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CONFERENCE SERMONS.

voiiVMs or sERiaonrs,

DESIGNED TO BE USED IN

m^ai^^i^w^ M^a^iirt^^a

WHEN THERE IS NOT PRESENT A

GOSFEIi-MIiriSTZiR.

By DANIEL A. CLARK, a.m.

LATE PASTOR OF THE FIRST CHURCH IN AMHERST, MASS.

« The prophet that hath a dream, let han tell a dream ; but he that hath
my word, let him speak my word faithfully." Jer. xxiii. 28.

" ^^\i^ l^® trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare hmiself
to the battle?" "^ 1 Cob. xit. 8.

AIUHERST, MASS.

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY CARTER AND ADAMS,

1826.

DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS, tO wit,

' District Clerk's ofRce.

L.S. ^

Be it Remembered, That on the Seventeenth day of December A. D.
1825, in the Fiftieth year of the Independence of the United States of Amer-
ica, DANIEL A. CLARK, a. m. of the said District has deposited in this
Office the Title of a Book the right whereof he claims as Author in the
words following, <o loii ; A Volume of Sermons, designed to be used in Re-
igious Meetings, when there is not present a Gospel-Minister. B> Daniel
A. Clark, a. m. Late Pastor of the first Church in Amherst, Mass. '*' The

firophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream ; but he that hath my word,
et him speak my word faithfully." Jer. xxiii.28. — " For if the trumpet give
an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle .'"' 1 Cor. xiv. 8.
In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States, entitled " An
Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by securing the Copies of Maps,
Charts and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of such Copies, during
the times therein mentioned :" and also to an Act entitled " An Act sup-
plementary to an Act, entitled, An Act for the Encouragement of Learning,
by securing the Copies of Maps, Charts and Books to the Authors and Pro-
prietors of such Copies during the times therein mentioned ; and extending
the benefits thereof to the Arts of Designing, Engraving and Etching His-
torical and other Prints." JOHN W. DAVIS.

Clerk of the District of Massachusetts.

ETOIT \

The writer of this volume would say, to those who have
encouraged, or may patronize its publication, that it is with
great diffidence he has entered upon the work. Whether it ig
what you wished, or expected, you are now to judge. My
hope is that God will make it useful. I feel disposed to take on-
ly a low place, among my brethren in the ministry, many of
whom have yet committed few or none of their productions to
the press, and am not conscious of any governing passion for
authorship. Hence it may not be improper to give, in a few
words, the history of my views, relative to this volume.

I have long believed, that sermons of a distinguishing char-
acter, and in a popular dress, having point, and pungency of
application, are very much needed in the American churches.
Most of the sermons printed are occasional, or if otherwise,
being printed singly, and seldom collected into volumes, or ex-
tensively circulated, are quite out of reach. They have, on a
limited scale, done great good, but most of them, however ex-
cellent, are at length consigned to neglect with waste papers.

Many excellent volumes too^ have been published, and have
edified the churches, and helped mature for heaven a multitude
of believers ; but which from their occasional, metaphysical, or
exclusively doctrinal character, are judged unsuitable to be read
in evening-meetings, to which so often, even good men, bring
a mind, as well as a body, worn down with fatigue ; and need,
for their edification, some repast that can hold their powers
waking. Discourses adapted to such an occasion, which must
often be read badly to a dull audience, must have poured into
them, all the novelty, vivacity, force, and pungency possible.
The truth should be condensed, and the doctrines exhibited in
that practical shape, that shall tend to keep, up through every
paragraph, a deep and lively interest.

To supply such a volume, though perhaps a bold attempt, has
been my aim ; but whether I have attained, or even appruached
the point, others will now judge. I think there is here a chasm
that needs to be filled, and if I should induce some of our
ablest clergymen, to employ their talents in accomplishing,
what I have attempted^ I shall I hope feel myself richly reward-
ed for the trouble and expense of publishing this volume.

I am prepared to say that a score of volumes, such as 1 2w-
tended this should be, is wanted ; and have yet to learn that
the churches would not sustain the expense of their publication.
And although it is deeply to be regreted, that so many precious
volumes, read by the people of God, in days past, and used by
the Spirit in fitting them for heaven, have from something ob-
solete in their language, gone too much out of use, yet as the
fact exists, a remedy should be applied. The multitude of books
in the market, is no argument against the attempt to furnish
the ungodly with the means of alarm, or the people of God,
with any help that can be afforded them, in finishing their sanc-
tification. In every other department of learning, new efforts
are perpetually made, and every fascination of style and argu-
ment employed, to render interesting the art or science that it
is feared may languish ; and why not carry the same wisdom
into the church of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I have given the volume as great a variety, as was consist-
ent with my original design, and hope no one of the discourses
will be found wholly unsuitable for the use intended. The
twelfth, though it may seem to have been written exclusively
for the benefit of ministers, was in fact designed rather for their
people, to aid them in discovering, whether the ministry pla-
ced over them be correct, and faithful ; and to prepare them to
treat tenderly, and aid promptly, by every means in their pow-
er, the true ambassador of Christ, in his arduous, and responsi-
ble, but pleasant and honourable calling. And the minister of
the gospel, often pressed with labour, may wish, in some of his
Uttle meetings, to read a sermon to his people, and may find
this one not unprofitable to himself or his people.

Vll

I sincerely hope, that some of the worthy ministers of New
England, whose praise is in the churches, will give the public a
few volumes of their sermons, and not leave this department of
christian instruction, to be exclusively occupied by posthumous
publications, which some worthy friend, with the best motives
possible, but under great disadvantages, shall collect from un-
revised manuscripts, often with not the best success, either as
it regards the reputation of the author, or the usefulness of the
book.

I have only to add my wish and my prayer, that the great
Head of the church, may bless to all my readers this attempt to
build them up in the most holy faith ; and to ask their prayers,
that my labour may not be in vain in the Lord.
lam, Christian brethren.

Yours affectionately, in the

Bonds of the Gospel,

DANIEL A. CLARK.

AMHERST, Mass. Jan. S, 1826.

CONTENTS.

SERMON I.
The Church Safe . 9

SERMON II.
The Only True God 35

SERMON III.

Unregenerate Men Without Holiness .... 54

SERMON IV.

The Gospel Sustains the Law ..... 71

SERMON V.

Correct Views of Christ Essential . . . .88

SERMON VI.

Christ Redeems and Sanctifies . . » . . 109

SERMON VII.

Terms of Acceptance with God 129

SERMON VIII.

The Man of God Distinguished 151

SERMON IX

Sinners made Useful to God's People , . . .174

SERMON X.

Wrath Conquered by Kindness 208

SERMON XI.

Gospel-Truth Defined 228

SERMON XII.
An Honest Ministry 264

SERMON XIII.

The Rich Believer Bountiful 294

SERMON XIV.

Nothing Safe but the Church . . > , . 309

THE CHURCH SAFE,

ISAIAH XLIX. 16.

" / have graven thee upon the palms of my hands ; thy walls
are continually before me."

The Jewish church, during her captivity,
would be led to conceive that God had forsaken,
and forgotten her. To effectually remove this im-
pression, God by his prophet appeals to one of the
tenderest relationships of life. '' Can a woman for-
get her sucking child, that she should not have com-
passion on the son of her womb ? yea they may
forget, yet will I not forget thee." Thus would
he give to Zion, assurance of his unchangeable
love. His people should multiply, till the land,
where their foes destroyed them, should be too
limited for their increased population. Kings and
nations should serve them, and do them honour.
Zion was dear to him as the apple of his eye.
He would engrave her upon the palms of his
hands; her walls should be continually before him.

In those days, it was the custom to paint upon
the palms of the hands such objects as men wish-
ed to remember, in allusion to which custom God
assures his people, that he had graven Zion upon
2

the palms of his hands. Thus should her walls be
contmually before him ; he would not forget her a
moment, nor suffer any foe to injure her. We
have here a broad and sacred pledge, to be kept in
mind by the people of God in all ages, and plead
in their prayers, that he will foster and bless his
church, and will employ his vigilence and his pow-
er to secure her safety, and advance her honours.
Thus is The church safe^ and the people of
God need have no apprehensions, nor weep a tear,
but over their own transgressions, and the miseries
of that multitude, who will not be persuaded to take
sanctuary in her bosom. I shall argue the safety
of the church, from the firmness and stability of
the divine operations^ From what God has already
done for his church. What he is now doings and
What he has promised^ to do.

I. We assure ourselves, that the church is safe,
Frora the firmness and stability of the divine opera-
tions, I now refer, not merely to the unchangeable-
ness of God, which will lead him to pursue for ever
that plan which his infinite wisdom devised ; for
that plan lies concealed from us ; but to that uniform
and steady course with which he has pursued every
enterprise which his hands have begun. That he
is of the same mind, and that none can turn him, is
a thought full of comfort ; but that he has finished
every work which he took in hand, is nfact, which
intelligences have witnessed, and one on which we
may found our richest expectations.

The worlds wliich he began to build he finished.
Not one was left half formed and motionless.
Each he placed in its orbit, gave it light, and laws,
and impulse. And ever since this first develop-
ment of the divine stability, the wheels of Provi-
dence have rolled on with steady and settled course.
What Omnipotence began, whether to create or
to destroy, he rested not till he had accomplished.

When he had become incensed with our world,
and purposed its desolation, with what a firm and
steady step did he go on to achieve his purpose.
Noah builds the ark, and God prepares the foun-
tains, which, at his word, burst from their entrench-
ments to drown an impious generation.

How have suns kept their stations, and planets
rolled in their orbits, by the steady pressure of the
hand of God ; by their revolutions measuring out
the years of their own duration, and by their veloci^
ty urging on the amazing moment when they shall
meet in dread concussion, and perish in the contact.
How fixed their periods, their risings, their eclipses,
their changes, and their transits, And while they
roll, how uniform is the return of spring, summer,
autumn and winter. How certain every law of
matter, gravitation, attraction, reflection, &:c. The
very comet, so long considered lawless, how is it
curbed and reined in its eccentric orbit, and never
yet had power or permission to burn a single world.

How sure is the fulfilment of prophecy. Ages
intervening cannot shake the) certainty of its hq^

complishment. Jesus bleeds on Calvary four thou-
sand years subsequently to the promise which that
event accomplishes. Cyrus is named in the page of
prophecy more than two hundred years before his
birth, and at the destined moment becomes the
Lord's shepherd, collects the lost sheep of the
house of Israel, and builds Jerusalem. The Jews,
as prophets three thousand years ago foretold, are
yet in exile. The weeping prophet, now at rest,
still sees the family he loved peeled and scattered,
and the soil that drank his tears, cursed for their
sins ; and confident that God is true, waits impa-
tient the certgiin, but distant year of their redemp-
tion.

Wretches that dare his power, God will not dis-
turb his plan to punish. The old world flourished
one hundred and twenty years after heaven had
cursed that guilty race. Sodom was a fertile valley
long after the cry of its enormities had entered into
the ears of the Lord of Sabbaoth. The Amorites
were allowed five hundred years to fill up the meas-
ure of their iniquity after God had pledged their
land to Abram, although Israel wore away the in-
tervening years in bondage. Many a murderer
has been overtaken by the hand of justice, half a
century past the time of the bloody deed. God
will punish all the workers of iniquity, but he waits
till the appointed moment. Like the monarch of
the forest, he comes upon his enemies, conscious of
his strength, with steady but dreadful steps. In his

movements there is neither frenzy, passion, nor
haste. While his judgments linger, his enemies
ask, " Where is the promise of his coming ?" but
let them know, that he has appeared, and descom-
fited many a foe ; and the inference is that they
must perish too. Whatever God begins, he finishes :
no unseen embarrassment can turn his eye from his
original purpose.

Now the argument is, that as God has begun to
erect a church, he will act in this matter as in all
others. If one of light character, a man given to
change, had laid the foundation of some mansion,
there would still be doubt whether it would ever re-
ceive its top-stone. But suppose his character ex-
actly the reverse, and the moment he brakes the
ground imagination sees the mansion finished :
now only make God the builder and the argument
is perfect. Whether we can trace his footsteps or
not, he moves on to the accomplishment of his pur-
pose with undeviating course. Every event, in as-
pect bright or dark, promotes the ultimate increase
and establishment of his church. Or shall this be
the only enterprise to which his wisdom, his power,
or his grace, is inadequate ? In this solitary di-
stance shall he begin to build and not be able to fin-
ish ? What would be thought of him in hell, if the
mystical temple should never receive its top-stone ?
Its fires may go out, the worm may die, or some in-
fernal genius bridge the gulph. Heaven too would
lose all conjBdence in its King, and every harp
be silent.

Thus before we examine the history of the
diurch, or read the promises, if we believe that God
ever had a church, we have the strongest possible
presumptive evidence, that he will watch her inter-
ests, will feed the fires upon her altars, will bring
her sons from far, and her daughters from the ends
of the earth, and will never leave her, nor forsake
her. " I have graven thee upon the palms of mj
hands ; thy walls are continually before me."

II. Our expectations brighten when we see
what God has done for his church. My first argu-
ment went to show, that if God had only laid the
corner stone of this heavenly building, it would rise
and be finished. We are now to view the building
half erected, and from what has been done argue
the certainty of its completion. The church has
been under the fostering care of heaven too long to
be abandoned now.

Let us retrace for a moment a few pages of her
history, and we shall see that when the church was
low, he raised her ; when she was in danger, he
saved her. Amid all the moral desolations of the old
world, the church never became extinct. And he
at length held the winds in his fist, and barred the
fountains of the deep, till Noah could build the ark,
and the church be housed from the storm.

How wonderful were his interpositions when
the church was embodied in the family of Abraham !
In redeeming her from Egyptian bondage how did
he open upon that guilty land all the embrasures of

heaven, till they thrust out his people. And he
conducted them to Canaan by the same masterly
hand. The sea divided, and Jordan rolled back its
waters ; the rock became a pool, and the heavens
rained them bread, till they drank at the fountains,
and ate the fruits of the land of promise. Their gar-
ments lasted forty years, and the angel Jehovah, in
a cloud of light, led them through the labyrinths and
dangers of the desert.

When the church diminished, and her prospects
clouded over, he raised up reformers. Such were
Samuel, and David, and Hezekiah, and Josiah, and
Daniel, and Ezra, and Nehemiah: such were all
the prophets. Each in his turn became a master-
builder, and the temple rose, opposition notwith-
standing.

Again under the apostles how did her prospects
brighten. In three thousand hearts, under a single
sermon, commenced the process of sanctification.
The very cross proved an engine to erect her pil-
lars ; the flames lighted her apartments, and the
blood of the martyrs cemented the walls of her
temple, and contributed to its strength and beauty.
Jl very dying groan alarmed the prince of hell, and
shook the pillars of his dreary domain.

But the church again sunk, and hell presumed
that her ruin w ould be soon achieved, when the six-
teenth century lifted upon her the dawn of hope.
In Luther, Calvin, Melancthon and Zuinglius, her
inter^^sts found able advocates. They appeared at

the very juncture when the smking church needed
their courage and their prayers. Like some mighty
constellation, which bursts from the east at the
hour of midnight, they rose when moral darkness
was almost total, and like that of Egypt could seem
to be felt. By their aid the church emerged from
the wilderness. By their courage her grand enemy
was made to tremble on his ghostly tribunal. The
power of the Pope had then outgrown the strength
of every civil arm. Every monarch in Europe was
at his feet. Till Luther rose no power could cope
with him. There was a true church, but she had
no champion. The followers of Jesus paid for the
privilege of discipleship with their blood. He who
dared to be guided by his own conscience, commit-
ted an offence that could not be pardoned. The
heavenly minded saw no relief but in death, and
thirsted for the honour of a martyrdom that would
place them in a world where conscience might be
free. But God appeared and redeemed his people.
— The theme is pleasant, but time would fail me to
rehearse what God has done for his church. Every
age has recorded the interpositions of his mercy ;
and every land where there is a remnant of his
church, bears some monument that tells to his hon-
our, and which will endure till the funeral of the
world.

Now the argument is, that he who has done so
much for his church will never abandon her. If he
would float her above a drowning world, would re-

deem her from bondage, would escort her through
the desert, would rain her bread from heaven,
would reprove kings for her sake, would stop the
sun to aid her victories ; with his smiles, light the
glooms of her dungeon, and by his presence cool the
fires of the stake, there can be no fear for her safe-
ty.

God will 6?o just such things for Zion as he has
done. ''The thing that hath been, it is that which
shall be." His arm is not shortened, nor his ear
heavy. The church was never nearer his heart
than now. And he now hates her enemies as real-
ly as he did Pharaoh, Sennacherrib, Nero, or Julian.
He then governed the world for the sake of his
church ; and for her sake he governs it still, " The
Lord's portion is his people. " We know not that
he ever had but one object in view in the events
that have transpired in our world ; and that one,
the honour of his name in the redemption of his
people : and this object sways his heart still. The
destruction of the enemy is a part of the same plan.
Still may the church invoke the Lord God of Eli-
jah, may rest under the protection of the God of
Bethel, and wrestle with the Angel of Penuel. If
she should be in bondage, there will rise another
Moses, another cloud will conduct her out of Egypt,
and the same heavens will rain her manna. If
darkness should overshadow her, there will be
found among the sons she hath brought up, another
Luther, Calvin, or Knox, to take her by the hand,
.3

to protect her honours, and recruit her strength.
Shame on the Christian who knows her history,
and yet is afraid. Afraid of what? That God
will cease to defend the apple of his eye ? Afraid
that the city graven upon the palms of his hands,
may be captured and destroyed ? If God continue
to do such things as he has done, the church with
all her retinue is safe. " God is known in her pala-
ces for a refuge."

III. God is doing noi(; just such things as he has
done. We saw laid the corner stone, and drew thence
our first argument. Then we saw the building half
erected, and were furnished with a second. We are
now to view the edifice covered with builders, and
from their exertions derive our third. We may now
reason from things that our eyes can see. We
may appeal for testimony to the very saw and ham-
mer, and make the scafiold speak.

It may be that some who are present are not sen-
sible in what a day of heavenly exploit they live.
Do you know what amazing events are transpiring ?
Have you learned, that Bible Societies are forming
in every part of Christendom, and that the Scrip-
tures are now read in perhaps a hundred languages,
in which, till lately, not a text of inspired truth was
ever written ? Do you know that the late editions
of God's word have commenced their circulation^
are traversing the desert, taming the savage, and

pouring celestial light on eyes that never met its
beams before ?

Do YOU know the prevalence of a missionary
spirit ? Have you learned, that youth of the first
character, of the fairest prospect, and of both sexes,
aspire to be missionaries of the cross ? Some have
gone, and others wait impatient till your charity
shall send them.

Many a mother has devoted her daughter to the
work, and waits for opportunity to give her the
parting kiss ; and many a daughter, on whom has
fallen Harriet's mantle, aches to visit her tomb, and
rest under the same turf till Jesus bid them rise.
And what daughter of Zion is not ambitious of a
martyrdom like her's ?

How numerous and extensive the revivals, which
at present we witness in our land ! Even where
there is no stated ministry, the showers of grace de-
scend, and the waste places are made fertile. What
other page of the church's history, but the present,
could record an almost universal concert of prayer ?
Christians of every continent employing the same
hour in the same supplications ! How unparalleled
the success of every Christian enterprise ! No
plan of mercy fails. The active Christian is amaz-
ed at the result of his own exertions.

Much that God is noio doing is evidently pre-
paratory to future operations. Bible and missiona-
ry societies may be viewed as the accumulated en-
ergies of the church. Hitherto our exertions have

been insulated and feeble. The little streams fruc-
tified the plains through which they flowed, but
could easily be dammed or evaporated ; but their
junction has formed a mighty river, destined to pen-
etrate every moral desert, and carry fertilization to
every province of our desolated world : fed with
the showers of heaven, and every day flowing on
with deeper and broader channel, the wilds of Ara-
bia, the heaths of Africa, and the plains of Siberia
can oppose no effectual barrier to its influence.

What age but ours was ever blessed with Theo-
logical Seminaries, where might, be reared at the
expense of charity, young evangelists, to go out
and carry the bread of life to a starving world ?
Fortunes, collected for other purposes, are poured
into the treasury of the Lord, and thus are erected
batteries to demolish the strong holds of the prince
of hell. Jehovah bless their founders !

Churches and congregations, who, in seasons of
coldness, grudged to support the gospel at home, are
now equipping young men for the missionary field,
and for their own edification. And it has at lenjjth
become so disreputable to stand idle in these mat-
ters, that the man who would save his money, feels
himself in danger of losing his character.

Not long since, young men of piety and talents,
Avho longed to fight the battles of the Lord, must
equip themselves, and then find poor support in the
service. But the scale is turned. Where there is
no fortune but piety, a thirst for knowledge, and a

talent to improve, the way is now open to all the
honours of the camp of Israel. The pious mother,
who can only drop her two mites into the treasury
of the Lord, but whose example and whose prayers
have saved her son, may bring her Samuel to the
altar, to be fed from its offerings, and reared to all
the honours of the prophetic office. While I am
yet speaking, hope springs up, and a joy, not felt in
ages past, thrills through all the habitations of pious
poverty.

The late revivals possess one peculiar character-
istic. There have been among: there fruits an unu-
sual number of males. When there was little else
that could be done for Zion, but pray and weep, and
love her doctrines, and glow with heavenly affec-
tions, the feebler 5ea: could furnish the christian world
with soldiers. But now, when the kingdom of
darkness must be stormed, Zion needs the aid of
her sons, and God, it would seem, accommodates the
operations of his Spirit to the interests of his church.
Paul was not converted till his help was needed, and
it was not needed till the gospel was to be carried to
the Gentiles. Every revival of late contradicts that
libel long legible on the records of infidelity. That
religion evinces its emptiness by its exclusive opera-
tion upon the feebler part of our race. Recently
the strong and muscular, the very champions of the
host of hell, have fallen before the power of truth,
and are harnessed for its defence. Moreover, men
of science, and of strong mind, have in their own es-

teem become fools, and have sat down to learn truth
at a Saviour's feet. Our late revivals have penetrat-
ed schools and colleges. Satan's cause has been
well pleaded, and God now intends to plead his
own : and palsied will be the tongue that is silent.

Does God without design raise up these instru-
ments ? Would one pass through a whole kingdom,
and employ every skilful mechanic, unless he intend-
ed to erect some mighty edifice ? If then we see God
enlisting men in his service, men of strength 3.nd sci-
ence, does he not intend to achieve some wondrous
design ? Assuredly the heavenly building will rise.
These talents will be, and they are already employ-
ed in extending Emmanuel's empire. India, with
other benighted lands, has already received our mis-
sionaries, and her Moloch, with all his cursed fam-
ily of gods, sicken at their prospect. The dark
places of his empire have been explored, and the
sceptre begins to tremble in his palsied hand. And
poor Africa, more debased still, has found a tongue
to plead her cause. Conscience, long asleep, and
deaf to her rights, has waked, and now, her sons,
fed at the table of charity, are preparing to carry her
the bread of life. My country, deeper in her debt than
all other lands, has begun to pay its long arrears.

Who could have hoped, a few years since, that
he should ever see a day like this ? If twenty years
since, one had told me that sixty years would so
electrify the Christian world, I should have believ-
ed him visionary, and, like the unbelieving Samax-

itan, should have pronounced it impossible, unless
God should make windows in heaven, and rain Bi-
ble and Missionary Societies from above : but God
has done it all without a miracle. And blessed be
his name, — will those present join me in the
thank-offering .^ — blessed be his name, that he cast
us upon such an age as this. Blessed be his name,
that we were not born a century sooner. Then we
had never seen the dawn of this millennial morning,
nor heard the glad tidings which now reach us by
every mail, nor had an opportunity, as now , to pur-
chase for our offspring an interest in the Lord's fund.
Charity was then in a deep sleep. India bowed to
her idols, and Africa wore her chains, unpitied
and unrelieved. Buchanan and Wilberforce, angels
of mercy, were then unborn. Infidelity then deso-
lated the fairest provinces of Christendom, and wars
were the applauded achievements of states and em-
pires.

