past of our lives, than it is to the religious and profitable 
 use of the present moment. Indeed the absurdity and crim- 
 inality of such anxious forethought, ar& in no point more 
 conspicuous than in this. The present time, humanly speak- 
 ing, we can command. The past is not to be recalled by us, 
 and the future defies our control. Is it not, then, at once, 
 the height of folly and the height of sin, to submit to that 
 which wrests from us the present? All that remains to us 
 of time for use and for improvement? Let me ask, then, 
 "how should" persons, thus anxiously devoted to the future, 
 "how should they have" any thing like "a due sense 
 of" present "mercies" blessings and advantages? "Like 
 persons who are amusing themselves with something at a 
 
 • Psalm, cxii, 7. 
 
 Qa 
 
314 
 
 great distance from them, and take no notice of the objects 
 which are nearest; so do they fare. God passeth by them 
 in the tokens of his favour, and they see him not; surrounds 
 them with his presence and protection, and they observe 
 him not; the greatest benefits are received with little or no 
 acknowledgment; and the bounties of providence, and the 
 riches of divine Grace, are, as it were, cast away upon 
 them." 
 
 But. let it be observed, not only are present mercies, bles- 
 sings, and advantages, undervalued; present duties^ also, 
 are neglected, in consequence of this censurable anxiety. 
 Every day — every hour — so to speak, has its duty; and it 
 is impossible that they, whose thoughts are uniformly car- 
 ried beyond the day and the hour, should perform the duty. 
 How often does "the apprehension of future evils and incon- 
 veniences discourage and hinder the practice of present 
 duty? But is this allowable? No man who has studied in the 
 school of Christ can suppose that it is. ♦'If the apprehension 
 of future want and sufferings had deterred the apostles from 
 preaching the gospel," would they not have been guilty in 
 the eye of their Lord? Assuredly. And guilty are they 
 whom imaginary fears of future want dissuade from being 
 just and honourable — liberal and charitable. 
 
 I might add here, that this culpable anxiety precludes us 
 too generally from making that religious improvement of 
 the griefs and trials which we are called to encounter, that 
 they are intended to produce; and equally incapacitates us 
 for appreciating the many enjoyments with which our mer- 
 ciful God hath strewed our path through life. 
 
 Finally.-^" Be not anxious about the morrow; for they 
 who are so, will be in danger of becoming remiss in their 
 attention to the things which belong to their everlasting 
 peace. When the time to come of this ephemeral existence 
 engrosses the mind, it expels eternity from it. They who 
 labour inordinately for the meat that perisheth, cannot value 
 as they ought that which endures to everlasting life. They 
 
315 
 
 who pcFpetually disquiet themselves with the dread of tem- 
 poral want, and bend all tlte powers of a contriving genius 
 towards the amassing of treasures on earth, where moth 
 and rust corrupt, and where thieves may break through and 
 steal in a moment what the toil of years has accumulated, 
 cannot be intent upon attaining the imperishable treasures 
 of Heaven. It is not persons such as 1 have described, who, 
 amidst all the diversified objects of human pursuit, will 
 "seek fii'st the kingdom of God." **Be not" then "anxious 
 about the morrow;" unless it be "the morrow" beyond the 
 grave. Let no fearful apprehension of futurity affect you, 
 uidess it be the dread of "everlasting destruction from the 
 presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power." 
 Give no place to impatience for the attainment of desired 
 and yet untasted pleasures, unless it be the holy impatience 
 to "eat of the fruit of the tree of life" which waves its green 
 and healing foliage in the gardens of the blest — and to 
 "drink freely of the river of tlie water of life" which rolls 
 its immortal streams by the throne of God. 
 
 Having thus endeavoured to illustrate the divine prohibi- 
 tion in the text, it is proper that we pass a few thoughts on 
 the reasons on which it has pleased our Lord to ground it. 
 "Be not anxious about the morrow; the morrow will be 
 anxious about itself. Sufficient for every day is its own 
 trouble." 
 
 "The morrow will be anxious about itself;" or "the mor- 
 row^ shall take thought for the things of itself." Walk in 
 the path of duty, with an even step, and a tranquil mind, 
 and doubt not that "the Lord will provide." God claims 
 to-morrow as his own. In his almighty hand, and at his 
 all-controllin'^: disposal, is every period of future time. What 
 avails your anxiety? It cannot add one cubit to your stature. 
 Trust in the Lord; commit your way unto him; stay your* 
 selves upon his paternal arm. It is only he who can pros- 
 per the woi'ks of your hands. It is only he who can estab- 
 lish the desires of your hearts. You have the most unecpiiv- 
 
316 
 
 oca] assurances that he will bring to pass whatever is essen- 
 tial to your real happiness; and more you need not ask, or 
 wish. 
 
 *»The morrow will be anxious about itself." Future time 
 will afford enough to employ your attention, and excite your 
 passions, and agitate your souls, when it becomes time pre- 
 sent. Wait patiently, therefore, until you discover the 
 events appointed for you, as they approach in their order; 
 consoling yourselves with this reflection that though "the 
 morrow" may, and doubtless, shall have its cares, they will 
 be found such as every devout person is qualified and 
 strengthened to endure." 
 
 «<Sufiicient for every day is its own trouble." As every 
 day has its duty, so every day has its trouble — its trial — 
 its grief — its burden. Why, then, augment the sufferings 
 of to-day by apprehensions of to-morrow? Why mix bitter 
 ingredients of your own culling and preparation, in the 
 health-restoring cup administered to you by the great phy- 
 sician of the soul? Why covet misery? Why swell the 
 catalogue of sorrows? Real and pressing evils "God will 
 enable you to bear; and he will so over rule, direct, and 
 sanctify them, as to produce from them your ultimate ad- 
 vantage. But he gives you not the smallest encouragement 
 to hope that he will bestow the same notice on imaginary 
 evils — evils of your own creating." Take good heed, there- 
 fore, how you multiply your sufferings without necessity. 
 Take good heed how you anticipate even unavoidable dis- 
 tresses. But, especially, take good heed how you permit a 
 fear-compelled imagination to create evils. "Suflicient for 
 every day is its own trouble." 
 
 In conclusion, allow me to submit to you some advice for 
 the attainment of that abstinence from anxious and imperti- 
 nent anticipations of futurity, which the text requires. 
 
 First. — Turn your desires into their true channel; and 
 restrict them within tlieir reasonable limits. When imagi- 
 nation persuades us that certain things are indispensable to 
 
317 
 
 our felicity, which in reality are not so; and which, whether 
 they are so or not, we cannot possess; what wonder if the 
 sorrows of our hearts are enlarged? Passion hegets pas- 
 sion. Inordinate attachment to things temporal, cannot hut 
 be followed by excessive dread lest we should not attain to 
 the enjoyment of them. 
 
 Secondly.— Consult prudence. "There are principles 
 of prudence with which all persons of common capacity are 
 furnished, and as it is not impossible for them to cultivate 
 these, and by frequent reflection and consideration, to ac- 
 quire an habitual prudence, it is their duty so to do." Now, 
 assuredly, this prudence will call off a man's attention from 
 vague and uncertain possibilities, and fix it upon what is 
 probable, and the apprehension of which is reasonable. This 
 prudence will induce him to adopt the most effectual means 
 for the accomplishment of his wishes. This prudence will 
 enable him to make a considerable allowance for the uncer- 
 tainty of all human events. Will the man of prudence be a 
 projector? WUl he form and pursue designs with little or 
 no foundation? Will he meddle with things too high for 
 him, or be deterred by fear, from the prosecution of moder- 
 ate, rational, and laudable plans? 
 
 Thirdly.— "By humble prayer— by religious trust- 
 commit yourselves, and all your interests, into the hands of 
 Almighty God, your heavenly Father. Intreathim to take 
 charge of you and yours; and so to order and dispose of all 
 your concerns, as shall seem meet to his most wise and gra- 
 cious providence. "Be careful for nothing; but, in every 
 thing, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, make 
 your requests known unto God." Aspire to that habitual 
 state of feeling in which you can say from the very heart, 
 "Thy will be done." Await the issue of the universal plan; 
 and be convinced that, with respect to the dispensations of 
 providence, "w/mferer is^ is right." 
 
 Fourthly.— Concentrate all your anxieties in f/i?5 one 
 point: be anxious to obtain God's approbation and accep- 
 
SIB 
 
 tance, by finishing the work which he hath given you to do. 
 Let every inferiour anxiety know its place; and it will not 
 torment you. *<Be solicitous to acquit yourselves like men, 
 and be strong in the Christian warfare; to redeem the time; to 
 improve the talents entrusted to you; to adorn the evangeli- 
 cal doctrine; to keep yourselves unspotted from the world; 
 to be upright, pious, charitable, disinterested; to live with 
 usefulness, and die in the fulness of the blessing of the gos- 
 pel of peace. 
 
 Thus exercised— thus anxious — "0! well are ye, and 
 blessed shall ye be;" for passing thus through things tempo- 
 ral — ye shall finally possess the things eternal in the king- 
 dom of glory and of God. — Amen. ^ 
 
§]siasa®isr sssc 
 
 THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. 
 
 lUKE, xxiv. 34. 
 
 "TAe Lord has risen indeed." 
 
 These few words contain the affirmation of a fact whicli 
 establishes upon the most solid pillars the truth and divinity 
 of the Christian religion. It is not of a cunningly devised 
 fable, my brethren, that we declare our belief and support 
 when we apprach these altars, and enter these courts with 
 thanksgivings and these gates with praise. God, who is 
 essential and unspotted truth, would not have put an au- 
 thenticating seal upon the ministry of a deceiver, by 
 restoring him incorruptible from the grave. But God did 
 raise up Jesus of Nazareth, whom men, with wicked 
 hands, had crucified and slain; and who had foretold 
 his own death and resuscitation exactly as they came to 
 pass. Therefore, Jesus of Nazareth is a faithful and true 
 witness, whose words are sacred verity; whose doctrine is 
 from God; and whose religion is worthy of all acceptation. 
 The gospel is accordingly described by an apostle, as "the 
 gospel of God, which he had promised afore by liis proph- 
 ets in the holy scriptures, concerning his Son Jesus Christ 
 our Lord, wlio was born of the seed of David, according to 
 the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power, 
 according to the spirit of holiness, by his resurrection from 
 the dead."* 
 
 • Rom. i. 2.-4. See McKnight 
 
The evangelical system is the work of a divine person, and 
 must be treated as really coming from Heaven; not as the 
 device of human fancy, but as the truth of God. An instruc- 
 tor divinely appointed, divinely accredited, and divinely 
 produced, cannot communicate the least portion of error. 
 He who was preternaturally recognized in a manner so re- 
 markable, "This is my beloved Son, in whom 1 am well 
 pleased; hear ye him;" will impart nothing but what is in 
 perfect accordance with the mind of God, his Father. Con- 
 sequently, it is incumbent on us to lend him a willing, a 
 submissive, and a respectful ear. It is incumbent on us to 
 believe whatever he is pleased to tell us, and to practise 
 whatever he is pleased to enjoin upon us. Far from us be 
 the infidel spirit which rejects, because it cannot understand. 
 Far from us the sensual heart which revolts against com- 
 mandments in themselves not grievous, a yoke easy to be 
 borne, a burden too light to authorize a single complaint; 
 and which, by practical opposition to the truth of Christ, 
 dishonours it in the eye of the world, as if it were the work- 
 manship of error and deception. 
 
 This most important fact, then; the rising again of Je- 
 sus, our master, from the dead, is of the highest utility to 
 establish the verity of his religion, and his imperative claim 
 upon the obedience of mankind. It is useful, also, in a 
 number of other particulars, which it is my purpose, with 
 the divine permission, to consider. 
 
 First. — The resurrection of the Son of God, obliterates 
 the scandal of his cross; effaces the stains of his humilia- 
 tion; makes it impossible for any sober mind to remain 
 shocked at his sufferings, obscurity, and unparalleled de- 
 cease. Before men bring themselves co consider things as 
 parts of a system, and to view them in their connexions 
 with the other parts of the same system, their conceptions 
 of them are generally imperfect, and, in very many cases, 
 opposite to correct judgment. If you contemplate the per- 
 sonal and official dignity of Jesus Christ; if you regard the 
 
3^1 
 
 higli and honourable distinction claimed lor him as the ro- 
 storer of the hopes, and the deliverer of the souls of man- 
 kind; if you contrast with those tiiinj^s the painfulness, and 
 ignominy, and general aflliction of his life and death; and 
 if you indulge these contemplations apart from that of the 
 glorious event which you are now particulaily engaged in 
 considering; "Christ crucified" may be to you, possibly, as 
 he was to the Jews and Greeks of old, »«a stumbling block 
 and foolishness." But Christ risen from the grave pre- 
 sents himself under circumstances materially different. Be- 
 fore, agonizing and dying; now, immortal, beatified, and 
 triumphant. Or, rather, connecting liis two situations; 
 contemplating in the same glance, Christ crucified and 
 Christ risen; his antecedent sufferings and death cease to be 
 a reproach; what he endured assumes additional importance 
 in the view of what he obtained; and even the cross of hu- 
 miliation becomes in your eyes a throne of glory. What 
 though he be sentenced to die as a criminal? and what though 
 he expire in the company of acknowledged malefactors? 
 Are not his innocence and his righteousness set forth in 
 noon-day brightness by Omnipotence raising him from the 
 dead? What though he who brouglit life and immortality to 
 light — lie buried in the tomb of Joseph? Is not his personal 
 dignity magnified by his ^'loosing the pains of death, be- 
 cause it was not possible he should be holden of it?" On the 
 cross and in the grave there seems to be an extinguishment 
 of the light of this bright and beauteous sun; but does it not 
 break forth in renewed and ten-fold radiance when Jesus 
 lives again? What an accession of dignity and authority 
 was there not derived to the prophet Daniel, when, having 
 been cast into the den of lions, secured by a stone placed at 
 its mouth and sealed with the king's own signet, and the 
 signet of his lords, that he might not escape; he was brought 
 forth, nevertheless, after a night of awful trial, unhurt and 
 untouched by the ravenous beasts? when he could thus ad- 
 dress his prince, who was anxious to have Daniel restored 
 Rr 
 
322 
 
 in safety to his court and service, «0 king, live forever! 
 My God hath sent his angel and hath shut the lions' mouths, 
 that they have not hurt me; for as much as before him inno- 
 cency was found in me; also before thee, king! have I 
 done no wrong."* In like manner, what a splendid acces- 
 sion of dignity, authority, and glory did not the great Re- 
 deemer derive from the ease and rapidity with which he 
 blasted the attempts of his enemies to detain liis person iu 
 the prison of the sepulchre; the utter insignificance of the 
 ponderous enclosure at its mouth; the dismay and confusion 
 of Rome's armed bands; the retinue of angels that waited 
 on him, and testified to his revivisccnoe; and, in a word, 
 from all that magnificent variety of circumstance under 
 which he sprang from the lap of corruption, to glory, hon- 
 our, and immortality? 
 
 Secondly. — Christ, rising from the dead, asserts the ef- 
 ficacy and completion of his sacrifice of atonement. It must 
 never be forgotten that the death of Christ is perfectly sin- 
 gular in its kind. It is not merely the attestation of mar- 
 tyrdom to the truth of a doctrine, a system, or a fact. It is 
 a propitiatory oifering for sin; and an offering of a sweet 
 savour, infinitely acceptable to God, to whose publick just- 
 ice as ruler of the world, it was voluntarily made. Jesus is 
 a victim substituted in the place of the real offender. «He 
 gives his life a ransom for many." "Behold," in him, "the 
 lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world." He 
 predicts his own death in this view; and his resurrection, 
 which he also predicts, bears ample and unanswerable wit- 
 ness to the propitiatory virtue of his death. Excellent is 
 that argument of his apostle; "who is he that condemneth? 
 It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again; who 
 is even at the right hand of God; who also maketh inter- 
 cession forus."f If like the victims under the law, he had 
 been irrecoverably lost in death, the inference, certainly, 
 miglit have been, that his blood was as incompetent to expi" 
 
 * Dan, vi. 21. 22. f Rom. vUi. 34. 
 
