of it; and if you have been laboring to prepare yourselves and others for a state of perfection in knowledge, holiness and happiness, you have been laboring for God; if not, you have been idle and worse than idle all your days. God says of Israel, he "is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself." "Now, therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts," to those who bring forth fruit unto themselves, "Consider your ways; ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages, earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes." It seriously concerns all to consider their ways, whether they have been laboring for God and laying up treasure in heaven; or whether they have been laboring for themselves, and are exposed to suffer an everlasting and irreparable loss.
Finally: If any are conscious to themselves that they have never been laboring for God, let them immediately devote themselves to his service. He has determined to carry into execution his eternal and ultimate end in the creation of the world, and to prepare all things for a rich and plentiful harvest. He has been laboring, his Son has been laboring, his Spirit has been laboring, his angels have been laboring, and multitudes of mankind have been laboring, for several thousand years, to bring millions and millions of rational and immortal creatures to the highest perfection in knowledge, holiness and happiness; and yet there remains a vast deal to be done, in order to bring about this most important and desirable event. And we have reason to think that God will still employ human as well as other subordinate agents, in preparing things for his rich harvest at the end of the world. Here then let me observe, that it will not interrupt any of your lawful business to enter into God's vineyard and labor for him. It will make all your labors more pleasant, more prosperous, and unspeakably more useful. It will entitle you to as large a portion of the knowledge, holiness and happiness of heaven, as you can desire, or possibly enjoy. "Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him; for he shall eat the fruit of his doings." "And he that soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully." But if you continue to neglect to serve God, he will bring his harvest to maturity, gather in his wheat, and separate the tares to unquenchable fire. "There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." "Who hath ears to hear let him hear."
ABRAHAM-trial of, VI. 339; God's right to command, to sacrifice his
son, VI. 339; not commanded to murder Isaac, VI. 339; whether he
could know the command to be God's, VI. 341; why God commanded,
to sacrifice his son, VI. 342; whether the command to, answered its end,
VI. 343; obeyed the command to sacrifice Isaac, in contrariety to all his
natural affections, VI. 344; obeyed the command cheerfully and prompt-
ly, VI. 345; in obeying the command, obeyed the mere will of God, VI.
ACTIONS-of men their own, IV. 350; of men, necessary, not compelled,
IV. 351, 398; of men, properly ascribed to both human and divine agen-
cy, IV. 365, 369; of men, important to be ascribed both to themselves
and to God, IV. 367, 375; divine agency as much concerned in the bad,
as the good acts of men, IV. 371; of men, all will glorify God, IV. 373;
of men, flow from the heart, IV. 520; of sinners, why the best, as well as
worst, condemned, IV. 526.
ADAM-posterity of, immensely numerous, II. 21; holiness of, might
have been concreated, IV. 354, 448; as easy to account for the first of-
fence of, as any other sin, IV. 354; what meant by his being made up-
right, IV. 447; God must have made him holy or unholy, IV. 450; God
did create him holy, IV. 452; nobility and excellence of, in his primitive
state, IV. 454; happiness of, in his primitive state, IV. 455; difficulty of
conceiving of his becoming sinful, without the immediate agency of God,
IV. 455; fall of, a most melancholy event, IV. 456; spiritual death of, his
sin, not his punishment, IV. 472; the occasion of all men's being by nature
sinners, IV. 487; did not make men sinners by causing them to commit
his first sin, IV. 487; nor by transferring to them his guilt, 488; nor by con-
veying to them a corrupt moral nature, 490; God treats men according to
the conduct of, as their constituted head, IV. 490; why God constituted
such a connection between, and his posterity, IV. 491; proper that human
nature should be tried in, IV. 492; being placed holy in a state of trial,
answered the same purpose as would have been by placing his posterity
in the same state, IV. 492; trial of, prepared the way to bring Christ into
view immediately after the fall, IV. 492; the only person guilty of original
sin, IV. 493; no ground to suppose he knew himself, before his fall, to be
the public head of his posterity, IV. 495; being appointed public head of
mankind, no injustice, IV. 495; laid us under no necessity of sinning, IV.