But the age of infidelity has gone by, and the
bloody clarion has breathed out, I hope, its last ac-
cursed blast. Events are transpiring w^hich bid
fair to bind all nations in the bonds of love. I had
read of such a period, but how could I hope to see
it ? The present repose of nations augurs w ell foF
the Church. Christendom can now^ unite her efforts
to evangelize the world, while the sailor and the
soldier have leisure and opportunity to read the pre-
cious Scriptures. And must not all this put our
unbelief to the blush, and cover us with shame ?

.24

The past twenty years have so outdone our highest
hopes, as to render it impossible to predict what
twenty more may do. God has begun to work on
a scale neiv and grand ; and the inference is that he
will go on. After what we have seen, we could
hardly be surprised if twenty years to come should
put the bible into every language under heaven,
and should send missionaries, more or less, to every
benighted district of earth. Let benevolent exer-
tion increase in the ratio of the past seven years,
and God add his blessing, and half a century will
evangelize the world, tame the lion and the asp,
and set every desert with temples, devoted to the
God of heaven. When the bosom of charity shall
beat a little stronger, if there should be the necessi-
ty, men will sell houses or farms to save the hea-
then from hell, and the child will sit down and
weep, who may not say, that his father and mother
were the friends of missions. And what parent
would entail such a curse upon his children, and
prevent them from lifting up their heads in the mil-
lennium. I had rather leave mine toiling in the
ditch, there to enjoy the luxury of reflecting, that a
father's charity made them poor. Poor ! They
are poor who cannot feel for the miseries of a per-
ishing world; whom God has given abundance, but
who grudge to use it for his honour. Teach your
children charity, and they can never be poor.
*' The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that
watereth, shall be watered also himself." Can

this promise fail ? Then we can all leave our chil-
dren rich, and the heirs too of a fortune they can
never squander. We can purchase for them the privi-
lege of drawing upon the exhaustless resources of
heaven. What a privilege now to be a parent !

But I must return to the argument. God is do-
ing so much for his church, as to warrant the infer-
ence that he will do still more. The hopes he raises,,
he will gratify. The prayer he indites, he will
answer. To see what God is doing, I find it im-
possible to doubt his intentions. The present is a
prelude to brighter scenes. God would not have
done so much for his people, had he intended to
abandon tliem. The church will live and prosper.
Instead of trembling for the ark, let us weep that
we ever thought it in danger.

IV. We build the same expectations on the
promises and prophecies. The building w hich we
see rising God has promised to finish. He has all
the materials ; the silver and the gold are his. He
has enlisted the builders, and prepared the necessa-
ry instruments. The decree has gone forth that
Jerusalem must be built, and God will redeem his
own gratuitous pledge : he will do as he has said.

Early in the reign of Emmanuel there will be
universal peace. The nations are to " beat their
swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pru-
nina: hooks. " '• The wolf also shall dwell with
the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the

kid. " " They shall not hurt nor destroy hi all "
God's " holy mountam. " " They shall sit, every
man under his vine, and under his fig-tree ; and
none shall make them afraid. "

But " the gospel must first be published among
all nations. " On this promise there pours at pres-
ent a stream of heavenly light. The angel *' hav-
ing the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that
dwell on the earth," is beginning to publish it "to
every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and peo-
ple. " Kings are to be to the church nursing fath-
ers, and queens nursing mothers : and they have al-
ready taken hold of the work with interest. Their
charity, their influence, and their prayers, have al-
ready contributed to deepen and widen the channel
of that river which is making glad the city of God.
In the progress of this work a nation shall be born
in a day. The instance of Eimeo may be consid-
ered as embraced in this promise. '* Thy watchmen
shall see eye to eye." This promise has commenc-
ed its accomplishment in the harmony manifested in
the formation and support of Sabbath schools, and bi-
ble and missionary societies. The Jews are to re-
turn to their land, and to the God of their fathers.
There shines some light upon this promise. Many
are at present migrating to Palestine from the north
of Europe, some have been converted to the faith of
Jesus, many not converted are members of Bible
societies, and exertions unparalleled are making to
bring them to the light, ^ while individuals of their

number are proclaiming to their deluded brethren,
the unsearchable riches of Christ. Soon the Bible
will supplant the Talmud.

" Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto
God. " Who does not see this promise fast accom-
plishing ? Her chains are falling, and her mind ex-
panding. There have commenced a train of opera-
tions that promise the richest blessings to the chil-
dren of Ham. Soon the Gambia, the Niger, and
the Nile will grace their shores with christian tem-
ples, will lend their waters to fertilize a gospel land,
and bear to his station the zealous missionary. In
the mean time the wretched Arab, exchanging his
Koran for the Bible, and tamed by its influence to
honest industry, will settle the quarrel with the
family of Jacob, and worship in the same temple.

If we turn to the threatenings against the ene-
mies of the church, there open before us large fields
of promise. Like the cloud that severed Pharaoh's
hosts from Israel, they pour impenetrable darkness
into the camp of the enemy, while they light the
tents of Jacob. ** The day of the Lord shall burn
as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do
wickedly, shall be stubble, and the day that cometh,
shall burn them up, saith the Lord ; that it shall
leave them neither root nor branch." Perhaps the
complicated miseries which began in the French rev-
olution, and were finished at Waterloo, might com-
mence the accomplishment of this threatening. But
doubtless other storms will yet beat upon the camp

oT the enemy, more tremendous than any things
which they have yet experienced. Some believe
that the fifth vial has not yet been poured out upon
the seat of the beast ; and all agree that the forty
and two months, during which the holy city must be
trodden under foot, are not yet expired. It is ac-
knowledged that the period is twelve hundred and six-
ty years, and that it commenced with the reign of
the beast, and will probably terminate in the present
century. Possibly our dear children may live to see
the precious moment that shall close the period.
Then the messenger of the covenant shall make his
glorious ingress, shall destroy his enemies, shall purify
the sons of Levi, and cleanse the offering of Judah.
Then the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the
earth, as the waters cover the sea. Jesus shall take
possession of the inheritance promised, *'and his do-
minion shall be from sea, even to sea, and from the
river even to the ends of the earth."

Can the dejected christian read all this, and be-
lieve it all, and despondingly weep still ? And for what
does he weep ? God has begun to erect a heavenly
temple ; the w ork has never stopt, and he promises
that it never shall. He never did abandon any work
which he began, nor did there ever drop from his
lips a promise that w^as not, or will not be fulfilled.
And what more can he do ? Christian, you may
weep on, but let your tears be tears of penitence or
joy. Every harp should be snatched from the wil-
lows, new joys should be felt, and new anthems sung

in all the assemblies of the saints. He that shall
come, will come, and will not tarry ; and every bo-
som should respond, " Even so come. Lord Jesus,
come quickly."

AFPIcICATIOZr.

•r

1. If to any it is a burden to join in the general
concert of prayer for Zion's increase, they can excuse
themselves, and the glorious v^^ork will still go on.
There are those who consider the duty a privilege.
If the church could live without them, and duty
did not prompt them to pray, they would weep to
be denied the privilege of bearing her interests to the
throne, and of waiting for the redemption of Israel.
Such may wait still upon the Lord, and may wait
with confidence, that every prayer will be answered,
every tear preserved, and every hope accomplished.
But are there those who would wish to be excused
from this service ? who have no pleasure in the du-
ty, and no faith in the promises ? Well, they can
act their pleasure, and the church will live. But,
whether such will have any share in the glories of
that kingdom, whose approach they dread, " de-
mands a doubt."

2. If any grudge to contribute of their wealth, for
the advancement of the church, they can withhold.
If they have a better use for their money, or dare
not trust the Lord, there is no compulsion. Some
happy beings will have the honour of the work. It

is to be accomplished by the mstrumentality of men,
and if any are willing to be excused, and insist on
doing nothing, they can use their pleasure. And if
such would ruin their children, by holding them
back, they can. They can form them to such hab-
its that the world wild never be disturbed by their
munificence. They can prejudice them against all
the operations of christian charity ; can make them
deaf to the cry of the six hundred millions ; can
keep them ignorant of what the christian world is
doing, and what God has commanded them to do.
And there can then be very little doubt but they
will have children in their own likeness. But
whether God will not finally lay claim to their
wealth, and cause it to be expended in beautifying
his holy empire, we dare not assert. The silver
and the gold are his.

But the work will go on. Once our fears on
the subject were great. We doubted whether the
christian world would ever give the heathen the gos-
pel. But our fears are removed. We have now no
apprehension as to the issue, and can only pity
those who are blind to their duty, their interest,
their honour, and their happiness.

3. If any are willing to remain out of the kingdom
of Christ, they can act their pleasure in this matter
too, and yet the marriage supper will be full. The
kingdom of Christ will be large enough; large as he
expected, large as he desired, large as the Father

promised ; large enough to gratify the infinite be-
nevolence of his heart. If any do not wish to live
in heaven, the mansions they might have filled will
be occupied by others. The celestial choir will be
full, and the name of Jesus will receive its deserved
applauses from the myriads who shall be redeemed
from every nation, kindred, tongue and people.

If sinners can do without God, he can do without
them. They will not be forced reluctantly to the
marriage supper of the Lamb. There will be enough
who will come willingly. Heaven will be as happy as
it would be if more were saved. And th^ prison of
despair will contain exactly that number, whose ruin
will exhibit to the best advantage the character of
Jehovah: and the smoke of their torment, which
shall ascend up for ever and ever, will form a stu-
pendous column on which will be written, legible
to all heaven, HOLINESS, JUSTICE, TRUTH.

The vast accession made to the church in the
late revivals, and the still greater increase in the fu-
ture years of millennial glory, will swell the number
of the saved beyond all calculation. Sinners who
now join the multitude, and are thus secured from
present reproach, will soon find themselves attached
to an insignificant and despicable minority. It would
seem at present that the number of the lost will be
great, but you may multiply them beyond the power
of human enumeration, and still there is no fear but
Mie number of the saved will be greater.

If any, then, would prefer to remain out of the

kingdom, they have their choice, and the shame and
ruin will be their own. God intends to let them do
as they please, and those who love his kingdom most,
anxious as they now are for the salvation of their
fellow men, will at last be satisfied with the num-
ber of the saved. We invite none to become the sub-
jects of Christ's kingdom, but those who will es-
teem his yoke easy, and his burden light.

4. If any should be disposed to enter into league
with the lost angels, and oppose the church, they
can do so, and still the church will live. Earth and
hell united, can make no effectual opposition to her
interests. God is in the midst of his people, and
will help them, and that right early. In these
circumstances, one shall chase a thousand, and two
put ten thousand to flight.

Some opposition is necessary to awaken her en-
ergies. Solomon was seven years building the first
temple, when all was peace ; but Ezra, with the trow-
el in one hand, and the sword in the other, could
build the second in four. The enemy has always
promoted the interest he wished to destroy.
God will make the wrath of man to praise Him, and
the remainder of wrath he will restrain. If any
would make opposition to the growing interests of
Emmanuel, they can ; but they will accomplish their
own ruin, and perhaps the ruin of their children. It
never was so dangerous as now to be the enemy of
Christ's kingdom. All such must be cbrushed under

the wheels of that car, in which the Son of God is rid-
ing in triumph through a conquered empire. To make
opposition is as unavailing as if a fly.^hould make
an effort to stop the sun. There await the enemies
of the cross, certain defeat, shame, and ruin. " He
made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch
which he made. His mischief shall return upon his
own head, and his violent dealings shall come down
upon his own pate." In the mean time the church
is safe. " Fear not, little flock ; for it is your Fath-
er's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."

5. Fathers and Brethren in the ministry, this sub-
ject will raise your hopes. Are you stationed where it
is all darkness around you, and have the hosts of hell
alarmed you ? cheer up your hearts. Try to penetrate
the surrounding darkness, and you will soon be con-
vinced that your fears are ill-timed. Speak to tlie
children of Israel, that they go forward. If night
does seem to hover about us, still is it manifest that
the day has dawned upon the hills. The church has
never been in danger, and we ought to be ashamed
of our fears. Be at your watch-tower, dear breth-
ren; turn your eye to the east, and you will soon
descry the light. If there is any truth in the prom-
ise, and if a thousand transpiring events can speak,
we shall soon have opportunity to hail Emmanuel at
his second coming. If our courage fails us in a day
like this, we have only to lie down and die with
shame. While the victory was doubtfui, you might
5

be afraid, and yet save your character, but none are
afraid now but the coward. Shall we hesitate to die
if necessary in securing a victory already gained ; and
to gain which the Captain of our salvation, and ma-
ny of his soldiers have spilt their blood ? Our mission-
ary brethren have carried the standard of the cross,
and planted it within the entrenchments of the ene-
my, and their courage has not failed ; and shall we
tremble in the camp ? We shall then have no share
in the spoil. Dear brethren, I will not insult you ;
you are not afraid ; you will die at your post, and the
victory will be secured.

6, Dear Christian Brethren, you see the royal
canopy which your Lord casts over your heads ; or
rather the shield he spreads before you. If you
are not officers in the camp of Israel, you are soldiers;
if you may not command, you may fight, but not
with carnal weapons. Let the subject raise your
courage. A few more conflicts and your toils are
ended ; the church is safe, and you are safe. Only
believe, and soon you will see the salvation of God.
And as the Saviour approaches, and you see him, you
may say with the prophet, '' Lo, this is our God ; we
have waited for him, and he will save us : this is the
Lord ; we have waited for him, we will be glad and
rejoice in his salvation."

eamM®if a

THE ONLY TRUE GOD.

JOHN XVII. 3.

*' This is life eternal, that they might know thse the only
true God.^^

In the report of that gospel, that shall deal hon-
estly with dying men, it is of the first importance,
that there be exhibited the true character of God.
As men are to be sanctified through the truth, it
will be confessed, that no truth can be of higher
importance, than that which relates to the being
and attributes of Jehovah. Unless on this point
there is made a full and clear exposure of the truth,
our religion may be so defective, as to neither profit
us in this life, nor save us in the life to come. Un-
der the very names that belong to the true God, we
may worship an idol, and thus give our depravity
the shape of the grossest insult.

We have sometimes listened to a loud and
earnest address on the subject of religion, and it pro-
fessed itself the gospel, in which the character of
the true God was industriously concealed. Men
may speak of God, and with much engagedness ,'
his adorable names may swell every clause, and
round every period, and the whole be uttered with

a decent and well-bred softness ; and one may sup-
pose himself religiously employed, in hearing the
true gospel, and be charmed with the changes rung
upon the names he has been accustomed to adore ;
and still the god proclaimed may not be the blessed
Jehovah. There may be a view^ exhibited that does
not belong to the Creator, but to some imaginary
god created for the occasion.

The text would furnish several topics of remark,
but I intend to confine myself to one, To expose
some of the false vieivs of God, which are not iinfre-
quently presented us under the appellation of the
gospel ; and thus illustrate the character of that on-
ly true God whom to know is eternal life.

I. There is sometimes an extolling of all the
more clement attributes of God, as some have pre-
sumptuously distinguished, while the severer attri-
butes are unnoticed. The design of these declaim-
ers seems to be, that our attention be fixed exclu-
sively upon what, in their estimation, is soft and
mild and Jovelyin God, while his holiness, his justice
and his truth ; — all in him that can go to make a
sinner afraid, or beget conviction and repentance, is
industriously concealed. God's compassion for our
lost and miserable world, his patience, his endur-
ance, his long-suffering, his promptness to pardon,
and total aversion to destroy ; — all those features of
the divine mind, that can sooth alarm, are early
and industriously developed, as if embracing the

whole of God that he himself loves, or man is re-
quired to worship and adore ; while the other parts
of the divine image are obscured, as one would hide
the scars and excressences that have fortuitously
covered more than half his visage. Thus the great
luminary of the moral world must be cast mto a deep
and dark eclipse, that the naked eye of sense may
gaze upon his few remaining glories. It is feared,
we presume, that were the whole character of God
exhibited, sinners would be filled with disgust, and
be driven from the bosom of their Sovereign. He
must not adhere to the principles of that law he has
promulgated, nor care to vindicate himself from the
aspersions that sinners have cast upon his character
and his government. He must not resolve that
mercy and truth meet together ; and that righteous-
ness and peace kiss each other. He must cast a
smile \ipon the prodigal, ere he shall turn his face
or his feet toward his father's house. Thus must
the holy and righteous God, before whom devils trem-
ble, melt down into the weak and pitiful parent, or
not one of his a-^ostate family shall come back to his
bosom and his service. — So men would judge.

But God seems to have had other views, and has re-
vealed his whole character, fearless of the predicted
consequences. If there was any danger from a full ex-
posure of his character, why did he not hold himself
concealed, or throw into the shade, as men would
do for him, those parts of his character that must
give offence. If that be good policy which I am

venturing to expose, God could have directed that
neither the works of creation, nor the bible, should
have told us the vrhole truth respecting himself.
He might have suppressed the history of that revolt
in heaven, and its results, and told us nothing of
hell and the judgment, nor named in his book those
attributes that throw around him such an atmos-
phere of darkness and terror. He need not have
given us, if he had so pleased, the stories of the del-
uge, and of Sodom, and of Korah and his company.
But God has exposed the whole truth, and that in
the very book which he has directed should be our
daily companion.

If the scheme I oppose be true, I know not how
to account for such a bible as God has put into our
hands, just calculated to betray a secret that should
not have been divulged for worlds. If there belong
to God any attributes that were not intended to be
made known to sinners till they are reconciled to
him ; if they cannot safely be told that he is angry with
the wicked every day, has appointed a time and
place of judgment, and prepared a ^eep and dark
perdition for the condemned : if th^y are to be urged
to come to him, expecting to lind him all mercy ;
then by what alarming oversight have we resolved
to put the bible into the hands of sinners ? Must the
parental character of God so dazzle and fill the eye, as
to eclipse the Sovereign, and the Judge, the Abettor
of truth, and the Avenger of wrong and of outrage ?
And must we never know the whole character of

God, till we have to deal with him in the judgment ?
Can we be sure that the prodigal, after he has been
thus decoyed home to his father's house,will be pleas-
ed with his father ? Had he not better know, while
away in his land of exile, exactly the father he
must meet, and the father he must love, and stay
there till this character is approved ?

I know not where in the whole bible we are au-
thorised, to elevate one attribute of God above anoth-
er, and term the one mild and the other severe, I
know not where men have learned, that there are
principles in the divine nature and goverment, that
to be fully known would subvert tAe benevolent de-
sign of the gospel. If God has tKis instructed any of
his ministers, and they act by hi^ authority in deciding
what may and what may nc' be developed to the
world of the ungodly, I ha^e only to say, " To their
own master they stand o^ fall.'^

II. There is perh?f>s some occasion to fear, that
some have gone in to the opposite extreme, and have
presented exclusively the more forbidding attributes
of God, while hh grace and mercy have been in
this case too much concealed. When Jehovah is
exhibited as constituted of entire sovereignty ; as
doing his pleasure in the armies of heaven, and
among the inhabitants of the earth, without the
least regard to the happiness and the salvation of his
creatures ; as casting after the wayward and the
lost, no look of compassionate tenderness ; — can this

be a faithful exhibition of the character of God ?
Should it be said, That God is willing to show his
wrath, and that he has created intelligent beings on
purpose that thej might be the vessels of his wrath ;
and has communicated positive hardness to their
hearts, because they did not render themselves de-
praved enough for his purpose ; and pushed them on
to a character, that would be sufficiently desperate
for some deed of darkness, which he had resolved
they should perpetrate ; — would one gather from all
this the true character of God ? I know that I have
now presented an extreme case, and sincerely hope
that not often, perhaps never, is sovereignty present-
ed quite so bare an* forbidding, and the truth push-
ed to an extremity sl cold and cheerless. The ob-
jection to such presen<itions is, that they do not
exhibit the whole chari^ter of God. He is will-
ing to show his wrath, on^ where his mercy in Je-
sus Christ has been long aid obstinately rejected.
,, He created intelligent beings for his own glory, and
will honour himself in their peVJition, if by rejecting
the Saviour, they count them^^lves unworthy of
eternal life. He has hardened tXeir hearts by the
very dispensations that should have won them to du-
ty and to God ; has sent them strong delusions that
they might believe a lie and be damned, when they
did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unright-
eousness. We must pour into these strong exhibi-
tions of truth, in order to render them the gospel,
and make them useful, the whole character of God.

How can you hope to persuade rebels to submit '
themselves to this bare and appalling sovereignty ?
Why must they become reconciled to their Creator^ ^
before they may even know, that he is a God of
mercy, or has it in his heart to bestow pardons ? An
apostle has said, " If we confess our sins, he is faith-
ful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness.". I am not without my
fears, that on this side of the line of orthodoxy there
has sometimes been presented a character of God,
Rs imperfect, not to say as unsafe, as when only his
clemency is seen* And who can say that God would
not be as unwilling, that one set of his attributes
^should be exclusively presented, as another ? Under
neither have we a full and honest portrait of the only
true God, whom to know is eternal life. While the
one error will lead unregenerate men to presume,
that they love their Maker, so under the other it is
feared, that many true believers may be kept ail their
lifetime subject to bondage through fear of perdition.
The one will make a multitude of happy hypocrites,
while the other will conduct to heaven whole church-
es of trembling, doubting believers. The one will
widen the fold, till the sheep and the goats can
herd together ; the other will contract it till many
of the Iambs must lie without, and be exposed to
storms and beasts of prey ; and finally neither pre-
sents correctly the character of God.

III. We have sometimes presented us a picture
8 .

of warring attributes. Mercy triumphs over justice,
and grace is made victorious over truth and right-
eousness. Under this system, God disapproves the
properties of his own nature, and the principles of his
own government ; and contrives to defeat and nulify
his own decrees. He issued his law, and pronounc-
ed it good, and made in it no provision for pardon,
none he could make ; and when the sinner broke
that law, he passed sentence, and threatened its ex-
ecution. But he is now made to repent of the stern-
ness, and integrity, and purity, that dictated that
law, and uttered that sentence, and threatened its
execution ; and is reresolved, that, come what will of
reproach upon his nanie, and injury to his government
and kingdom, the sinner shall not suffer. He built
a place of torment, and seperated it from heaven
by a bottomless gulf, and made it a dark, and drea-
ry, and desolate abode ; but he has since had better
and milder views ; has decreed that ultimately the
gulf shall become passable, the fires shall go out, and
the worm shall die.

And all this is contrived to save the divine hon-
our. To let God be what he is, and do what he has
said, and carry into execution his own purpose,
would, it is believed, so hurt his reputation w ith the
population of the apostacy, that any thing, that can
be, must be done to save it. There must rather be
suspicion cast over the whole record that would ex-
hibit God as so inflexibly holy, and reproach poured
in upon the bigoted multitude that would so rigidly
explain the word. The book of God, plain as it is.

may rather mean nothing, and John record falsely,
and Paul reason inconclusively, than to blot so foul-
ly and fatally the divine reputation.

To complete the picture, -the Son of God is de-
spatched from heaven to take the part of sinners, and
shield them from the sword of a devouring justice.
He saw, it seems, that the execution of the law
would ruin the credit of the court of heaven which
gave sentence, and hasted down to counteract the
decree. What was stern, and unbending, and cruel
in the Father, has been softened down in the Son.
He covers the rebel with his hand, smiles on him,
wipes away his tears, and prays him to forgive a
father's unjust severity. His errand was to stay
the rod of justice. He makes no atonement, none
is necessary, asks no change of heart in the culprit,
but a mere reform, as the condition of pardon and
life.

Thus has the character of God been so exhibited,
as to involve heaven in a quarrel, and place the per-
sons of the Godhead at issue, on the question, wheth-
er the honours of the broken law deserve to be re-
paired, or its Author shall sink into universal disre-
spect ? What in the mean time shall happen to the
divine government in heaven, and in all the worlds
that have continued loyal, and have had hither-
to the utmost confidence in the unchangeably wise
and holy God ? O, I feel that the ground on which
I stand is holy ! Will God forgive me, if in attempt-
ing to vindicate his honour, I have drawn near to
him without being duly sanctified.