3S3 
 
 ate guilt, and purify tlic conscience, as was theirs. But, the 
 moment you advert to the fact of his resurrection, you be- 
 hold, in luminous evidence, the merit of his obedience, the 
 perfection of his rigliteousness, and the power of his media- 
 tion; you behold him ''justified through the spirit" from the 
 charge of blasphemy of old brought against him for claim- 
 ing to be the Son of God and a co-worker with his Father, 
 and from the suspicion of incompetency to save mankind 
 from the guilt, tlic dominion, and the penalty of sin. 
 
 Third. — Since "the Lord is risen indeed," it follows be- 
 yond all controversy that he must be engaged in transac- 
 tions comporting with the nature, the design, and the gran- 
 deur of his mission. Here, then, your contemplations will 
 spontaneously lift themselves to the Son of God as your ad- 
 vocate, your ruler, and your judge. To such views of the 
 Redeemer you are immediately and unavoidably led by his 
 resurrection. For surely he could not leave the grave to re- 
 main in a "world that was not worthy of liim;" surely hav- 
 ing resumed life, he must now be where suitable recompen- 
 ses are awarded to his previous obedience unto blood, and 
 where he can prosecute onto accomplishment, that course of 
 action which best befits himself; his name, his dignity, his 
 office, and his benevolent and compassionate nature. And 
 such is the fact. Having continued with his disciples for a 
 short period after his return from the gi-ave, that he might 
 teach, counsel, and comfort them; he ascended into Heaven, 
 and was arrayed in "that glory which he had with the 
 Father before the world was." Having "abolished death, 
 and conquered him that had the power of death, that is, the 
 devil;" having "led captivity captive," and spoiled opposing 
 principalities and powers, making a shew of them openly; 
 the gates of burning glory are thrown open for him; and the 
 everlasting doors receive him as God's victorious leader, 
 and man's triumphant Saviour. 
 
 He went, as our high priest, into the holy place, of the 
 temple not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens; perr 
 
petually to appear for us in the presence of God; to plead 
 in our behalf the virtue of his blood, the merit of his sacri- 
 fice, and the divine promise to receive, for his sake, the be- 
 liever and the penitent. "If any man sin, we have" now 
 and always "an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the 
 righteous; the propitiation for the sins of the whole world."* 
 If any man supplicate the throne of the heavenly grace, we 
 have a medium of intercession, Jesus Christ the merciful; 
 who stands continually before tlie altar, having in his liand 
 a golden censor, from which he offers the pure incense of the 
 prayers of all saints. If any man aspire to a beatific im- 
 mortality at God's right hand, we have a forerunner, Jesus 
 Christ tlie faithful, who hath gone to prepare jdaces for us 
 in some of the numerous mansions of bis Father's house; 
 and wiio hath assured us that he will come again and take 
 us to himself, that where he is, there we may be also. Hence 
 it becomes our duty, (and if there be gratitude in the human 
 heart, the duty will be pleasant,) to honour this glorious me- 
 diator, by cultivating a vigorous faith in him, in his pow- 
 er and his promises; by placing the most utdimited affiance 
 on the merit of his atonement as the exclusive medium of 
 our acceptance with God; and by asking no favour at the 
 hand of Heaven, offering no thanksgiving, and celebrating 
 no religious act, but in his name, and with reference to his 
 mediation; either expressly mentioned, or implied in the 
 tenour of the particular service, whatever it may be. For 
 it is a solemn truth, my brethren, that there is not that act 
 of duty, how pure soever, or that office of religion, how holy 
 and spiritual soever, which does not require a baptism with 
 the blood of sprinkling, to propitiate its acceptance. So 
 profoujid and extensive is the disorder of our moral nature! 
 Sa imperfect are the best feelings of the human heart, and 
 the best habits of human life! And, at the same time, so in- 
 expi'essibly good is God, who lays our help on the preva- 
 lent arm of his own most blessed Son! 
 
 * 1 JoVin, ii. 1, 
 
335 
 
 To Jesus risen from the dead, all things are brought into 
 subjection. The worlds of natuie, of providence, and of 
 grace, are under his control. When he relinquished the 
 tomb, then was he set *'God*s king upon the holy hill of 
 Zion." Then was that «*decree declai*ed," to which an an- 
 cient prophet refers, «*Thou art my Son, this day haAe I be- 
 gotten thee. Ask of me, and 1 shall give thee the Heathen 
 for thine inheritance, and tlic uttermost parts of the earth for 
 thy possession. "=**= Then was he clothed with tlie ensigns of 
 royalty, and assumed the helm of universal empire. The 
 angels of God were commanded to do him homage, and all 
 power, in Heaven and on earth, was given unto him. The 
 circumstances attending his fij-st manifestation in the flesh, 
 had been, in the common language of men, below mediocri- 
 ty. The whole complexion of his life before the great event 
 which we are considering, had been obscnrc and distress- 
 ful. But then he was born to a name w hich is above every 
 name. It is in a two-fold allusion; an allusion as well to 
 his resurrection from the grave, as to his nativity in Beth- 
 lehem; that the sacred books denominate him, in his human- 
 ity, the Son of God. At his incarnation, indeed, he was, 
 in the words of the wise men who came from the East, to 
 Jerusalem, *'born king of the Jews;" but it was not until 
 his second birth from the tomb, that his distinguished au- 
 thority went into operation; for then he was crowned, not 
 king of the Jews only, but king of nations; not sovereign of 
 men only, but Lord of the hosts of Heaven. 
 
 "The birth-days of the Roman emperors," it has been ob- 
 served, "signified not only their natural, but likewise their 
 civil birth-days; or the time of their inauguration to the 
 empire. The day of our Saviour's resurrection was his 
 civil birth-day, on which he received his investituic into 
 that sovereignty which he merited by his sufferings and 
 death." Because, "being in the form of God," he thought 
 it not robbery to be like unto God; but made himself of no 
 
 * Compare Psalm ii. 6—8. with Heb. i, fi. 
 
reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and 
 was made in the likeness of men; and, heing found in fash- 
 ion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient un- 
 to death, even the death of the cross;" "therefore, "God 
 also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which 
 is above every name, that at the name of Jesus everj knee 
 should bow, of things in Heaven, and things on earth, and 
 things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess 
 that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."* 
 
 The dominion of the Redeemer involves authority over 
 his subjects, and property in them. To both of these par- 
 ticulars the apostle alludes in writing to the Romans: "None 
 of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For 
 whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, 
 we die unto the Lord; whether we live, therefore, or die, we 
 are the Lord's. For to this end Christ both died and rose, 
 and revived, that he miglit be Lord both of the dead and the 
 living."! 
 
 In the discharge of his high office, my brethren, the di- 
 vine mediator is conducting all things towards their proper 
 consummation in the eternal recompenses of piety and vir- 
 tue, and the awful retribution of misery to the wicked. He 
 has erected a church; constructed a system of discipline and 
 polity for its government, subject to the modifications of re- 
 ligious prudence in its less important features; endowed it, 
 according to the necessities of successive periods, with the 
 gifts of the spirit, and the talents of useful men; and insti- 
 tuted, and uninterruptedly maintained, a ministry of recon- 
 - ciliation to reclaim lost sinners to their God. It is in obe- 
 dience to his commission, and in execution of his undoubted 
 command, that the sinner is so often disturbed with exhor- 
 tations from this sacred ground, to break off his sins by re- 
 pentance; that we beseech you, whose souls we know to be 
 in danger, to flee for refuge to the only hope set before you, 
 and to cease from provoking Omnipotent justice by your 
 
 • Phil. ii. 6 — 11. f Romans, xiv, 7.-9. See Grove, 
 
327 
 
 follies and your crimes. Submit cordially, therefore, to 
 this glorious Son of the most high God; this Lord who is 
 risen indeed; this prince enthroned in glory; this king, an- 
 ointed of his Father, to sustain the empire of the world. Ac- 
 knowledge his rightful sway. Obey his holy statutes. Con- 
 sign yourselves to his service with a perfect heart, and a 
 willing mind. Aspire to be his through life and in death. 
 Should his just wrath be kindled but a little, ye perish from 
 the way. «*Blessed are all they tiiat put their trust in him." 
 
 For it is not more certain that the grave no longer holds 
 the Son of God, than it is that he is to be the judge of the 
 world. *'God hath appointed a day, in the which he will 
 judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath 
 ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in 
 that he hath raised him from the dead."* Yes, my breth- 
 ren, your own eyes shall behold your Redeemer living. Not 
 many were permitted to view him as he em'^rged from the 
 silent mansions of the dead. But when he shall approach 
 to judgment, every eye shall see him. 0! advent of majesty 
 and glory! dawn of eternal consolation to the righteous! ap- 
 palling prelude to the horrours of the damned! Poor un- 
 repenting sinner, where will be thy pride and thy pleasures, 
 thy voluptuousness, thy luxury, thy heaps of gold and sil- 
 ver, thy ambiti(m, and the renown of thy name, w hen the 
 seventh trumpet sounds the note of preparation? And where, 
 O! wretched infidel, thy jibes and thy sneers, thy quibbles 
 and thy sophistry, thy self-conceit and presumption, and all 
 that mockery which it may be, thou pourest, like the Athe- 
 nian scoffers of old, upon the glorious doctrine of a resur- 
 rection from the dead, when the Son of Jehovah shall come 
 in the glory of the Father, to take vengeance on them that 
 know not God, and obey not his gospel; to inflict the awful 
 weight of that sentence, "He that believeth not shall be 
 damned?" 
 
 Since we must all stand before the judgment-scat of 
 
 • Acts, xv'n. 31, 
 
338 
 
 Christ, my bretlircn, it surely concerns us to live with much 
 circumspection^ that we may be able to render in our ac- 
 count with joy, and not with grief; that the actions of oui' 
 lives, the words of our mouths, and the meditations of our 
 hearts, may be found unto praise, and lionour, and glory, at 
 the coming of the Lord. Let his gospel have its legitimate 
 influence in forming your characters, and directing your 
 steps; for it is by this standard that you will be tried, and 
 by this righteous and perfect measure that retribution will 
 be meted out to you. Taught by this gospel of the grace of 
 God, "deny ungodliness and every worldly lust; and live 
 soberly, righteously, and piously in this present world." 
 *'Do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God; 
 for what more docs he require at your hands?'* "The un- 
 godly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the 
 congregation of the righteous;" but "with the righteous" it 
 sliall not fail 5»to be well," when tiieir immortal leader ap- 
 proaches to be "glorified in his saints, and admired in all 
 them that believe." 
 
 In one word, "what manner of persons ought ye to be in 
 all holy conversation and godliness, looking for, and hast- 
 ing unto, the coming of the day of Christ?*' — Amkn. 
 
^mSBllDS^ SSSHc 
 
 THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. 
 
 LUKE, xxiv. 34. 
 
 > The Lord is risen indeed. 
 
 In a late exercise upon tliese words, it was observed that 
 the important fact which they assert, the rising again from 
 the dead of Jesus, our master, is of the highest utility to es- 
 tablish the verity of his religion, and his imperative claim 
 upon the obedience of niaukind. It is useful, also, in a 
 number of other particulars, some of which were oifercd to 
 your meditations. 
 
 The resurrection of the Son of God obliterates the scan- 
 dal of his cross. It asserts the efficacy and completion of 
 his sacrifice of atonement. It exhibits him to the contem- 
 plation of faith, as engaged, now and continually, in trans- 
 actions comporting with the nature, the design, and the 
 grandeur of his mission; as the advocate, the ruler, and the 
 judge of men. 
 
 I proceed now to observe, that tlie i-esurrection of the 
 Lord is of the utmost consequence as an argument by which 
 to establish the general resurrection of the dead. It is an 
 argument employed with great force of reasoning by th« 
 apostle of the gentiles, in his First Epistle to the Corinthi- 
 ans; "if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, 
 how say some among you that there is no resurrection of 
 the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then 
 is Christ not risen. And if Christ be not risen, then is our 
 preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we 
 Ss 
 
330 
 
 are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified 
 of God that he raised up Christ; whom he raised not up, 
 if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then 
 is not Christ raised; and if Christ be not raised, your faith 
 is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are 
 fallen asleep in Christ, are perished. If in this life only we 
 have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But 
 now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first 
 fruits of them that slept."* 
 
 There is an undoubted and a very intimate connexion be- 
 tween the restoration of the great Deliverer from the pow- 
 er of the grave, and that of the universal race in whose na- 
 ture he both died and revived. And this connection is par- 
 ticularly clfjse as it respects true believers. 
 
 All true believers, all virtuous and godly persons, are re- 
 lated to their lU'deemer by the strongest ties. Not only 
 are they one with him in their nature according to the flesh. 
 This honour they share with the sinners who crucified him. 
 They are, also, "made partakers with him of a divine na- 
 ture." From him they receive the deep and abiding im- 
 press of God's glorious image upon their humanity. Like 
 him, although in a comparative sense, they are "the sons 
 of God, blameless, and harmless;" "born again;" begotten 
 from above; formed anew to a holy and heaveidy life. They 
 arc the brethren of the Lord, and co-heirs with him. They 
 are members of that body of which he is tbe head, and 
 which is actuated in all its parts by the same Divine Spirit. 
 "In his incarnation^^' says one, »»he partook of their Jtesh, 
 by means of which he becoujes related to all the sons of men; 
 in their regeneration he makes them to partake of his spirit, 
 by virtue whereof the relation, before common, comes to be 
 appropriate; and Christ is so theirs as to be theirs only"j 
 <«And they are Christ's, and Christ is God's.":}: Wiien tbe 
 voice of their Redeemer shall resound througii the caverns 
 of the dead, these, "having done good, shall come forth to 
 
 • 1 Cor. XV. 12—20. t See Grove. i 1 Cor. iii. 23. 
 
331 
 
 the resurrection of life." Concerning their rpcovcry from 
 the grave it is that the apostle utters iiis cotisoluU)r} oracle, 
 «it is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption; it is 
 sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weak- 
 ness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is 
 raised a spiritual body."* "Flesh and blood cannot inher- 
 it the kingdoui of God; neither doth corruption inherit in- 
 corruption. Behold, I shew you a niysterj ; we shall not 
 all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the 
 twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall 
 sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we 
 shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incor- 
 ruption, and this mortal put on immortality. So when this 
 corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal 
 shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass 
 the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victoiy. 
 *'0 death! where is thy sting? grave! where is thy vic- 
 tory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is 
 the law. But thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory, 
 through our Lord Jesus Cbrist!"t 
 
 So few are disposed to controvert the fact of the revivis- 
 cence of the righteous in their changed and glorilied forms 
 inconsequence of the resurrection of theu- immortal chief, 
 that it is unnecessary to enter into a detail of proofs evincing 
 the connection of the two points of doctrine; otherwise, it 
 were easy to trace this connection, and to follow the opera- 
 tion of the cause to its magnificent effect. 
 
 Much reason, surely, have we to -bless the God and 
 Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his 
 abundant mercy, hath" thus -begotten us again unto a live- 
 ly hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from tlie dead, 
 to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth 
 not away, reserved in Heaven for us." To this article of 
 our creed, it is confessed , many of the ancient sophists objected 
 loudly. They deemed it not desirable, even if it were pos- 
 • 1 Cor. sv. 42.-44. j ^ Cor. xv. 50.-57. 
 
333 
 
 sible, that the body should he raised from its silent and 
 gloomy abode. One of them speaks in this way; "the true 
 awakening of the soul is an awakenini? from the body, and 
 not a resurrection with the body, for that chanj^e wliich is 
 together with the body, is but passing from sleep to sleep, as 
 it were from one bed to another; hut the true awakening is 
 from all bodies, which are contrary to the soul, because the 
 nature of one is opposite to the other." Opinions, of this 
 description, originated, for the most part, in an apprehen- 
 sion of some pre-existing and separate state of the human 
 soul, in which having contracted guilt, it was, in retribu- 
 tion, doomed to be the tenant of this material and mortal bo- 
 dy. Here, as in divers other particulars, we have evidence 
 satisfactory that the humblest and most illiterate believer 
 is better informed in the concerns of true wisdom than the 
 proudest aspirer after philosophick glory in the schools of 
 ancient science. For he is told by his Bible, that the body 
 was first formed, and then, the soul inspired into it, having 
 110 consciousness of any thing anteriour to its occupation of 
 the new formed tenement of clay. 
 