496; moral depravity of, consisted in selfishness, IV. 548.
ADVERSITY may be much more useful than prosperity, III. 100; all
to inquire if they have derived spiritual benefit from, III. 470.
AFFECTIONS-of christians to correspond with the personal distinction
in the Godhead, IV. 121, 132; essential to God's moral perfection, IV.
201; of benevolence, the beauty of God's character, IV. 202; ascribed to
God in the Bible, IV. 203; objections against, in the Deity, IV. 204;
strength of the divine, IV. 206; of sinners, always sinful, IV. 548; good,
the treasure of a good heart, V. 133; of saints, some perfectly good, V.
202; some, of saints, perfectly sinful, V. 203; nothing but sinful, prevents
saints being perfectly holy, V. 203; selfish and holy, often follow each
other in quick succession, V. 227; holy and sinful often produced by the
same means, V. 227; men no right to mistake the nature of their, V. 228,
229; wide difference between holy and unholy, V. 228; men cannot mis-
take the nature of their, unless under the influence of some selfish motive,
V. 230; men may mistake their benevolent, for selfish, V. 230.
AFFLICTIONS-benefit of, III. 53, 57, 126, 196, 279; severest, the source
of greatest advantages, III. 60, 242, 361; can be made profitable to other
than saints, III. 61, 199; those visited with, should be of a teachable spirit,
III. 64; communion with God in, III. 93; means of reclaiming from re-
ligious delusions, III. 94; a test of sincerity, III. 95, 125, 244; saints
wish to know the reason of, III. 96; how to conduct under, and to obtain
divine support under, III. 97; same ground of submission under heavy,
as under light, III. 190, 241, 243, 261, 263, 271, 308, 361; wisdom of hear-
ing the voice of, III. 193, 198; appointed by God, III. 193, 274; teach
dependence on God, III. 195; turn the thoughts upon the most solemn
subjects, III. 197; voice of, the voice of God, III. 198; refusal to hear
the voice of, displeasing to God, III. 198, unwise, 203, and exposes to se-
verer marks of God's displeasure, 199, 468; may be the last call, III.
199; beneficially instructive to all, unless they take pains to prevent it,
III. 201; a trying and dangerous situation, III. 204; every one disposed
to think his own, peculiarly severe, III. 231, 232; none have good reason
to think their, too severe, III. 234; none know that they endure severer
than others, III. 234; never greater than deserved, III. 235, 263, 279;
never more than necessary, III. 236, 323; never more than God's glory
requires, III. 237; unwise for the afflicted to brood over their, III. 239;
afflictions repined at, no benefit, III. 240, 306; silence under, III. 260;
God's conduct in respect to, to be cordially approved, III. 262, 306; God
has a right to send, III. 264; always sent at the proper time, III. 265;
and in the best way, 266; tend to prepare men for their final state, III.
280; presumption for any to expect they shall escape, III. 283; all ought
to inquire whether theirs have been instructive, III. 299, 470; personal,
designed to promote the general good, III. 305; of some, lighter than those
of others, III. 306; propriety of conversing with God under, III. 307; the
lot of man, III. 319; when have a salutary effect on their subjects, III.
323; no more reason to be anxious about future, than impatient under
present, III. 362; why God sends, to teach men out of his word, III. 459;
how God employs, to teach men out of his word, III. 461, 463; happiness
of those who are savingly taught by, III. 464; alone, unproductive of good,
III. 467; time of, to be improved by saints in counselling the afflicted,
III. 467; christians no reason to think strange of their, VI. 348.
AGENCY-some things decreed to take place by human, IV. 300; of God
consists in what, IV. 378; of God universal, IV. 381; human, consists
wholly in volition, IV. 384, 522; denial of God's, a virtual denial of his
existence, IV. 386; free, not obstructed by God's forming as many ves-
sels of mercy and of wrath as he chooses, IV. 388; divine influence to
keep men from sinning, consistent with their moral, IV. 603; of God, no
ground of sinners complaining of their eternal punishment, VI. 157.