I know that men who have resolved to go on in
sin, who have long been offended at the purity and
extent of the law, and would not care if all the rights
of the Godhead were trampled upon, find it very con-
venient to have the character of God thus brought
down to their taste and their temper. They will
support and will love a gospel, that will thus make
God altogether such an one as themselves. Give
them a gospel like this, and in half a century there
will not be an avowed infidel on the whole face of
the earth. Gladly would they be rid of the re-
proach of infidelity, could they have a gospel that
would promise them a salvation equally cheap and
convenient.

If God will give out his w ord, and then break
it ; will make a law, and when men have fallen un-
der its curse, repeal it ; will join the rebel in hating
his own attributes ; w ill issue an edict, and then a
counter edict by which the first is nutralized ; this
is all exactly as they would have it. God is invest-
ed with all the human weaknesses. So Ahasuerus
would make a decree, assigning to death all his
Jewish subjects, and then enact another, directing
them to arm themselves for their own defence, and
thus his decree comes to the ground. But how
will God be affected by these inroads made upon
his name and his glory ? Will he suffer his character
to be tampered with, and finally to be thus frittered
down to the taste and the convenience of a polish-
ed, and proud, and worldly, and time-serving genera--

tion ? Will it still be eternal life to know him, al-
tered thus, till not an angel in heaven would know
him ? altered till all that devils disapproved, and all
that believers loved, is gone ?

Let me now ask the advocates of all these
schemes, what they gain ? Why not be willing, that
the blessed God be exhibited to the minds of men,
in the very character that he gives himself. Let him
be what he declared himself to be, on that occasion
when it was his special object to make himself
known : " The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and
gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness
and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving
iniquity, and transgression, and sin, and that will by
no means clear the guilty ; visiting the iniquity of
the fathers upon the children, and upon the chil-
dren's children, unto the third and to the fourth gen-
erations. " Here we have, (if I may still use terms
which it grieves me to use,) the milder and the seve-
rer attributes of God. In this very character we
must deal with him at last, the same that he was
when he spoke to Moses from the cloud. Let
there be a perfect balance among his attributes.
Let him be neither too merciful to be just, nor too
"just to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from
all unrighteousness ; " not too compassionate to be
holy, nor too holy to smile again upon the rebel,
who has fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set
before him in the gospel ; not too gracious to be
true, nor so the friend of truth as not to reverse the

. 46.

sentence of death, when the condemned have repent-
ed and believed. God can have no darlmg attri-
bute that shall eclipse the other portions of his char-
acter ; can issue no clashing edicts ; and did not
S€nd his Son to sooth, and flatter, and defend the
rebel, whom his justice condemned, leaving him still
in all his stubbornness and his pride.

Why this zeal to create confusion in the coun-
sels of the Godhead, and sunder the attributes that
cluster in Jehovah ? Simply to gratify men who can-
not be pleased with God as he is. But \yould they
be pleased with God were his character altered ?
They could not love an unjust God, unless indeed
he would pledge himself never to treat them unjust-
ly. And on ceasing to be a God of truth, he could
iiot give that pledge. The sinner will reason,
When God shall cease to be offended with me for
wronging my neighbour^ he will not be offended
with my neighbour for injuring me. If / may
hurt another, and escape with impunity, my op-
pression escapes also. If / may pray upon the
contents of his purse, and trample upon his
rights, and sport with his enjoyments; then is there
a world let loose, to trifle with my interest, and
make inroads upon my rights, and blasts my com-
forts.

Thus is there spread a ruin as w ide as the
whole creation of God . Angels lose their confi-
dence in him, and all heaven is made unhappy,
while the despair of the pit is changed for the hope

of impunity . We assert then, that not the grossest
infidelity , nor even atheism , holds out a prospect
more dreary, than a gospel, that thus libels the char-
acter of Jehovah, and, by one grand mistake, sun-
ders the whole of this alienated world forever, from
the authority, and the rule, and the inspection, of
an intrusive and disgustful divinity.

And when the error is on the opposite ex-
treme, and the mercy of God is obscured, though a
different motive may have led to this exhibition, and
a different result may follow, still is that motive a
mistaken one, and that result unhappy. God has
not directed his ministers to keep the minds of his
people filled with one or two selected attributes of
his nature, but would have his whole character de-
veloped. Some may be deterred from embracing
religion, from the impression that they must love a
God whose character is cold, calculating, severe,
and vindictive. And if sanctified under such a gos-
pel, it is doubtful whether their religion will not be,
either gloomy and desponding, or coldly doctrinal
and polemic.

The character of God will not be found at last
to have shaped itself to our mistaken views of him ;
but will be, when we come to deal with him in the
judgment, what it always was. The attributes and
the glories that may now be Obscured, eclipsed or
nutralized, will all be there to cluster and harmon-
ize in the burning glories of the Godhead on the day
of retribution. A God will then meet us as holy.

and just, and true, as the law, and the lightnings of
Sinai would make him ; and still as merciful, and
gracious, and long-suffering, as Pisgah, and Tabor,
and Calvary have declared him. He will confess
himself in that day the Author of all the anathemas
and all the promises of inspiration. Time will not
have altered his character, nor the exigencies of
betrayed and ruined souls moved him from a single
purpose. There will gather in his brow all the
majesty that makes devils afraid, and all the sweet-
ness that makes angels glad ; the one will look the
lost into despair, and the combined glories of the
whole, look the saved into ecstasy. Then will be
felt the full import of the text ; the only true God
will be known, and to know him will be eternal
life.

REMiLXlKS.

I have three reasons to offer for thinking this
subject of great importance.

1. Men will have a moral character according
with their vieivs of God, As the truth sanctifies, just
so surely does error contaminate, and no truths or
errors so assuredly as those that relate to God.
They invariably pour their influence through our
whole creed, and touch every spring of action.
Hence if men think rightly of God, I cannot but
hope that the truth will one day sanctify them ; but if
otherwise I have fearful apprehensions of their ruin.

The basest of men act from principle, though from bad
principle. They are profane, and false, and lewd,
and dishonest, because some false views of God have
begotten in them the hope of impunity. From a
loose ministry, or vicious parentage, or vile associate,
they have imbibed the principles that go to mould
their deeds and their habits into the image of death.
You may pass down if you please through all the
ranks of immorality, from the young man in the gos-
pel, who loved the world more than Christ, to the
abandoned outlaw, and you will find as many differ-
ent shades in their faith, as in the turpitude of their
deeds. And every unregenerate man stands prepar-
ed to have his faith corrupted. He loves darkness
rather than light, because his deeds are evil. He is
on the watch, to hear something said of God, that
may assist him in loosening the bonds of moral obli-
gation. Hence many a youth has issued from the
house of prayer, modest, civil, and decent, fearing
nn oath, respecting the sabbath, doing ho'mage to
religion, and giving high promise of future worth and
usefulness ; but some wretch corrupted his views of
God, and immediately he cast off restraint, and went
out to scatter through society fire-brands, arrows and
death. Hence if we regard the eternal life of our
children, and the youth in our streets, we shall fur-
nish them a gospel, and a library, and give them that
instruction, which will lead them to a correct know-
ledge of God.

2. Believers ivill have a religions character ac-
cording with their views of God, Nothing has been
more obvious in the history of man, than the confor-
mity of his religious character, to that of the God he
believed in and worshiped. Pass through the terri-
tories of paganism, and, such as you find their gods,
such are their worshippers. Are they fierce, and jeal-
ous, and lewd, and bloody, or mild and placable,
such invariably are their devotees. And as you
come up through the lower grades of nominal christ-
ians, ask them their views of God, and their answer
will give you substantially the purity of their relig-
ious character. God is our highest object of respect
and of imitation, and to be like him, the highest ob-
ject of holy aspiration. Hence if in our esteem, his
character is more or less pure and lovely, such we
shall wish our own to be. He who sees in God no
attribute but mercy, and never thinks of him but as
R father, will be less likely to hate sin, and less care-
ful to be holy, than the man who thinks of God as
a sovereign, and 3. judge, as well as a. father.

And the case will be similar as to enjoyment.
No false views of God will render us as happy as
correct views. If we see only the mild and merci-
ful traits of the divine character, we may have joy,
but it will not be solid and lasting. And if we look
at God merely in the attitude of sovereignty, and
may never call him our Father, or see his mercy
commingled with his terrors, we shall be forever
in bondage. There are no doubt many on their way

to heaven, who are so injured bj their creed, as sel-
dom to pray any other but the prayer of the condem-
ned and the lost. They are serious and watchful
christians, but never hopeful, and never happy : joint
heirs with Christ, yet never venturing to say, Abba
Father!

Nor will christians who have partial views of
God be useful. It is when he appears in all his glo-
ries, attracting sinners to himself by the full view
of his attributes, and mingling mercy with judgment,
reigns to make his creatures happy, that we feel our
souls inspired to be workers together with him in ex-
tending his dominions. It is then that it seems to
us a grief and a pity, that there should be any heart
alienated from him, any hands that do not labour in
his service, or tongue that does not speak his praise.
Not the sovereignty of God alone, nor his mercy alone,
can make the most useful man. The one holds
back the inspiring influence of joy and hope, the
other begets a religion that will all evaporate in
songs and hosannas. Angels are inspired, by seeing
the whole of God ; and men will be more or less like
angels, as "The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
Father of glory, shall give unto them the spirit of
wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of himself."
Then it is that we feel it to be a reasonable ser-
vice, that we present our bodies and our souls to him,
a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable.

3. Society at large ivill shape its moral aspect

■ 62

from the prevailing views of God, As fraud and
falsehood and blood invariably follow the track of
idolatry, and the dark places of the earth are thus fill-
ed with the habitations of cruelty ; so in the different
parts of Christendom, you may gather the prevailing
notions of God from the morals of the community.
Survey the darker territories of the Catholic com-
munion, and tell me if, in rapine and murder, their
population is removed more than a single shade
from the dreariness and desolations of paganism.
Where in Christendom is life and property least se-
cure, where are daily assassinations, where the
whole population prepared for any deed of darkness
and cruelty ; but where there is least prevalent, a
correct knowledge of God. And let any of the bet-
ter territories of Christendom become apostate in
their views of God, and how soon w ill vice spring up,
the public morals be changed, the sabbath be lost,
the theatre thronged, and dress and vanity fill the
place of sobriety and prayer ! How soon will the
true followers of Christ be persecuted, and family
devotion, and christian watchfulness, and all the re-
tiring virtues of holier times disappear !

Thus you have my reasons for thinking this sub-
ject important. For these, and others that could be
offered, I would watch the public creed relative to the
character of God, more tenaciously than at any other
point. It is the fortress I would starve in defend-
ing, the strong hold into which I would fly with my

children, and feel myself, and teach them to feel,
that it is the only safe place to die,

Will the blessed God make me far better ac-
quainted with his character, and never subject me
to the awful temptation, of thinking it a light thing
to either overlook, or give paramount importance,
to any one of the glorious attributes of his nature.
Will he cause his name to be known in all lands, and
make his praise glorious, wherever there are beings
capable of doing him honour.

UNREGENERATE MEN WITHOUT
HOLINESS.

ROMANS III. 18-
'* There is no fear of God before their eyes.''''

The text gives us man's native character. Such
he is till the Spirit of God has sanctified him. The
criticism that would apply this whole passage, to the
people only who lived before the flood, or to a very
few of the baser sort of sinners, is a contrivance of
infidelity, and is extensively employed, in the pre-
sent day, to betray and ruin souls. The man who is
willing to shape his creed by the divine record, is en-
tirely satisfied, when he reads the passages in the Old
Testament which are here quoted; but when he
finds them referred to, by an inspired apostle, and by
him applied to the vv^hole human family, Jews and
Gentiles, no shadow of doubt remains. He is now
content to lie down under tue humiliating charge
they bring, and is ashamed and confounded before
the great Searcher of hearts. Ee who has become
a new creature will consent, that " God be true,
though every man a liar."

The fear of the Lord is a gracious affection, be-

longing not to the slave but to the son, and is the
genuine fruit of a new heart, the beginning of wis-
dom. Hence where this affection is not, there are
no gracious affections. And if this be true, and the
text applies to all men in their unsanctified state,
then it plainly teaches us, that In unregenerate men
there is no moral excellence.

My object at this time will be, not so much to
prove the doctrine, as to account for its having been
controverted, and offer some reasons for esteeming
it a highly important doctrine.

I. Many have mistaken the native character of
man, from having seen him capable of affections and
deeds that are praise worthy. It is not man's pre-
rogative to judge the heart ; hence if the tendency
of an action is to that which is good, it is imputed to
the very motive that ought to have produced it. If
the deed has a fair exterior, it is considered ungener-
ous not to impute it to correct principle. Men
judge however, on the maxim, that what is highly
esteemed among men, cannot be abomination in the
sight of God. Hence they dress up human nature
in garbs of innocence ; and conceive it impossible
that there should be, under so much that is fair in
conduct, an evil heart of unbelief.

They find men capable of kind, and generous,
and honourable sentiments. They can be true, and
trusty, and faithful, and affectionate ; and they tri-
umphantly ask, How can all this be when there is

ho love of God in the heart ? Tliey see discharged,
and sometimes quite honourablj^the offices of parent,
husband, brother and child, and all the other domes-
tic and social relations, and impute it all, though to
be accounted for on other principles, to native moral
excellence. Hence they are precipitated into a
controversy with that plain and humbling testimony
of heaven, that " The carnal mind is enmity against
God, is not subject to his law nor indeed can be."

Why will not men believe, what the scriptures
so plainly teach, that the heart is deceitful above all
things and desperately wicked, and from this truth
infer, that very different motives may lead to the
same deeds. We often see that an amiable dis-
position, a tameness and mildness, such as distin-
guish the lamb from the wolf, and the vulture from
the dove ; and that results in the exercise of many
an amiable affection, and the doing of many a kind
action; may consist with the practice of sin, the
habit of a daily violation of the divine law, a prompt
rejection of all the overtures of the gospel, and an
inveterate disgust for the duties of a cordial and se-
cret piety. We have recognized, where there was
all the instinctive amiableness that is ever claimed,
the existence of a polished and fashionable infidelity ;
have marked offence taken, at the distinguishing
doctrines of revelation, at the scruples of a well dis-
ciplined conscience, at the frequency and fervency
of devotional exercises, and the elevated views and
affections of the revived and happy believers. vStill

there were high pretensions to kindness, rectitude,
generosity, and even piety. There was not a con-
sciousness of the deep-rooted enmity of the heart to
whatever is holy and heavenly. Men have wept
under the sound of the gospel, and seemed the veri-
est converts to the truths under discussion, the af-
fections enforced, and the duties urged, and ere they
have passed the threshold of the sanctuary, have
vented their spleen against the man, who reached
their sensibilities, and drew from them in an un-
guarded hour, their reluctant testimony to the gos-
pel he announced.

We do not deny, that there has been seen ill
men, not sanctified, much that it would be disgrace-
ful not to admire, and envious not to praise, and
evil not to imitate; and still we may have had indu-
bitable evidence, that in the very same bosom there
beat a heart hostile to God, and holiness, and
heaven. Not certainly will God, who compares the
temper of the heart with his law, approve always
the very deeds that men have praised, or the men
who may have stood immeasurably high in human
estimation.

On this point the truth must not be concealed*
We cannot say to sinners, that if they please man,
God will assuredly be pleased ; that if they speak
kindly to man, and do deeds of mercy to him, the
Eternal will say, " Ye have done it unto me."
Their is no such assurance given in the record. And
the time, or rather the eternity^ wiU be h^re so soon.
8

when their whole character must be known, w^hen
they must stand before the omniscient God, and all
their heart be opened, and their whole life be read ;
that to deceive them, and cry peace, peace, when
there is no peace, would be cruel as death.

Their is neither the necessity nor the wish to
deny, that unsanctified men have exhibited many nat-
ural exellencies of character. On this point I know
not that there will be at last any controversy be-
tweeen God and them. Our Saviour looked at the
young man in the gospel, and loved him, while yet
he was unquestionably in the gall of bitterness, and
in the bonds of iniquity. We yield them traits of
character that are amiable, and useful and endearing,
and wish most sincerely that their need be no re-
serve in our praise. But while they have been kind,
and neighbourly, and pitiful, and even generous to
their fellows, they have robbed God. They have
wept at the tale of distress, and hasted to succour
the perishing, and bled in sympathy over the dis-
eased and the dying, but have never shed a tear
at the cross. They have believed man, and confid-
ed in him, and spoken truth to him, and have well
earned his confidence and affection, but they have
practically made God a liar. They have never ful-
ly credited either his threatenings or his promises,
nor thought it necessary to take sanctuary in his Son.
There has not been a moment in their whole life,
take the time when their conscience was the most
tender, and their sensibilities the most awakened,

^nd their deportment the most religous, and then-
hopes of heaven the most profound ; when some
other object. beside God, had not the high and dis-
tinct ascendency in their affections. While they
could treat men mildly, and be rebuked without
wrath, and even endure divine Judgments without
the appearance of rebellion ; they could still brow-
beat all the anathemas of the law, and parry every
thurst of the gospel, and live on, without reflection,
and without prayer, and without repentance, and
without God in the world. They still cared not for
all the melting entreaties of divine mercy. God was
not in all their thoughts, nor his religion in their lips,
nor his throne in their hearts, nor his will controlled
them ; while as the friends of the poor, the patrons
of moral virtue, and the benefactor of the world,
they were illustrious, and were promised in human
eulogy a luminous and happy immortality.

Thus has the human character, all deformity as God
views it, been exhibited as sound and good. Distinc-
tions have not always been made, between what is
nature^ and what is grace ; what is mere instinct^ and
what is holiness. The multitudes of the ungodly have
been blessed and dismissed, doubting whether their
character was at all deficient, or they needed to be
born again ; and high in the hope that a slight reform,
and a little care, would soon prepare them to stand ac-
cepted of God. Even men who have worn noted
marks of the apostacy, the covetous, the proud, the
vain, and the worldly, have retired with a smile, to

enjoy their good opinion of themselves, and feed qui-
etly, and sleep sweetly, while the wrath of God
abode upon them. They have gone to their farms
and their merchandize, to love and pursue supreme-
ly the cares of the life that now is, or bury them-
selves in scenes of dissipation and folly, not suspect-
ing but that all was well, and all safe, till either
the Spirit of God awakened them, or they sunk to a
hopeless perdition : or they live still, and are filling
up the measure of their iniquity, and are prepar-
ing for a deeper despair, than if they had perished
far sooner. And they must thus perish it seems be-
cause they are amiable, while publicans and harlots,
who have no such virtues to screen them from con-
viction, believe in the Saviour, and live forever !

II. Men have been led to controvert this doctrine
because they are not conscious of the ivrong motives
by tvhich they are actuated. Through the workings
of a deceitful heart, ignorance of the scriptures, and
sometimes by the aid of a heterodox ministry, men
have totally mistaken their whole moral character.
They are rich and increased in goods, and have need
of nothing ; and know not that they are wretched,
and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.
What the prophet says of the idol-maker, is more or
less true of all unregenerate men in all ages, " A de-
ceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot
deliver his soul, nor say. Is there not a lie in my
light hand ?" Hazael could not believe that he de-^

served the character which the prophet gave him.
" Is thy servant a dog that he should do this great
thing ?" And Jehu, when he cut off the house of
Ahab, and destroyed the worshipers of Baal, would
have felt himself abused, to be told that he was ac-
tuated by the love of praise. When the rulers of
the Jews were charged with murdering the Lord of
life and glory, though they had done this very deed,
thought Peter a slanderer, in his attempt to bring
this blood upon them. So Saul of Tarsus supposed
that he was doing God service, while persecuting to
death the disciples of the Lord Jesus. Thus may
men act from the very worst of motives, and yet
suppose them the very best. They do not consider
it important to know what their designs are, and
have not that familiarity with their hearts that
would render it easy to discover. And thus they
are led to controvert the truth, and quarrel with
God, his word, and his ministers, who all give them
the very character they have.

III. The doctrine of the text is often contro-
verted to support schemes ivith which this sentiment
ivould not compare. The sinner's entire depravity,
is a fundamental doctrine, on which there can be
built only one, and that the gospel system. Make
this doctrine true, and it sweeps away, as with the
besom of destruction, every creed but one from the
face of the world. It settles the question, that God
jnay righteously execute his law upon all unregener-

ate men ; that " by the deeds of the law there shall
no flesh be justified ;" that the doings of unregen-
erate men are unholj ; that even repentance will
not take away the curse that has lit, and must
Fest, upon the man who has not continued in all
the things written in the book of the law to do
them ; that an atonement, such as God has provid-
ed, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ
once for all, is the only medium through which we
can purge our consciences from dead works to serve
the living God. It further decides the question,
that men will not seek after God ; that he must be
found of them that sought him not, must give re-
pentance unto life, must take away the heart of
stone and give a heart of flesh ; that in the regener-
ate he must work, to will and to do of his own good
pleasure ; and finall}^, that he must be an Almighty
Saviour, who could redeem beings so lost, and put
them back again into the favour of a justly offended
God.

Thus it is only one scheme of truths that this doc-
trine will support ; the faith once delivered to the
saints. If men depart from the truth, as we are told
they shall in these last days, giving heed to seducing
spirits and doctrines of devils, they must thus come
into close and comfortless contact with a doctrine,
which if true, gives the lie to all their false and de-
lusive schemes. Hence we wonder not that " the foe
of God and man, issuing from his dark den," has
here displayed, in every age of Zions conflict, his

mightiest chieftainship. Here must be the edge of
battle, in every conflict between the gospel, and the
systems invented by men ; between the friends and
the foes of truth. This is the fortress that has been
taken and retaken ten thousand times, w here has
been tried the prowess of God's people, and his ene-
mies ; where has been displayed the power of God,
and been put to the test the endurance of his elect,
in all the ages that have gone by.

IV. This doctrine has been controverted through
the pride of the human heart. Depravity is a most
degrading doctrine, and entire depravity intollerable,
till the heart has been humbled by the grace of God.
There is in apostate men great pride of character.
We would all be considered friendly to what is good
and great, and such is God, even in the profession
of the most depraved ; such is his law, and such is
his government. With the promptness, with which
we fly the touch of fire, does pride resist imputa-
tion. Hence enquires the unregenerate man. Would
you deny me the credit of loving my Creator, Pre-
server and Benefactor ? Do I never obey his law, or
do a deed from motives that please him ? And is
there, among my noblest actions of kindness to men,
nothing that amounts to love ? In my gladness for
the good things that God bestows, is there not a
shred of gratitude ? in my admiration of his perfec-
tions, and his works, no love ? in my belief of his
word, no faith ? in my expectation of heaven, no

hope ? in my sorrow for sin, no repentence ? in mj
endurance of adverse events, no submission ? and in
my gentleness and condescension, no humility ? Are
my prayers sin, and my sacrifices abomination ? Do
I thus, on all occasions, break the Jirst and great
commandment of the law ? and on all occasions the
second also ? In all my noble generosity, is there no
benevolence ? in my soft deportment, no meekness ?
and in my tears for the miserable, no pious sympa-
thy ? Must every deed I do have the same moral
deformity ? and God hate me, and his law condemn
me, when I follow the kindest dictates of that na-'
ture he has given me ?

Thus men feel, that if this doctrine be true, it
goes to defame and ruin their character. It makes
them go astray soon as they are born, speaking lies.
It makes their righteousness as filthy rags. When
they have washed themselves in snow-water, and
made their hands never so clean ; this doctrine,
with ruthless hand, plunges them in the ditch, and
their own clothes abhor them. When they indus-
triously provide for their household, they are accus-
ed of loving the world, while the love of the Father
is not in them. When they would go to the sanc-
tuary, and pay their vows, there they hear from
heaven, *' What hast thou to do to declare my stat-
utes, or that thou shouldst take my covenant in
thy mouth ?