 The ancient objectors against this doctrine of scripture, 
 misconceived, also, the character assigned to the body in 
 its reproduced state. They imagined it to retain the same 
 properties of grossness and opposition to the free move- 
 ments of mind, which belong to its state before death. They 
 could not have adverted to the brilliant account given of its 
 superiour qualities by the inspired authors. Or, probably, 
 they were incredulous as to the capacity of any organization 
 of matter to be the subject of such noble influences and im- 
 pressions as are implied in the denomination of a spiritual 
 body; an incredulity that shews how little knowledge they 
 possessed of material substances, and how much less of the 
 infinite attributes of God. 
 
 Men who have been taught of Christ will, of cour.se, 
 think very differently from these vain praters in things too 
 high for them. The Christian will view, with holy plea- 
 
333 
 
 sure, tlie resurrection of his master, to confirm himself in 
 the faith and hope of his own; and he will make the faith 
 and hope of his own resurrection the stahle groundwork of 
 patience, fortitude, and resignation, in passing through life, 
 and in meeting the stroke of death. 
 
 Anticipate, my hrethren, the event of your re-animation 
 in immortal hodies, until you learn to endure all hardness 
 in the flesh; until you are strengthened to sustain, without 
 shrinking, the pains and infelicities wliich it may please 
 Heaven to impose on you in your mortal hodies. "Whatever 
 indeed, may be your distress, you have no right to murmur; 
 because it cannot equal in magnitude tlie demerit of your 
 offences against the law of God. But when you consider 
 that the utmost duration of that distress can exist no longer 
 than the life of this fast decaying body; and, especially, 
 when you look forward to that undying form of health, 
 of strength, of beauty, and of honour, in which you are to 
 be raised from the tomb, do you not, then, feel it to be your 
 duty to "rejoice in tribulation?" The present is a vile 
 body, akin to the dust. The present is a body of sin, 
 exciting and ministering to impure and unhallowed pas- 
 sions. By this corporeal form, we are leagued with a sys- 
 tem of objects and events unfriendly to vii^^ie; and subject- 
 ed to many painful and afflicting sympathies; to much vio- 
 lence, much oppression, much severe and triumphant hos- 
 tility. In this feeble structure, crushed before the moth, 
 man sickens and declines; and when time has scattered his 
 mould over its walls, gives up his breath. What consider- 
 ation so effectual to resist the depressing weight of these 
 corporeal infelicities, these evils reaching to the very seat 
 of feeling through the union of the soul with tlie natural 
 body, as that of the nobler life, which awaits you in the 
 spiritual body? How little have the woes of nature in them 
 to merit the regard or -the dread of that man who can look 
 down in prospect into the recesses of his own grave with 
 
334? 
 
 the sure and certain hope of a resurrection from it to eter- 
 nal life? 
 
 Anticipate, therefore, my brethren, the event of your re- 
 animation in immortal bodies, that you may learn to meet 
 the stroke of death without reluctance; to step forward 
 cheerfully, and offer yourselves to his embrace. With all 
 the inconveniencies of this frail and exposed tenement, the 
 spirit often lingers about its door, and would willingly pro- 
 long her dwelling in it. That you may be persuaded that 
 to depart is far better than to continue within these crumb- 
 ling walls, what better can you possibly do, than accustom 
 yourselves to look upward, and survey those nobler man- 
 sions, which the Lord, who is risen indeed, has gone before 
 to prepare for you? *»Tlie eai'thly house of this tabernacle 
 sliall be dissolved;" but, have you not *«a building with God; 
 a house not made with hands; eternal in the Heavens?" You 
 must die; but are you not to live again? "The dust shall re- 
 turn to the earth, as it was, and the spirit shall return to 
 God who gave it;" but shall not the separated spirit recog- 
 nize, and re-enter its ancient habitation, repaired, adorned, 
 created anew in Jesus Christ, and glorified? How felicitous 
 soever your condition in the present state, still it is an uncer- 
 tain and most paecarious condition; how tranquil soever the 
 tenour of your journey, it cannot be totally exempt from 
 painful interruptions; how pleasant soever the sunbeams 
 that dance upon the grates of your prison, hours of cheerless 
 darkness will succeed. And should you attain the most 
 elevated ground of worldly enjoyment and happiness, the 
 contrast which, nevertheless, you could not fail to recognize 
 between this disciplinary and that resurrection state, ought 
 not to leave you room for a moment's hesitation in preferring 
 the last. Let the tempests blow; let the waves rise moun- 
 tains high; why should you scruple to commit yourselves 
 to the ocean that rolls between you .and the port of eternal 
 rest, assured, as you may be, of a safe and successful voy- 
 age? Arise, Christian spirit! arise; trample on the 
 
335 
 
 World! wing tliy aspiring flight to immortality! It is the 
 voice of the Master that calls thee! Why sliouldst thou 
 delay? Why cling to the earthly house fast mouldering 
 into ashes? Forsake it for a period, that, in God's time, 
 thou niayest enter it again when rebuilt, for an eternal du- 
 ration, and decorated with every beauty, and every splen- 
 dour befitting the heir of an immortal crown. 
 
 But, after all, the resuscitation of mankind, in conse- 
 quence of the Lord's rising from the dead, is not to be res- 
 tricted to his faithful people. It is a universal resuscita- 
 tion; an event in which every individual of the species, 
 without exception, bears a part; because every intlividual of 
 the species, without exception, has a deep concern in the 
 resurrection of tlie common Lord and mediator of all. *<For" 
 thus argues an authority which no Christian will dispute, 
 however he may interpret him: "Since by man came death, 
 by man came also the resurrection from the dead. For, as 
 in Adam all die, even so in Christ, sliall all be made alive."* 
 They who "never sinned after the similitude of Adam's 
 transgression," die. Infants, on whom no actual or person- 
 al offence can be charged, die. Idiots, incapable of moral 
 action, insusceptible to praise or blame, die. Pagans, on 
 whom the saving light of revelation never dawned, die. All 
 derive from Adam a mortal nature; and all, like their com- 
 mon progenitor, descend into the tomb. But what becomes 
 of the contrast instituted by the apostle, between the Father 
 of the human race and their Redeemer, if the universality 
 of the evil inherited from Adam be not opposed by a reme- 
 dy equally universal? The sentiment is one which he ap- 
 pears to take delight in presenting and illustrating in all 
 the peculiar cogency of his reasoning. "Therefore," in his 
 epistle to the Romans you hear him say, "as by the offence 
 of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even 
 so, by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all 
 men unto justification of life."f Justification of life, in this 
 
 • 1 Cor. XV. 21.22. f Romans, v. IS 
 
336 
 
 connection, can signify nothing so properly or reasonably 
 as the deliverance of mankind from natural death, which 
 Adam's offence, had brought npon them. Tliat the two 
 grand descriptions of men, the righteous and the wicked, 
 shall alike be re-animated by our Lord Jesus Christ, is a 
 doctrine whicii, with our Bibles in our hands, we are not 
 at liberty to doubt. For, thus it is written, "The hour is 
 coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear 
 his voice, and shall come forth; tliey that have done good, 
 unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, 
 unto the resurrection of damnation."* It is his part; a part 
 allotted him as Messiah, the Son of man, the word of God, 
 and mediator between God and man; to bid all men live 
 again; and, in holy retribution, to adjudge all men to the 
 destinies in eternity, corresponding witli their works in time. 
 It is acknowledged that the situation of bad men poste- 
 riourto their resurrection, is one awfully infelicitous. It is, 
 however, the consequence of their own personal and volun- 
 tary trangression. The Son of God is not to be charged 
 with it, who both died, and rose again, that he might restore 
 to all mankind the means and capacity of happiness. Tlie 
 supposition is very far from being unreasonable, that the 
 sad issues of Adam's crime would not have been permitted 
 to extend themselves through all his progeny, had it not 
 been, at the same time, designed to invest them ail with, at 
 least, the possibility of attaining to a higher felicity through 
 the Lord from Heaven, than they forfeited in their first fede- 
 ral head and representative. The misery of bad men, there- 
 fore, after they are raised from-the grave, is imputable to 
 themselves; to their own folly and iniquity, and to no other 
 cause. Surely the restoration of life is, in its own nature, 
 an invaluable favour; and we cannot doiibt but that it was 
 designed to be viewed in this light. On any other principle, 
 as far as lam aware, we could not avoid the objection, tiiat 
 the mission and atonement of the Son of God, were calcuia- 
 
 John, V. 2&, 29, 
 
337 
 
 ted not more for the benefit of some, than for au2:menting 
 the wretcliedness of others ; a misconception most dishonor- 
 able to the character of Deity. 
 
 It is of importance, then, that every individual of my au- 
 dience should be impressed with the recollection that the 
 great event on which we are meditating, as the result of our 
 Lord's rising from the dead, and which is, in itself, a favor 
 from heaven, may prove in the issue a cursej and tliat there 
 is too painful an evidence that it will prove a curse to many, 
 if imppuitency in sin can make it so. sinner! let the ap- 
 prehension of a doom like this, cause thy flesh and thy heart 
 to tremble. Why wilt tho»i hot mortify thy members which 
 are upon the earth? Dedicate them henceforward as in- 
 struments of righteousness unto God, that they may not be- 
 come instruments of torture to thyself in the regions of 
 hopeless desolation. 
 
 As ''the Lord is risen indeed," let us all aspire, "to know 
 him, and the power of his resurrection."* We must be rise)» 
 with Christ; with him we must "pass from death unto life;" 
 if we would be enrolled with his faitlifiil people. They who 
 are dead in trespasses and sins; they in whom vicious habits 
 rule; they whose good resolutions and purposes of obe- 
 dience expire in the confli< ts of temptation; must expe- 
 rience a resurrection to true religion and virtue, before they 
 flatter themselves with the liopc of attaining that glorious 
 resurrection which is unto life eternal. 
 
 <'Follow after holiness," therefore, "without which no 
 man shall see the Lord." "Put off, concerning the former 
 conversation, the old man, which is corrupt, according to 
 the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 
 and put on the new man, which, after God, is created in 
 righteousness and true holiness."! "Know ye not that so 
 many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were bap- 
 tized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by 
 baptism, into death; that, like as Christ was raised up fmm 
 
 » Phil. iii. 10. t Eph. iv. 22.-24. 
 
 Tt 
 
338 
 
 the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also slioiild 
 walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted to- 
 gether in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the 
 likeness of his resurrection." ««For in that he died, he 
 died unto sin once; but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. 
 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto 
 sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." 
 
 If you would give satisfactory evidence that the resur- 
 rection of the Lord has had its moral and spiritualizing ef- 
 ficacy upon you, you must be, in habit, "heavenly minded." 
 <«If ye, then, be risen with Christ, seek those things which 
 are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 
 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the 
 earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in 
 God."*— Amen. 
 
 * Col. iii. 1.-3= 
 
©!3IB1I®K ^^mi< 
 
 THE CHARACTER AND OPERATIONS OF THE 
 HOLY SPIRIT. 
 
 JOHN, xiv. 16. 17. 
 
 'Iwill pray the Father, and he shall give you another Conu 
 forter, that he may abide with you forever; even the Spirit 
 of Truth,'' 
 
 From these words it is designed to discourse to you ou 
 what we conceive to be the true scriptural doctrine concern- 
 ing the Holy Spirit. 
 
 On this subject several important matters might be of- 
 fered for our consideration; but we shall confine ourselves 
 to three particulars. Is the Holy Spirit God himself, or is 
 he a subordinate agent? What is the ground and meaning 
 of his appropriate name and title, "Holy Spirit?" What 
 are his works, generally, and what his special operations 
 with regard to man? 
 
 Of each of these matters in their order; and let it be re- 
 membered that we presume not to trespass beyond the lim- 
 its of Revelation, on a subject in which Revelation alone can 
 instruct us. If we do not confine ourselves, on all occasions 
 to the very letter of scripture, it is only when necessary 
 and unavoidable inference impels us farther. 
 
 In thefrst place. — The Holy Spirit being revealed as an 
 agent of the highest importance in tlie natural and moral 
 worlds, is he a creature? or is he God himself? Wc might 
 ask, is he a divine person? but, obviously, if he be a divine 
 person, he must be God; the supreme, eternal, infinite Godj; 
 
340 
 
 the true religion forbidding us to acknowledge more Gods 
 than one. That the Holy Spirit, therefore, is a diA ine per- 
 son, or God himself, we shall now prove; and, we trust, easi- 
 ly prove. 
 
 There are many convincing arguments which might be 
 adduced; but we will merely select a few of them. 
 
 First. — By consulting the V. chapter of the Acts of the 
 Apostles, you will find St. Peter speaking of the Holy Ghost 
 under the very name of God. The falsehood of which An- 
 anias and Sapphira had been guilty, and for which the di- 
 vine apostle inliicted on them a just and most exemplary 
 punishment, he, in the third verse, calls a lie unto the Holy 
 Ghost, and in the fourth verse, a lie unto God. Conse- 
 quently, the Holy Ghost is God. 
 
 Secondit. — The attentive reader of the divine Avord, 
 cannot but perceive that it refers, in a multitude of instan- 
 ces, the attributes of the Divinity to the Holy Spirit. The 
 universal presence of God is that perfection of his nature 
 by which he frequently distinguishes himself from all the 
 idols of the nations — all pretenders to deity. But is not 
 this perfection ascribed by the inspired Psalmist to the be- 
 ing whom our Lord denominates the Comforter — the Spirit 
 of Truth? "Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whith- 
 er shall I flee from thy presence?"* And is he not repre- 
 sented by a great apostle as dwelling in the bodies of all 
 the faithful, as in so many temples consecrated to him 
 wherever the faithful are scattered? 
 
 Universal knowledge; an intimate acquaintance with the 
 most hidden purposes and the deepest recesses of the human 
 heart; is unquestionably a property of Deity, and peculiar 
 to Deity; "for thou, even thou only," says Solomon, in his 
 sublime dedication service, <«thou only knowest the hearts 
 of the children of men."f But, observe, knowledge higher 
 than this, as to its object, is ascribed to the Holy Spirit. 
 For what says the first Epistle to the Corinthians? "The 
 
 * Psabn, cxxxix. 7. f 1 Kings, viii. 39 
 
341 
 
 Spirit searrheth all thiiij^s; yea, the deep things of God.*** 
 And the illustration of this truth, which immediately fol- 
 lows its assertion, in itself, and at once, establishes the di- 
 vinity of the Spirit; "for what man knoweth the things of 
 a man, save the spirit of man which is in him?" asks the 
 apostle; and continues, «*even so, the tilings of God know- 
 eth no man; but the Spirit of God."t Why is it that the 
 spirit of man knoweth the things of a man? Certainly be- 
 cause the spirit of the man is the man himself. To justify 
 the illustration, therefore, it must follow that the Spirit of 
 God is God himself. 
 
 The foresight and the foretelling of future events is pecu- 
 liar to Deity; and yet they are undeniably asserted of the 
 Holy Ghost. "The Spirit speaketh expressly that, in the 
 latter times, some shall depart from the faith;":}: writes the 
 apostle to Timothy. 
 
 Other divine perfections are referred by scripture to the 
 same glorious person. But I go on to remark. 
 
 Thirdly. — That the same high and undisputed authori- 
 ty makes him the operator of divine works— of works pro- 
 per to Deity. 
 