AGENTS-a
-as many free moral, as intelligent creatures, IV. 385.
ANGELS-description of, IV. 415; the highest order of created beings,
IV. 416; beings of superior power and wisdom, IV. 416; fixed in a state
of holiness, IV. 416; not encumbered with gross bodies, IV. 417; various
grades of, IV. 417; what the employments of, IV. 418; messengers of God
to the church, IV. 418; attended upon Christ, IV. 419; the executioners
of God's wrath against his enemies, IV. 420; guardians of the good, IV.
421; assist good men in their devotions, IV. 422; minister to the saints in
the dying hour, IV. 422; fully acquainted with this world, IV. 427, VI.
99; see the moral characters of men here forming for eternity, VI. 104;
see men continually passing from their temporal, to their eternal states,
VI. 104; will see and admire God's conduct towards men in the future
state, VI. 109.
APOSTACY-prevalence of religious, not strange, V. 564.
ARIANS-idolaters, in worshipping Christ, while denying his divinity, VI.
ARMINIANISM-whole scheme of, fundamentally wrong, V. 108.
ASSURANCE-duty of christians to seek for full, V. 356; how attainable,
VI. 333.
ATHEISM-extreme folly of, IV. 24.
ATONEMENT- -no obstacle to, in the threatening denounced against
Adam, IV. 478; absolute necessity of, IV. 479; necessary to be made by
sufferings, IV. 480; necessary, entirely on God's account, V. 18; why
necessary on God's account, V. 19; universal, V. 23; did not satisfy jus-
tice towards sinners themselves, V. 24; merited nothing, V. 25, 35; same
grace exercised in pardoning by, as if none were made, V. 26; absurd to
suppose it merely expedient, V. 26; consisted in sufferings, not in obe-
dience, V. 27, 62; God can consistently pardon sinners on account of, V.
27, 59; none can receive pardon by, without accepting the punishment of
their sins, V. 28, 271; ground of the bestowment of no other blessings
than forgiveness, V. 57, 71; Socinian motive of, fundamentally erroneous,
V. 90; no argument for Universalism, V. 595.
AUTHORITY-what implied in parental, II. 479; parental, important to
promote family religion, II. 481; important to the propagation of religion,
483, and to the promotion of temporal and spiritual prosperity, 484.
BABEL-who dispersed at the destruction of, VI. 270; most remarkable
consequences of the dispersion at, VI. 274.
BAPTISM-mode of, V. 474; the thing signified by, an indication of the
mode, V. 476; instances of, recorded in the N. T., V. 478; proper sub-
jects of, V. 482; comes in the place of circumcision, V. 484; the apos-
tles administered to some, on account of the faith of others, V. 486;
unless administered to the children of Jewish parents, they would have
complained, V. 489; of infants, the practice of the church from the days
of the apostles, V. 490; should be examined with candor, V. 496; deniers
of infant, in a great practical error, V. 498; inconsistent for believers in
infant, to do any thing to destroy the belief and practice of it, V. 498;
unbelieving parents concerned to become believers, and give their chil-
dren to God in, V. 499.
BAPTIZE-scriptural meaning of, V. 475.
BEAUTY of the Lord, consists in what, VI. 314; of the divine character
capable of being seen by good men, VI. 314; of the Lord, why good
men desire to see, VI. 316.