Thus, at every point, this doctrine comes in, to
mar their reputation, and make them hypocrites,

and cover them with shame and blushing. Hence
the Jehovah, who will give men this character, may
reign in other hearts ; and the bible, that will teach
this doctrine, may lie neglected ; and the ministry
that will publish it, may starve ; and the cringing
multitude, who will believe it, may herd together,
and together sink into the contempt they covet.
Thus God is treated, and thus his word, and thus
his ministers, and thus his people, because they
maintain a doctrine, the sinner's disgust at which,
establishes beyond the possibility of doubt, or the
danger of mistake. It so degrades the characters
of men, that they will not believe it, if they perish
contradicting it.

I could offer other reasons, why this doctrine b^.s
been so frequently assailed, but shall proceed to offer
some reasons for esteeming it a very important doc*
trine.

1 . The fact, that it is plainly revealed^ testifies
to its importance. God would not have cumber-
ed his word with a doctrine of no value. If we find
it there, who will venture to deny its importance ?
and if not there, how does it happen, that those are
its warmest advocates, who are most familiar with
the bible, and most ready to regard its dictates ?
The context contains a very dark review of man's
native character : and it would be infidelity to sup-
pose it too highly coloured. "There is none righetous,
no, not one : There is none that understandeth,
9

there is none that seeketh after God. They are
all gone out of the way, they are together become
unprofitable ; there is none that doeth good, no, not
one. Their throat is an open sepulchre ; with their
tongues they have used deceit ; the poison of asps
is under their lips : Whose mouth is full of cursing
and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood.
Destruction and misery are in their ways : And the
way of peace have they not known. There is no fear
of God before their eyes." Now we fearlessly assert,
that this is given as the native character of Jews
and Gentiles, by one whom the Holy Ghost inspir-
ed, and who could not mistake the truth. Believe the
last clause only, and tell me if in men, who have ''no
fear of God before their eyes," there is any holiness ?
"The carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not
subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be."
Here again christian honesty will read the same doc-
trine. And the same in this text, "The heart of the
sons of men is full of evil." And in this, "the heart is
deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked."
And that none may escape, it reads ; " As in water
face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man :"
And thus the uniform testimony of scripture. There
would be no end in quoting the scriptures on this
important point, till I had refered you to almost the
whole bible. And a doctrine about which God will
say so much, must be in his estimation, and should
be in ours, of high importance.

2. The doctrine of the text is esteemed impor-
tant, as it is one of the first truths, used by the Spirit of
God, in mvakening and sanctifying sinners. Till men
see their depravity, they will not approve of the law
that condemns them. They will be wondering, if in-
deed they think at all, why God threatens them, and
be blaming the law as too rigid in its requirements,
and cruel in its penalties. Now there is no hope of
a sinner, while he stands in this posture ; and noth-
ing will move him from it, but a conviction of his
lost and ruined state. Hide from him the character
of his heart, and you seal him up to everlasting stu-
pidity. You can arouse him to no apprehensions of
danger, for under the government of a good God none
are in danger but sinners. And there will of course
be no repentance. A thoughtless sinner sees noth-
ing to repent of, nor any reason why he should re-
pent, and the man who knows nothing of his heart
will not be thoughtful. The commandment never
comes home to his conscience. If he has hopes of
heaven, it will be on the ground of his own self-
righteousness. Thus the Saviour will be to him as a
root out of a dry ground, without form or comeliness,
and the work of grace can never be begun. Thus
is the sinner, who is kept ignorant of his heart, seal-
ed up to the judgment, and goes on as the ox to the
slaughter, and the fool to the correction of the stocks.
The spirit of God will sanctify only through the
truth, and the entire depravity of the heart is a first
truth, without a knowledge of which no sinner was
ever yet fitted for the kingdom of God.

A gospel then, if we must so call it, that hides
from men the deformity of their moral character,
betrays and ruins them. It says to the wicked, that
it shall be well with them, and thus cradles their
fears to sleep, till their period of mercy is past ; and
proves ultimately the greatest calamity that can befal
them. It closes upon them the portals of eternal
life, and keeps them dreaming, and fearless, till they
open their eyes in hell. But when they at last make
the discovery, perhaps on the bed of death, or it may
be not till life has gone out, how will they execrate
the recollection of such a gospel. It will come up to
mind as does the tempest, that w recked all their
hopes upon the relentless reaf ; or the fire that forc-
ed them to make a midnight retreat from the place
that had been long their safe and happy home.

The ministers of Christ would love to preach a
smoother gospel, if men could only be safe under it.
It w^ould be pleasant to have to do only with the in-
vitations, and the promises, and the hoj)es of the gos-
pel. They had far rather remind the believer of
the joys to come, than to admonish the unbeliever of
the judgment, the outer darkness, and the gnawing
worm. They could have far more pleasure in des-
cribing the graces of the Spirit, than in portraying
the deformities of the unsanctified heart.

But the grand object of the gospel ministry is to
save souls, and this object is not gained, unless men
are taught, as the very first lesson of that ministry,
that they are lost. Hence to suppress this truth,

would be to nutralize at once the whole effect of
this ministry. Whatever we may wish, we can be
the ministers of the Lord Jesus Christ to a ruined
world, but on this one condition, that the alienation
of our world from God, hold the place of di first truth
in every effort of our ministry. The gospel has ab-
solutely no meaning, and can be of no use, but to
the lost and tl\e condemned,

3. The doctrine of the text is esteemed impor-
tant, as it lies at the foundation of the whole gospel
scheme. The Lord Jesus Christ came into our
world, to seek and to save them that are lost^ and
the whole plan of salvation is so interwoven with
this fact, as to be unintelligible without it. What
means the covenant of redemption, but in connexion
with the fact that we are captives and slaves, and
need to be redeemed ? What is there intelligible in
the atonement, but that we owe ten thousand tal-
ents, and have nothing to pay ? why urged to re-
pent, but that we are in love with sin, and must
otherwise perish ? why believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, but that we need a better righteousness than
our own to shelter us from the wrath to come ? why
make to ourselves a new heart ,but that we have by
nature evil hearts of unbelief, inclining us to depart
from the living God ?

And let me ask, why all the threatenings of the
gospel, but that it was written for the use of a dis-
obedient and gainsaying people ? why on every page

does there meet us some anathema, but that it Was
intended for those who love not our Lord Jesus
Christ ? why has death passed upon all men, but
that all have sinned ? why a judgment, and a place
of torment, but that those who have carried their
entire depravity with them into the coming world,
may be distinguished, and may go to their own
place.

Finally it is matter of doubt whether an honest
man, acquainted with the bible, and willing to col-
lect his creed from it, will find it possible to exclude
the doctrine of the text from a fundamental place in
its structure. What doctrine can he preach, if he
denies it ? what precept enforce ? what threatening
announce ? what promise apply ? we need no gos-
pel if this doctrine is not true, and we have none.
" Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die."

Will the gieat God defend his own truth, and
bless every effort for its vindication, and sanctify his
people through its influence, and speedily let it cov-
er the earth as the waters cover the sea. Will he
bring the multitudes of the ungodly to know, that
they are in the gall of bitterness, and in the bonds
of iniquity, and persuade them to fly for refuge, to
lay hold on the hope set before them in the gospeL

THE GOSPEL SUSTAINS THE LAW.

MATTHEW V. 17.

*' ThinJc not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets :
I am not come to destroy, hut to fidJiV

It is then only that the gospel appears in all its
glory ; when it infringes not upon the sacred rights
of the law. One of God's institutions must not
eclipse the glory of another. God did not make
provision for the salvation of men, because he had
become convinced, that he had issued a bad law,
and would thwart its design. The law stood in his
eye as glorious, after men had drawn its curse upon
them, as when it dropt fresh from his lips amid the
smoke of Sinai. When he instituted the law, he
knew that men would break it ; and he affixed its
sanctions, sure that all our race would incur them,
and many endure them. It was not an experiment,
made without a knowledge of the result, but with
the result provided for.

Hence the legal and the gospel dispensations,
are but different parts of the same benevolent sys-
tem ; by which a good Jehovah, would bind to him-
self, and when the bond should be broken, would
recover and restore to his love and favour, beings he

had eternally designed should be happy. And hence
our Lord thus early announced it as his design, not
to abrogate but establish the law. Fixed and stable
as were the ordinances of the heavenly bodies, and
firm the earth he had come to plant his feet upon,
these should all pass away, while not a jot or tittle
of the law should fail.

Accordingly as the Lord Jesus gathered disci-
ples, and freed them of course from the curse of the
law, he still subjected them to it, as a rule of duty.
He transferred, from the Jewish church to his own
family, the very commandments which Moses wrote
on the tables of stone. Not an item did he repeal,
not a precept alter, not a sanction soften. And the
w hole gospel is a broad and lucid exposition of the
law. Hence it is now as much the fact as ever,
that, " Cursed is every one, that continueth not in
the things written in the book of the law, to do
them." I shall state, in a few words, the error I
would oppose, and which, as- it seems to me, is in
direct opposition to sound reason, and the whole
bible ; and then proceed to illustrate the doctrine of
the text, that The gospel ivas not intended to sup-
plant, but does sustain the law.

I. State the error. The scheme is, that men by
the fall, if not disabled, have become so averse to
the law, that a perfect obedience is impossible ; and
that God will now except of an obedience that is
sincere. If men will obey the law, as well as they

are able with their carnal mind, the temper which,
without their fault, they inherited from their first
parents, God will accept them ; and wherein their
obedience fails, the merits of Christ will be substi-
tuted. By this scheme, the death of Christ removes
the curse of the law, from all men, soon as it lights
upon them : for all do render to the law, the best
obedience they are disposed to, and of course are
safe, if they should live and die without repentance.
It must be seen in a moment, that, if to whatever
extent men are umvilling to obey, they are unable,
then all obedience, but that which is rendered^ is
dispensed with. And 7ione is rendered ; for a kind
of sincerity, consistent with the most confirmed
hatred of God, and his law, and which, for ought I
see, devils may have as well as men, becomes a sub-
stitute for right affections, and has all the merit of a
perfect obedience. The whole amounts to this ;
God relinquishes his right, to any farther obedience,
than men, totally depraved, are disposed to pay him.
In this scheme an atonement is made necessary, in
order to finish out, and render accepted the obedi-
ence of the sinner.

This scheme, as altered to accommodate it to
modern taste, relinquishes the atonement, and sub-
stitutes repentance. At whatever time in this life,
(and why not in the life to come ?) the sinner shall
be sorry that he has broken the law, and shall prac-
tice some reform, God will promptly forgive him.
v/ithout any reference at all to the scenes of Calvary-
10

He has in his heart so much compassion, and cares
so little, — it amounts to this, — whether the law is
respected or reprobated, that the very first tear of
the offender, washes away all his sins.

These schemes are substantially the same, and
are alike subversive of the law of God. They agree
in casting off this poor world from all allegiance to
its Maker, and virtually render him a God, not
worthy eithe/ of the fear of devils, or the esteem
and confidence of angels.

I have thus stated the error, and have meant to
do it candidly, which seems to me to pour its con-
taminating influence, through all the false systems
of theology, which are at present employed, to in-
jure the church of Christ, and destroy the souls of
men. I proceed

II. To illustrate the doctrine of the text. I shall
arrange my thoughts under six general remarks ;
The^r^^ great commandment of the law, from its
very nature, cannot be repealed ; Nor can the sec-
ond; The spirit of the law and the gospel is the
same ; The gospel is a useless devise, but on the
supposition, that the law is good, and must be sup-
ported ; The gospel, that shall set aside the law,
will defeat its own design ; The gospel is most glo-
rious when the law is fully sustained.

1. The first great comma7idment of the law can-
not be repealed, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy

God with all thy heart." The very nature of this
law decides, that a gospel which would nutralize it,
would be a curse and not a blessing. The Creator
must require his creatures, to consider him the ob-
ject of their supreme regard ; he can ask no less of
devils. This precept is founded on the divine ex-
cellence, and must abide in force, while God shall
continue to be good. And as God is unchangeably
good, this precept must abide for ever. He would
sanction injustice, if he should repeal a law, which
requires, that men render unto God the things that
are God's. An act like this would create alarm in
heaven, and send a premonition of ruin into every
world that has continued loyal.

Moreover an act that should release intelligent
creatures from loving supremely their Creator, would
ruin the very beings thus released. Hence sang the
christian poet ;

" From thee departing, they are lost, and rove
At random, without honour, hope, or peace."

This has ever been, and must continue to be, the
law of hell, of earth, of heaven, and of all other
w^orlds. Nothing that God has made has sufficient
greatness and grandeur, to become our supreme ob-
ject of regard.

" Give what thou canst, without /Aec we are poor;
And with thee rich, take what thou wilt away."

The capacity that God has give us, must be gratifi-
ed, or we are miserable ; and if it be gratified, God
is loved according to the commandment,

Now a gospel that should set aside a law like
this, would prove a miserable expedient for a revolt-
ed world, as it would rob God of his deserved hon-
ours, and man of his highest happiness. How im-
possible that God should have given us such a gos-
pel ! He never has, and never will, unless he could
wish to see us all miserable. To be restored, from
inordinate attachment to the creature, to supreme
love to God, is salvation itself; and how can this be
eifected, by annulling the precept that enjoins this
very change ? And we assert

%*" That ihe second great commandment of th^
law cannot he repealed. ''Thou shalt love thy neigh-
bour, as thyself." This, like the other carries, on
the very face of it, its claim to perpetuity. The fir^
commandment was intended to bind the creation to
its Maker, the second to bind creatures to each oth-
er. Neither of these ligatures can be sundered, and
creatures be happy. To love our fellow men, is to
make them subservient to our enjoyment : for to lovq
is usually adelightful exercise. If God had command-
ed us to hate our neighbour, he had subjected us to
the necessity of disobeying him, or of being lastingly
unhappy. In proof of this position I have only to
refer you to facts. Ask the man of passion, who daily
goes home enraged at some one of his fellow men,
there to study revenge, whether to hate makes
him happy. Or let this audience call to mind some
pf those seasons, when they were enlisted in some

obstinate quarrel, aud when for whole days, and peY-
haps for weeks, passion rested in their bosom, and
tell me if you were not unhappy. Then in com-
manding men to love one another, God has simply
forbidden them to be unhappy ; has given them
leave to be happy.

And the measure of our love, as here given,
what could be more equitable. My neighbour is a
sensitive being like myself, is capable of equal hap-
piness, and that happiness worth as much to him,
as mine to me. Hence God must value his blessed-
ness, as much as mine : and it is my duty to feel as
God does. Hence if God should repeal this law, it
would be consenting that men should do wrong,
have feelings at variance with his, and love happi-
ness simply because it is theirs.

To repeal this law would be to license selfish-
ness, the very passion which has filled this unhappy
world, and kept it full, of misery. If men are not
obligated to love each other as themselves, then is
there no standard by which their aifection can be
measured, and they are at liberty to hate and de-
vour one another. If the gospel has set aside this
law, then all the outrages which men hav€ commit-
ted, one upon another, have been licensed depreda-
tions : for God has disapproved, only of what was a
violation of his law. If he has annulled the precept
that required men to love, he has virtually given
them liberty to hate, and has sanctioned a total dis-
regard of the second great commandment of the law.

But nothing like this is true. The law still makes
on fallen creatures a demand, as large as upon the
first pair in their innocence, and continues to press
its obligation after they are lost. The miseries of
hell would be mitigated, if this law could cease to be
binding. The lost might then hate and torment
each other, without increasing their guilt.

3. The spirit of the Imv, and the gospel, is the
same. The spirit of the law, as we have seen, is
love ; and the same is true of the gospel. In the
inventory given us of the fruits of the Spirit, the
first named is love. This is the bond of union in
heaven, and all who are verging toward heaven, cul-
tivate love, as the fundamental principle of their pi-
ety. When we read, " If any man love the world,
the love of the Father is not in him," we have in
other language, the whole spirit of the first com-
mandment, *' Thou shalt have no other gods before
me." And when we read, " Whatsoever ye would
that men should do to you, do ye even so to them :"
do we not also read, " For this is the law and the
prophets." Here the Lord Jesus Christ himself
identifies the two, as if to settle the point forever,
that he came to expound and enforce the very pre-
cepts of the law of Sinai. And the man must be
grossly ignorant of the New Testament, who does
not recognize it, as the very law of the ten com-
mandments, broken down to the relationships, and
the exigences of human life. In both Testaments

we have the same divine character, the same code
of doctrines, the same christian graces, the same so-
cial duties, and the same pure and holy religion.

When the gospel offers a pardon, to those who
have violated the law, care is taken that the law be
fulfilled and honoured. The law is not censured,
nor the sinner violently wrested from its curse. A
substitute is furnished, on which the curse may
light ; a substitute who had himself perfectly obey-
ed the law, who loved it, held it in high and holy
respect, and died because he would not see it dishon-
oured. Had it been a bad law, hastily conceived,
and imprudently promulgated, Christ would not
have borne its curse. If too severe, he would have
recalled its edicts, and would have mitigated its
sanctions, if cruel. It was his first concern to
secure the honours of the Godhead, and to do this
he must sustain the law ; his second to redeem the
wretch who had broken it, and was condemned.

The Saviour had no more compassion than the
Father ; loved justice, truth, and holiness no less ;
hated ^in as much, and hated the sinner as much,
and was as unwilling as the Father, that a jot or tit-
tle of the law should fail. He did not engross in
himself all the benevolence of the Godhead ; and
was not a partisan with the sinner against the law.
He did not come to make war with the Law-giver,
but w ith sin ; not to vindicate the rights of the con-
demned, and wrest them from the punishment to
which some ancient and cruel decree had exposed

them ; but to cover them with his body and his life,
from the miseries they deserved to endure. Thus
the law and the gospel have both the same spirit,
and press the same design ; to honour God, and
make his creatures happy.

4. The gospel ivas a useless device, but on the
supposition that the law is good, and must be sup-
ported. Nothing can be more absurd than a gospel,
designed to free men from the curse of the law,
while that law is already repealed, and has ceased
to be binding. Hence the Lord Jesus Christ, lest
men should make a mistake on this subject, declar-
ed very early in his ministry, that he came not to
destroy the law, but to fulfil it. Indeed the very
hypothesis on which the gospel is built, is, that
the law is good, its precepts right, and its penalties
binding. If otherwise, the law should have been
Repealed without a Saviour. As soon as it was dis-
covered that the law was not adapted to our cir-
cumstances, was too strict, or too severe ; instead
of subjecting Christ to the pains of the cross, to re-
lieve the culprit, he should have been pardoned
without an atonement. Probably those who deny
an atonement are brought to this erroneous result,
by some indefinite conception, that the law is re-
pealed, to provide the way for man's recovery.

Our reason tells us, that there should have been
no substitution, for those who had broken a bad law,
or a law which for any reasons whatever it was not

wise to sustain. If not wise to execute it, in the
last extremity, upon the offender himself, than as-
suredly, not merely unwise, but monstrous, to pun-
ish the substitute. There should have been pro-
claimed immediately a free and full pardon. There
was the greatest possible cruelty, in the transactions
of the cross, but on the supposition that the law is
too good to be set aside, even if the population of a
world must perish to do it honour.

5. A gospel that shall set aside the law ivill de-
feat its oivn design. Tell the sinner, in the same
message in which you offer him a Saviour, that the
law he has broken, is repealed ; or has come into
disrepute, and its curse less to be feared than former-
ly, and he will answer. Then I have no need of a Sa-
viour. If my Sovereign is convinced, as I long
have been, that the law is too rigid, he will not
punish its violations ; if its penalties are unjust, he
vi^ill not execute them. I reject your offered Re-
deemer, and approach boldly to the throne, to de-
mand my acquital. It is mocking me, to talk of an
atonement, while I have done only right, in opposing
a cruel and oppressive legislation.

Thus the advocates of a gospel, built on the ruins
of the law, soon as they make the secret known,
that the law has perished, furnish the sinner a mo-
tive for rejecting the gospel they offer. Thus they
labour in vain and spend their strength for naught.
They may urge the overtures of their gospel, till
11

they have become grey in the service, and their hear-
ers will remain unchanged and unreformed. The
only consistent course is, to justify w^holly the law,
or offer no Redeemer. We must make man the
diseased, and suffering, and dyin^ creature, that the
book of God describes him to be, or we need offer
him no physician ; must make him blind, or offer
him no eye-salve ; make him guilty and condemn-
ed, or offer him no pardon ; make him polluted, or
offer him no cleansing ; make him an exile, a cap-
tive, and a slave, or offer him no redemption. The
estimation in which we hold the law^ will decide,
whether we shall have any success in offering sinners
the gospel,

6. The gospel is most glorious when the laiv is
fully sustained. The glory and the grace of the
gospel, must, in the very nature of the case, be ex-
actly commensurate, to the claims and the curses of
the law. The one must contain a woe as broad, as the
blessedness implied in the other ; must present a ruin
as wide and desperate, as the cure presented in the
other ; must frown as implacably, as the other smiles
complacently. When we can thus honour the law,
and justify the Law-giver, and defend, without mis-
giving, the most punctilious execution of every
threatening that has issued from the lips of the Eter-
nal ; then it is that we can equally elevate the glo-
rious gospel of the blessed God : which else be-
comes as worthless as the Shaster or the Koran-

The deeper and the darker the pit into which I
had sunk, the mightier that arm that could lift me
out. The full glories of Calvary, have never been
seen, but hy the same eye, that has descried ineffa-
ble beauty in the divine legislation. The gospel
will be shorn of its last beam, when it shall be made
to eclipse the splendour of the law. It is only the
dead in sin that need the offer of life, the condemned
that need a pardon. Christ is the Repairer of the
breach ; make the breach wide, and you make the
Repairer illustrious. Carry not the fertilizing in-
fluence of the gospel, but into the very territory,
where the curse of a good law violated, has spread
a boundless desolation. There its healing waters
will be welcome, an Edon will blossom under your
feet, and the harvests of many years, repay your toil,
and make glad your heart. May the blessed God put
honour upon liis own institutions.

In bringing my remarks to a close, let me say ;
that the law cannot go into disuse. It expresses
exactly the mind of God, and must be the rule of
duty to his obedient subjects forever. And when
broken, as it has been in this unhappy world, its
curse must fall, and remain upon the head of the
transgressor, till he flies for refuge to lay hold on the
hope set before him in the gospel. Till then he lies
condemned, just as if a Saviour had not died ; with
this difference, that his condemnation, if he perish
will be aggravated by his having been offered re^
demption. JJe might have had life but woul4 not;,

unless on such condition, that his transgressions
might be justified. I close with

REXAARKS.

1 . How tremendous the ruin of sinners, who af-
ter all this, shall fall under the condemning sentence
of the divine law. God we see will not set his law
aside. He would give his own well beloved Son,
to expire on the ragged nails, to save those who had
broken the law, and incurred its penalty, rather than
give his foes occasion to say, that he had repeal-
ed it. " If these things were done in the green
tree, w hat shall be done in the dry ?" If God ap-
peared so inflexibly holy, on Calvary, where he
drew his sword upon the sinner's substitute, how^
terrible the indignation that he will display in hell.
O, is there a man, so hardened and so daring, that
he would venture to pass through life, and go on to
the judgment, with the curse of the violated law
resting on him ! When he shall see that Redeemer,
who saved others, but in w hose blood he would not
take sanctuary, coming in the clouds of heaven,
with power and great glory, will he not regret, that
he had not been interested in his atonement ? And
when his destiny shall issue from that Saviour's lips,
and he goes to make his bed in hell, will he not
learn, what now he is so unwilling to know, that
'' The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and
just, and good ?"

The torments of the lost, will be an abiding tes-

timony of God's regard to his law. And those who
shall have escaped to heaven, when they shall " look
upon the carcases of the men that have transgress-
ed," will be feeling more and more strongly for-
ever, how great are their obligations to the Saviour,
for redeeming them from the curse of a law, so fear-
fully holy. And who, that places any value upon his
soul, and believes that God will thus jealously guard
the honour of his law, and has not already made
him incorrigibly angry, will delay an hour, in secur-
ing an interest in that Saviour, who bore the curse
for us. O, my friend, haste your escape, as you
would at midnight from your burning house, as you
would from the jaws of a ravening lion, as you
would from the terrors of a volcanic eruption, as you
would from the fire that can never be quenched,
and the worm that shall not die.