 Surely, he who made all things, is God. "I am the Lord 
 that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the Heavens 
 alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself.'*^ But 
 what then? Was any thing made without that mysterious 
 Word who in the beginning was with God, and was God? 
 On the contrary, by him was not everything made tliat was 
 made? Assuredly. And it is equally sure that the Holy 
 Spirit concurred and co-operated in what was done. "Did 
 not the Spirit of God move upon the face of the waters?"fj 
 "By his Spirit did he not garnish the Heavens?"^ But the 
 various operations of this mighty agent will be adverted to 
 in the sequel. 
 
 Fourth.— The formula of baptism vindicates the Spirit's 
 Deity. The ministers of the New Testament are instruct- 
 
 ♦ 1 Cor. ii. 10. t 1 Cor. ii. 11. ± 1 Tim. iv. I. § isaiuh xllv. 2* 
 II Gen. i. 2, ^ Job. xxvi. 13. 
 
ed by the great head of the church to baptize in, or more 
 properly, perhaps, into the name of the Father, and of the 
 Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Now, if there be here an ac- 
 knowledgment of God under two personal distinctions of the 
 Father and the Son, by parity of reason, the third name 
 must be meant for a divine personal distinction also; other- 
 wise, the harmony and analogy of the baptismal form are 
 destroyed; a form dictated by the lips of the blessed Re- 
 deemer himself. 
 
 Fifth. — We derive a very clear demonstration of this 
 truth from the comparison of many parts of the Old Testa- 
 ment, with other parts of the new. From this, it will ap- 
 pear, that the Holy Ghost — the Comforter — the Spirit of 
 truth — is the most high God; whom the ancient church 
 adored under the incommunicable name "Jehovah," trans- 
 lated in our version "the Lord;" whom they recognized and 
 honoured as the maker and upholder of all things. No man 
 who believes the scriptures will doubt that it was the great 
 God who appeared unto the prophet Isaiah in that vision 
 which he has so magnificently recorded in the sixth chap- 
 ter of his book. And yet it is not more certain that St. 
 John, in the XII. chapter of his gospel, represents the 
 prophet as speaking of Jesus Christ and his glory as the ob- 
 ject of his vision, than it is that St. Paul, in the XXVIII. 
 chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, represents the voice 
 of the Lord, which the prophet heard at that time, to 
 be the voice of the Holy Ghost. To compare these three 
 remarkable scriptures with reference to the very important 
 doctrine to which they point, and which the superficial wis- 
 dom of this age affects to despise, (we mean the doctrine of 
 the Supreme God, under three personal distinctions) will be 
 no unprofitable item in your moments devoted to religious 
 retirement. Time will not allow us to enlarge on the sub- 
 ject at present. 
 
 Jlgain. — No man who believes the scriptures will doubt 
 that it was the great God who commissioned, instructed. 
 
343 
 
 and inspired the prophets of the former dispensation. And 
 yet we learn from St. Peter that the Spirit did all this. <»The 
 prophecy" he writes "came not in old time by the will of 
 man; but holy men of God spake as tl>ey were moved by tlie 
 Holy Ghost."* 
 
 In the book of Leviticus it is thus written, "The Lord 
 said unto Moses, speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he 
 come not at all times into the holy place;"| but we are told 
 by the writer to the Hebrews, that it was "the Holy Giiost 
 who signified this.":(: 
 
 In the prophecies of Jeremiah it is written; "After those 
 days, saith the Lord, I wiJl put my law in their inward 
 parts, and write it in their ]»carts;"§ but by the same writer 
 to the Hebrews we are told that it was the Holy Ghost who 
 said this. II 
 
 By the same inspired authority, also, those words quoted 
 from the XCV. Psalm, are represented as spoken by the 
 Holy Ghost: "To day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not 
 your hearts, as in the provocation, in the days of temptation 
 in the wilderness; when your fathers tempted me, proved 
 me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was 
 grieved with that generation, and said, they do alway err 
 in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I 
 sware in my wrath, they shall not enter into my rest."^! 
 
 The Holy Spirit, therefore, is undeniably not a creature, 
 liow exalted soever; but God most high, Jehovah himself; 
 and our first point is established. 
 
 In the second jdacc. — What is the ground and meaning of 
 the appropriate name and title, '"Holy Spirit?" 
 
 Tlie word Spirit cannot here be employed simply to de- 
 signate immateriality; in as much as immatoiality of na- 
 ture is common to Godhead, speak of him by what name 
 you will. Perhaps, for we intimate it as a probability, per- 
 haps the true reason for the use of the denomination, must 
 be sought for in the character under which tlie Spiiit is 
 
 • 2 Peter, i, 21. |Lev. xvi. 2. :t Hcb. ix. 8. § Jcr. Xixi. 33. 
 IjHeb. X. 15, 16. "li Heb. iii. 7—11. 
 
sometimes spoken of in the scripture, as ''the power of the 
 Highest;*' that Eternal Power by whom the purposes <>f co- 
 eternal wisdom and love, are carried into execution. With 
 the notion of Spirit, there is ordinarily, and it should seem, 
 reasonably associated, the notion of power; of power, as it 
 respects created spirits, far superiour; and as it respects 
 the Creator Spirit, infinitely su])eriour to the utmost force 
 of the noblest, most refined, and most subtle combinations 
 of matter. 
 
 Again. — Whence does the Spirit of God derive the dis- 
 tinctive and appropriate appellation of "Holy?" It cannot 
 be from any more essential sanctity or purity; for this is 
 equally affirmable of God as the Father and the Son. '♦Ho- 
 ly," or sacred, is an epithet frequently attached to Majes- 
 ty; as the power of the Roman Tribunate of old was denom- 
 inated sacred, or holy, because it represented the majesty 
 of the Roman people; and this is one of the reasons why the 
 royal character is, to this day, graced in transatlantic lan- 
 guage with the same higli and honourable epithet. But it 
 cannot be on account of his divine majesty alone that the 
 Spirit of God is peculiarly styled "Holy;" since he is as far 
 from possessing majesty, as he is from possessing sanctity 
 or purity, to the exclusion of the paternal and filial distinct- 
 ion of Deity. He is expressively called "the Holy Spirit," 
 it would appear, from his specifick province and preroga- 
 tive of originating and conferring all grace and holiness, 
 all righteousness and purity, all virtue and goodness through- 
 out the moral or the spiritual world. The end of man's re- 
 demption is his sanctification, or the making of him holy, 
 which is the proper office of the Spirit of God; and than 
 which there can be no better reason discovered or desired 
 for designating him by the approjjriate and distinctive title 
 of "Holy Spirit," or Holy Ghost. 
 
 The observations just made very naturally lead us to the 
 discussion of the last particular of our plan, whjch was, as 
 you will recollect, the operations of the Holy Spirit, 
 
345 
 
 This divine agent is ever active in the kingdoms of na- 
 ture, of providence, and of grace. In the original formation 
 of all things, he acted, as we have seen; and in the uninter- 
 rupted conservation, protection, superintendence, and gov- 
 ernment of all things he still acts, and will continue to act, 
 as long as all things subsist. When «'the earth was with- 
 out form, and void, and darkness was upon the face of the 
 deep;"=^ then *<the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the 
 waters."! "By his Spirit" the Almighty "garnished the 
 Heavens." "Oh! Lord, how manifold are thy works! iu 
 wisdom hast thou made them all; the earth is full of thy 
 riches; so is this great and wide sea, wherein are things 
 creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts. There 
 go the ships; there is that Leviathan whom thou hast made 
 to play therein. These waif an upon thee, that thou may- 
 est give them their meat in due season. That thou givest 
 them they gather; thou openest thine hand, they are filled 
 with good; thou hidest thy face, they are troubled; thouta- 
 kest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust; 
 thou scndest forth thy Spirit^ they are created; and thou re- 
 newest the face of the earth.":}: 
 
 In the XXXV. chapter of the book of Exodus is the 
 following record; "Moses said unto the children of Israel, 
 see, the Lord hath called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, 
 the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; and he hath filled him 
 with the Spirit of God^ in wisdom, in understa»iding, and in 
 knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship;" &c. From 
 this passage, in connection with others scattered over the 
 inspired volume, we may collect, that for our acquisitions 
 in art and science we are indebted, not only to God, as the 
 fountain of being generally, but specifically and distinctively 
 to God, "as the Spirit of Truths'* whose "inspiration it is 
 that giveth understanding." And we may learn from the 
 words of God himself, which he spake to his servant Moscb 
 on the original institution of the great council of seventy, 
 
 * Gen. i. 2. tJob. xxvj. 13. ^^ Psuhn, dv. 2S.— 30. 
 
846 
 
 that political prudence, foresight, and skill, are gifts from 
 the same donor, even his own all-wise and all-powerful 
 Spirit.* 
 
 It is not to he douhted that the celebrated actions of the 
 more virtuous part of Paganism; those remains of ben- 
 evolence, righteousness, and temperance, which were 
 observable among the idolatrous nations of the ancient 
 world, as well as those which at this day sparingly adorn 
 tlie regions that know not Christ; it is not to be doubted that 
 these are the works of the "Spirit of truth," in concurrence 
 with traditionary knowledge preserved to mankind by the 
 kindness of an overruling providence. 
 
 The Holy iSpirit is the author of whatever light, aiyl what- 
 ever purity tlie church has enjoyed through all the succes- 
 sive periods of her existence. * He led the venerable patri- 
 archs of old to pursue and practice those exalted virtues 
 which have secured to them the admiration of every suc- 
 ceeding age. He inspired the prophets and apostles of the 
 Lord. Those miraculous powers which were conferred on 
 the first Christians after the Redeemer's ascension, were the 
 result of his extraordinary effusion. 
 
 To his ordinary workings it is that mankind are under 
 obligation for that common and universal grace which 
 leaves such without excuse as finally come short of Heaven. 
 He forms in the hearts of true believers the dispositions neces- 
 sary to qualify them for deriving advantage from the ordi- 
 nances of the gospel. He enlightens the eyes of tlieir under- 
 standings, "that they may behold wondrous things out of the 
 law of the Lord."f "That they may know the things that 
 are freely given to them of God.:}:" "That they may know 
 what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the 
 glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the ex- 
 ceeding greatness of his power towards us who believe."§ 
 It is this divine spirit who sheds abroad in tlje heart the 
 
 * Numbers, xi. 16. 17. f Psalm, cxix. 18. i I Corinthians, ii, 12. 
 § Epli. i. 18, 19. 
 
347 
 
 love of God in Clirist, and fills it witli that peace which 
 passeth understanding. 
 
 It is the Comforter — the Spirit of truth — who elevates the 
 drooping soul of affliction, and expands the disconsolate 
 bosom with a joy that is unspeakable and full of glory; who 
 ^'strengthens with his might the inner man;"* "who sta- 
 blisheth and auoi«teth,"| and *»sealetii unto the day of re- 
 demption.":}; 
 
 This is the spirit of prayer and supplication, "who ma- 
 keth intercession for us with groanings which cannot be ut- 
 tered."§ This "the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, 
 Father."|| "This is the spirit whose gracious fruit is love, 
 joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meek- 
 ness, temperance."^ Through this spirit only are we able 
 to mortify the deeds of the body that our souls may live; and 
 by him it is that our mortal bodies themselves are quickened 
 never more to taste or to see death. 
 
 Many are the similitudes under which this all-powciful 
 agent, with his inestimable benefits, are represented to us in 
 holy scripture; and they are all justified and illustrated by 
 the account which has now been given of his offices and 
 operations. 
 
 Thus, as he is the great principle and source of our 
 spiritual regeneration, and the author of our spiritual 
 growth; as he cleanseth from all unrighteousness and im- 
 purity; as he extinguishes the fires of lust, and refreshes 
 with the dews of consolation; he is figured to us under 
 the emblem of pure water. 
 
 As he enlightens what is dark in us, refines what is gross, 
 consumes what is oifensive, and enkindles and cherishes 
 the heaven-ascending fervor of devotion, he is aptly descri- 
 bed to us under the figure of /re. 
 
 As he affords us strength and activity for our Chiistian 
 warfare, he is beautifully and strikingly represented under 
 the comparison of an unction or anointing, in allusion to the 
 • Eph. iii. 16. 1 2 Cor. i. 21. i Eph. iv. 30. § K«m. viii. 26. 
 B Rom. viii. 15. H Gal. v. 22. 23. 
 
 V 
 
348 
 
 usage of combatants in the ancient games, who employed an 
 abundance of oil in preparing their bodies for the labours of 
 the field. 
 
 We will conclude with a very few practical remarks. 
 
 First. — The gospel is expressly denominated "the mini- 
 stration of the spirit."* Attentively to read and hear 
 the gospel, therefore, and seriously to meditate upon it, 
 must be a direct means to obtain the grace of the Holy 
 Spirit; for those who honor him, we have every reason 
 to conclude, independently of his own repeated declara- 
 tions, that he will delight to honor. To reading, hearing, 
 and meditating, however, must be added prayer; fervent and 
 importunate prayer. To this there is the highest encour- 
 agement that a mortal can require; the sure promise of his 
 God. « Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go un- 
 to him at midnight, and say unto him, friend, lend me 
 three loaves, for a friend of mine in his journey is come to 
 Hie, and 1 have nothing to set before him; and he from with- 
 in shall answer, and say, trouble me not; the door is now 
 shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and 
 give thee. I say unto you, though he will not rise and give 
 him because he is his friend, yet, because of his importunity 
 he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. And I 
 say unto you, ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye 
 shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For 
 every one that askcth, receiveth; and he that seeketh, find- 
 eth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened. If a son 
 shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him 
 a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a ser- 
 pent? or if he shall ask an e^^y will he offer him a scor- 
 pion? If ye, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts 
 unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly 
 Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?"j[ This 
 is reasoning that none shall refute. It is reasoning brought 
 from the bosom of the Father; and delivered to men by him 
 
 * 2 Cor. lii 8. f ^"^^j ^- 5.-^15. 
 
319 
 
 who is as far from deceiving tliem, as he is from being dc- 
 ceived himself. 
 
 Second. — It is obvious that the Holy Spirit of Truth, 
 the Comforter, with his grace and his benefits, is to be pre- 
 served to us, in part, by the very same means in the use of 
 which we at first obtained him; by reading and liearing; 
 meditation and prayer. We say in part; for something far- 
 ther is necessary for this purpose. It is necessary that we 
 cultivate familiar intercourse N\ith religious and pious peo- 
 ple, and be diligent in the practice of good works. Con- 
 cerning the Holy Ghost it is eminently true, that where two 
 or three are met together in his name, or with a view to 
 spiritual establishment and improvement, there he is in the 
 midst of them. And certain it is, that in the ordinary 
 course of events, none are so frequently or so uninterrupt- 
 edly favored with the visits of this celestial guest, as those 
 who habitually order their conversation aright, and perse- 
 veringly follow after godliness. 
 
 Third. — As the Holy Spirit is near to every one of us; as 
 he is ever ready and willing to guide, instruct, comfort, and 
 fortify us; ever active to supply our spiritual need; it follows, 
 that to oppose the free course of his operations, or, speak- 
 ing after the manner of men, to throw obstructions or im- 
 pediments in his way, whether in deed, in word, or in 
 thought, must be a most inexcusable and presumptuous 
 crime. This is what the scriptures denominate "resisting 
 the spirit," and "grieving the spirit." It is a crime of which 
 all are guilty who are remiss in reading, and hearing, and 
 meditating on the divine word; who restrain prayer before 
 God; who watch not against temptation; who prefer evil or 
 light communications to religious intercourse; who are neg- 
 ligent of good works; and who love pleasure more tlian 
 God. O! that men would suffer tliis consideration to make 
 an impression on their hearts, before the days come when 
 God shall be wearied with their iniquities; and his spirit 
 shall no longer strive with them. 
 