BELIEVERS- of the truth and divinity of the gospel, to use every proper
method of becoming united in sentiment, I. 195; can be consistently
pardoned, on the ground of the atonement, V. 27, 59, 69; justified on
Christ's account, rewarded on their own, V. 38, 64, 87, 92; cannot do too
much for Christ, V. 39; true, described, V. 43; required to persevere in
faith, V. 47; promised divine assistance through their Christian course,
V. 48; chastised, if negligent in duty, V. 48; in a state of probation, V.
49; conduct of God towards, easily reconciled with his rectitude, V. 50;
propriety in their praying for daily pardon, V. 51; properly warned to
avoid error and sin, V. 52; may maintain peace with God, through Christ,
V. 53; how all true, may attain full assurance of hope, VI. 333; why
represented as more amiable and excellent than unbelievers, VI. 401.
BENEFICENCE-more pleasure in, than in the receiving of favors, VI.
436; more virtuous, than receiving benefits, VI. 437; God promises to
reward him who exercises, VI. 438; why holds the highest rank among
the Christian virtues, VI. 441; none who have not experienced the bles-
sedness of reason to think they are christians, VI. 444; those able to
exercise, should esteem it a favor, when opportunities are presented, VI.
446.
BENEVOLENCE- Universal, essential to a useful life, II. 252; duty of
all to exercise universal, V. 126; they who exercise, know how benevo-
lent beings feel, V. 188; happiness of the exercise of, V. 188; spirit of,
imparts a peculiar knowledge of gospel truths, V. 189; men apt to mis-
take their selfish feelings for, V. 224; of the good Samaritan, V. 255;
essentially different from selfishness, V. 260; those destitute of, towards
men, destitute of love to God, V. 263; impossible to carry the duty of, too
far, V. 285; of God, as great towards the lost, as towards the saved, VI.
66; God's love of, towards sinners, consistent with his hatred of them,
VI. 67, 113; of God, towards sinners, consistent with his punishing them
for ever, VI. 68; of God, consistent with his hating sinners while they
continue impenitent, VI. 117; of God, consistent with the expression of
his hatred to sinners, VI. 120; God's punishment of sinners flows from
his, VI. 121; of God, absurd for sinners to rely upon, to save them, VI.
122; nature of true, to love justice, VI. 156.
BEREAVEMENTS- come from God, III. 10, 11; just, III. 12; wise, III.
13; kind, III. 13; necessary, III. 323; why so often heavy, and grievous
to be borne, III. 334.
BIBLE its containing incomprehensibilities, no objection against, I. 84;
an infallible rule of faith, I. 186; sufficiently plain to every capacity, I.
186; the word of God, II. 15; tendency of abusing the ministrations of,
II. 247; God's blessing on those who honor, II. 339, 342; families bound
to treat it with proper respect, II. 339; a great favor, III. 280; IV. 86;
fruitless to deny the divinity of, in order to get rid of its doctrines, IV. 27;
written by the inspiration of suggestion, IV. 74, 277; writers of, incapable
of writing without constant guidance, IV. 76; writers of, profess to have
been under constant guidance, IV. 78; great caution to be used in ex-
plaining, IV. 83; not strange the writers of, did not understand it, IV. 84;
an infallible rule of faith, IV. 85, 184; bears strong marks of its divine
original, IV. 85; enables men to determine their future state, IV. 87; its
great influence, not strange, IV. 87; importance of being established in
the first principles of, V. 604; no ground for infidels to object against its
inspiration, that it does not give a full account of the creation, VI. 29;
growing evidence in favor of the inspiration of, VI. 305; men should
believe, love and obey, VI. 312.
BLAKE Mr. Solomon, III. 392.
BURDENS-what we are to understand by, III. 41; what for the afflicted
to cast them on God, III. 42, 44; laid upon men by God, III. 42; right
of God to impose, III. 43; should be cheerfully borne, III. 43; imposed
by God to show men their weakness, III. 45; those who cast their, upon
God, prepared to receive support and consolation, III. 46; God's glory
requires him to support those who look to him under, III. 46; God has
promised all proper relief to those who confide in him under their, III. 47;
may become the means of great good, III. 47; the greatest may become
the most beneficial, III. 48; afflicted no reason to complain under, III.
49; afflicted ought never to sink under the weight of, III. 50.
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