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which is the juft reward of your multiplied tranf greffions? Muft it always be the lot of poor minif-. ters to labour in vain, and to fay, with the lamenting prophet," Who hath believed our report ?" If you die in a state of impenitence, you will mot certainly feel, ere long, what you will not now believe. The threatenings of God's holy word will not fall to the ground. In the latter day, when all hope is paft, you will confider them, and feel to your coft, that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. You fay, "I shall have peace though I walk in the way of my own heart," but it will be seen by and by, whose word shall ftand, yours, or that of the God of truth. Death and judgment will decide the controversy.

Perhaps fome will fay, "You are very harsh and fevere; why do you dwell fo much upon God's favour? Will he difown his creatures? We hope he is more merciful than you would reprefent him."

To this I answer, by asking such persons, “ Do you imagine that all men are in a state of acceptance with their Maker? Do you think that none fhall be hereafter punished for their crimes? If you will not believe the awful declarations of his own mouth, but make the God of truth a liar, you will be convinced of your mistake, when conviction will come too late, and coft you dear. Hath he not said, that

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he will not be merciful to any wicked and impeni. tent tranfgreffor? Hath he not faid of fome," They are a people of no understanding, therefore he that made them will have no mercy on them, he that formed them will fhew them no favour ?"

How dreadful is the ftate of that man who cannot be happy unless God falfify his word, but who muft perish if his word be true! He hath faid most pofitively, for substance, that impenitent perfons are not in his favour, that unconverted, unholy men cannot be faved, yet you hope it may be otherwise: that is to fay, you hope that he who speaks to you in his facred word, is not God; for, if he be God, he must be holy, righteous, juft and true, and not altogether fuch a one as yourselves. But know, O finners, that juftice and judgment are the habitation of his throne. He will by no means clear the guilty, the perfevering finner. He will reprove you, and fet your fins in order before

fins in order before you. Confider this, ye that forget God, left he tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver you.

There are fome perfons who may be called prefumers on God's favour. They imagine themselves in a state of acceptance with their Maker, yet have no fcriptural evidence of their being fo. But that confidence, which is not supported by the divine word, is no better than presumption. A poor man

བ》..,3《ཙར་

may imagine that a diftant relation, who is very rich, will bequeath to him a confiderable part of his inheritance; but if he has no promife, nor any kind of intimation from the proprietor of the estate, that he will do fo, the poor man's expectation is ill founded; in fact it is prefumption. It is like the wild conceit of the infatuated Athenian, who imagined that every fhip which entered the harbour was his own. In matters of religion, we often find those persons the moft confident, who have the leaft ground or reason to be fo.

There is a manifeft difference between a prefumptuous finner, and a man of real piety. The one is bold and confident, without any regard to the declarations of God in his facred word; the other is jealous over himself, left he should be deceived, and often diftreffed with fears and mifgiv ings of mind. The one talks of nothing but the mercy of God, without any regard to his holinefs, his juftice and his truth. The other is affected with that view of the divine character which is given us in the bible. He trembles before the Majefty of a fin-avenging God; and can take no encourage. ment from any propofed fyftem, which does not discover how divine juftice can be satisfied for the offences he has committed, as well as mercy dif played in pardoning them. Nothing can give his

wounded

1

wounded confcience relief, but that which fecures due honour to God, in all his attributes.

The prefuming finner regards nothing fo much as his own fecurity from deftruction; the gracious man is concerned, not only about the pardon of his fins, and the juftification of his perfon, but about the purification of his heart, and the conformity of his life to the will of God. He hungers and thirsts after righteousness, and cries with the Pfalmift, "O that my ways were directed to keep thy ftatutes! Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect to all thy commandments." He knows, that though the falvation of the foul is entirely of the free grace of God, through the atonement of Jefus Chrift, yet where that falvation is experienced in reality, the fruits of it will be apparent. This confideration prevents him from being too bold and confident in concluding upon his interest in the divine favour. It is far from being my intention to encourage a state of fufpence, of doubting, and of diftruft, in the minds of fincere chrif.. tians. Let not fuch caft away their confidence, but rather let them give diligence to the full affurance of hope to the end. The reader should remember, that I am now addreffing myself to fuch as prefume that they are in God's favour, on improper and uncertain grounds. For instance,

One

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One man thinks himself in God's favour, because he is indulged with worldly prosperity. But this we have seen is an improper conclufion. Another thinks well of his ftate because he is attended with many troubles and calamities. But afflictions are no figns of favour, unless they are fan&tified, and produce the peaceable fruits of righteousness in those who are exercifed thereby. One thinks his ftate good because he hears the word preached regularly, and enjoys the ordinances of God in their appointed seasons. But many will fay at last, "We have eaten and drunk in thy prefence, and thou haft taught in our streets;" to whom the great Judge will reply, "I never knew you." Another concludes he is one of God's children, because he has acquired a good degree of religious knowledge, can talk fluently on divine fubjects, and exprefs himself in prayer great readiness and propriety. But let him remember, that Judas had gifts as well as the reft of the apoftles; and though a perfon could fpeak with the tongues of men and angels, and have not charity, he is nothing.

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One man thinks himself in the favour of God, because his life is very different to what it was at a former period. But reformation is not regenera

tion. Another concludes he is the object of God's love, because he is bountiful and liberal to the ne

ceffitous.