 # 
 
350 
 
 Fourth. — It is a fact, how unwelcome soever to the 
 pride of infidelity, that unless the Holy Spirit prosecute a 
 work of grace in the heart of man in this life, his expecta- 
 tion of Heaven in the next is the vainest of all vain expecta- 
 tions. And since, independently of this encouraging and 
 exalting prospect, no progress can be made in moral good- 
 ness, in true Christian virtue; much does it concern us to 
 ascertain to our own satisfaction, and on scriptural grounds, 
 whether or not this divine and ever blessed agent has 
 wrought savingly upon our hearts and minds, giving us the 
 light of the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Christ; 
 renewing us in our spirit and temper; and transforming 
 us into the divine image from one degree of glorious simil- 
 itude to another. No where are the rules of sound phi- 
 losophy more applicable than here. Reason from the ef- 
 fect to the cause, and you cannot go astray. If, like the di- 
 vine Being, you cannot look upon moral evil but with dis- 
 gust; if, like him, your supreme affection is fixed on moral 
 goodness; if you hate every false way, and love his law; if 
 you delight in his service more than in the riches, the hon- 
 ours, and the pleasures of this world; if you stay yourselves 
 upon his arm, resigned and peaceful amidst the most gloomy 
 and adverse dispensations of his providence; if you arc 
 proof against the allurements of prosperity, more to be de- 
 precated than sorrow's deepest and sorest wounds; if your 
 conversation be habitually in Heaven, where you look for 
 that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great 
 God, even Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us that he 
 might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify us unto him- 
 self, and make us zealous of good works; if faith, hope, and 
 charity animate your bosoms, form your manners, breathe 
 in your actions, and consecrate your lives; then are you 
 born of the spirit; then do you live in the spirit; then do you 
 walk in the spirit; then is your Heaven begun upon earth; 
 and grace is conducting you to glory. It only remains for 
 you humbly to acknowledge, and thankfully to adore the 
 
351 
 
 Comforter — the Spirit of truth — as the source of virtue — the 
 author and principle of every thing morally good and ex- 
 cellent — the light of the spiritual life — and to implore liis 
 continual grace and aid to further and assist you in your 
 progress to perfection. 
 
 0! that there were this mind and this heart in all of you! 
 0! that I could hope these things of you all; these things 
 which accompany salvation! But, forgive me, vou who 
 cannot hut be conscious that the remark, how seemingly 
 harsh soever, is applicable to yourselves; forgive me if I say 
 that, at present, this hope would be absurd. Let your own 
 candid judgments, if candour can be looked for in such a 
 ease, answer this simple inquiry: How dwelleth the Holy 
 Ghost in the man who seldom, if ever, reads; who rarely 
 and irregularly hears; and who never meditates on the word 
 of God; who bows not his knees before the throne of the 
 heavenly grace; who sets no guard upon his affections, his 
 appetites, his passions; who, careless and disobedient, in- 
 stead of doing the acknowledged will of God, habitually de- 
 votes himself to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and 
 the pride of life, making fame, wealth, concupiscence, his 
 gods; how dwelleth the Holij Ghost in swc/i a man? Few- 
 questions are of more awful importance than tliis; for, be. 
 assured, if the divinity dwells not in you; if the Comfor- 
 ter—the Spirit of truth, of glory, and of God, is banished 
 from your hearts; if you have no fellowship with the Holy 
 Ghost; your fairest prospects terminate in this world, and 
 all beyond is darkness impenetrable, clouds which no mor- 
 ning's dawn shall ever be commissioned to dispel. 
 
 "Come, then, Holy Ghost! Creator Spirit, descend 
 from the highest Heavens, and comfort those who piously 
 await thy consolations! Sanctify our bodies to bo thy tem- 
 ples, and vouchsafe to dwell in them! Cause those who as- 
 pire to fellowship with thee, to rejoice with joy unspeakable 
 and full of glory; and awaken the secure and the impenitent 
 from their soul-chiJling sleep, that, ronvinred of their need 
 
35a 
 
 of thee, they may earnestly seek thy grace, and thankfully 
 improve it! 
 
 <'Come, then, Holy Ghost! descend. Creator spirit!" 
 and we will praise, and bless, and adore thee in union with 
 the Father and the Son forever — world without end — Amen. 
 
gi3iaa!®s3 ssMiH; 
 
 DEVOTION. 
 
 JAMES, iv. 8. 
 
 ''Draw nigh to God, and he ivill draw nigh to yonj* 
 
 J o "draw nigh to God" is a phrase, eminently descrip- 
 tive of that most exalted of all moral excellencies, devotion. 
 
 Devotion is, at once, the chief duty, and highest honour 
 of man. 
 
 Various particulars are included under the general term 
 '♦devotion." 
 
 The most important of these, because that which is the 
 basis of all others, is knowledge — the knowledge of the true 
 God. 
 
 Defective and unworthy conceptions of this greatest and 
 best of Beings, are necessarily opposed to all rational in- 
 tercourse with hirn, and all acceptable and profitable obe- 
 dience to him. To yield this obedience, and to hold that 
 intercourse, it is indispensable that we receive and meditate 
 upon that assemblage of perfections with which the holy 
 scriptures have surrounded the Divinity; that record which 
 God hath given of himself. We must learn and beliive 
 that "the Lord, the Lord God, is merciful and gracious, 
 long suffering, slow to anger, abundant in goodness and in 
 truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity^ 
 transgression, and sin; and that he will by no means clear 
 the guilty." We must learn and believe that tliis great and 
 6ver-ble3sed God, to testify that, while he is infinitely just, 
 Uu 
 
354) 
 
 he can be the justifier of the ungodly, and that his delight* 
 are with the sons of men notwithstanding their rebellion, 
 hath sent his only begotten Son into the world, that the 
 world through him might have life. We must learn and 
 believe tliat, if there is but one God, in like manner, there 
 is but one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ 
 Jesus; that his is, in very deed, the only name given among 
 men whereby they can in any sense of the word, be saved. 
 Such is the knowledge of God, and of the relations between 
 him and us, which is indispensable to the devotion he re- 
 quires, and alone will accept. 
 
 The affection of love is equally indespensable to devo- 
 tion. In proportion as we become acquainted with the 
 character and attributes of the great Being who made us 
 and all things, and who redeemed a world of helpless sin- 
 ners which numbers ourselves amongst its wretched inhab- 
 itants, in that proportion we cannot fail to love him. In- 
 deed, devotion without love, is an absurdity in terms. For 
 what is love, but such an affection of the soul towards a par- 
 ticular object as excites a desire to possess that object? And 
 how can we possess that from which we remain separated 
 by distance? And how is devotion, or, in other words, the 
 disposition to "draw nigh unto God," reconcileable, I will 
 not say with enmity, but even with indifference towards him? 
 
 A consciousness of the presence and inspection of the Di- 
 vine Being, is, farther, and eminently, characteristical of 
 true devotion. It is true that God is every where present 
 with his creatures, whether they are conscious of it, or not. 
 But it is only the impression of his presence upon their 
 minds, that can produce any moral influence upon them; 
 the impression that he pervades every poi'tion of their 
 frame; every department, faculty, and attribute of their ex- 
 istence; that he is intimately acquainted with the operations 
 of their souls; observes them in all their ways; walks with 
 them in all their paths; and reads their inrfiost thoughts, de- 
 Ticee, and resolutions. For in the Deity, the perfection of 
 
355 
 
 Ubiquity, or universal presence, can never be divorced from 
 tbat of Omniscience, or universal knowledge. Aware of 
 this, and sensible that the eye of him, who is thus every 
 where present and thus informed of all things, is especially 
 fixed upon those who profess to worship liim, the man re- 
 ally devout, in his approaches to the throne of grace, will 
 endeavour to banish from his mind all earthly thoughts, and 
 from his heart all carnal desires; to exclude the world, and 
 still more deeply to imprint upon his soul the conviction that 
 God is with him. 
 
 Men, governed by the genuine spirit of devotion, will 
 make the Divine Glory their aim in the performance of 
 every duty. "This is it that the Lord spake," on a cer- 
 tain memorable occasion, "saying, I will be sanctified in 
 them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will he 
 glorified."* And certainly, if, "whether we eat, or drink, 
 or whatsoever we do,"f in our temporal and civil con- 
 cerns, we are instructed by the great apostle to "do all to the 
 glory of God;" much more is it incumbent on us to conse- 
 crate our spiritnal acts and exercises by the same exalted 
 ends, the same ennobling motives. 
 
 The predominating desire of the man of devotion, as it 
 respects himself, is to obtain "the favour of God, which is 
 life, and the loving kindness of God, which is better than 
 life.":}: His resolution is, "this one thing have I desired of 
 thp Lord, and that will 1 seek after;"§ And his perpetual 
 prayer, "Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance up- 
 on me!"|| 
 
 A fixed determination that our general conduct shall com- 
 port w ith our views, sentiments, experience, and exercises, 
 during tlie happy hours of divine communion, is not the 
 least important feature of true devotion. The condescen- 
 sion of God in permitting us to draw nigh unto him and 
 hold intercourse with him, confers sucli a distinguished hon- 
 our upon us, as binds us with the utmost diligence to pursue 
 
 • Levit. X. 3, 1 1 Cor. X. 31. # Psalm, xxx, 5. * Pf^ilm, xxYii, 4. 
 II PsaliB, iv. 6, 
 
356 
 
 aiui practise whatever is praiseworthy in life and conversa- 
 tion. And it is perfectly incompatible with the spirit and 
 temper in which all religious services should be rendered, 
 to harbour hesitation or irresolution on this subject. In 
 fact, the very reason why we are invited into God*s pres- 
 ence, and exhorted to draw nigh unto him in devotion, is, 
 that we may be prepared and enabled to keep close to himi 
 in the commerce of ordinary life; in our subsequent deport- 
 ment to walk worthy of him; to think — to speak — to act — 
 with such consistency and uniformity of character as shall 
 be evidential that "our fellowship has been with the Father, 
 and with his Son Jesus Christ."* With hearts thus 
 honourably and graciously predisposed, the men of real de- 
 votion will draw nigh to God in the customary exercises of 
 the sanctuary. With hearts thus honourably and gracious- 
 ly predisposed, many of you, 1 trust, brethren, lately en- 
 compassed the altar. An indevout communicant! there is 
 an impious incongruity in the character. But indevout — 
 awfully indevout — is every communicant, who, when he 
 takes in his hands, and presses to his lips, the holy emblems 
 of the sacrifice, does not resolve that, by God's iielp, he 
 will renounce those sins for which the sacrifice was offered 
 — for which the victim bled; that not at the table only, load- 
 ed with the memorials of the bread of life, but also, and 
 principally, by the faith and patience, the piety and obedi- 
 ence, the uprightness and usefulness of a following walk 
 and conversation, he will shew forth the death of that 
 great Redeemer, "through whom alone we all have access 
 by one spirit unto the Father."f 
 
 This Devotion — this approximation of the spirit of man 
 to the Almighty Father of Spirits — commends itself to your 
 diligent pursuit by the qualities that accompany it, and the 
 happy consequences that result from it. It is the oil of 
 gladness that heals the wounded heart. It is the wisdom 
 
 * I John, i. 3. t Eph. ii. IS 
 
357 
 
 of the just that ennobles the name of man. It is the true 
 philosophy that schools the soul for Heaven. 
 
 "How charming" this "divine philosophy! 
 Not harsh, and crabbed, as dull fools suppose. 
 But musical as is an Angel's harp, 
 And a perpetual feast of nectar'd sweets. 
 Where no crude surfeit reigns." Mh-tox. 
 
 Let me call your attention to a few of the principal ad- 
 vantages of devotion. 
 
 In the first place. — It gives a dignifying employment to 
 the most elevated faculties of man; the mind and the heart. 
 The mind occupies the first and highest place in the human 
 economy. All the other faculties are subjected to its con- 
 trol, receive its laws, and execute its behests. Various are 
 its operations, and the points in which they terminate are 
 equally diversified. It is its distinguishing and most illus- 
 trious honour that in its contemplations overleaping the 
 boundaries of created things, it can ascend to the Mighty 
 Maker — the Father of Lights — the Infinite Mind. What 
 objectof the workings of the thinking power can vie in magni- 
 tude with this? What pursuit of the understanding so splen- 
 did — so great — so exalted, and at the same time, so exalting 
 — as this? What man is there, in whose eyes the world 
 does not become little even unto contempt, and its most daz- 
 zling glories fading even unto extinction; who does not, in 
 the midst of his self-abasement, feel a degree of self-rever- 
 ence; when he, as it were, sees himself placed at the foot of 
 the Majesty of Heaven — and hears himself converse with 
 the Most High? The serious believer will more easily ap- 
 prehend than I can express, how elevated the pleasure deri- 
 ved from a consciousness that the soul is employed in con*- 
 templations so worthy of her — so worthy the most refined 
 intelligences that minister before the everlasting throne. 
 
 Devotion, again, gives an employment equally dignifying 
 to the heart, the source of activity; the seat of moral vital 
 
358 
 
 ity. With the eye of the sanctified mind we see God, hut it 
 is only with the heart's embrace that we can possess him. 
 The heart of him who "draws nij^h to God," surrenders to 
 God its best affections, and would willintifly have all its in- 
 clinations and propensities swallowed up in this ocean of 
 unalloyed felicity. Exertion — exercise — activity — enga.^ed- 
 ness of heart — zealous affection — are essential to any high 
 degree of happiness. This is the nature of man; he, there- 
 fore, who made man, and knows what is in him, encourages 
 the expectation tliat he will be found of those who "seek 
 him with the whole heart;" and they, and no others, need 
 hope to find him. And where, I pray you, shall they find 
 happiness who find not God? 
 
 In the second place. — Habits of true devotion are perfective 
 of the soul that maintains them. It is too evident to require 
 demonstration, that use and exercise contribute effectively 
 to the improvement of all the powers and propertier of our 
 nature, whether corporeal, intellectual, or moral. Indolence, 
 idleness, or frequently interrupted exertion, weakens the bod- 
 ily frame, unnerves the mind, relaxes what little virtue wc 
 may have, and introduces much disorder into t!ie heart and 
 dispositions. The untutored Indian may be endued with 
 the same capacities as the polished man of science, while, 
 from the defect of that discipline which alone can unfold and 
 cultivate those capacities, he seems lifted scaiVe a degree 
 above the wild beasts of his native forests. But even the 
 polished man of science, however exalted by intellectual dis- 
 cipline above the untutored Indian, is far inferiour to the 
 man of devotion; inasmuch as moral iiabits are incalculably 
 more needful to the perfection of the human cljaracter than 
 habits merely intellectual. There can be vo such thing as 
 pleasure independently of taste or relish; nor can he "re- 
 joice in the Lord, and joy in the God of his salvation," who 
 has not acquired a taste or relish for divine things. But 
 this taste or relish for divine things, so desirable, so indis- 
 pensable, can, ordinarily, be formed and maintained only 
 
3ii9 
 
 by habitual devotion — by pcrseveringly drawinc: nigh to 
 God. This it is, and this alone, which enlarges the mind — 
 invigorates the heart — quickens the affections — advances 
 the divine life in the soul — renders the ways of wisdom 
 pleasant ways^i and all Jier paths peace — enahlos us to sur- 
 in')unt obstacles, to endure hardness, to conquer temptations, 
 to ''run in the way of God's commandments, to run and not 
 be weary, to walk and not faint.'* This is it, and this alone, 
 that "makes us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of 
 the saints in light;" that qualifies us to be the recipients 
 of that crown of glory which fadeth not away, and which 
 God, the righteous judge, shall bestow on all those who love 
 his appearing. Think you that Heaven can have delights 
 for the indevout? For those to whom God's sabbaths are a 
 weariness — his service a disgust — his sacraments, ceremo- 
 nies to be gazed on at a distance, and neglected with impu- 
 nity? No — it cannot be. They who acquire not in the 
 present life a disposition to take delight in God, in his ser- 
 vice, and in all his ways and institutions, and yet hope to live 
 and rejoice before him in the kingdom of Heaven, indidgc 
 a vain hope — a hope that shall cover them with shame — a 
 hope that shall perish, and lead them to perdition along 
 with it. 
 
 In the tJiird place. — "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw 
 nigh to you." Verily this is "an exceeding great and pre- 
 cious promise." Spirit of our God — assist us to bind it to 
 our hearts! "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to 
 you.'* 
 
 He will pour the light of truth and wisdom into your un- 
 derstandings. 
 