2. The subject will I hope prepare us to con-
template with horror, the condition of those congre-
gations, who have selected for themselves a ministry,
that builds its instructions on the ruins of the divine
law. Would to God that I were mistaken, in sup-
posing such a case to exist. But when I hear, from
lips that profess to have been touched with a coal
from off the altar, that man is quite an upright being,
has committed a few errors only, and these all venial,
not sufficient to condemn him ; that he needs no
atonement, nor Saviour but to teach him, and be his
pattern, and this Saviour not divine ; — When I hear

of sentiments like these from the pulpit; I fear
there is a controversy with the law of God, and that
it is meant to be understood, that he has relinquish-
ed his demand, upon the sinner, of a stricter obedi-
ence, than he is disposed to yield.

Thus by putting aside the law, as we suppose is
done in the outset, and hewing down the whole
system to accommodate it to this fatal error, the
whole, though somewhat consistent with itself, is rot-
ten and deceptive. Thus the sinner is lulled, and
soothed, and when asleep, is kept slumbering till he
is lost. He never has any proper sense of his sins,
nor respect for the violated law, nor regard for the
holiness, and justice, and truth of God. He never
becomes humble, nor fears God, nor embraces the
Saviour, nor quits his sins. The gospel he hears is
like the Siren's song, that lures but to destroy. It
keeps men stupid till it is too late to be anxious to
any profit.

O, ye lost and ruined congregations ! if my
voice might reach you, I would tell you to look
well to the ministry you attend. While it pretends
to offer you life, it may destroy you. If you find
it aiming to lessen the number, and diminish the ag-
gravations of your sins, you ought to suspect it.
You never will betake yourself to the Lord Jesus
Christ, as your precious and only Saviour, till the
commandment comes home to your bosom, high and
imperious in its claims ; holy, and just, and good,
in all it requires, and in all it threatens, In the

sense of the apostle, sin must revive and we die,
else there can be no hope that we shall be made
alive in Christ Jesus. The multitudes who have
gone to heaven, and the whole army of believers
who are bound thither, know the period when they
felt themselves justly exposed to eternal death.
The gospel that pretends to find you quite whole
and happy, needing only a little instruction, and per-
haps some reformation, and aims not to alarm and
distress you, you may rest assured is a lie, and not
the truth ; it comes from hell, and not from heaven,
and if embraced, will conduct you back with it to
the recesses of perdition.

^mii®» i

CORRECT VIEWS OF CHRIST
ESSENTIAL.

LUKE IX. 20.

" Whom say ye that I am ?"

Admitting the fact, that men may speculate cor-
rectly, while then- hearts are unsanctified ; or to
some extent mcorrectly, after they are born of God ;
still it is a general truth, that men will be, in their
moral, and in their religious character, corrupt or
correct, in the same proportion with their creed.
If on any important subject they believe a lie, their
false faith will present to their hearts wrong motives
of action, and lead to those affections, and that
course of conduct, that is in opposition to the law of
God, and the precepts of the gospel. But if men
believe the truth, though it be not with the heart
unto righteousness, still that truth may exert, at
some future day, a sanctifying effect upon them,
and the creed adopted, through the Spirit's influence,
mould them into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And if there is one subject, rather than any other,
on which a serious man would guard the correctness
of his faith, it must be relative to the character of

the Saviour he trusts in for eternal life. It rhust b«.
essential, that We put/^ur trust in the very Redeemer
that God has reveajfed ; else how can we hope that
lie will acknowledge us, when he shall come in the
glory of his Father, with the holy angels.

Can it be otherwise, than a very important thing,
to the human family, to understand distinctly his na-
ture, and character, in whom they are invited to
take sanctuary from the wrath to come ? Hence to
know, that the gospel proclaimed to us, presents the
very Lord Jesus, through whose stripes we must be
healed, will be a question of minor importance to
none, who calculate, first or last, to turn their eye
toward heaven.

In Christ's little family, this subject was early and
earnestly agitated- Our Lord would not suffer his
disciples to be ignorant on this point. " He asked
them saying, whom say the people that I am ?
They answering, said, John the Baptist ; but some
say, Elias ; and others say, that one of the old
prophets is risen again. " He then brought the
•question home to their own bosom, '' Whom say ye
that I am ? " Said the prompt and affectionate Pe-
ter, " The Christ of God."

This subject is of high and increasing impor-
tance, at a period, when it is becoming so fashion-
able, to consider it of no consequence what we think
of Christ. It will not be so much my object, to ex-
hibit proofs of his divinity, as to show, that what-
ever his character may be, it is important that wq
12

have correct views of him. 1 shall arange my
thoughts under three general remarks ; The Lord
Jesus Christ has a fixed and definite character;
This character is plainly revealed ; If we trust in a
saviour, having any other character, than that reveal-
ed in the scriptures, the Lord Jesus Christ will not
consider this trust as reposed in him, and we shall
be in danger of perishing in unbelief.

L The Lord Jesus Christ has a fixed and defi-
nite character. Jt would hardly seem necessary to
state a proposition like this, much less to attempt to
establish it by argument, as it contains in itself its
own confirmation. The scriptures have given this
name to the promised Messiah, who, in the very na-
ture of things, must have a character so definite,
that he can be known by his name. But if the
name may apply, with equal propriety, to one who
is divine, angelic, or human, here it seems to me is
the end of all knowledge on this subject. Place
other subjects of revelation on the same footing, and
we can only guess at any thing.

The very idea of a revelation implies, that there
are truths revealed, but nothing is revealed, if re-
vealed so indefinitely, that we cannot arrive at
knowledge on the subject. As well might the bi-
ble have merely named the Saviour, if after all it
has said of him, we can know only his name ; espe-
cially if it be an equal chance, whether we shall
conceive of him as one of the Three that bear re-

cord in heaven, or a worm of the dust like ourselves.
If God has told me only the narae of the Redeemer,
and this is all the definitive knowledge I can have
of him, I may be so infatuated as to apply this name
to a comet, or a star, and affirm that God intended
I should trust in this for salvation. If he has left it
to my discretion to adorn the name, with attributes,
such as I would choose my Saviour should possess,
then is it manifest that no two would trust in the
same Redeemer.

But there is an absurdity in the very supposition.
Every thing that has being, has properties that are es-
sential to its being, of which if you disrobe it, you
take away its very essence. Thus it must be with
the Lord Jesus Christ. You may call by that name a
being, so divested of the attributes that belong to the
Saviour, that he shall cease to be the Saviour God
has revealed, and be as entirely another, as if he
had had another name. The identity of being is
not in the name^ but in the nature or attributes that
belong to it. I remark

II. The character of the Lord Jesus Christ is
plainly revealed in the word of God, We might
infer this from the fact, that the bible is a revelation
from God ; and that the principle subject of develop-
ment in that book is the Saviour. The bible was
given us to make Christ known, that we might take
sanctuary in him from the wrath to come. Hence
to suppose that his character is left so indefinitely

developed, tha-t we can know nothing with eertam-
ty respectmg him, is to suppose God to trifle.
There is an impudence and a daring in the very
supposition, that causes the mind to shrink from
naming it.

Moreover on opening the bible I do see the char-
acter of the Saviour, as definitely developed as any
other of the subjects of revelation. I see distinctly his
humanity, in that he had a body and a soul as men
have. He hungered, thirsted, slept, was weary ;
could suffer, could rejoice, he spoke, and walked,
and rode, and bled and died. And I see as distinct-
ly his divinity. He created all things, could make
the bread and the wine that sustained him, could
know the hearts of men, could heal the sick, and
raise the dead, and give sight to the blind, and still
the waves of the sea. And I will namp one text,
among many, in which he is predicted with all these
characteristics. " Unto us a child is born, unto us a
son is given : and the government shall be upon his
shoulder ; and his name shall be called Wonderful,
Counsellor, The mighty God, the everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace." Here the same personage
who was a child and a son, is also the Wonderful,
Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace.

But on this point I will only stop, to say, that
on no particular is the bible more full and plain than
on this. On none of the doctrines or duties of velm-
ion have we instruction more definite. I may as

well doubt what repentance is^ and what faith is,
and what love is, and what prayer is, as who Christ
is. I can explain away the truth on any point, as
f.eadily as relative to the Character of the Saviour.
And moreover on every point the truth has been
doubted, and mistakes as essential made, as on this
point. Men, who are not willing that the bible
should govern their faith, have missed the mark
infinitely on every doctrine of revelation.

III. If ive trust in a saviour having any other
character, than that given in the bible to the Lord
Jesus Christ, he will not accept this trust, as reposed
in him ; and ive shall be in danger of perishing. If
Christ has a definite character, and he must have,
or he can neither be know^n or trusted in ; and if his
character is revealed plainly, and this must be, or it
is no harm not to know him, or to have erroneous
views of him ; then it must be essential that we trust
in the very Christ revealed. If in these circumstan-
ces we believe him to be possessed of a character that
he has not, if we invest him with attributes that he
will not own, or detract from him the essential and
eternal properties of his nature ; will he pity our
weakness, and own, as confidence in him, the trust
we place in a saviour created by our imaginations ?
This, it seems to me, is the fatal error which multi-
tudes in the present day, are persuaded to adopt.
It has in its favour the plea of Catholicism. We
can thus fellowship the whole mass of nominal chris-

tianity ; and on the same principles can even go
farther, and place the image of the Saviour in the
temples of the gods, and embrace in one universal
brotherhood, the w^hole multitude of idolaters that
have ever bowed the knee at the shrine of devils.

On the same principle, that no harm comes to
our piety from erroneous views of the Lord Jesus
Christ, we can prove that God has been pleased
with, and has accepted, every act of worship that
has ever been paid to an idol. What is an idol, but
the Supreme so degraded that he ceases to be di-
vine ? and still not more degraded than is the char-
acter of the Saviour in many a modern creed.
What was Jupiter, but Jehovah disrobed of his es-
sential attributes. His worshippers did not reduce
him down to a mere man. They gave him suprem-
acy over the whole family of god's, allowed him to
wield the thunders of heaven, and decree the desti-
ny of nations. True they did not give him a very
pure moral character, but the best they knew how
to give him. They invested him with some of the
very worst of the human passions, and made him
commit the foulest deeds of wrong and of outrage.
JBut still, who can say, on the principle that it mat-
ters not what we think of Christ, that the worship-
pers of Jupiter were not accepted of the Lord as his
own worshippers. If they called their great spirit
by names that God. has never appropriated to him-
self, this it will be acknowledged is a verbal mis-
take, a small matter, that God will not regard, in
those who had not the means of knowing the names.

by which he would choose to be invoked. But
shall we go on and say, that as they gave their su-
preme deity the highest character they knew how
to give him, although they did not invest him with
the attributes essential to the true God, and made
him finally a creature, in moral character base and
deformed ; — Shall we still say, that Jehovah was
pleased with the spirit of their worship, approved
their rites, and accepted their homage ? I see not
why, on the principles of modern Catholicism, this
reasoning is not correct, and why the whole herd of
idolaters, in all ages, have not been accepted of the
Lord, as havmg mtended to pay their supreme hom-
age to him.

If what an apostle says of the Lord Jesus Christ
be true, and "By him were all things created that
are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and in-
visible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or
principalities or powers; all things were created by
him and for him ; and he is before all things, and
by him all things consist ;" — if all this be true, I see
not but those who give him a derived and dependent
existence, alter his character as essentially, from that
which the apostle gives him, as was the character
of Jupiter distinct from that of Jehovah. What two
things can be more unlike, than a Saviour who had
no beginning of days, is self existent, and almighty,
could create men, and build worlds ; and one who
himself began to be, is dependent, and has none but
borrowed attributes. I do not see that the hcathea
Jove, and the God of heaven, differ any more.

If then the Lord Jesus Christ possesses one of
these characters, and we trust in a saviour who-
possesses the other, and the bible has plainly re-
vealed him m whom we are to trust, it hardly ad-
mits of a question, whether we do not trust in an-
other than the Christ of the gospel. It is not merely
in the name of the Saviour that we trust, but in his
attributes, in his qualifications to atone for us, in his'
power to sanctify us, in the credit he has in heaven ta
intercede for us, in his ability to subdue our enemies,
and cover us with his righteousness in the day of
retribution ; but if he be not God as well as man,
he has no such qualifications to atone, no such powd-
er to sanctify, no such influence to intercede, no
such ability to defend, or righteousness to cover us ;
hence there is no such saviour as him in w^hom we
trust.

Agreed, if you please, that the error will be
equally fatal on either side. Be it so that the
Lord Jesus Christ is a mere attribute, an emanation,
an angel, or a man ; then do those who give him a
divine nature make a mistake as great, as is made
by their opponents, if he be, as the prophet asserts,
the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace. If he be a mere creature, in whom God
has directed us to put our trust for everlasting life ;
and that creature has power delegated to him, to
pay the price of our redemption, and purify us unto
himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works ;
and we resolve to trust in a Saviour, who possesses
divine attributes ; we then rely upon pne wbais not

revealed as the Saviour, and may have no more
hope of acceptance, than those have, if the opposite
creed be true, who in their faith depress his charac-
ter, as much as in this case we elevate it.

If the Lord Jesus has a fixed and definite char-
acter, has properties or attributes, of which if we
disrobe him^ we alter essentially his nature, and
make him another Saviour ; then the question is,
whether those who trust in him, under these essen-
tially altered characters, may all be said to trust in
the same Redeemer ? May a mistake like this be
considered venial ? If too God has given us in his
word a plain and intelligible record of his will, and
may not, as it seems to me, be considered as hav-
ing described the character of the Saviour so indefi-
nitely, as to render it about an equal chance, wheth-
er we shall conceive of him as human or divine ;
then must it admit of a serious doubt, whether any
radical mistake can be made, without placing the
soul at hazard.

God must have intended that we should have
definite views of Christ ; and if he has given us op-
portunity to be correct, it argues positive wicked-
ness, not to receive the truth of God in all its naked
simplicity. If he has revealed a divine Saviour, we
perish if we trust in one that is a creature ; or if,
contrary to the lights we believe him divine, then do
we rely on some other, than that only name given
under heaven among men whereby we can be saved.
No trust can possibly avail us, but that which i^
13

placed in the very Saviour whom God has revealed-
Let me place the two Saviours in opposite columns,
and see if an honest mind can make them one.

The one Saviour, was before
all things, and all things were
created by liim and for him.
He has the titles, possesses the
attributes, does the works, and
accepts the worship, that be-
long only to the true God. He
invites sinners to him, as hav-
ing in his own arm the power
to save them, and promises
them blessings, as having them
of his own to give. *' He that
believeth in me shall never
die." He "bare our sins in his
own body on the tree." " With
his stripes we are healed."
" The Lord hath laid on him
the iniquity of us all." The
redeemed in heaven will forev-
er ascribe to him, under the
appellation of the Lamb, king-
dom, and power, and glory.
The dying believers may with
Stephen commend to him their
departing spirits. In the last
day he will come in the clouds
of heaven, with his holy an-
gels, and will judge the world,
and fix the destinies of all
men; and be forever after-
ward adored, by the myriads of
the redeemed, as the Lamb that
was slain.

The other saviour, had a be-
ginning of days, and either
emanated from God or was
created by him. He has di-
vine titles, only as men have,
who are called gods ; has only
borrowed attributes, and a del-
egated power, and is worship-
ed only as kings and emperors
are. We may not pray to
him, lest we be guilty of idol-
atry ; he promises nothing but
as the Lord's prophet, and has
no blessings of his own to give.
We are not required to be-
lieve in him, but as we believe
in Moses and John. He makes
no atonement, but merely
teaches truth, and is a pattern
of virtue. He dies, not that
we might live, and meets us
again in the last day, not to
judge the world, unless as a
subaltern, but to be judged.
He will wear no crown, and
fill no throne in heaven, other
than such as are promised the
apostles ; and will receive no
worship, but the respect due
to an eminent servant of God.
And if the dying commend
their spirit to him they assur-
edly perish.

Now the mighty question is, are these two, the
same ? Are they so the same that the trust reposed
in the one, will be accepted and answered to, if
needs be, by the other. If but one of these Saviours
is revealed, and but one exists, and we have put our
trust in the other, are we still safe ? Say we have
cast our souls upon a created Saviour, shall we find
at last, that we have an interest in that self-existant
Redeemer, who comes travelling in the greatness of
his strength, and is, independently on any extrane-
ous help, mighty to save? If of the one it may be
said, this is the only name given under heaven
atnong men whereby we can be saved, will this be
equally true of the other ? I repeat the question, for it
is to me a mighty one, Can it be of no consequence,
to which of the two I look, and in which I trust for
eternal life ? Will the blood of either cleanse me
from all sin ? If the Saviour appointed me and dis-
tinctly revealed in the bible, has life in himself, and
the power of conferring eternal life on as many as
the Father has given him ; and I have trusted in
man, and made flesh my arm, I fear it will not an-
swer me the same purpose in the day of retribution,
as if I had made application to the true, the appoint-
ed, the eternal Redeemer.

It is agreed, that if there be no Trinity of persons
in the Godhead, and the Saviour proffered is a mere
creature, and we refuse to lean upon the appointed
arm of flesh, and obstinately insist on having an al-
mighty Saviour or none, our condition is deplorable.

100

We shall then be without a hiding place in the day
of our distress. If the Saviour be God, those perish
who esteem him a creature ; and if a creature, those
perish who believe him God, One of the parties in
this controversy is to lie down in everlasting sorrow,
one only will be in heaven. Else two beings, the one
finite, and the other infinite, are the same, and Jupi-
ter and Moloch, and Baal, and JehoVah are the
same, and the worshippers of idols, in every dark
place of the earth, may claim at last a seat in heav-
en, with Abraham, and Moses, and the prophets and
apostles.

Can this be true ? I see no radical error in the
reasoning that has brought me to this result, and am
led to ask, with all the seriousness with which a
question ever dropped from my lips, Am I safe in
either case ? Has the gracious Jehovah given me a
revelation, in which he has so indefinitely described
my Redeemer, that with all my anxiety to know, I
cannot, whether he built the worlds, or was himself a
part of the creation ? whether the government is up-
on his shoulder, or he is himself subjected to the
authority of his superior ? whether he can bestow
eternal life, or needs to have his own life sustained
by the power that breathed it ? whether he will
judge the world, or will stand to be judged, by a
greater than himself, who shall then fill the throne ?
I shall be anxious for my soul till I know the truth.
O, will the blessed God give to a world like
t)urs, already desperately ruined, a revelation of liivS

101

will, and mock our helplessness, by asserting it to
be so plain, that the wayfaring man though a fool
shall not err, and still when I labour to know the
truth with all my soul, I cannot find it! ! But I must
either take this ground, or believe myself \o^U or be-
lieve those lost, who I perceive trust in quite another
saviour, than him on whom I rely. There is one
thought that gives me relief, " Let God be true,
though every man a liar." The bible is a plain and
intelligible volume ; the Saviour's character is there
definitely revealed ; and we can learn ivho he is,
and what he is, unless we choose to be deceived.
May the exalted Jesus smile on this weak attempt
to vindicate his character, and may he sanctify the
men who would tear the crown from his head, and
worlds from his rule ; and make his way known
upon earth, and his saving health among all nations.
May a great multitude, that no man can number, be
redeemed to God by his blood, out of every kindred,
and tongue, and people, and nation.

If asked the reasons why I consider this subject
so important ? and press it so vehemently ? I answer

1 . With the vieivs I have of the Lord Jesus Christ,
I consider him shamefully traduced by the error I have
meant to expose. It cannot seem to me a light thing,
if the safety of souls were not affected, what men
think of Christ ; whether they give him the honour he
had with the Father before the world w as, or make
him a weak and dependent mortal ; whether they es^

102

teem him such that he thought it not robbery to be
equal with God, or the mere wandering Gallilean,
who gathered his honours from the success he had in
teaching truth and in making disciples. If we have
given him our hearts, we shall not be willing to see
him degraded. We shall wish him to retain all the
titles that belong to him, and be owned in all the
high and holy offices he fills, and wear in the view
of men, all the glories tliat cluster round him in the
view of angels. We shall feel ourselves so honour-
ed, in being permitted to call him Lord, as to be
greatly grieved when the tongue of slander, or the
pen, dipped in the gall of depravity, shall attempt to
degrade his nature or mar his honours. A christian
needs offer no other reason for vindicating his Lord,
but that he loves him. But

2. I offer another : / consider souls endangered^
by a denial of the Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ,
I cannot believe that when the Saviour has become
a man or an angel^he will attract sinners to him, as
when he has the glories on, that I suppose the an-
gels see about him. Let him have the same char-
acter that he has in heaven, and he will attract men
to him, as there he attracts angels to him. If he
be God, they will hope that he can save them ; if
he built the worlds, they will be the more willing to
believe, that he built some happy world for them ;
and if he is at last to be their judge, they will feel it
to be the more important, that they be washed from

lOS

sin in his blood. I should not hope to win a single
soul to him in a century, in the low, and mean, and
dependent attitude, in which some professed minis-
ters of the gospel, in consistence with their faith,
must present him. I should expect them to sneer
at the Nazarine, more than did Voltaire, or Hume,
or Bolingbroke. And I do not believe, that under
such a ministry, Christ is often embraced, or loved,
or believed in. He may have some place in their
creed, and may become a topic of speculation, and
controversy, but in their religion, and in their
hearts, I fear they learn to do without him : surely
he is not formed in them the hope of glory.

3. I would take a dying hold of the doctrine of
Chrisfs divinity, because on the same principles, by
which the faith of so many have been unsettled on
this point, every truth of God'^s xoord can he cast
away. Only suifer the enemy to have the ground,
and hold it in peace, which he would take to drive
you from this doctrine, and he will leave you noth-
ing to credit, in the whole of divine revelation. He
will tear you from the very horns of the altar, and
sacrifice you, along with your Redeemer, on the
threshold of the sanctuary of God.

When I must believe nothing that is above my
reason, and that I cannot fully comprehend, I may
not believe the simplest testimony of revelation.
When, from the urgency of this principle, I can
know nothing definite respecting the Lord Jesus

104

Christ, I despair of gaining from the book of God
any definite knowledge on any subject. Not the
being of a God, or his government over the world,
or the fact of a future judgment, or an eternal state
pf retribution, is revealed with any more definite-
ness, than the underived deity of Jesus Christ. I
could reason them all away, and every doctrine and
precept along with them, by the same sophistry, by
which men would forbid me to offer my prayers to
the risen and exalted Redeemer. 1 would then
hold to the doctrine, because if I give it up, I must
give all up, and throw my whole creed afloat, and
myself afloat, to be drifted, I know not where, and
shipwrecked, I know not upon what inhospitable
shore, where await me, death, or life, I know not.

4. If you still ask me, why niy zeal, in defence
of the higher nature of the Lord Jesus Christ ? I
answer yet again, " If it he possible,'^'' and " the very
elect " should be cajoled into a doubt on this subject,
it ivould do them incalculable injury.

That doubt would 7nar their creed; for they
must yield other doctrines, when their Redeemer
has become a creature. That atonement, which he
only could make ; that ruin of our nature, which he
only can repair ; that ever-enduring hell, from which
he only can rescue us ; that sabbath, which his ris-
ing made ; that Comforter, which he kindly sent ;
and that plenary inspiration of the scriptures, which
establishes his divinity ; must be all plucked from

105

fheir creed, and it would stand then, like a pine,
lightning-smitten, scorched in its every leaf, and riv-
ed to its deepest roots, to be the haunt of the owl,
and the curse of the forest. When you shall blast
my creed like this, you may have, for a farthing, the
residue of my poor mutilated bible, and I will sit
down and weep life away, over this benighted
world, to which is reserved the blackness of dark-
ness forever.

It would diminish their comforts; for the same
truth that has sanctified them, has made them happy ;
and no truth more than the high character of their
Redeemer. Take away this foundation, and what
will the righteous do ? Their hopes have been high,
and their joy elevated, and their songs heard in the
night, because they had, or thought they had, a
mighty Redeemer. From this fact, they calculated
to live out the assaults of temptation, and conquer
their lusts, and hold on by some pin of the covenant,
till they should plant their feet on the golden pave-
ments of the New Jerusalem. Tell the church, that
she has no such almighty Redeemer as she has
dreamed of, and there will be tears in all her tab-
ernacles, and I fear if there will not be silence
through half the choir of heaven, and the angels of
God be afraid any longer to worship him.

