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therefore to the perpetration of sin punishment is necessarily awarded. Nevertheless, when any man truly and from his heart deplores the defection of our first parents, from the consideration of its ingratitude, and how much the human species has thereby incurred the displeasure of God, been degraded, and become liable to sorrow and punishment when he further regrets, that the miserable consequences of that defection are, that in this world he can never enjoy the satisfaction of praying to or praising God, without absence of mind, and in the manner he is conscious he ought to do; or the satisfaction of being sure that he shall not often incur his disapprobation, from the powerful operations of evil passions, which from this defection have acquired so great an ascendancy over his mind: when at the same time, in addition to such regret, he ardently wishes and endeavours to reinstate himself as well as he can in the favour of his Maker, by loving him from the consideration of his various mercies, honouring him from the display of the glories of his creation, and obeying him from those generous motives that must actuate the feelings of every rational and grateful mind, in consequence of favours received, as well as from the fear of punishment: when to this he sincerely strives to acquire that holiness of character, without which no man, the Scriptures assure us, shall see God: and when, from a due sense of his own

imperfection and depravity, he most humbly implores the mercy of God to grant him his grace and holy Spirit, to accomplish a consummation so devoutly to be wished: then we have every reason to believe, that God Almighty in his goodness, observing this pious disposition in the heart, will have compassion on that man, be he whom he may, and that he will experience very little mental affliction in life. For as God only punishes with a view to induce holiness of character in man, when that holiness is evinced by a life of temperance, chastity, piety, charity, and good-will to his fellow-creatures, and a diligent attention to the duties of his profession or vocation, then both the letter and spirit of Scripture justify the supposition, that God will not deem it necessary to punish such a man severely, any more than a physician would deem it necessary to order the same medicine to a man much recovered from a fever, as he ordered him whilst his fever was raging and at its height. But the case is exceedingly altered, when men, instead of considering themselves as reprieved culprits and needy beggars, who subsist from day to day only by the alms of God, presume to think they have a right to various gratifications, and to murmur if they are not granted, just as if they had given God an equivalent for them; when they forget the God who made them, and that they are such unprofitable, such sinful

servants, that, as the prophet Jeremiah observes, "it is of the Lord's mercies we are not consumed." When they thus utterly forget their duty to God, their obligations to him, and their dependence on him; and because he has been graciously pleased to make them free agents, not content with this, they presume to conduct themselves as if he had likewise made them independent agents, as lords and governors, instead of stewards only, of the things committed to their charge, and for the use of which they are responsible: (an arrogance this, highly displeasing to God, and naturally attractive of his displeasure :) when they act in this haughty and ungrateful manner, they are then in a very diseased state of mind indeed, and they require the infliction of adversity to correct their folly and presumption. For example; how many noblemen and other men are there, who, enjoying the rank, honours, and riches of this world, prove by their actions that they have no love or fear of God existing in their hearts: and when they stand on the lofty steps before the portal of their superb mansion, and view from thence the noble park, the deer, and fine piece of water which adorns that park; and, extending their view as far as it can reach, see nothing but their own land on all sides; how seldom we may, without breach of charity, presume from their conduct, does it enter into the hearts of many of these men gratefully to address

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their Maker in some such terms as these: "O Lord "God! to thee alone I am indebted for every ad"vantage and accomplishment of body or mind "which I possess; for the elevated rank I hold "in society; for the great sublunary power with "which I am invested; for this house, this park, "this land. I have given thee no equivalent for

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any of these blessings, neither can I shew the "least pretension to them, or make the least claim. "to them; but I most humbly thank thee for "them; and entreat, that thou wilt grant me

grace, when I view these thy gifts, to look up "to thee as the bounteous Giver of them; and

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"that I may evince my thanks and gratitude by "loving thee, honouring thee, and obeying thy <6 holy will, whilst I have life or being; ever remembering my humble origin, and that I should "have been as the earth on which I tread, but for thy gracious bounty to me." The conduct of too many of these rich men proves they have no love of God; for the infallible consequences of love are, frequently thinking of the object beloved; enumerating the favours and obligations received; acknowledging them with heartfelt pleasure and delight; being in the highest degree desirous not to offend, and anxious in the same degree to please, the object of their affection. It is equally clear from their conduct that these men have no proper fear of God, by their entire inat

tention to, or violation of, that sabbath their God has most peremptorily ordered them to keep holy; by their loose and lascivious conduct, when their God has told them in his Scriptures that no adulterer shall enter into his kingdom; and by neglecting to read those Scriptures, which, where they are promulgated, he requires all men to do. But instead of an humble and submissive compliance with his injunction in this respect, they despise these Scriptures and their contents; and likewise the acquisition of that holiness, without which God has declared no man shall be admitted into his presence. Now if God is pleased to visit one of these men with some affliction, deep enough to correct his sins and ingratitude, and to induce him to acquire, before he dies, that holiness of character, so indispensably necessary to the enjoyment of the happiness of a future state; what he considers punishment, is in reality the greatest mercy that can be shewn him: from whence this inference is fairly to be drawn, that before we find fault with the misery that prevails in the world, we ought to admit, for the general and individual welfare of mankind, and for the keeping in any tolerable order such a rebellious, unreasonable, sensual, ungrateful character as man frequently is, that it must be just as necessary for God in his moral government of him as a free agent, capable of doing wrong, and continually doing so, to in

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