 "He will **str«ngthen you with all might by his spirit in 
 the inner man." 
 
 He will extend over you the protecting ^'shadow of his 
 wings." 
 
 He will cause you to abound in hope through the power 
 of the Holy Ghost, and fill you with joy and peace in be- 
 lieving." 
 
360 
 
 First. — «'Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to 
 you," to pour the light of truth and wisdom into your un- 
 derstandings. "The wisdom that is profitable to direct" — 
 the prudence that is necessary to conduct us through the 
 perplexities of this temporal life — to screeii us from the 
 malice of enmity — to defend us against the wiles of the de- 
 ceiver — these invaluable qualities are wrought in us by the 
 power of God. They arc among those "good and perfect 
 gifts which come down from the Father of lights." «*If any 
 of you lack wisdom," writes our apostle, **let him ask of 
 God, that givetli to all men liberally, and upbraidcth notj 
 and it shall be given him."* Inestimable recompense of 
 devotion! Amidst the conflicts of human interests and hu- 
 man passions — amidst the gloomy and involved mazes, to 
 extricate them from which the children of this generation 
 frequently find all their craft and all their policy but inef- 
 fectual helps — to the upright a light ariseth to make plain 
 their way before them — and the most high God is conde- 
 scendingly near to guide them in every doubtful case by his 
 imerring counsel. 
 
 But if this light, communicated for our safe conduct 
 through temporal perplexities and embarrassments, be an 
 inestimable recompense of devotion, what shall we say of 
 that superiour light which scatters the shades of spiritual 
 ignorance and doubt, and gilds with its radiance the path 
 that leads to Heaven? which, (while we "search the scrip- 
 tures with all diligence) opens our eyes to behold won- 
 drous things out of the divine law?" What shall we say 
 of this? Shall we not say that devotion, thus blessed in its 
 recompense, is more precious than rubies, and more to be 
 desired than fine gold? But, 
 
 Secondly. — "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh 
 to you," to "strengthen you with all might by his spirit in 
 the inner man." He renews — refreshes — fortifies — invigo- 
 rates — sustains the decaying, trembling, retreating spirits 
 
 * James, i. 5, 
 
361 
 
 of good men, ready to sink under their severe and long^ 
 protracted trials. He "giveth power to the faint, and to 
 them that have no might he increaseth strength." "Even 
 the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men 
 shall utterly fall; but they that wait upon the Lord renew 
 tlieir strength."* They "can do all things— they ran bear 
 all things— they can endure all things— through Christ 
 strengthening them."f 
 
 Thirdly. — "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh 
 to you," to extend over you the protecting "shadow of his 
 wings." No buckler of defence so sure as that of the God 
 of Heaven. He is the perpetual "shield" of the devout and 
 pious— their "rock"— their "tower"— their "bulwark"— 
 their "very present help in all time of trouble." His "eyes 
 are ever open upon the righteous"— he "preserves their go- 
 ing out and coming in, and gives his angels charge over 
 them, to keep them in all their ways." "Behold, he that 
 keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord 
 is thy keeper; the Lord is thy shade on thy right hand. 
 The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. 
 The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil; he shall preserve 
 thy soul."| No arm so strong as to resist omnipotence. 
 No wisdom so crafty as to baffle the infinite understanding. 
 
 Finally. — "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh 
 to you," to cause you to abound in hope through the power 
 of the Holy Ghost, and to fill you with all joy and peace in 
 believing." There is a "hope that maketh not ashamed;" 
 there is a "faith which is the victory that overcometli the 
 world;" there are "consolations of the Holy Ghost, wliich 
 are neither few nor small;" there is "a peace which passcth 
 understanding;" there is "a joy which is unspeakable and 
 full of glory." Whither will you go to seek these lovely pla»ts 
 of Paradise? Allow me to direct your search. Go not to the 
 courts of despots; go not to the schools of unbelieving science; 
 go not to the houses of prosperous worldlings, where fastidi- 
 
 • Isflial), xl. 30. 31. f Pbil. iv. 13. j Psalm, cxxi. 4.-7. 
 Ww 
 
362 
 
 oils luxury invents unreal wants; go not to the counting 
 rooms of avarice, where the indovout calculator erects an 
 altar to his god Mammon during the very hours consecra- 
 ted to the true God; go not to the worshippers of pleasure 
 at the gaming tahle, the theatre, the revel, or the horse 
 race; neither go to the crowd of half-way professors who 
 make God's sabhath a convenience, affecting to sanctify its 
 morning hours, while they devote its subsequent periods to 
 their own ease and gratification, or who pour contempt upon 
 God*s sacramental institutions. These are not they to 
 whom you must go; if you seek among them for faith, or 
 hope, or the consolations of the spirit, or peace, or joy, you 
 seek in vain. But go to the retreats of pious indigence; go 
 to the prisons from which not even godliness can redeem its 
 votary; go to the hospitals where the righteous suffer; to the 
 scaffold where the saint is murderously executed; to the bed 
 where the good man sickens unto death; where the husband 
 beholds the light of his eyes deserting him; where the weep- 
 ing children demand to hear that dear voice whose soft ac- 
 cents shall never more be heard. Here stop. Your search 
 is successful. Here is faith; here hope; here consolation; 
 here peace; here joy. They had drawn nigh to God; now, 
 in the black hour of dismay, behold God drawing nigh 
 unto them; their Saviour God; their life; and the lifter up 
 of their head; the strength of their fainting heart; and their 
 portion forever. 
 
 Ministers of the Cross — Servants of the Living God — 
 commissioned to carry to the expiring saint the annunciation 
 of a glory that sliall sliortly be his — you come to teach him 
 —how often do you learn of him — to die. From his weak- 
 ness, you derive strength — from his mortality, life. You 
 instruct — you exhort — you pray for him — you endeavour 
 to guide his devotions — but ere long you confess yourselves 
 his pupils. In his soul, is the earnest of immortality; the 
 radiance of salvation beams from his eye; and his tongue, 
 eloquent in the agonies of nature, and touched by the fire 
 
363 
 
 that blazes on the altars of Heaven, proclaims; live the lite 
 of the righteous — and your death sliall be like liis! Be my 
 soul with thine, expiring believer! 1 had rather be that dy- 
 ing saint than any living sinner on the throne of empire! 
 Be mine that requiem with which they chaunt their own 
 blessed spirits into eternity; "Jehovah is my sheplierd; I 
 shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pas- 
 tures; he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth 
 my soul; he leadeth me in tbe paths of righteousness for 
 his name's sake. Though 1 walk through the valley of the 
 shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; 
 thy rod and thy staff, tbey comfort me. Surely goodness 
 and mercy have followed me all the days of my life; and I 
 will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." «<I know that 
 my Redeemer liveth — and that he shall stand at the latter 
 day upon this earth — and, though worms destroy this body, 
 yet in my flesh shall I see God — whom I shall see for my- 
 self, and mine eyes shall behold — therefore my heart is glad 
 and my glory rejoiceth; for thou wilt not leave my soul in 
 hell, neither wilt thou suffer me to perish in corruption — 
 thou wilt shew me the path of life — in thy presence is ful- 
 ness of joy — at thy right hand there are pleasures forever- 
 more." 
 
 Hallelujah — blessing and honour and glory and power to 
 HIM that sitteth on the throne — and to the Lamb forever 
 and ever. — Amen. 
 
©MBIKDSF SSSa?^ 
 
 UNIVERSAL PRAISE. 
 
 PSALM, Cl. 
 
 ^*Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary; praist 
 him in the Jirmament of his power; praise him for his 
 mighty acts; praise him according to his excellent great- 
 ness; praise him with the sound of the trumpet; praise him 
 with the psaltery and harp; praise him with the timbrel 
 and dance; praise him with stringed instruments and or' 
 gans; praise him upon the loud cymbals; praise him upon 
 the high-sounding cymbals. Let every thing that hath 
 breath^jraise the Jjord, Praise ye the Lord." 
 
 If tliere be any such things as self evident principles in 
 theology, this undoubtedly is one; tliat i)raisc is a tribute 
 due from the whole creation to Almighty God, its maker 
 and upholder; and f/iis as obviou.sly is another; that no good 
 and upright being can exist in a protracted state of indis- 
 position towards so holy, and reasonable, and dcliajlitful a 
 duty. Very appropriately do these reiterated and impor- 
 tunate exhortations to tlie jyerformance of it present them- 
 selves at the close of the book of Psalms, as if to epitomize 
 the mass of its sacred contents. 
 
 It has been thought that tliis little effusion of animated 
 piety was intended to produce an excitement of zeal and 
 fervour in the ministers of tlie temple when engaged in their 
 holy employments. At present, it undeniably concerns all 
 Christians; because Christ has made all his people "priest? 
 
366 
 
 unto God, even his Father;" because he requires a temple 
 in every family; an altar in every bosom; a sacrifice iiom 
 every believer. 
 
 Let us follow the Psalmist, then, in the steps of his devout 
 and glowin,^ appeal. 
 
 "Praise ye Jehovah." But where? Where is the anthem 
 to begin? From what chosen spot are the choral sympho- 
 nies to extend themselves around? «Praise God in his sanc- 
 tuary;" his own peculiar residence on earth; the hallowed 
 receptacle of the regalia of the Divine Majesty; the cham- 
 ber of audience where the supi)liant makes known his wants 
 and gains a prompt relief; the theatre where the acts ol in- 
 finite perfection are displayed; the place where *«e\ery one 
 speaketh of the glory" of the Eternal, and every one is made 
 a partaker "of the riches of his forbearance raid long suffer- 
 ing" benevolence. What place, indeed, can be more proper 
 for the commencement of the general work of praise than 
 the sanctuary, the church of the living God, the pillar and 
 ground of the truth, where the oracles of peace and salva- 
 tion arc announced; where creature minds are impressed 
 with their Creator's likeness; where intelligent natures de- 
 based by sin, are renewed in spirit, trained to virtue, and 
 prepared for immortal bliss? These very blessings, these 
 very advantages, there, in a peculiar manner experienced, 
 string to rapture the lyre of praise, and elevate the tones of 
 adoring gratitude. It can scarcely be necessary to inform 
 you tiiat in these observations we would be understood to 
 refer riot to your buildings consecrated to publick religion, 
 but to the social body of believers, the whole company of 
 faithful persons throughout the world, the flock of disciples 
 constituting that mystical house inhabited by the Holy 
 Spirit of God. At the same time it is acknowledged that 
 the Psalmist's exhortation may with propriety be employed 
 as an incentive to engagedness and ardour in celebrating 
 the offices of social devotion in an ecclesiastical assembly. 
 Nor do we avoid the confession that the term sanctuary, as 
 
here used, is often interpreted to mean the Heaven of Heav- 
 ens; whicli, no man doubts, is emphatically God's holy place, 
 where cherubim and seraphim adore him, although in strains 
 infinitely beneath the altitude of his essential glories. 
 
 It is a question, however, whether this interpretation may 
 not create an unnecessary interference with the words im- 
 mediately following; *«praise him in the firmament of his 
 power." Understand tiiis of the natural expanse. Re- 
 cognize the greatness of him who spread that exj,anse 
 abroad. Admire the evidences with which it abounds of 
 his omnipotence; its majesty; its variety; the brilliancy of 
 its decorations; and its intimate, tliough inexplorable, con- 
 nections with the physical circumstances of the globe which 
 we inhabit. Understand, recognize, admire all this, and 
 glorify God accordingly; but especially, let the inhabitants 
 of the superior regions — the celestial expanse — those angels 
 that excel in strength; that obey his word, hearkening unto 
 the voice of his commandment; those ministers of his that 
 do his pleasure — let these celebrate the honours of the Eter- 
 nal Name. "Praise ye Jehovah. Praise God in his sanct- 
 uary; praise him in the firmament of his power. Praise 
 him for his mighty acts; praise him according to his excel- 
 lent greatness.'* 
 
 Can any created mind, but, more particularly, can man, 
 so far forget the relations of things, as to permit himself to 
 ask, why praise him? Wherefore celebrate the honours of 
 the Eternal Name? The answer to such an inquiry, could 
 we suppose any rational heing inclined to propose such an 
 inquiry, would be found embosomed in this very exhorta- 
 tion; "praise him for his mighty acts;" acts not to be count- 
 ed; acts transcending in goodness and in glory all the abil- 
 ity of an angel's tongue to utter; all the capacities of an an- 
 gel's mind to conceive. The stars that strew with light 
 the milky way; the suns that mingle their golden radiance 
 to adorn the Heavens; may be numbered with far greater 
 ease than you can number their Creator's deeds. Take 
 
368 
 
 them, then, as a mass of wonders, and praise him for them 
 all. See him calling existence out of nothing. See him 
 forming order and beauty out of chaos. Hear him com- 
 mand the light to shine; the gentle dews to fall; the grass 
 to grow; the mellow fruit to drop; for the sustenance and 
 comfort of animated nature. Hear the decree, as it goes 
 forth, that gives birth to angels and archangels; thrones and 
 dominions; principalities and powers; and descending in 
 its operations to this fair earth and its sweet fields of living 
 verdure, bids Adam and his children exult in conscious be- 
 ing. Contemplate the divine procedures in the government of 
 the world; the reduction of theproud and persecuting; the ele- 
 vation of the depressed; the emancipation of the enslaved 
 offspring of Israel; their safe conduct, through opposing 
 and suspicious kingdoms, to the land of promise; their con- 
 quests, and their consequent establishment; other, and simi- 
 lar manifestations of Almighty justice, in thedownfal of in- 
 iquity, and the triumph of virtue; the defeat of the strong, 
 and the success of the weak; the discomfiture and dismay 
 of the presumptuous, and the aggrandizement and confirm- 
 ed superiority of the humble and lowly-minded. But, above 
 all, look up to this Almighty, all-holy, and all just Being, 
 as the fountain of redemption. Consider him as too pure 
 to behold unrighteousness, and yet loving the unrighteous. 
 This is a point, however, on which language and concep- 
 tion alike fail. Suffice it to remind you, that «*God so lov- 
 ed the world as to give his only begotten Son, that whoso- 
 ever believeth on him may not perish, but have everlasting 
 life."* Suffice it to remind you that the author of this Psalm 
 foreknew the gospel state, and triumphed in the prospect of 
 its great salvation. 
 
 The standard by which we are to regulate the degree of 
 our gratitude, the expression of our homage, is nothing low- 
 er than the infinite excellence of him whom we adore. 
 "Praise him according to his excellent greatness," But is 
 
 * John, iii. 16. 
 
360 
 
 it possible, then, that our thanksgivings and onr benrdic- 
 tions should run parallel with his bounties, or keep in near 
 pursuit of his perfections? Can any offering of praise be a 
 meet return for the mercies of his throne, or a commensu- 
 rate acknowledgment of his illimitable glories? There is 
 absurdity in the supposition; tl»erc would be impiety i)i the 
 affirmation. This standard, however, is fixed; and fixed, 
 alike, by revelation and by reason; that its immeasurable 
 elevation may remind us of the duty of devoting our wliole 
 being to the work of praise; of collecting and consecrating 
 all the diversified powers of our compound nature in the 
 adoration of the infinite Jehovah, who made and who up- 
 holds them all. Here, there is, there can be, no exaggei*a- 
 tion of panegyrick; there may be; there uniformly is; deep 
 deficiency. Conscious of tiiis deficiency, therefore, imploxe 
 the assistance of the heavenly gi-ace that your adoring hom- 
 age may ascend nearer and yet nearer to the sublimity of 
 its object. In Heaven, the distance will be diminished. lu 
 Heaven, your praises will be more correspondent to the "ex- 
 cellent greatness" of Almiglity God; although they can nev- 
 er hope to climb to the height above all heights on whicli he 
 sits enthroned. 
 