It would hurt their usef illness. They have had

high hopes, because they had a mighty Redeemer,

and were active in duty, because they had elevated

hopes. Sap these hopes, a,nd you sunder the very

106

sinew of action. Will they care to be sanctified, when
thej shall have learned that their Lord was pecca-
ble ? Will they press on, to see him as he is, and be
like him, when they shall doubt whether he will be
known in heaven but by t,he nail-prints ? will they
care to invite others to him, when he is robbed of
all the charms that attracted them in the days of
their espousals ? Will they pray with the fervency
they have done, that the heathen may be given him
for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the
earth for a possession, when they shall know that
he is to rule by delegation, and does not come
into the government by heirship ? Will they spend
their perishable wealth to honour him, when they
shall feel assured, that he has no incorruptable treas-
ures with which to repay them ?

How is it with those who have made the ex-
periment, and have delivered over their creed to
be blotted and interlined, till the Deity of their mas-
ter is gone, and every other truth that hung on it ;
are they active for God ? Do they bless the heathen
with the gospel ? do they disseminate the bible ? do
they press the consciences of sinners, in their daily
walk, and in their evening visits, and give an ungod-
ly world no rest, till they love their eclipsed and
darkened redeemer ?

O, hide then this er-ror from God's elect, and let
them have the Saviour they are disposed to serve,
till he take them up, and show himself to them in

107

all the glory that he had with the Father before the
world was.

I naturally close with the question, "What
think ye of Christ ?" This question faithfully an-
swered by the minister of the gospel, will give you
very much the character of his ministry ; as it will
define the Saviour he proclaims, and of course the
success he has ; and answered by the private chris-
tian will give the character of his religion. I do
not now mean to say that orthodoxy is piety, but
simply, that the heart that has been sanctified
through the truth, will apprehend and love the
truth. In other words faith, will credit the divine
testimony. Does the Lord Jesus hold in our minis-
try, and our creed, the high place that God has given
him in the gospel ? If we make him merely a teach-
er and a pattern, so was Moses and Paul. And if
we feel that we need no higher saviour, then is it
doubtful, whether we have discovered more than
half our ruin. If we have sunk no lower, than that
a finite arm can reach us, we have yet I fear to learn,
that we are sinking still, and that the pit is bottom-
less. A gospel that is the contrivance of men, will
suit only those who have never felt the plague of
their own hearts. When we shall have felt the full
pressure of the curse that rests upon us, we shall
feel the need of one to save, strong as him that
created us. The horrors of our condition will scare
from us every deliverer, but him who can quench,
with his own blood, the fires that have been kind-

108

led to consume us. When we have looked once
upon the incensed throne, we shall hail one a«
our high priest, who can go in and sprinkle the
mercy seat ; who can nutralize that consuming
ire which issues from the countenance of a provok-
ed Jehovah ; one who has that influence in the
court of heaven, that he can procure our acquital,
and can place himself in the van of the redeemed
multitude, and conduct us up to heaven, and there
plead his own merits as the ground of our ac-
ceptance, and the foundation of our everlasting
blessedness. " Amen, even so come, Lord Jesus,
come quickly."

^®mm®ir (S^

CHRIST REDEEMS AND SANCTIFIES.

TITUS II. 14.

" Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all

iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar peo^

pie 3 zealous of good works,"*"*

More than eighteen hundred years since, we
Were visited bj a stranger from a foreign world.
Two questions were immediately agitated. Who is
he ? and What his errand ? He settled them both ;
but they have come up, again and again, to the pres-
ent day. The discourse preceeding this had a bear-
ing upon the first of their questions, and the text
now before us, will require us to attend to the sec-
ond. It is selected, you will remember, from that
very book which he left with us, on purpose to an-
swer every inquiry that men would need to make
respecting himself and his mission. We learn in the
context, who it was that thus gave himself for us,
*' The great God, even our Saviour Jesus Christ."

This audience are aware, that the same men,
who deny that our Saviour Jesus Christ, is the great
God, differ as widely from the apostle, relative to
the part he acted for us. They would allpw that

110

he was commissioned to make known to us the will
of God, especially the fact of a resurrection, which
nature did not reveal, and establish christian ordi-
nances, and set us an example of virtue. That his
death was vicarious, or a substitute for our condemna-
tion, they would generally, and I presume univer-
sally deny.

Now if we need a Saviour to do more for us
than this, then we need, not the one they offer, but
whom the apostle exhibits to our view in the text.
If my sins must be atoned for, if an evil heart of
unbelief must be removed, and when sanctified, I
must still be accepted through the merits and the
righteousness of another ; then I need a Saviour to
do more for me than teach me truth, and give me
ordinances, and be my pattern in virtue.

Had my ruin consisted merely in having lost a
knowledge of God and duty, an angel might have
become my instructer, and his example would have
answered me the same purpose, as that of the Son
of God. It would have seemed in that case wholly
unnecessary, that God should be manifest in the
flesh. But if the whole heart was faint, as well as
the whole head sick ; if there hung over us the curse
of a broken law, and we were so alienated from God
as to be content in perpetual exile from his service
and his fellowship ; then both instruction and exam-
ple, if nothing more were done, would be wholly lost
upon me.

What can it avail to present truth or exhibit puri-

Ill

ty, before a mind that disrelishes moral beauty, un-
less provision is made to subdue the aversion of the
heart ? And even then, how could I be happy with
the curse of a broken commandment pendent over
my head ? O, give me such a Saviour as Paul dis-
cribes, or when all is done, there is left undone the
main thing requisite, to my obedience and my bless-
edness. If the Lord Jesus Christ came merely to
instruct me, so did the prophets and the apostles ;
and their example, had their hearts been perfectly
holy, would have been all I needed on this point ;
and thus either of them might have been my Sav-
iour as really as he who is now frequently exhibited
as the only Redeemer.

If I must be content with a Saviour, who is
merely my schoolmaster ; I am led to ask ; Why so
much said of him previously ta his advent? Did
prophets anticipate his approach many thousand
years ; and martyrs hang their hopes on him so long;
and angels announce his ingress, soon as the time
was out ; and spend the night by his manger ; and
a voice from heaven name him the Lamb of God
that taketh away the sin of the world ; and was this
mighty personage, who so long held a world in ago-
nized suspense, merely some teacher coming to do
for us what any man if commissioned could have
done as wfell ? Is Jehovah accustomed thus to pour
honour upon a creature, sent on an errand no more
gf and than his ?

" Is ocean into tempest wrought,

To waft a feather, or to drown a fly?'*

1121

No man can have a very deep sense of sin,
and not feel his need of having done for him
more than all this. He who owes ten thousand
talents, and has nothing to pay, will need a Sa-
viour who can take that debt upon * him. He
who has drawn upon himself the denunciations
of his Maker's law, will need a Saviour to bear
that burden for him. He who has a carnal
mind, that is enmity against God, is not subject to
his law nor can be, will wish a Saviour who can
subdue that heart to loyalty and duty. And he
who, after all this is done, dare not hope for heaven,
unless taken by the hand, by some mighty Prince,
and led every inch of the way till he is within its
threshold, will inquire if no such Captain of his sal-
vation is provided ? And he will open his bible,
and read a single sentence, and there, the great
God, even our Saviour Jesus Christ, for whose ap-
pearing to judge the world his people are looking,
is the very protector and friend he needs ; " Who
gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from
all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar peo-
ple, zealous of good works." The text furnishes a
natural division of thought, and will need the aid
of no numerical distinctions.

Who gave himself for us. His presentation
at the altar of justice, as our victim, was his own
act. He is not seized and bound, as the barbarous
nations secure their victims, willing or unwilling ;
nor comes to the altar, as Isaac did, not knowing

113

where the Iamb was for a burnt offering. He had
power to lay down his life, and power to take it up
again. Not merely was he given, although this was
true, but he gave himself* And it was not merely
his time, and strength, and patience, that he gave, as
instructers do, but his life. How easily could he
have blighted all our hopes in that dark hour. Had
he sent Judas to his own place, or rendered him an
honest man^ when he came to steal the betraying
kiss ; or had he struck lifeless that midnight band,
that came to apprehend him ; or had he let down in-
to hell that senate chamber, with its mass of hypocri-
sy ; and paralized the sinews of that soldiery that
crucified him ; then had there been none to betray,
arrest, or murder the Lamb of God. And he had
all this power in himself, else he did not give him-
self. He who goes to death without his choice, by
a power, human or divine, that he cannot control,
cannot be said to lay down his life : his life is taken
from him,

But the Sufferer of Calvary, when he left the
bosom of the Father, had his eye fixed, and through
his whole life kept it fixed upon the scene of the
cross, as the finishing act of his humiliation, and felt
not that his work was done till he yielded his life.
Hence while it is true that the Father gave his Son,
it is equally true that the son gave himself He
was as voluntary in redeeming the world, as in the
act that built it.

Who gave himself/or us. Here each word has
la

114

meaning. Who are we to understand by us. Not
Paul himself and the good brother in the gospel to
whom he wrote, merely. If another apostle may
decide ,the Lord Jesus Christ was " the propitiation
for our sins ; and not for ours only, but also for the
sins of the whole world. " I have no wish now to
enter the list in that controversy, which never should
have been among brethren who hold the Head,
whether the atonement, as distinguished from re-
demption, is general or limited. Those who do not
distinguish atonement from redemption, must limit
it, or avow the salvation of all men ; and those who
do thus distinguish, may with propriety make atone-
ment general, and still are not accountable for a
consequence, which is miade to follow, not on their
principles, but that of their opponents.

Is there not a common ground, where those who
love the truth can and must meet? Neither of the par-
ties, to whqm I now refer, assert, that God has purpos-
ed or will accomplish the salvation of all men, through
the atonement of Christ; nor on the other hand, will
deny, that the atonement places the human family at
large, in circumstances happily differing from that of
devils. To men there go out overtures of mercy, to
devils none. But does it not follow, that if mercy
is offered, and the offer sincere, salvation is possible;
that is, the obstructions are removed on the part of
God, that would have kept men from heaven, even
had they repented ? and this is precisely what I un-
derstand those to mean, who make the atonement

115

general. The death of Christ rendered ij possible
for God to save, without dishonouring his law, or
weakening his government, as many as it should
pkase him to sanctify.

And what is the force of the preposition, for us ?
Can it mean less or more, than that the death of
Christ was a substitute for our condemnation ? this
idea is certainly consonant with the whole drift of
revelation. "He hath borne our griefs, and carried
our sorrows ; he was wounded for our transgressions,
and bruised for our iniquities ; the chastisement of
our peace w^as upon him ; and with his stripes we
are healed : — the Lord hath laid on him the iniqui-
ty of us all : — for the transgressions of my people
was he striken." Thus the griefs, and the sorrows,
and the wounds, and the bruises, the chastisements,
and the stripes, all fell on him by substitution, and
were borne instead of the everlasting miseries of
hell, which we must have borne, had he not offered
himself as our ransom.

The apostle proceeds to make known to us the
design with which the Saviour gave himself for us,
" That he might redeem us from all iniquity^ and pu-
rify us. There are here included pardon, and sane-
tification.

First pardon. The sinner can neither be con-
sidered as redeemed from iniquity, or purified,
while his conscience is polluted with unpardoned
sin. He is still under the curse of the law, has the
brand of infamy upon him, and the badges of death

116

around him. Hence when he believes, and pardon
can be administered, without injury to the divine
government, his cleansing from the defilement of
sin is beo-un. There is a text in one of the minor
prophets, which though spoken with reference to the
church, is beautifully expressive of this first act of
God's mercy to sinners. "Who is a God like unto
thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the
transgressions of the remnant of his heritage? he re-
taineth not his anger forever, because he delighteth
in mercy, He will turn again, he will have com-
passion upon us ; he will subdue our iniquities ; and
thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the
sea. " And in another text it reads, " Their sins
and their iniquities will I remember no more. " And
we have the delightful idea of forgiveness in this
text, '' That thou may est remember, and be con-
founded, and never open thy mouth any more, be^
cause of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee
for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord God."
The very first act of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,
secures this blessing, and we stand though not on the
same footing as if we had never sinned, yet the same
as relates to our exposedness to the penalties of the
law. The transgressions of the law, that had been
minuted against us in the record of the divine mind,
are blotted out. God even speaks as if he would
forget them, and never suffer them to come into his
^ind again.

But pardon, as rich a blessing as it is, to a sin-

117

per made sensible of his gross and dreadful departure
from God, holds a place second in importance to that
of sanctification. Hence to purify us, was an im-
portant part of the work which the Lord Jesus
Christ came to do for us ; by which I understand,
delivering us from the power of sinful affections.
This is done through the immediate agency of the
Holy Spirit, and is ascribed to the Lord Jesus
Christ, in as much as the Spirit acts a part in the
economy of redemption, subordinate to that of the
Mediator, and is spoken of as sent by him. He takes
away the heart of stone and gives a heart of flesh,
and creates us anew in Christ Jesus unto good works.
Christ is formed in his people the hope of glory,
his image is impressed on the heart, and the linea-
ments of that image are drawn out to view in deeds
of loyalty and duty.

Thus the Lord Jesus Christ brings his people to
feel like him, to love his character, his law, his gov-
ernment, and kingdom, and all the duties of piety,
and benevolence. And his purpose and promise is^
that where he has begun a good work he will carry
It on, till all moral pollution is eradicated. Thus
the character of man, under the transforming influ-
ence spoken of in the text, is changed, till in a moral
point of view he is no longer the same man. From
being a child of wrath fitting for destruction, he
becomes an heir of God, and a candidate for glory,
honour, immortality and eternal life. The desire
^p be holy, and sp like his Master, become^ his ru-

118

ling passion. In his estimation conformity to God,
in the whole temper of his mind, is the greatest
good, and no hope gives him such joy, as when he
can say with confidence, " Then shall I be satisfied
when I wake with thy likeness. "

While the followers of the Lord Jesus are thus
under a process of sanctification, they become, as a
matter of course in a world like this, a peculiar peo-
ple. They have desires, and hopes, and enjoyments,
and fears, and aversions, such as are found in no other
people. They have another employment, and form
other habits, and sustain new relationships, and
enter new society, and in their speech and de-
meanour, embracing a thousand nameless things,
become a peculiar people. Whatever pains they
may take to conceal their peculiarities, they be-
come and continue like no other people on the
face of the whole earth. And the more they act in
character ; the nearer they live to their Master, th®«
more sure are they to widen the contrast between
themselves, and the world of the ungodly. Hence
the world will soon know them, and break from
their fellowship, and cast out their names as evil ;
and Christ will receive them, and be a God unto
them, and they shall be his people.

They are zealous of good works. Here perhaps
more than at any other point is seen their peculiarity.
The promptness, the pains, and the sacrifices mani-
fested in doing good, render them the perfect con-
trast of any thing seen in the habits of unsaactified

119

men. Hence the fact is not to be disputed, that the
personal efforts, and charities that have been ex-
pended upon human misery, degradation, and con-
tempt, have been the efforts and the charities, of
this peculiar people. On the list of this world's
benefactors their names are arranged alone, and the
catalogue will tell to their advantage in that day
when the Saviour shall be heard to say, '^ I was an
hungered, and ye gave me meat : I was thirsty, and
ye gave me drink : I was a stranger, and ye took
me in : naked, and ye clothed me : I was sick, and
ye visited me : I was in prison, and ye came unto
me."

The ungodly may have fits of charitable feeling,
when provision is to be made exclusively for the life
that now is ; but their charities do not usually ex-
tend in their effects beyond the grave. When urged
to enlighten those that know not God, or snatch
from death those that have not the gospel of our
Lord Jesus Christ ; they lack the faith that can give
importance, to these religious and spiritual realities.
And yet here, where the tender mercies of the wick-
ed are cruel, is the very spot where the godly dis-
play their warmest zeal, and make their best, their
mightiest efforts. The zeal of God's people is uni-
form and extensive, and does not like crackling
thorns and burning coals make a great blaze and die.
It grows out of the combined influence of the chris-
tian affections, or rather is the christian affections
concentrated, and pouring out their energies upon
the object of their commisseratiQu or praise.

120

Christian zeal aims to render this world what
God would have it ; to draw it back, from alienation
and misery, to subjection and enjoyment. It would
cure every species of plague and suffering, and ren-
der holy, respected, and happy every child of the falL
And when men need not its aid, would compassion-
ate the animal creation, till not a worm should suffer.
Thus will operate the zeal that piety begets, and
thus the redeemed of Jesus Christ, will be rendered,
in a world, cold and friendless like this, a peculiar
people.

There is still another thought in this text, which
though last is not least. These redeemed, and pe-
culiar, and zealous beings, Jesus Christ is said to
purify unto himself, I see a very precious thought
here ; they belong finally to him. They were given
him in the covenant of redemption. Hence we hear
him say, in that remarkable prayer just before he
suffered, " I have manifested thy name unto the men
which thou gavest me out of the world." And lest
any should draw a wrong inference, from the fact
that as Mediator he was a recipiant, he addresses
the Father again, and says, " All mine are thine^
and thine are mine." His people are to be his as-
sociates forever ; his family ; his friends ; his ad-
mirers, and his worshippers. " I will that they also
whom thou hast given me be with me where I am ;
that they may behold my glory."

There is something in this thought which to me
bespeaks the Saviour divine. Were he a mere ser-

121

vaiit, were he less than the very builder and propri-
etor of this world, he could not have been given a
commission of such a nature, as to entitle him to
possess, and call his own, the beings he should
save : else it would not be true, that the Eternal
cannot give his glory to another. Thus the Lord
Jesus Christ, came to redeem to himself, by his
death, a peculiar people, zealous of good works. I
close with a few paragraphs of

EXPOSTVIiATIOir,

With such as cannot relish this mortifying gos-
pel. I am fully awar^, and lament it, that every
position taken in this discourse is controverted ; and
my apology for the view I have given, is that I
could in honesty give no other.

Man's lost and desperate condition, requiring
an atonement, is found, in one shape, and another,
on almost every page of the bible, and his safety
depends on knowing it, and the gospel was sent to
acquaint him with it ; hence this must be a radical
truth in every message which we carry from God
to man. Moreover we see men exhibit that tem-
per, and form those habits, which would teach us
their ruin, if we had not been taught it from heav-
en. Now a truth that comes to us so confirmed, we
must receive, and must proclaim ; and if men will
not believe it, or if they do not choose to lay it to
heart, we can only say with the prophet, "If ye
will not hear, my soul shall weep in secret places
16 "

122

for your pride. " If you can keep your apostacy a
secret from your fellow men, or from angels, or
from devils, do ; and if you can hide the shame of
it, do ; and if by such a course you can escape the
dire consequences of that apostacy, do. We wish
you safe, and wish you happy, and if you know of a
safer or happier course than this gospel presents,
you have but to make the experiment. But then
remember, if your experiment fails, and you do not
find out your ruin till death, you must not calculate,
that your mistake can then be corrected.

If you are conscious of some depravity, and still
cannot make up your mind to owe your redemption
to the death of Christ, then you must reject the bi-
ble or explain it as you can. The text, says he
gave himself for us. And we hear him say, " I lay
down my life for the sheep." And many scrip-
tures that have been quoted, and more that might
be, seem evidently to put his blood in the place of
ours, and heal us, if we are ever healed, by his
stripes.

Why object to the idea that he died for us. Does
it too much degrade and blacken the human charac-
ter, that we must thus come as it were to the place
of execution, and have the halter about our neck,
and there stand and see another take our place, and
hang upon the tree in our stead ? I know it will be
the everlasting disgrace of our world, that we
should have so conducted as to render it necessary
that Christ should die for us. But it will deepen

123

our disgrace, if we deny the fact, and assign some
other reason, not the true one, why the Lord of
glory was hanged on a tree. We shall then cruci-
fy him afresh, and put him to open shame.

If his was not a vicarious death, why did he die ?
Do you answer, " Death hath passed upon all men
for that all have sinned. " Then it seems you make
him a sinner ? But the good book assures me, that
there was no guile found in his mouth. Satan came
and found nothino; in him. He was a Lamb without
spot. Do you say that he died to finish out his
obedience ? Obedience to what laiv ? Does the law
of God require that his perfectly obedient subjects
should die ? or is death there made the wages of
sin ? I see no demand for his death, unless he died
for us, or was a sinner. If you are not driven to the
same alternative, and can invent a third reason, more
satisfactory, you must adopt it, and make the bible
bear you out in it if you can.

Do you object to this gospel because it requires
that you be purified ? Then it seems you doubt
whether sin has polluted you ? and if so why have
any gospel ? or you choose to carry all your moral
deformity with you into the grave, and into eterni-
ty, and if so, then we understand you. You have
only to let the gospel alone then, and let others,
who would not choose to die in their sins, have the
benefit of its overtures.

A gospel that shall not render men holy, can be
worth nothing. It may gather, and baptize, and

124

cast the enclosures of a covenant, about a congrega-
tion of worldlings, but if it have no purifying effect,
it will leave them still the children of their father
the devil. They will be as fair candidates for per-
dition, when such a gospel shall have exerted upon
them its mightiest influence, as when its first accent
broke upon their ear. But a gospel like that which
Paul preached, must urge the claims of the divine
law, and press men to break off their sins by right-
eousness, and turn their feet to God's testimonies.
It wdll gather motives to holiness from all worlds,
from the fear of hell, from the hope of heaven, from
the comfort of the present life, and especially from
the love of Christ ; for it will *' thus judge, that if
one died for all, then were all dead : and that he
died for all, that they which live should not hence-
forth live unto themselves, but unto him w^hich died
for them, and rose again." Now let us be prudent
enough to have this very gospel, or none. If we
wish merely to be amused, let us not employ a gos-
pel to do it, but the pipe, the timbrel, and the dance.
If w^e care not how much pollution adheres to us
w^hen we are judged, then let us cast the gospel and
the whole bible from us, and enter into a covenant
with death, and make an agreement with hell, and
eat and drink for tomorrow we die.

But you dislike the peculiarity urged upon be-
lievers in the gospel. You wish not to be singular,
Tind be cast out of the world while you remain in it.
Well, we simply say, that there can be no gospel.

125

gathered from the bible, that does not urge it, iK)r
christian character without it. If the truth must
render men holj, it must, in a world like ours, ren-
der them peculiar. In two respects the good man,
from the moment he is born of God, becomes unlike
the men of this world. All the features of deprav-
ity that are cast from his character, and the fea-
tures of holiness ingrafted on it, will tend to render
him peculiar. Thus in two directions will the dif-
ference widen, and will go on extending through
time and through eternity. To produce this pecu-
liarity is the very design of the gospel ; for men by
nature are unlike God, and the gospel, when it pro-
duces its legitimate effect, renders men like God.
Hence unless it sanctify all men, or the regenerate
are taken immediately to heaven, it must introduce
into society a peculiar people. If you are offended
with this peculiarity, then you need not put it on.
You can live in this world without it, and you can
die without it, but you cannot live in heaven with-
out it.

That zeal begotten in his people by the grace of
God, constitutes I know the most offensive feature
of their peculiarity. But God's people cannot be
without it, and please him. And he has never
promised to render his people what the world can
admire. '*If ye were of the world, the world
would love his own, but because ye are not of the
world, but I have chosen you out of the world,
therefore shall the world hate you." You need

126

have nothing to do with this people, or imbibe their
zeal if it offends you. There is current a gospel,
and you can attend upon it, that pours out against
this zeal the whole torrent of its invective. It
would nourish a cold philosophical religion, that
shall never reach or warm the heart, that will have
but little to do with prayer, or praise, or holy feel-
ing, or heavenly aspiration, or effort to save souls ;
or take away, in any shape, the curse that has light-
ed upon this dark world. You can take your pew
under such a gospel and never be urged to zeal and
engagedness. But where it will conduct you, may
demand a doubt. Not to heaven surely, where
they cease not day nor night saying, " Holy, holy,
holy, is the Lord of hosts ; the whole earth is full
of his glory." There must be great zeal where
there is such perpetual worship. Day and night!
O, how such zeal as this would be lashed and scout-
ed, in this cold and cheerless w^orld !

