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are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone." "We beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God," this day to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service; and may God grant that there be not one heart among us, which shall not make the prayer of repentant Israel its own. "Turn thou us, good Lord, and so shall we be turned;" and may each receive, as each unquestionably will receive, if this prayer flow from a broken, and a contrite, and a believing heart, an answer of peace unto his soul.

Now "unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever."

SERMON III.

SINS OF BELIEVERS ARE PRESUMPTUOUS

SINS.

PSALM XIX. 13. (Part.)

"KEEP BACK THY SERVANT ALSO FROM PRESUMPTUOUS SINS."

THERE is, probably, not an individual here present before God this day, who would not acknowledge himself to be a sinner. Not an individual who does not know that the Word of God has said, "There is no man that liveth, and sinneth not.' That "if we say, We have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." Yet, were we to take each individual separately, upon his own acknowledgment, and say to him,

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You have confessed yourself to be a sinner, you cannot possibly doubt it, your sins are most grievous, most heinous, most degrading; how undeniable, how certain is it, that, like the men in the parable, with one consent, you would

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begin to make excuse; "all would acknowledge themselves sinners, but, probably, scarcely any but would endeavour to extenuate every sin. It is by this general admission of sinfulness, and this particular ignorance of sin, that Satan often quiets the mind, satisfying us that our view of our own state is perfectly scriptural, because we do not attempt to deny our guilt, and at the same time, by closing our eyes to any, and to every individual instance of it, he succeeds in keeping us entirely free from all real and heart-felt contrition, and therefore -which is indeed his grand object and aim-in keeping us from the Lord Jesus. Christ, the one and only remedy.

The object of the present discourse,

then, shall be to endeavour, by God's grace, not to convince you that you are sinners,—this we are fully justified in taking for granted, as you have all professed to join this day in the petition"Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable sinners," but to show you that there are many, very many, who in God's sight are presumptuous sinners, and yet are, perhaps, so perfectly satisfied with their spiritual state, so utterly unaware of their delinquencies, that they would indignantly repel the charge, if brought against them, believing it to have originated in fanaticism or uncharitableness, and to be entirely groundless.

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One great object of Christian preaching must always be, that, as the Apostle expresses it, Every mouth may be stopped, and all the world become guilty before God." May the Spirit of God bless the observations that shall be made, to the furtherance of an end so unpalatable to the natural heart, and yet so essen

tial to the well-doing of our souls, and the glory of the Saviour. And may this great end be obtained, not merely as regards the hitherto unawakened and indifferent, but even the people of God, to whom, as we shall afterwards show, the words of the text, in a peculiar manner, appear to apply.

First, then, and for the purpose of correcting a very common misapprehension of the subject, let us consider the nature of those sins to which David has here applied the appellation of presumptuous sins. The words of the context are, "Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults. Keep back thy servant, also, from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me." Presumptuous sins, therefore, are clearly put in opposition to secret sins. By the inquiry, "Who can understand his errors?" we apprehend the secret sins to mean, not merely those that are hidden from our fellow-men, but

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