 Having informed us why God should be praised, the 
 Psalmist directs our attention to the mode in which this im- 
 portant service should be rendered. "Praise him with the 
 sound of the trumpet; praise him with the psaltery and harp. 
 Praise him with the timbrel and dance; praise him with 
 stringed instruments and organs. Praise him upon the loud 
 cymbals; praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.'* 
 Every one knows that instrumental musick entered largely 
 into the religious rites of the Hebrews, and that by divine 
 appointment. The New Testament contains no injunction 
 on the subject. But neither does it contain a prohibition. 
 If the use of it be abrogated in Christian societies, it is by 
 the circumstances of the church, not by the express author- 
 ity of its head. The true difTerencc on this article befween 
 Xx 
 
370 
 
 the ancient dispensation and that which superseded it and 
 now exists, appears to be simply this; in the former, instru- 
 mental musick was an affair of positive institution, and con- 
 sequently, necessary; in the present, it is a matter of option. 
 No reasonable advocate for the introduction of instruments 
 into the church pretends to consider them as essential to tlic 
 due celebration of publick worsliip, although they assert the 
 lawfulness, expediency, and advantage of the chaste and so- 
 ber use of them. And to this doctrine, he who, under fa- 
 vour of divine providence, sustains the pastoral charge of 
 this congregation, unequivocally assents. 
 
 Indulge me, brethren, with this opportunity of expressing 
 my astonisliment at the influence which a certain objection 
 urged against the usage under consideration lias maintained 
 over sensible and well disposed minds. The objection is, 
 that the employment of tliis species of musick is at war with 
 that worshipping of God in spirit and in truth which the 
 genius of the gospel requires. Now to this theie is an an- 
 swer immediately at hand, which, to me, seems conclusive, 
 "Whatever militates against the spirituality of worship at 
 present, must of necessity do so under every dispensation 
 of religion. There must be in it something radically des- 
 tructive of the principle of pure devotion. But is any man 
 prepared to say that the pious Israelites of old could not 
 adore Jehovah in spirit and in truth amidst the pomp and 
 magnificence of their temple service — the noble varieties ol 
 their temjde musick? Is any man prepared to say that the 
 Almighty would have enacted institutions by wiiich his 
 worshippers were to approach him, and which, notwithstand- 
 ing, would make it injpossible, or extremely diflicult for 
 them to approach him with the heart, and in acceptable 
 faith? 
 
 But the fact is, the objection, if it prove any thing, proves 
 more than some who urge it would wish. It silences the vo- 
 cal choir whose musick is in any degree select, or too arti- 
 ficial for general and promiscuous use. And if even tltis be 
 
371 
 
 thought 110 dispara.E^ement to the objection, I must observe 
 that it ranges far more extensively; tliat it strikes Car more 
 deeply and fatally at the root of all vocal expression of pub- 
 lick religious praise. Virtually, at least, it confines all ex- 
 ertion of the voice in adoring the living GotWI do not say- 
 to the truly regenerate, but still more narrowly, to those 
 who are conscioiis of being truly regenerate. For it is ob- 
 vious that in accuracy of language, none but ti;e truly re- 
 generate, none but the inwardly pure and sincere, none but 
 the habitually devout in temper and conduct, can be said to 
 worshi[) God in si)irit and in truth, in whatever outward ex- 
 pressions their worship may be embodied. And it is an un- 
 doubted fact, on the contrary, that they whose hearts are 
 right with God, will worship him in spirit and in truth, 
 whether they employ vocal musick, or instrumental, or both, 
 or none at all. The truth is, tiiese modes of lauding the 
 Eternal God do not appertain to the essence of devotion; 
 but many a pious and candid believer has acknowledged that 
 he has found them to be devotion's very powerful and enli- 
 vening auxiliaries. 
 
 But, waving any farther remarks on a point concerning 
 which, after ail, good and sensible men will probably con- 
 tinue to differ in opinion, as they do on more important af- 
 fairs; let us apply the Psalmist's words, allusively, and fig- 
 uratively, and, in a sense which all such men will concur in 
 esteeming to be "profitable for instruction, for reproof, for 
 correction in righteousness." "Praise God with trumpet, 
 psaltery, and harp; with timbrel and dance; with stringed 
 instruments, with organ, and with loud and high soun<ling 
 cymbal." Call up all the dormant energies of your nature. 
 Summon to their aid all the graces of the Holy Ghost. En- 
 list all the powers of body, soul, and spirit. Consecrate 
 nnsparingly the goods of this life. Loud let the swelling 
 anthem ascend to him who liveth forever and ever. Say, 
 worthy is the Lamb who hath saved us and washed us from 
 our sins in his own blood, to receive honour and glory and 
 
373 
 
 }K)Wei'. Adore iinderstandingly. Adore cordially. Adore 
 believing'ly. Adore continually. Worship on bended knee. 
 Worship with elevated sensibilities. Bless with flaming 
 gratitude, with exulting voice; with aspiring hope; with all 
 the meiodiesn^ peace, piety, and virtue; with the harmoni- 
 ous attuning of a renewed soul to a life of growing and 
 bi'ightening sanctity. «<With one mind and one mouth glo- 
 rify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."* 
 
 Now from this may I not infer a severe reproof to that 
 apathy, that torpid inertion, that criminal indifference, with 
 which the many can allow themselves to abandon to the tew 
 every thing like an audible celebration of their Creator's 
 praises? . 
 
 From this may I not also infer instruction to those who 
 abound in temporal possessions? Children of prosperity! 
 deeds of charity, deeds of mercy, deeds of humanity and 
 sympathy, these, I acknowledge, claim the first rank among 
 the duties peculiarly incumbent on you; these are required 
 by Heaven as the most precious sacrifice you can deposite on 
 its altars. But, mark me, next in dignity to these is the 
 deed of piety by which yon facilitate the worship of the 
 Most High; by which you furnish his house with appropri- 
 ate accommodations; beautify it with the decent, but grace- 
 ful ornament of grave import and solemn memorial; and 
 provide for the celebration of God's high praises in the way 
 best calculated to impress, affect, improve, and elevate; in 
 the extended and united employment of tones and numbers 
 which might awake the harp of Israel, and to which the 
 choirs of seraphim might rapturously respond. Children 
 of prosperity! be ever ready to acknowledge your obliga- 
 tions to him who made yen tq be what you are. Let 
 such deeds of piety receive their'full portion of that abun- 
 dance which you are too prone to lavish on less worthy 
 ends; of those riches that might otherwise make to them- 
 selves wings and fly away. 
 
 * Romans, xv. 6, 
 
373 
 
 Observe, next, the extent of the Psalmist's appeal. «Let 
 every thing that hath breath praise the Lord." An ap- 
 peal this that might well be affixed to the gates of every 
 house of worship, and glitter in golden capitals on every 
 altar. An appeal that goes forth through universal na- 
 ture, and addresses itself most eloquently and irrisistibly 
 to every animated being *«from the wrapt seraph that 
 adores and burns," down to the ''warbling tenant of the 
 leafy grove." An appeal that says, inhabitants of ocean, 
 earth, and skies, mingle your exulting numbers in one 
 full harmony of song; and let this be its burden, "glory 
 to God in the highest." <*Let every creature which is 
 in Heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and 
 such as are in the sea,"* be heard in loud and united 
 acclaim saying, "blessing, and honour, and glory, and 
 power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and un- 
 to the Lamb forever and ever." 
 
 It may be, however, that this appeal should be consid- 
 ered as operating in no wider sphere than the population 
 of this globe; the universal race of Adam; "formed of the 
 dust of the ground" by Jehovah God; who "breathed in- 
 ito his nostrils the breath of life, so that man became a 
 living soul."f 
 
 Assuming this to be the intention of the appellant, be- 
 hold him stretching his holy and benevolent zeal far be- 
 yond the limits of his own nation. Hear him crying aloud 
 to the general ear and general heart of man. It is not 
 now to the sanctuary; it is not now to the consecrated 
 mount; it is not now to the city of David; it is not now 
 to the priests, the ministers of the Lord; the Levites, as- 
 sisting at the solemnities of the temple; the Ncthinim at- 
 tending at its gates; the prophets anointed to reveal the 
 divine purposes; the prince and tlie people of God's spe- 
 cial election; it is not, in a word, to the circumscribed 
 peculiarity of Israel; that the Psalmist limits bis exhor- 
 
 • Rev. V. 13. t Gen. ii. 7. 
 
tatiou. He extends it all around him; to E.qypt, to Ethi- 
 opia, and the Isles; to Arabia, to Persia, to Greece, and 
 to Rome. Its sound travels throuj^li all the earth, and 
 its words even unto the ends of the world. It looks into 
 futui-e time. It sees the worshipper in every place where 
 a son or a daughter of Adam dwells. "From the rising 
 of the sun to where he hath his going down," it sees ♦•in- 
 cense offered to" the Eternal I^ame, "and apui-e offering."* 
 It carries its purport foiward to the periods in succes- 
 sion when the glad tidings of Messiah's salvation shall 
 be proclaimed to every creature, to every human being; 
 and anticipates a claim of grateful adoratioji and exult- 
 ing praise on all, which none ought to resist. "Let eve- 
 ry thing that hath breath praise the Lord." 
 
 The closing words of this Psalm, and of the entire col- 
 lection of these sacred odes, are worthy of their place, 
 and form a noble termination to the series. 
 
 "Praise ye the Lord." "Praise ye Jehovah." The 
 original word is of too sweet and too lofty an emphasis, 
 however, to be relinquished. Let us substitute it for its 
 translation, and say, "^HalkUijah^''^ and let Heaven and 
 earth exchange the shout, ** Hallelujah!" Thou churchy 
 bought with the blood of the Lamb, and journeying up- 
 wards to his seat, be this thy song upon the road. Thou 
 church triumphant, catch the sound and send it from 
 vault to vault of the empyreal temple. Ye radiant orbs 
 that roll near your Maker's throne, carry it througii all 
 your revolutions. Ye angels and archangels that excel in 
 strength, through all your glorious anks pass the rap- 
 turous acclaim, Hallelujah! Raise it every voice — sound 
 it every harp — Hallelujah! From the last bounds of be- 
 ing — Hallelujah! From world to world — from Heaven to 
 Heaven — re-echo — Halelujah! Souls slain for the testi- 
 mony of Jesus — Spirits of the mighty — Spirits of the just 
 — wherever be your dwelling-place — all beings — all na- 
 
 * Mnlachi, i. xi. 
 
375 
 
 tares — lift — lift the bold strain loud jis the sound of ma- 
 ny waters and of mighty thunders; till it fill the innu- 
 merable systems of existence, and shake the columns 
 that support creation! — Hallelujah! — Hallelujah! — A^,n-,7f. 
 
FORMS OF PRAYER. 
 
 AT THE OJ'EA'LrG OF DIVIXE SERVICE. 
 
 Almighty God! vouchsafe, we bcseecli thee, deeply to 
 convince us of thine infinite excellence and our own unwor- 
 thiness, that we may appear in thy presence with lowly, 
 contrite, and devout hearts. Grant us the assistance of the 
 Holy Spirit in oftering up our united worship before the 
 throne of the heavenly grace; mercifully hear us in every 
 part of our accustomed services, for Jesus Christ's sake; 
 and let the words of our mouths and the meditations of our 
 hearts be acceptable in thy sight, Lord! our strength 
 and our Redeemer. 
 
 Our Father who art in licavcn, hallowed be thy name; 
 thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in 
 Heaven; give us day by day our daily bread; and forgive 
 us our trespasses as we forgive those that trespass against 
 us; and lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from 
 evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the 
 glory, forever and ever. — Amex. 
 
 So 
 
 Almighty and most gracious God! who dwellest in light 
 inaccessible and full of glory; regard not, we beseech thee, 
 the multitude of our sins, nor let our unworthiness separate 
 between thee and us. Deal mercifully with us, and bless 
 us, and lift upon us the light of tliy countenance. Enable 
 us to come into thy courts with thanksgiving, and in fear to 
 worship before thee. Ejiligiiten our minds with the know- 
 Yy 
 
37S 
 
 iedge of thy truth. Inspire our hearts with thy love. Opeu 
 thou our lips and our mouths shall shew forth thy praisej 
 and vouchsafe to accept every part of our holy services, 
 through tiie merits and intercession of thy well-beloved Soh 
 our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. — Our Father, ^c. 
 
 Almighty and most merciful Father, who hast commanded 
 «s to offer unto thee thanksgivings, and to pay our vows un- 
 to thee; and who hast never said to thy children, seek yo 
 my face in vain: give ear this day, we beseech thee, to the 
 confessions, the supplications, the adorations and thanks- 
 givings, which shall ascend to thy throne from all parts of 
 thy universal church, and more especially from this place, 
 where we are assembled to speak of thy glory. Assist us 
 to pray. Enable us to praise thee with understanding. Let 
 thy grace accompany the reading and preaching of thy 
 word. And cause that every part of the sacred services 
 may be performed to our edification, and to the glory of thy 
 ^reat name in Jesus Christ. — Our Father, ^c. 
 
 4o 
 
 Praise waiteth for thee, O God! in Zion, and unto thefe 
 shall the vow be performed. O thou that hearest prayer! 
 Mnfo the<' shall all flesh come. Our waiting eyes are to thee, 
 God of our salvation, from whom cometh our help. Bow 
 the Heavens, and come down, and fill this temple with thy 
 glory, and our hearts with thy grace. Give ear to the 
 confession of our sins, the cry of our necessities, and the 
 voice of our thanksgivings. Dispose us to receive with meek- 
 ness and teachableness the grafted word. And vouchsafe 
 both now and evermore to regard us in mercy through 
 
379 
 
 the intercession of our only mediator and advocate, Jesas 
 Ciirist thy Son. — Our Father, <^'c. 
 
 Give ear, Shepherd of Israel! thou that leadest Joseph 
 like a flock, thou who of old didst dwell between the Cheru- 
 bim, shine forth. Shine into the souls of all here assem- 
 bled, that in simplicity and godly sincerity we may shew 
 forth thy praises. Pour down upon us the auspicious in- 
 fluences of thy Holy Spirit, that we may be enabled to lift 
 up to thy throne pure hearts ajid holy hands; and to liear 
 thy word with pious, faitliful, and charitable dispositions. 
 Open thou our hearts that we may receive the truth in the 
 love of it. Sanctify our affections, and assist us to devote 
 all our faculties of soul and body to thee, through Jesus 
 Christ our Lord. — Our Father, ^'c. 
 
 Almighty and everlasting God; who by thy holy apostle 
 hath commanded us not to forsake the assembling of our- 
 sselves together, and by thy Son Jesus Christ hath promised 
 that where two or three are met together in thy name there 
 thou wilt be in the midst of them; meet with us, we beseech 
 thee, and let thy heavenly benediction rest upon us, that our 
 prayer may be set forth before thee as incense, and the lift- 
 ing up of our iiands, as the morning or the evening sacrifice. 
 Send down thy Holy Spirit to banish all wandering thoughts 
 and carnal desires, and to inspire us with faith, repentance, 
 and all Christian graces. Enlighten our minds, that we 
 may know the truth. Persuade our wills, that we may obey 
 it. The Lord bless us, and keep us. The Lord make his 
 face to shine upon us, and be gracious unto us. The Lord 
 lift up his countenance upon us, and give m peace. — Our 
 Father, ^c. 
 
GENERAL PRAYERS. 
 
 Almighty God! and most merciful Father! Holy, bless- 
 ed, and glorious majesty! who alone art worthy to be fear- 
 ed and to be bad in reverence; we adore thy perfections as 
 they are made known to us by thy works of creation, by 
 thine all-governing providence, and by the clear and full 
 revelation which thou hast given of thyself in thy written 
 word. We render thee unfeigned thanks for all thy mercies 
 of every kind; general and particular; spiritual and tem- 
 poral; common and special; and above all, for Jesus Christ, 
 thine nnspeakable gift, and the hope of eternal life through 
 him. We make humble and penitent confession of our 
 sins, lamenting that deep corruption and perverse disposi- 
 tion of heart from which proceed sins against God, our 
 neighbour, and ourselves — sins in thought, word, and deed; 
 sins secret and presumptuous; sins accidental and habitual; 
 and we acknowledge the aggravation of our manifold of- 
 fences, in that they have been committed against better 
 knowledge, in the face of thy most merciful condescension 
 and forbearance, and in despite of the holy vows by which 
 w^e are devoted to thee. But thou, O Lord! have mercy up- 
 on us miserable offenders. Spai-e thou those, O God! who 
 confess their faults; restore thou those who are penitent, ac- 
 cording to thy promises declared unto mankind, in Christ 
 Jesus our Lord. And grant, most merciful Father, for 
 his sake, that we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and 
 sober life, to the glory of thy holy name. 
 