But the gospel of Jesus Christ, aims to make
this world as much like heaven as possible ; w^ould
beget all the zeal they have there, and all the indus-
try, and all the celestial fire. We hide not our
wish, to render men, in this world as much in earn-
est in serving God, and blessing his creatures, as
they are in heaven. And, sure as you breathe, you
have never seen a zeal like that in heaven. It was
not in Paul, nor Peter, nor Brainard, nor White-
field, nor Martin. And if you have ever once seen

127

enough any where to offend you, depend upon it
you could not stay in heaven an hour.

Finally it offends you, that the Saviour should
be the proprietor of the church he purchased with
his blood. You would have him an agent, a proph-
et, a messenger ; you would not allow him to own
his sheep ; you would make him an insignificant
subject of that kingdom he purchased with his
blood. And why this zeal to degrade him. Did
he not earn the kingdom with his stripes, and his
wounds, and his sweat, and his dying agonies ? And
did he not build the very world in which he has set
up this kingdom ? The apostle thought proper to
speak of his purifying to himself 2i peculiar people.

And why not let them he his ? Are you afraid
to be his ? would it grieve you to be a member of
his family, and have a seat at the supper of the
Lamb ? Well, dear friend, there will come a day
when you will be afraid, if you are 7iot his. When
he shall come in the clouds of heaven, and all his
holy angels with him, and the last trumpet shall
have waked you from the sleep of the grave, then
" he that believeth shall not make haste," but all
others, — oh, with what hurry and confusion will they
quit their sepulchres ! and with what untold anguish,
will they call upon the rocks and mountains, to fall
on them, and hide them from the face of him that
sitteth upon the throne, and from the wrath of the
Lamb ! Will you not then wish that you were his ?

Ye disciples of the Lord Jesus, did it ever occur

128

to you how precious a thought this is. You belong
to this very Lord Jesus. " Ye are Christ's, and
Christ is God's." How safe and how happy, if he
can make you so ? and you have no fear but he can.
Cast all your care upon him, for he careth for you.
You will see him come directly to gather you, and
you will hail him as he comes, " My Lord, and my
God." My soul casts in her lot with you. We
glory in belonging to Christ, and look wishfully to-
ward that hour, when we shall see him as he is and
be like him. Then, almighty Redeemer, then shall I
be satisfied when I wake with thy likeness. Amen.

TERMS OF ACCEPTANCE WITH GOD.

ACTS XVI. 30.
** Sirs, what must T do to be saved 7''^

Paul and Silas, in the faithful discharge of
their duty, found themselves at length immured in
the dungeons of Philippi. There they lifted up their
voices in prayer and praise ; and the prisoners heard
them ; and w^hat w^as to them of far higher impor-
tance, God heard them, and sent his angels to deliv-
er them. The bars of their prison were sundered,
their doors flew open, and their bands were loosed.
The result was, a deep alarm fastened upon the
mind of the prison-keeper, venting itself in the lan-
guage of the text, " Sirs, what must I do to be sav-
ed ?"

Now the gospel aims to bring every man to the
very spot where that man was brought, and then
direct him to a Saviour and to heaven. There
must be alarm, because there is danger, unless in
those, perhaps very rare cases, when a Saviour is
embraced, or rather the heart prepared to receive
him, before the danger is fully discovered. Unless
we see our danger we shall make no effort to escape
17

130

from the wrath to come. And men will have so
soon slept the sleep of death, and alarm be of na
avail, that humanity requires every possible effort to
wake them.

Hence no curse can be greater, than a ministry
calculated to keep men secure in their sins. At no
other point does there await you so much danger.
Your servant may be idle, and your steward defraud
you, and your best friend betray you, and still you
may suffer but a temporary loss ; but if he who is
the mouth of God to you, deceive you, put darkness
for light and light for darkness, your loss may be
irreparable.

In the report of that gospel, which the Lord
Jesus Christ will approve at his coming, the text
must be fully and correctly answered. The sinner
must know exactly the terms on which God will
accept him. One may have some general notion
that he is a sinner, that a Saviour is provided, and
that possibly he may have life through that Saviour ;
and still be so much in the dark relative to the
terms of acceptance, as to miss of eternal life. The
mere fact that a Saviour died, if fully known, is not
sufficient to secure salvation. The bare atonement,
if there be no application of it to the soul, will avail
nothing. Christ fulfilled the demands of the law in
behalf of all who, in the appointed way, shall be-
come interested in his blood. But if this atonement
be neglected ; if we listen to a gospel that on this
point misdirects us, and we do not become qualified

131

to enjoy salvation, it will no otherwise affect us,
than as an aggravation of our condemnation. My
plan will be, to show ivhat is not adequate instruc-
tion on this subject, and lohat is,

L I am to show, what is not adequate instruc-
tion on this subject,

1. When men are urged to a reformation, as
what will put them into the way of life, the instruc-
tion is inadequate. If men quit their grosser iniqui-
ties, and become decent and civil, ^till no promise
of heaven reaches them on this condition merely.
Where in the gospel are any such terms stated ? I
know that men are obligated, to break off their sins
]by righteousness, forthwith. John directed some
bad men who came to him, to cease from violence
and become honest, and contented ; but John did not
mean to leave them here ; hence did not say, that
on these terms Christ would receive them. These
were rather the conditions, on which they could be
prepared to receive his instruction to advantage. If
I should meet with a drunkard or a thief, and they
should ask me about the gospel, the first lessons I
should give them, would be on the subjects of sobri-
ety and honesty. Men are sometimes too far gone
in the by paths of death, to give the gospel a can-
did hearing, and learn what the terms of salvation
are ; and then the first lesson given them may have
respect to their waywardness ; and when the gospel

132

has gained this footing, then you may tell them of
salvation to advantage.

But there may be this external reformation, and
there often has been, while yet there v^^as no prep-
aration of heart to receive the Saviour, but sin w^as
loved, and rolled as a sweet morsel under the
tongue. Men may quit their sins from motives of
interest, or ambition. Gross iniquities are scanda-
lous, and expensive, and may be abandoned from
the supreme love of something else beside Christ.

The fear of the wrath to come, while yet there
is a prompt and a total alienation of the heart from
God, may induce men to break off some habit, that
threatens their sure and speedy perdition. But
there is not a text, in one of the pages of inspira-
tion, that exhibits this superficial reformation, as
the condition of pardon and acceptance through a
Saviour. The young man that would know what
good thing he must do to inherit eternal life, was
civil and decent, and still was unfit for the kingdom of
God, and was sent away very sorrowful. It will
not be denied but that he had become a moral man,
but he still loved supremely the good things of this
life,

2. When men are directed, not merely to break
off some of the grosser iniquities, but to perform
some of the mere external duties of piety, the in-
struction given them is still inadequate. The very
same motives that led to the one, will often lead to

133

the other. The very same man, who would cease
his profaneness, and his sabbath-breaking, and his
lewd song-singing, and his drunkenness, and his
midnight revellings, because he had become
ashamed of their vulgarity ; will have prayer some-
times in his family, and will attend upon a preach-
ed gospel, and have a bible in his house, and read it
occasionally, because all this is civil and decent.

And sometimes this cheap and superficial relig-
ion, is the high way to preferment. Men will be
to some extent religious, if they can obtain charac-
ter by it, and can make it a stair-way to office, and
influence, and wealth too. They will bow and
cringe to men, and God too, if they may obtain suf-
frages by it. Men will consent to be any thing, if
it will make them great in the life that now is.

And they will perform duties, in hopes to gain
heaven by this means. If God will excuse them
for hating his law, and character, and government,
they will attend upon his ordinances, and pay an
outward respect to his sabbaths, and repeat their
creed, and rehearse their prayers ; and account it a
cheap salvation. And this it will be found is not
an unusual resort of ungodly men. In every period
of alarm, away they fly to christian ordinances. So
in the darker times of Israel, they would steal,
murder and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and
burn incense unto Baal, and then come and stand
before God in his house. And it is declared in that
case, that they trusted in lying words that could not
profit.

134

God has never spoken of this external attention
to religious things, as the terms of acceptance with
him : for there may be still an evil heart of unbe-
lief. The prayers uttered by the lips, may neither
have their source in the heart, nor throw back upon
it the least impulse to piety. They may not even
engross the thinking powers, but may be in the ears
of Jehovah like the prating of the parrot. Men
have no doubt uttered prayers, ,,while the hostility of
their hearts, could they have been conscious of it,
to the God invoked, and the Saviour whose name
was used, would have driven them from their knees,
and sealed up their lips in the sullenness of perdi-
tion. And the Scriptures have been read, while
the heart quarrelled with every doctrine and duty
they enforced. And ordinances have been attend-
ed, and sabbaths kept, and charities given, and con-
fessions made, while there was the deadliest hostili-
ty to all that is holy in God, or purifying in truth.

3. If you add to all this a profession of godliness^
the instruction given is still inadequate. In profes-
sing godliness, men often add peijury to their other
deeds of wrong. A profession is not unfrequently
the very climax of their impudence, and their dar-
ing. Ah, how mistaken have ministers and churches
been, in supposing that when they had persuaded
the ungodly to enter professedly into covenant with
God, they had secured to some extent the object of
the gospel institutions. They have not unfrequently

lived to see their convert a more darhig sinner, than
previously to his hypocritical adoption of the cove-
nant ; and have been grieved that they had not left
him without the enclosures of the fold. They
brought him up to sealing ordinances, sprinkled
clean water upon him, and made his lips touch the
consecrated symbols of a dying Christ, but the
heart remained a mass of moral putrifaction ; and
the sacrifice offered, was but a smoke and a stench
in the nostrils of an insulted Saviour. They paint-
ed and varnished the sepulchre, while within it was
full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. It is
many a time obvious, that so far from there having
been any thing gained, by thrusting the worldling
into this religious atmosphere, you have but the more
effectually blocked up the last avenue to his con-
science, and thus placed him perhaps beyond the
reach of hope and of heaven.

But suppose if you please the very best case,
and tell me if in this visible transformation, the
Lord Jesus Christ will see any thing, that he will
consider a compliance with the terms of life and
salvation which he offers ? And I have left out of
view the question whether it be right to do so ?
whether without the bidding of Jesus Christ, we
may thus administer his holy ordinances to unsancti-
lied men ? Are we in such a procedure, honest to
souls ? is now the question. May we encourage
them thus to compass themselves about with sparks
of their o)vn kindling, and walk in the light of their

136

own fires ? Are they safe or we honest, while we
watch no better the gates of the sheepfold ? The
press that men make toward sealmg ordmances, is
a proof that they are uneasy and unhappy, and if we
grant their wish, do we answer honestly and fairly
the question thus silently put to us, " Sirs, what
must I do to be saved ?" Do we not rather seal
them up to perpetual stupidity, and shall we not
have to answer for their blood, in the day that in-
quisition shall be made for it.

II. Having thus endeavoured to show, what is
not adequate instruction on this subject, I proceed
to enquire, ivhat is f In stating the terms on
which the sinner can become interested in the Lord
Jesus Christ, I should choose to say,

1. He must explicitly avow his approbation of the
law he has broken. Here begins, under every gov-
ernment, where there has been revolt, the exercise
of a right temper. Christ came not to destroy the
law but to fulfil it. This declaration is found on
the very title page of his gospel. Repent, said he,
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And what is
repentance, more or less, than a cordial approbation
of the precept that has been violated ?

Hence the language of penitence in all ages has
been the same. ' The law is good, its penalties just,
* and its whole design benevolent. God had not
' been kind, had he given us any other law, or been

137

* willing that it should be broken with impunity, or
'had affixed any lower penalty, or accepted any

* meaner sacrifice than his own Son, as the atoning
' Lamb. O, I am a wretch for having broken this
' law, and can offer no possible plea that shall excuse

* or palliate the smallest deviation from its precepts,
' If God should cast me off forever, he would but
' treat me as I deserve to be treated, and expect to
' be.' Thus the sinner takes to himself the punish-
ment of his sins, and thus places himself in an atti-
tude, where Christ can begin to notice him, and still
be the friend and patron of the divine law .

With this principle we are all familiar^ The
child sees you pouring your frowns upon his disobe-
dience, and would be glad if you would agree with
him in reprobating the precept he has violated. But
your authority is lost, and your child ruined, if you
cease to frown, till he confesses that he has broken a
good laio. Then, and not till then, can you relax
the sternness of that countenance, which frowns up-
on his disobedience. The teacher, places the re-
bellious child at his feet, and he must be there, till
he confesses the precept just, that he violated.
And the same principle is acted upon in all govern-
ments that admit of pardon.

So the Lord Jesus Christ, if he would not do a
rebellious world incalculable mischief, must suffer
the sinner to make no approach to him, till he is
grieved for his transgressions, or has avowed his full

138

approbation of the law he has broken. Then he
can be saved, and the law of God be sustained.

Now the whole of repentance may be summed
up, as I suppose, in this retrospect of a humbled sin-
ner, upon his guilty and inexcusable violations of a
good law ; including however his abandonment of
the transgressions which he disapproves. Thus is
performed one of the conditions, on which the Lord
Jesus Christ, will receive us to his favour, and wash
away our sins in his blood.

2. The simmer must become willing to owe his es-
cape from the curse of the law, to Jesus Christ. One
may know that he has broken the law of God, and
that the law he has broken is a good law, and still
be too proud to receive pardon on the terms of the
gospel. We have known cases when men have
starved and perished rather than receive alms. The
pride of their hearts would not suffer them to eat
the bread they had not purchased. And men have
gone down to hell, because they would not cast
themselves upon that Saviour, whose help was seen
to be necessary, in order to their escape from the
wrath to come. Not merely must the sinner see
that he is perishing, and that there is no help out of
Christ, but he must become pleased with Christ,
else he will not feel himself secure in his hands,
iior apply to him for life.

It is believed that many a soul has perished,
hesitating whether it would be prudent or safe ta
cast himself upon the Saviour. To do this is faith.

139

4ind implies that already the temper of the heart is
changed : but all men have not faith. It is by no
means certain that awakened sinners have faith.
Some may have ; for none can say how early in the
process of alarm God may renew the heart. But
of this we are sure, that when renewed, it is pre-
pared to believe, soon as the character of Jesus
Christ is presented.

Sinners often wonder, and sometimes quarrel,
that on making the enquiry of the text, the answer
we give them implies a new heart ; whereas the
enquiry they intended to make ^\^s, how they
should ohtam a new heart. They wish to know
how they must operate, with their evil hearts of un-
belief, so as to have them renewed. Now to this
question we can give no answer. We know of no
process by which an ungodly man may work him-
self into the kingdom of God, but by believing on
the Lord Jesus Christ. We can tell them to do
nothing, that does not imply holiness ; and if we
should, they might do as we direct them, and still
he lost; whereas they ask us, what they must do
to he saved. If to this question they wish an hon-
est answer, that will do them any good ; we must
assure them, that having been brought to approve
of the law they have broken, they must also ap-
prove of the remedy provided, must commit their
souls to Jesus Christ. These conditions can never
be altered.

140

3 When faith has accepted the atonement, and
sin is forgiven, there must be a life of obedience, as
that which can alone express the souPs continued
approbation of the law that has been violated, and
the remedy that has been provided. Repentance
for sin, and faith in Jesus Christ, are not exercises
belonging merely to the first stages of piety, and to
be then done with forever. The man who is born
of God continues to hate sin, and trust in the Lord
Jesus Christ till he dies. He does not give the law
one approving look, and the Saviour one welcome
to his heart, and then relapse into his former im-
penitence and unbelief. He renews his repentance
day by day, and as often makes fresh application to
the blood of sprinkling, for pardon and acceptance.
His whole life, if he honour the religion he profes-
ses to embrace, is filled up with obedience to the
law, with sorrow and tears for having broken it,
and with the testimonials of a cordial approbation
of the atonement made upon the cross.

We know nothing of that religion, which, after
taking root in the heart, can lie dormant for years,
and produce no transforming influence upon the
man, conforming him to the truth, or moulding him
into the image of Jesus Christ. God will not for-
give sin, and take away the curse, and enter into
an everlasting covenant with the transgressor ; and
then permit him to go into exile from his presence,
and be again an alien from the commonwealth of Is-
rael, and a stranger from the covenants of promise ;

141

and live without hope, and without God in the
world.

He calls in his elect, only in time, however ear-
ly, to fit them for his presence in glory. And the
work of grace goes on from that time till death.
They aim at a perfect obedience to the divine law,
and go from strength to strength, till every one of
them appeareth in Zion before God. They forget
the things that are behind, and reach forth to those
things which are before, and press toward the mark,
for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ
Jesus. Hence there cannot be any very long sus-
pension of those exercises, which are essential at
the beginning of a course of piety. The heart con-
tinues to be penitent, and believing, and obedient,
till all sin is removed, and grace is perfected in glo-
ry. I close with

REMARKS.

1 . Let us compare all this with ivhat is some-
times termed the gospel. How wrong and how ru-
inous is the advice, that not unfrequently is given
to the unregenerate.

We have known when pains was taken to pre-
vent men from becoming alarmed, so as to put the
question of the text with earnestness. They must
not hear that the heart is desperately wicked, lest
they should fear that in all their deeds they have
broken the law of God. They must have no suspi-
cion th^t their prayers are deficient, lest they should

142

see their need of a Saviour. They must be told
nothing of hell, lest they should be afraid of its tor-
ments ; nor hear of election, lest they learn that
men will not accept of mercy, till they are made
willing in the day of God's power.

And thus every doctrine, calculated to pour
honour upon the divine law, and reflect correspond-
ent shame and reproach upon the transgressor, must
be disproved, or concealed, or nutralized ; and that
perhaps by the very men who have been sent as
the heralds of salvation to a lost w^orld. We have
seen them afraid, lest without design, they should
effect some alarm among the foes of God, Hence
the monstrous abuse of that text, when any hard
truth had leaked out ; " But, beloved, we are per-
suaded better things of you, and things that accom-
pany salvation, though we thus speak." Ten thou-
sand consciences, that had been pierced with truth,
have thus been healed slightly, by a text which God
inspired for far other purpose. But when no sooth-
ing opiate would answer, and the sinner could not
be prevented from alarm, we have known advice
to be given that was the most ruinous possible.

We have known when awakened sinners have
had suggested them a train of thought calculated to
chase away all alarm, by lessening their respect for
the violated law\ It is plead that they have misap-
prehended their guilt ; that the law is not so severe
as they imagine, and moreover that the mercy of
God will not allow him to punish sinners forever.

143

What parent, say these tender hearted instructors,
would cast his child into a quenchless fire ? Will
God punish eternally the errors of a few years ?
God will be moved by their tears, and will pardon
them, if indeed their grief has not already done away
their guilt. Thus their anguish of heart is all
soothed, while yet there is no repentance.

We have known when the awakened were told,
that they were in a fair way to obtain religion, that
they must persevere, and hold out, and they would
do well. But unhappily their way was the way to
death, and they did persevere perhaps, and their
alarms were soon gone, and they are seen in the
broad way, or are gone to know the full weight of
that curse of the law which once hung over them.
Had they been told that there was nothing holy in
their terrors, and that they were still insecure, till
they applied by faith to the Lord Jesus Christ, they
might have obtained eternal life. They should
have known, that they had not overrated their dan-
ger, nor half estimated their guilt, that God was an-
gry as they supposed, that there ivas a perdition, as
deep, and dark, and hopeless as they feared. Then
there might have been a prospect that they would
flee for refuge, to lay hold on the hope set before
them in the gospel.

The case is said to have happened when they
have been directed to a novel, or a party, to chase
away their glooms. A journey in the country, or a
visit to their friends, the song and the dance, have

144

been considered a better specific for their pains,
than the atoning Lamb of God. Let it be, that
these are extreme cases, still means like these have
often been resorted to, in order to do away alarm,
and sooth the waking conscience. But it will wake
again in the day of death, and gnaw with a still
keener appetite from the day of judgment onward.

Finally any instruction given awakened sinners,
that they may comply with and still perish, is cruel
and treacherous. Say to them as Paul did, and you
are safe, and they too, if they follow your advice.
And they will be as likely to do their whole duty,
as any part of it. Christ will bless only that in-
struction, which comes up to the standard he has
given us. O, let not the lips, that should pour out
only truth, that should help the sinner to a full ac-
quaintance with his sins, and press his conscience,
till he shall feel that he cannot do an hour without
Christ ; be employed to stop the progress of con-
viction, and though a mistaken tenderness, bind
up the rankling wound, ere the probe has reached
its centre, or it has disgorged its putrescence. When
the sinner, under the management of the Holy
Ghost, is in a fair way to become thoroughly con-
vinced of his misery and his ruin, let not the work
be arrested in its progress, and the ear be assailed
with the sound of peace, till heaven is once made
sure.

The prodigal is alarmed for his life, and grieved
almost to distraction for his baseness of conduct,

145

and has his face turned homeward, but a being
meets him, pretending to be his father's friend, and
sent to guide him in the way to his house, and bears
him into a hopeless and returnless exile ! He casts
a veil over the rags and filth of the vagabond, tells
him of his native virtues, admonishes him to make
one more effort to live without his father, and the
wretch believes, and turns his face from home, and
perishes in his profligacy. So many a sinner, just at
the moment when he began to think on his ways, when
his sins were staring him in the face, when there was
seen distinctly the countenance of an offended God,
and when there began to be some thought of repairing
to a Saviour, has been misdirected and destroyed.

Instead of saying as Paul did, " Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved," we set
about making him happy in some other way. He
must mend his life, and send up some prayer, and
wait at the pool, and hold on his way ; — yes, all this
would be well, were he now a believer. But the
misery of the case is, he is yet unsanctified, his
heart is set in him to do evil, and the controversy be-
tween him and Godj is yet at its height. He must
stop, and turn back, or lose heaven. He yet knows
not enough about his sins to render a Saviour wel-
come. He still dares to stand on the margin of
perdition, and has a disgust for holiness and heaven
so implacable, that he will risk all the danger he
is in a little longer, rather than give his heart to
Jesus Christ.

146

Tell him now of waiting God's time, and at-
tending on the means ; when God's time has gone
by these thirty, forty, sixty years, and means have
had no effect all that time ! Ah, I am afraid you will
amuse him till his day of mercy has gone by, and he
perishes in his bondage. The manslayer is fleeing
from the avenger of blood, the road before him parts,
a post is erected, and a board on it, on which is
written in large capitals,

RSFUGE (TT'.
while the finger of a man's hand points to his course.
He can only read a single word, and must run while
he reads. If he stops to breathe he perishes.

Now such is the office of the gospel ministry,
when it comes in contact with a sinner anxious to
flee from the wrath to come. It can lose no time
in directing him to the Lamb that was slain. It
must urge him to a place of safety, and when the
danger is over, then tell him of means, and urge him
to prayer, and press a reform, and build him up for
heaven. I proceed to a

2 Remark. We may gather from this subject
a reason^ ivhy revivals of religion^ in some instan-
ces, add so little to the strength of the churches.
The lax instruction sometimes given to awakened
sinners at such a time, even by well meaning men,
who aim to be faithful, tends to nourish a growth
of piety, that is sickly and effeminate, and will fi-
nally add but little to the vigour and beauty of Zi-

147

on. I know that if souls are conyerted they will
get to heaven, and blessed be God if he will convert
them, but their usefulness in this life, much de-
pends on their early instruction.

Let the doctrines be kept hid from those who
are coming into the kingdom, and let there be de-
tailed only that soothing, indistinct, and sickly in-
struction, which has been noticed, and the converts
when made, will go halting along to heaven, and
the churches and its ministry have very little
comfort in them, or help from them.

