of God, which passeth all understanding; when contentment and tranquillity dwell within your heart; and when, at times, the influences of religion seem to visit your soul, like the dew upon the tender herb, like some soft gale from heaven, or like the breath of God himself: then you will remember, also, how hard it was, if you have ever done so, to charge those with severity, whose advice, whose entreaties, and whose prayers, were all employed, to make you happy here, and to save your soul hereafter.

But if I address, as I trust in God I do, some who have the blessed witness in their own breasts, that they are the children of God, and have, already, tasted the powers of the world to come : to them also, I would add a few words of exhortation. If God has thus favoured you, be faithful to so high a trust; be good stewards of the true riches. You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. Consider how much may depend on you; and how many you may turn to righteousness, if your lives and tempers consistently exhibit the power of that grace, which is given to them that believe. Seek to be humble, as your meek and lowly Saviour was humble. Keep yourselves unspotted from the world. Cleanse your hearts, that they may become an altar of pure incense, and of acceptable prayer, unto God. And

let charity to all around you, show that you are truly partakers of a divine nature; that you dwell in God, and God in you. Then will you obey your holy and heavenly calling. Then will you fulfil your high destination. Men will see your good works; and glorify your Father which is in Heaven.

H

98

SERMON VII.

PSALM 1. 21.

"THESE THINGS HAST THOU DONE, AND I KEPT SILENCE; THOU THOUGHTEST THAT I WAS ALTOGETHER SUCH AN ONE AS THYSELF: BUT I WILL REPROVE THEE, AND SET THEM IN

ORDER BEFORE THINE EYES.

It

It is by no means necessary, that we should have committed the precise sins enumerated in the preceding verses, in order to implicate us in the charge of guilt, which my text contains. applies, in the full spirit of its meaning, to every unconverted child of Adam. And yet, tremendous as is the state of all, who have not, in penitence of heart, returned to God, no angry voice is heard, nor avenging arm stretched forth: all is still and motionless, as if none in heaven regarded. Sinners triumph, and iniquity abounds: but no palpable signs are given, that there is a witness on high, a God to whom vengeance belongeth. "These things hast thou done, and I kept silence."

That which, to the filial heart, and awakened soul, causes sin to appear exceedingly sinful, and makes all departures from duty doubly painful, all inward reproaches of unfaithfulness, intolerable

and "sharper than a serpent's tooth;"-I mean the long-suffering of God:-this is the very thing,

I

say, which hardens the children of this world, in their insensibility and crimes. Dead to every elevated and generous feeling, they pervert God's best means of saving them, to their own destruction. They despise "the riches of his goodness and forbearance, and long-suffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth"-(that it is intended and calculated to lead them) "to repentance." If it thundered out of heaven; if the Almighty were to cast forth his lightnings and tear them, to shoot out his arrows and consume them, when they committed open sin, or resisted the inward voice of conscience; they would be all submission, all zeal, all activity, all devotedness. If they could not love God, at all events they would fear him, and strive hard to love him, with every faculty and energy of their souls. But because he is patient, he is provoked every day: because he is gentle, mild, and slow to anger, his mercies are disregarded, and his omnipotence defied. "These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; and" (what was the consequence of this forbearance ?) "thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself."

"No man hath seen God at any time." He does not show himself, in any outward manner, to

us. He does not openly or palpably concern himself, or declare how he feels disposed, respecting what is going on here. Even when the most heinous provocations are calling aloud to heaven; God is still retired, withdrawn, secret, and invisible. Hence it arises, that men's notions of the Divine nature, are so infinitely various. No fixed standard is laid down: no common object is presented, by which their judgment can be brought to agree, upon this all-important point. The volume of Scripture is, to the unawakened mind, scarce less indefinite, than that of nature. In both, materials are supplied, from which each individual can form a combination for himself: and out of these, we are, instinctively, led to frame such a notion of God, as may best suit the peculiar temperament of our several characters of mind. Hence the justice of that charge, which lies against the wicked, in my text; "Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself." And hence that universal law, by which a correspondence will be always found, between the worshipper and the object which he worships; between what each individual discovers in himself, and what he thinks of God.

But how can they, to whom it is given, in a Scriptural sense, to know the Lord, presume that the Being, whom they have learned to worship in spirit and in truth, is such an one as themselves?