 In the name of this, our most worthy a'sd compassionate 
 Redeemer, we beseech thee that it may please thee by thy 
 Holy Spirit, to renew us in the spii'it of our minds; to 
 strengthen us for the performance of duty; to support and 
 comfort us under all the trials to which wc-are liable as sin- 
 
381 
 
 • 
 fill and mort:\l ci'patiu'cs; and to bestow on us all tom])oral 
 goods that may he necessary in oui- passage through this 
 vain worlds and we do most earnestly pray that whatever 
 mercies may attend our earthly probation, may be so over- 
 ruled, directed, and sanctified, as to advance the life of re- 
 ligion in our souls; to the end that when we shall depart this 
 life, and be absent from this body, we may be present with 
 thee in thine everlasting kingdom. 
 
 By all our wants; by all thy compassions; by the grace of 
 the covenant; and by the merits and atonement of our Sa- 
 viour, we sinners do beseech thee to hoar us in these our 
 prayers. A:id further, that it may please thee to visit all 
 men with thy salvation; sending forth thy light to lead the 
 ignorant into truth; refreshing thy church universal with 
 the dews of thy reviving grace; converting siimers, and 
 building up thine own true and pious children in their most 
 holy faith. That it may please thee to cloihe the naked; to 
 feed the famished; to heal the sick; to relieve the oppressed; 
 to visit the widows and fatherless children, and them that 
 are in prison; to protect all who travel with lawfid views by 
 land or wat^; and to succour, with thine ever present and 
 ready help, all who are in any circumstances of need, jjcril, 
 or distress. That it may please thee to bless and defend all 
 of tender age, and to make of the childreji of thy people a 
 seed to serve thee when their fathers shall sleep in peace. 
 That it may please thee to pour thy benedictions on the 
 ministers of the everlasting gospel, giving them grace to be 
 honest, faithful, impartial, and undaunted, in the instruction 
 and government of the church, and to commend themselves 
 and their doctrine by the testimony of a godly, blameless, 
 and Christian life. And, finally, tliat it may please thee 
 to bless the president of the United States of America, and 
 all subordinate constituted authorities, directing them so to 
 administer the government, as shall be most for thy honour, 
 and the peace, freedom, and security of the republick. 
 
 These, our unworthy services, we offer thee through tho 
 intercession of Jesus Christ, our oidy mediator and advocate. 
 
Glory be to tlie Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy 
 Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now, and shall be, 
 world without end. — Amen^. 
 
 O God! our gracious and merciful Father! nrost wise and 
 powerful; most holy, just, and good! whose favour is life! 
 and whose loving-kindness is better than life; with whom 
 there is mercy and plenteotis redemption! We give thee 
 thanks that thou hast liberally provided for all who truly 
 repent* and believe the gospel, that the guilt of their sins 
 may be removed through the merit of thy Son's death, and 
 the power of them broken by thy Holy Spirit. We stead- 
 fastly believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Saviour of 
 all men, but especially of them that come unto thee through 
 him, seeing he ever liveth t() make intercession for them. 
 Therefore, through this most holy mediator we come to thee, 
 humbly beseeching thy grace, that by repentance and faith, 
 we may turn from our sins unto thee, our God and Father, 
 in Jesus Christ. Convince us that we have offended thee| 
 make us ashamed of bur unthankful and treacherous car- 
 riage towards thee; and let thy mercy cover and protect us 
 through thy well-beloved Son, on the merit of whose bitter 
 passions and bloody death, we place our everlasting hopes. 
 Vouchsafe, for his sake, graciously to receive us. Cure the 
 diseases of our souls, and let not our sins overwhelm us. 
 Assist us to crucify the flesh, with its affections and lusts. 
 Let the love of the world be rooted out of us, and let the 
 loye of God, in Christ, be shed abroad in our hearts by the 
 Holy Ghost. Mortify in us all envy and hatred, all malice 
 and uncharitableness. Persuade us to love one another 
 with a pure heart fervently, as becomes the disciples of our 
 holy and blessed Saviour, who hath given us this new com- 
 mandment. And do th ui, who art the very God of peace, 
 sanctify us wholly. Enlighten our darkness. Where weai-e 
 
383 
 
 vight, let thy grace preserve, and thy power uphold us. 
 Where we are wrong, discover to us our error, and let the 
 spirit of truth lead us into all truth. Convinced of the 
 vanity of the world, and its inability to make us liajjpy; of 
 the odiousness of sin, and its tendency to make us misera- 
 ble; of the dignity of our immortal spirits, and tlie awful- 
 ness of that everlasting state on the borders of which we 
 stand; may we be serious and diligent in preparing for 
 death. Henceforth, may that faith govern us which is the 
 substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things 
 not seen; that we may hereafter receive the end of our faith 
 in the salvation of our souls. 
 
 O God! who knowest all our errors and our vices, and art 
 acquainted with all our ways, overshadow us, we beseech 
 thee, with the wings of thy mercy. Forgive us all our tres- 
 passes, as we desire unfcignedly to forgive others who have 
 trespassed against us; and let the blood of Jesus Christ, 
 thy Son, cleanse us from all sin. In our going out and 
 coming in; in our rising up and lying down; in our basket 
 and our store; in the business of time, and in all our pre- 
 parations for eternity, may the blessing of the Lord our 
 God be upon us; that the lawful works of our hands, and 
 the guiltless desires of our hearts may prosper and be estab- 
 tablished. May we dwell in the secret place of the Most 
 High; and abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 
 
 May it please thee to prepare us for w hatever is destined 
 to be our lot in life. May it please thee to improve us by 
 all thy providences; that they may draw us nearer to thee, 
 and fit us for the communion of thy heavenly kingdom. 
 May it please thee to compassionate a miserable world. 
 May it please thee to establish the throne of Christ on the 
 ruins of Satan's kingdom; and to give thy word free course, 
 hat it may be glorified. May it please t!»ee to own thy 
 ministers in their work; granting them grace, that they may 
 be found faithful to him who hath called them unto the lioly 
 office. May it please thee to j)rotect the young; to support 
 
384 
 
 the aged; to relieve tlie poor; to heal the sick; to visit tlje 
 widow, and fatherless children; and to comfort the discon- 
 solate; those especially who mourn thy providential bereave- 
 ments. May it please thee to create thy defence around 
 our country's glory, that in tlie peace thereof we may have 
 peace. May it please thee to bless the president of the 
 United States of America; and all our judges and magis- 
 trates; giving them grace uprightly to administer justice, 
 and execute the laws. And, finally, may it please thee to 
 overrule the deliberations of the National Legislature, that 
 they may issue in such measures as may advance the honour, 
 and maintain the peace, liberty, and safety of the republick. 
 Vouchsafe now, Lord! to hear and accept us in these 
 our prayers, through the mediation of Jesus Christ, in 
 whom we desire at all times to be found ascribing glory 
 to the Father — to the Son — and to the Holy Ghost — as it 
 was in the beginning, now is, and shall be forever. — . 
 Ameiv! 
 
 The Heavens declare thy glory, Lord! and the firma- 
 ment sheweth thy handy-work. Day unto day uttereth 
 speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There 
 is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. 
 Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words 
 to the end of the world. Angels and Archan,^els — Thrones 
 and dominions — Principalities and powers — Cherubim and 
 
 Seraphim — Patriarchs Prophets — Apostles — Martyrs — 
 
 the countless multitude of the just made perfect — praise thee 
 — bless thee — acknowledge thee to be the source of being 
 and of blessedness — the Lord, their Creator and Redeemer. 
 Help us to come into thy courts with thanksgivings, and in 
 fear to worship before thy holy temple. To thy goodness 
 we owe our existence, and the continuance of it to thine Al- 
 miglity and most gracious providence. We praise thee that 
 
385 
 
 tlioii hast called us out of darkness into the light of thy 
 heavenly wisdom— out of ignoranc*; into the knowledge of 
 the truth as it is in Jesus. Wo adore the divine grace man- 
 ifested in the redemption of the world by the life and death 
 of the only begotten Son of God. Blessed be the God and 
 Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his 
 abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope 
 by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead; to an in- 
 heritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadcth not 
 away. 
 
 Verily we are not worthy of the least of all the mercies 
 and of all the trutli which God hath shewed unto his ser- 
 vants. Verily we have sinned, and come short of our duty, 
 and are not worthy to be called his children. But, O Lord! 
 where pur sin hath abounded, let thy grace much more 
 abound — for with thee there is mercy, and with thee plente- 
 ous redemption. Assist us, Lord! to break off our sins 
 by repentance. Forgive us our sins, Lord; and cleanse 
 lis from all unrighteousness. Strengthen us for tlie per- 
 formance of duty. Fortify us against temptation. May 
 we take unto us the whole armour of God, that we may be 
 able to withstand in the evil day; and having done all to 
 stand. May we have our loins girt about with truth; and 
 the breast plate of righteousness upon our breasts; and our 
 feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above 
 all may we take the shield of faith, wherewith we shall be 
 able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked — and the hel- 
 met of salvation — and the sword of the Spirit, which is the 
 word of God. — Praying always with all prayer and suppli- 
 cation in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perse- 
 verancQ and supplication. — And after a life, whether long 
 or short, devoted to thy service, God! forsake us not in 
 the hour of death; but when our flesh and our heart shall 
 faint, be thou the strength of our heart and our portion for- 
 ever. • 
 
 Graciously hear us, we beseech thee, Father of mercies' 
 . Z z 
 
386 
 
 and answer tlicse our prayers for Jesus Christ's sake. And 
 to the only wise God our Saviour be glory both now and 
 ever. — Amen. 
 
 Lord our God! thou art very great; thou art cloth- 
 ed with honour and majesty; who coverest thyself with 
 light as with a garment — who stretchest out the Heavens 
 like a curtain — who layest the beams of thy chambers in the 
 waters — who makest the clouds thy chariot — who walkest 
 upon the wings of the wind — who makest thine angels spir- 
 its; thy ministers a flaming fire — who laidst the foundations 
 of the earth, that it should not be removed forever — thou 
 coveredst it with the deep as with a garment — the waters 
 stood above the mountains — at thy rebuke they fled — at the 
 voice of thy thunder they hasted away. — The glory of the 
 Lord shall endure forever — the Lord shall rejoice in his 
 woT'ks. — He lookelh on the earth, and it trembleth — he 
 toucheth the hills, and they smoke. Vouchsafe, O Lord! to 
 accept the thanksgivings of thy servants to whom thou hast 
 given grace at this time with one accord to worship thee in 
 the faith of thy holy gospel. — We bless thee, O Lord! we 
 praise thee; we exalt and magnify thy holy name; who hast 
 not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according 
 to our iniquities — who hast healed our diseases, and satisfi- 
 ed us with good things — v* ho hast redeemed our lives from 
 dpstruction, and crowned us with loving^kindness and tend- 
 er mercies — who hast cast our lot in pleasant places and 
 given us a goodly heritage, not making the wilderness our 
 habitation, nor the barren land our dwelling. 
 
 We approach thee, Lord! as that Being wlio made all 
 things, and who upholdeth all things by the arm of his 
 might; from whom wft derive life, motion and existence. 
 We approach thee as a Judge who is of purer eyes than to 
 
387 
 
 bchoM evil; the j^reat and terrible avenjEjer of j^uiit. We ap- 
 proach thee as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, in wliom 
 thou art a God of grace, mercy and peace. We imjdore the 
 forgiveness of our manifold iniquities. Forgive the sins of 
 our infancy, and the transgressions of our riper years. For- 
 give the blindness of our minds — the hardness of our hearts 
 — the sensuality of our affections — the stubbornness of our 
 wills. We have stifled the convictions of judgment — we 
 have slighted the remonstrances of friendship — we have sliut 
 our ears to the admonitions of conscience — wc have quench- 
 ed the spirit of grace— we have sacrificed to idols — we have 
 abused thy mercies — we have betrayed thy cause — we have 
 crncified the Son of God afresh, and put him to open shame. 
 Wherewithal shall we come before thee, Lord! and bow 
 ourselves before the most High? We have sinned, and what 
 shall we do unto thee? O thou preserver of men! Beliold, 
 we are vile, what shall we answer thee? We will declare 
 our iniquity — we will be sorry for our sin — we will cry 
 mightily unto God, if it may be that he will have mercy up- 
 on us. O Lord God! remember we beseech thee, the grace 
 thy covenant. Remember the blood of the sacrifice sprinkled 
 on thy mercy seat. Holy Father! have mercy uj)on us, 
 O Saviour Christ! have mercy upon us. 0! Divine Spirit, 
 our sanctifier and comforter! have mercy upon us. O! LamI) 
 of God that takest away the sin of the world, grant us thy 
 peace! 
 
 Almighty God! the Father of lights, from whom coihetU 
 down every good and every perfect gift, we intreat thee to 
 work the work of faith in us with power. What is dark in 
 us, do thou illumine — what is corrupt, do thou purify — wliat 
 is carnal, do thou spiritualize — what is disobedient and re- 
 fractory, do thou subdue. Being dead to the world, may 
 we be alive to Christ— Having been buried with him in bap- 
 tism, may we arise to newness of life. May we experience 
 in our souls tlie power of his resurrection I'aising us from 
 the death of sin to the life of righteousness^ and from the 
 
dust of this world, to a holy, spiritual, divine, and heavenly 
 life. Raise our affections to those seats of eternal repose 
 whither Christ hath gone as the fore-runner of all the faith- 
 ful. O! that time, and the concerns of time may be as nothing 
 to us when compared with eternity and its awful realities. 
 Give us grace to look up to Heaven with so realizing and 
 triumphant a faith that we may look down upon earth with 
 indifference. Discerning the vanity and uncertainty of all 
 temporal things, may we hold ourselves in readiness to de- 
 partj that wlien earthly supports fail, we may be received 
 into everlasting habitations. 
 
 Almighty and most gracious Father! who hast created all 
 men, and hast commanded that for all men supplications, 
 prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made by the 
 church — mercifully hear us in the behalf of our brethren. 
 We pray for the sick and afflicted — the poor and needy — 
 the tempted and disconsolate — the prisoner and stranger — 
 the v/idow and fatherless. Be thou a present help to such 
 in all time of trouble. We pray for our friends—make them 
 the objects of thy providential care, and enrich them with 
 the blessings of thy heavenly grace. Forgive our enemies 
 — turn their hearts — and command a blessing for them, even 
 life forever more. Let thy kind providence protect our 
 country. Preserve the publick peace. Be gracious to the. 
 President and all other constituted authorities. Guide and 
 govern the deliberations of the great national legislature to 
 the advancement of thy glory, and the true interests of the peo- 
 ple. Propagate the gospel in all parts of these United States. 
 We fervently beseech thee, Father! to hasten the accom- 
 plisment of thy promises to the church. Fill the earth with 
 thy glory. Bring in the fulness of the nations. Redeem 
 Israel. IS^ay the commotions of the world issue in the peace 
 of the church, and the revolutions of earthly kingdoms in 
 the advancement of that spiritual empire which shall never 
 he moved. 
 
 We implore thee, Lord! to bless all whom thoii hast 
 
^89 
 
 vested with the office of the holy ministry — granting them 
 grace faithfully to preach the truth as it is in Jesus — and 
 zealously to labour for the salvation of souls. 
 
 We beseech thee to hear iis, gracious Lord!- in these our 
 requests — to pardon our sins — to accept our services — and 
 answer us in peace; for Jesus Christ's sake. 
 
 And now let endless glory he ascribed t6 God the Father 
 — to his only begotten Son — and to the Eternal Spirit pro- 
 ceeding from the Father and the Son. — Amen. 
 
 1^}0 
 
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