They will scarcely know what converted them,
whether truth or error. It was truth I know, for
God sanctifies through the truth, but there was so
much error mingled with it as to render it, in their
own view, doubtful which produced the effect.
And having associated the kindness of their youth,
the love of their espousals, with so much indistinct-
ness of doctrine, they will be likely ever after, to
court this same darkened exhibition of the gospel,
and finally die before they shall have learned what
truth is. And while they live, they will be liable
to be driven about with every wind of doctrine, and
vex the church, and embarrass the ministry, and pass
perhaps from one denomination to another, and
finally be saved though as by fire.

They will be doubtful loho converted them.
They were told when under alarm, to do many
things toward their own conversion, and they
did them, and they were finally converted ; but

148

whether they did it themselves, or whether God did
it, they find it hard to tell. And they will give oth-
ers the same darkened counsel that was given
them. Thus God is robbed of the glory due to his
name, and the churches filled up with members,
who will hang a dead weight upon every revival
that shall happen in the church, till they are taken
up to heaven, and taught there, what they should
have learned that same week in which they were
born of God.

And they may never find out in this world,
what they were converted ^br. Men will be active
in duty, only as they are rooted and grounded in
the truth. In all nien, truth, or what they think is
truth, is the spring of action. Hence some whole
churches, in this day of christian enterprise, can be
brought to do nothing ; and the reason is, because
they know nothing distinctly. If you could en-
lighten them, they would act, but they will not be
enlightened. The secret is, they were born in a
dark, misty, and debilitating atmosphere, and they
choose to live and die in the same. Let some good
man, who knows and loves the truth, go into one
corner of such a society, and there be active and
faithful a few years, till the christians know what
they were born for, and that corner of the church
shall be, from that time, worth all the rest, in any
labours to which God shall call his people.

I know not but we have here owe, and that not
a very inefficient cause, why so many ministers

149

have been quarreled away from their people, imme-
diately after some great revival. The faithful
and laborious servant of God had gathered into
the church a multitude of converts, and expect-
ed much from them, but had not prepared them to
be useful, and when at length he urged them to
bring forth fruits meet for repentance, they contend-
ed with him. If any should consider this a bold
suggestion, then I hope they will make a happier
one, and take away this reproach from the churches.
I cannot believe, that a revival of religion, effected
by the Spirit of God, under a distinguishing gospel,
will tend to unsettle its ministry. But I can easily
believe, that one who knows and loves the truth,
may hold it back in a time of awakening, to the in-
calculable injury of those who are born again, and
at the risk of his own sudden removal from his flock.
He is afraid to give them strong meat, and feeds
them with what he terms milk, but which proves to
be poison, and they wither under it, and he is pun-
ished for administering it. Thus is fulfiled that in-
spired adage, " He that will save his life shall lose
it ; but he that will lose his life, for my sake and
the gospel, the same shall save it."

Finally let me say to lost men, haste yo^r es-
cape to Jesus Christ. You stand in imminent dan-
ger of perdition every moment. Your ruin is near-
er, and your guilt far greater, than you ever con-
ceived. That sinner that has been the most afraid,
has nev^r been half enough afraid, of the wrath oi

150

God. It burns to the lowest hell, and when you
fall beneath it, your courage will all be gone in a
moment. " Can thine heart endure, or can thine
hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with
thee ?"

You see what the terms are, and God will nev-
er alter them, on which you can be accepted of the
Lord Jesus Christ. They are the best, and the on-
ly terms that could be offered. They secure the
honour of the divine law, the glory of Christ, and
the eternal life of the sinner. They are humbling
terms, and to reach the case they must be.

Now will you stand quarreling with the truth
till you perish ? Is this the right course for a sin-
ner ? You thus harden your heart, and sear your
conscience, and provoke your doom. *'Now is tfee
accepted time, now is the day of salvation." May
God bless his own truth, and n[iake it a fire and
hammer to break in pieces the flinty rock. Amen,

^amM®» %^

THE MAN OF GOD DISTINGUISHED.

JOHN XV. 19.

" Ye are not of the world."

It has always been the wish of the enemies of
the truth, to amalgamate the church with the world.
They gain by this means, in their estimation, sever-
al distinct, and important advantages. Hence a gos-
pel is current, that bends all its efforts, to do away
the distinctions, between God's people, and the
men of the world. The christian character is let
down, till all its beauty, and all its honours are in
the dust. It is plead that the christian need not
differ widely from other men. He may retain his
evil heart of unbelief, may pursue the world as he
has done, may cultivate the same pride of charac-
ter, may bury himself in scenes of dissipation, and
may be, in all respects, the same man of the w^orld,
as previously to his hope and his profession. If he
should sometimes be profane, and occasionally gam-
ble, and be habitually hard, bordering upon roguery,
in his commerce, and trifle with scripture, and sing
a merry song, or be overtaken by any vice that is
fashionable, that is not low and vulgar ; all this is

152

permitted to affix no stain upon his christian char-
acter.

He may be in full league with the guilty popu-
lation of the apostacy, need perform no duties, nor
embrace any doctrines, not relished by the ungodly,
nor encompass himself with any of that sacredness of
character that brings' a sword. Thus the man of
God is robbed of every feature of holiness, that can
possibly distinguish him from the mass of the un-
godly ; and the men of the world have only to adopt
the creed, and make oath to the covenant, and come
to the consecrated table, and the work is done.

They need have no knowledge of that new birth,
which the Lord Jesus pressed upon Nicodemus ;
need not be translated out of darkness into marvel-
lous light, and from the power of sin and satan un-
to God ; need not disturb themselves with repent-
ance, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, nor exhib-
it that transformation of character, which shall
evince them risen with Christ, and seeking those
things that are above, where Christ sitteth at the
right hand of God. Thus the Lord Jesus is made
to martial a band of miscreants. He has the atti-
tude of a rebellious prince, who mingles with a
multitude of rebels, enlists them under his banners,
demanding neither loyalty nor duty, and winks at
all the deeds of wrong and of outrage, which they
have committed against the throne and the kingdom.
In pursuing the subject, / shall give a scriptural ac-
count of the secluded character of believers, and show ^

153

that their amalgamation with the worlds will both in-
jure them, and the ungodly with whom they are asso-
ciated,

I. I am to give a scriptural account of the seclud-
ed character of the believer. Said an apostle, to
those who believe in Christ, and to whom he is
precious, ** Ye are a chosen generation, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people ; that
ye should show forth the praises of him who hath
called you out of darkness into marvellous light."
And said another apostle, *' Be not unequally yoked
together with unbelievers ; for what fellowship hath
righteousness with unrighteousness ? and what com-
munion hath light with darkness ? and what con-
cord hath Christ with belial ? or what part hath he
that believeth with an infidel ? and what agreement
hath the temple of God with idols ? For ye are
the temple of the living God ; as God hath said, I
will dwell in them, and walk in them ; and I will be
their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore
come out from among them, and be ye seperate,
saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing ;
and I will receive you ; and will be a Father unto
you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith
the Lord Almighty." I have made this long quo-
tation, because almost every clause bespeaks the
secluded character of the believer.

Said our Lord to his disciples, '-If ye were of
tlie world, the world would love his own ; but be-
20

154

cause ye are not of the world, but I have chosen
you out of the world, therefore shall the world
hate you." Often did he say, that none could be his
disciples, but such as would deny themselves, and
take up their cross and follow him.

Now the very idea of a church, implies a secluded
and peculiar people. Why have any creed, or
covenant, or discipline, but that God's people must
have a character, and perform duties, and sustain re-
lationships, that belong not to the world at large. I
know there is a sense in which they must both
grow together until the harvest. God's people
must stay in this world till they have ripened for
heaven ; but they may be in the world, and still be
the secluded, and retiring, and peculiar, and heav-
enly minded people, which God requires them
to be.

Hence to amalgamate the church with the
world, is to thwart the divine plan, and join what
God has sundered. The purpose of God to give
his people at last a world by themselves, and pub-
licly seperate them from the ungodly in the scene
of the judgment, placing the sheep on the right
hand, and the goats on the left ; speaks plainly that
distinctness of character, interest, and condition,
which becomes them, and is enjoined upon them, in
the present life. In no scripture are they confound-
ed with the unregenerate. Their distinctness is
kept up, through the whole series of epithets given
them in the book of God ; Saint and sinner, clean

156

and unclean, righteous and wicked, holy and unholy,
believer and unbeliever, godly and ungodly.

II. The amalgamation of God^s people with the
world will injure them. Men have shown great
zeal, in proselyting the world to a visible fellowship
with the church, as if all that is desirable were
gained, when men are brought to put on the garb
of piety. But assuredly nothing is gained to the
church. She receives no accession of strength, or
beauty, when the multitudes of the ungodly come
to her solemn feasts, and enter the inclosures of her
covenant. The army of God that goes out to wage
war with sin, and darkness, and misery, can operate
with far more efficiency, when none are enlisted but
the loyal. Permit the enemy to enter the sacred
enclosures of Zion, and what can you hope for, but
that in the time of the siege, they will betray her
interests, and open her gates to the enemy ?

It is when the church is pure as Christ would
have her, that she can know her strength, and how-
ever small her numbers, can defend her interests
and preserve her honours. But when polluted
with a mass of unregeneracy, she is paralized and
exposed. She moves to every onset, wielding a
burden, that renders impossible every prompt and
vigorous exertion. So the host of Gideon, while
it embraced thousands who were afraid, could
achieve nothing. The three hundred when separ-
ated from the multitude, could do more than thir-
ty thousand.

156

Our Lord preferred to be followed by a little
faithful band, rather than an army of illchosen and
ungodly men. He could have gathered into his
church, if he would have lowered his requisitions,
a mass of Scribes, and Pharisees, and Saducees,
and Lawyers. Had he been less austere, to use
the term his foes employed, he could have swel-
led his little flock to a countless multitude, and
could have selected from them a soldiery, that
would have made him a king, and built him up an
empire. Had he but proclaimed, that he would
feed by miracle the multitudes that would follow
him , he could easily have outnumbered the army of
Xerxes, and could have obliged the world to do him
homage. But his cause would have suffered, and he
could no longer have said, that his kingdom was
not of this world.

When the influence of Constantine, poured in
upon the church an unwieldy mass of nominal
Christianity, the result was that the sinew of action
was paralized. There ensued the dark ages, in
which there was swept, from what had been the
church, the last vestage of truth and holiness. There
was more real light and strength in the camp of that
little band, which fled from her sword into the wil-
derness, than was found in the whole catholic com-
munion.

And the same will be the result whenever the
same experiment is tried. Bring down the stand-
ard of piety till men totally depraved shall covet the

157

children's bread, and you have perverted the whole
design of a christian church. The equipments of
the gospel will no longer adorn his soldiery, nor the
Captain of her salvation, lead her on to victory and
glory. Hence the design, to break down all dis-
tinction between the children of God, and the un-
sanctified, and lead within the enclosures of the
church a band of God's enemies, is assuredly of all
the intreagues of the prince of darkness, one of the
most daring and desperate. While it pretends to
strengthen the church, it makes a deep and broad
incision in her arteries, and lets out her very life
blood. While it professes a wish to beautify her,
so that the ungodly are charmed with her visage, it
does but constitute her an image of marble, cold,
blind, deaf, dumb, and powerless. While it holds
out a wish to gaurd her interests, to watch her
gates, and man her fortresses ; it does but cove-
nant with her foes, and in the dark hour of midnight,
while her watchmen sleep, gives the enemy posses-
sion of her towers.

The men of this world can never be the beauty
or the strength of Zion. The Lord Jesus Christ
will have a church, that puts on his image, and re-
flects his glory, that can be a nursery for heaven,
that fosters in her bosom his own disciples, and will
stand, herself^ a monument of his redeeming power.
She is a city set on a hill, and her light must shine.
She must have on, all the features of beauty seen in
her Master, and show out to the world every line of

. 158

comeliness found in his image. There must be
written on her banner, " Love, joy, peace, long-suf-
fering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, tem-
perance."

And can all this be, when the church shall be
composed of ungodly men ? Will they put on the
image of the Lord Jesus Christ, or act out the gra-
ces of the Spirit, or have any light to spare, by
which the darkness of this apostate world may be
illuminated ? Can their science, and their courteous-
ness, and their high sounding titles, become a sub-
stitute for the ornaments of the Spirit ? Let mon-
archs come in with their diadems, and princes with
their trappings, and the multitudes of the learned
with their philosophy, but who have none of them
been taught at the feet of Jesus ; and is the church
thus made beautiful ; Ah, it would depend on who
saw her. She would dazzle the eye which could
look only on the outward appearance, but would be
deformity and corruption in his view who looketh
on the heart.

What will the church gain then, when she has
opened her bosom to the multitude ? May the be-
liever look for individual enjoyment, from being as-
sociated in covenant with those who are wise and
honourable in this world ? Will such fellowship en-
sure to him esteem and respect, from those who shall
thus have pledged themselves to treat him as a
brother ? We answer, no. When the men of the
world have put on the garb of piety, facts assure us,

159

that they will by their ungodly conversation bring
rebuke and shame upon the Lord's people ? Be-
lievers will not run with them to the same excess
of riot. Hence their scruples of conscience, which
will still render them a peculiar people, will not fail
to bring upon them the sneer, and the contempt, and
the buffetings, of the whole proselyted brotherhood.
The stricter principles, and purer doctrines, and
higher standard of christian morality, adopted by
the real disciples of the Lord Jesus, will be denomi-
nated enthusiasm ; and whatever they may do more
than others, will go to sink their reputation, and
cover them with reproach.

What then are we to think of that gospel, so
called, which aims at this monstrous confederacy ?
which would flatly contradict, or artfully nutralize,
every requisition of discipleship in the family of
Christ, and thus mingle the church with the world ?
On what page of inspiration shall we find the soli-
tary text, that thus confounds the Lord's people,
with the multitudes that know not God, and obey
not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ ? And who
would venture to make such an experiment on the
life of the church, unless unequivocally instructed
from heaven ? Alas, the experiment ha^ been made,
and is making, the divine authority to the contrary
notwithstanding. Many churches are bleeding and
expiring under the operation of this philosophy. It
has polluted their creed, and changed their ministry,
and robbed them of their covenant, and thrown open

160

the doors of their fellowship to the wide world.
The hedges of the vineyard are broken down, and
the result is, that the boar out of the wood devours
the vine. I proceed to say

III. That the me^i of the world are injured no
less than the churchy by this promiscuous amalgama-
tion of those who have no similarity of temper.
Let me remark.

1. A profession of religion increases the disposi-
tion, and gives men better opportunities to do mis-
chief: and this it will be acknowledged is a curse
and not a blessing. I know it has been said, that
the enemies of the church may be restrained, by the
gospel being so accommodated to their taste, as to
win them to its faith, and its fellowship. Do away,
it is said, those doctrines that they disrelish because
harsh and unreasonable, and those traits of chris-
tian character that give offence, and they will all
rush into the fellowship of the gospel, and be good
and harmless christians.

This point the history of the church shall an-
swer. Judas gained admission into the fold, had
access to the Lord of glory, and won the confidence
of the unsuspecting disciples. But Judas was still
a thief and a devil, and became the leader of that
band, that broke in upon the retreat of prayer, and ar-
rested, and bore away to the judgment seat the Son
of God. There probably was not another wretch in

161

Israel, who would have pocketed the price of blood,
and gone as he did, to seize, and bind, and sacrifice
the Lamb of God. The foe had to wait, after he
had whetted his teeth for the prey, till one, placed
in the very presence of Truth itself, should become
sufficiently hardened, through its perverted influ-
ence, to administer the betraying kiss, and sell his
holy Master. So Julian had done the church far
less injury, had he not been nursed in her bosom. It
was there his heart acquired that hardness, and his
conscience that obduracy, that qualified him to be the
patron of that gross, and god-provoking idolatry,
which kindled its fires so zealously about the saints
of the most high God, and sent so many from the
stake and the cross to heaven.

Ah, and before we leave this bloody spot, in
search of other facts, all establishing the same truth,
I would point you up to heaven, and tell you, that
devils could be made, only in that pure and happy
world ! ! It was there, right where God and the
Lamb are unceasingly adored, that the prince of the
power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience, was schooled, and dis-
ciplined, and equiped ; — for what ? for the greatest
usefulness, and the highest honours, like that of Ga-
briel, had he proved obedient ; but becoming a rebel,
and carrying all his heaven-taught science with
him down to hell ; he was prepared to display a
cunning, and a prowess, in deeds of wrong, that
21

have justly drawn upon him the epithet of the old
serpent.

You may now pass down, from the emperial
apostate, through the whole catalogue of baptized
worldlings, and tell me, if one of them was restrain-
ed by his profession, from doing mischief to the
church of our Lord Jesus Christ. I know that
their initiation into her mysteries, and their un-
warranted touch of her consecrated things, have led
them to change their mo^Ze of warfare, and to attack
her interests and her honours, in a covert and dis-
guised assault, made in the night time, while men
slept. There have been few open and avowed infi-
dels, who have held their place within the enclos-
ures of the church. But they have done none the
less mischief, but the more, because they lurked in
ambush. The foe who meets you in open day,
you may vanquish far more easily, than he who
comes under the covert of the black and dark night.

The thought I venture to urge, is, that the supe-
rior growth of depravity, acquired under the touch
of sealing ordinances, through the perversions of a
deceived heart, have made men the more inimical
to the church of Christ, and the 7nore desperate in
their attacks upon her interests, and her honours.
Hence some of the worst of men have come from
the house of prayer, where they had been familiar
with all the hallowed objects of piety. No young
men have sworn more profanely, or gambled more
desperately, or abused the scriptures more wanton-

163

ly, or sneered at piety more contemptuously, than
the wayward youth, who had been accustomed
to bow at the family altar. Not that such cases
are so common as the contrary ; for a pious educa-
tion, is the most promising path to heaven ; but
when they do happen, they are noticed, and afford
us awful proof that truth perverted, is more deadly
in its effects than error.

Tell me if God has ever directed, that the
church should tame her enemies, by placing them in
her bosom ? Is it thus that we tame the viper and
the asp ? If such would be the course of wisdom,
we have not done half enough. The church should
have no enclosures, no creed, no covenant, no watch,
no discipline, no barrier that should operate to keep
the vilest of men from entering her holiest places.
Let us spread at once the net of a loose and super-
ficial discipleship over the whole multitude of the
ungodly, and thus, by a single effort, put a period to
the church's long protracted conflicts, and save men
the pain and the danger of doing mischief. But
there is yet room to doubt whether God has pre-
scribed any such means for taming depravity, or
terminating the conflicts of his people ; and wheth-
er the church has not by this time-serving policy,
multiplied her wars and her dangers.

Why will we not look about us, and see what
testimony our eyes will furnish us. Who are the
enemies of the church in the present day ? Who
lead in the attacks made on her ? who unsettle hei

164

ministry ? who dilute her creed ? who abridge her
rights ? who rob her of her interests ? who, by set-
ting at defiance her laws, and drawing upon them-
selves her tardy and hesitating anathema, distract
her peace ? Ah, look once into the churches that
are rent with division, and party, and strife ; and
tell me, if in each case there is not some son of
belial whom, like the serpent in the fable, the
church had warmed in her bosom, but now has to
feel the effects of his venom ? Where in the churches
is there division, and strife, and hatred, and there is
no professor warm in the quarrel ? A single man,
can go out infuriated from the sacramental cup, and
Spread a wider ruin than a score of abler men, about
whom there have never been cast the sacred en-
closures of the covenant. O, I wish I had not half
the evidence I have, that I announce a solemn and
sacred truth that ought to have been publicly an-
nounced far sooner. Whatever then a profession of
godliness may do for unregenerate men, it does not
curtail their power or disposition for ^oing mischief.
I remark

2. An amalgamation of unregenerate men, with
the church, does not increase their means of becom-
ing holy and happy. No plea has been so popular,
with those who have wished to push unregenerate
men into a closer contact with sacred things, than
that they are thus furnished with better means, and a
fairer prospect of obtaining salvation. It has been

165

the boast of some modern preachers, that under
their ministrations, ungodly men are induced to quit
the ranks of infidelity , and become christians. They
have skill it seems, in rendering the gospel palata-
ble, and men will receive it from them, who would
have perished, before they would have received it
at the lips of a harsh, and homely, and unfeeling
orthodoxy. Not to stop now, to enquire whether
these converts are not rendered tenfold more the
children of hell, than previously to their having been
discipled ; let me ask whether the means of grace
used with them, are thus increased ? and whether
their prospects of heaven are thus brightened ?

That same gospel, which would induce the un-
sanctified, without being renewed, to avow them-
selves believers ; and thus teach them in the outset
to utter a lie ; would not be very likely to teach
them much truth, after their being drawn within the
covenant. And moreover, if an impression con-
trary to truth must be made to bring them to the
house of God, or within the enclosures of a christian
church, it is very doubtful, whether they would af-
terward listen seriously to the truth. The same
pleasant song that charmed them at the first, must
continue to hold them, or they would escape like
the bird from the grasp of the charmer. They must
have a gospel as false throughout, as was that first
lesson, that induced them to quit visibly the fellow-
ship of infidelity. And if so, they remain in all the
darkness of their former state, with no more chance

166

of being enlightened, than under the ministration of
a bramin, or a mufti. Or suppose your polished
and soothing preacher has done his part, and induced
the infidel to abandon his creed, for some general
confession of the truth of the bible, its doctrines
having been frittered down till he is satisfied ; and
he has exchanged the school of infidelity, for the
church of Christ ; — suppose this done, and the child
thus born delivered over tobe nursed, and reared, un-
der a better gospel ; let me ask, if that one fatal error,
which he has adopted, will not operate like a cor-
rupt leaven, to poison the whole system of truth.
You may bring the man to the sanctuary, where is
taught the faith once delivered to the saints, and
chain him to his pew, and pour in truth upon his
ear for half a century, and still you will never reach
his conscience, till you make him feel, and he be-
comes willing to learn, that his heart is alienated
from God, and that the profession he has made is a
lie. You must teach him that the whole head is
sick, and the whole heart faint ; that he is an alien
from the commonwealth of Israel, and is not, and
never has been, in covenant w ith God ; and thus at
the very first push of truth, thrust him from his
strong hold, or he stands shielded against any attack
that can be made upon him by the true gospel.
Thus in order to make him listen to the truth, or in
other words, to furnish him better means of grace,
you bring him up to the communion table, and when
there you can make him feel nothing, till you show

167

him, that the incense and the sacrifice he offers is
abomination to the Lord.

It does seem to me that when you have made
the unrenewed man a professor of godliness, you
have placed him where he cannot be taught the
gospel. You have prepared him a shield for his
conscience and his heart, that will effectually pro-
tect him, against any thrust that truth can make.
It is then doubted, whether sealing ordinances, are
at all likely to become means of grace, to wicked
men, who are admitted to those ordinances, while
in impenitence and unbelief.

I take it for granted, what is too evident to ad-
mit a doubt, that a mere profession does not alter
the man's moral character in the least. He believes
no truth that he did not believe before, is as much
an infidel as ever, and does no duty that he did not ;
unless you please to say that coming to the com-
munion is a duty, and this we deny. To do so is
duty, if the heart be right with God, not otherwise.
Indeed nothing is done, that deserves the name of
duty, while God is not feared and loved. And
nothing will be attempted to be done in this case,
merely because God commands it, but all because
consistency of conduct requires it. There may be
some attempt at prayer, and greater punctuality in
attending upon a preached gospel, but it must all be,
from the very nature of the case, a .^/wz^; of piety.
The profession has not altered the man, either in
heart or conduct, enough to give him another chai-

168

acter, either in the view of God or man. How
then are his means of holiness, or his chance of
heaven at all altered for the better ?

Beside there is produced by attending upon or-
dinances, when there is no piety, a positive hard-
ness of heart, and obtuseness of conscience, which
tends to remove the man farther than ever from
God. It is trifling with the most holy things, and
the man who shall do this, must rise to a pitch of
profanity and of daring, that cannot fail to beget an
abiding insensibility. It is like the deed of Uzziah
king of Judah, who for daring to assume the priest^s
office, was made a leper, and continued so all his
life. God will be sanctified in them that draw
near to him. Thus are we driven to the conclu-
sion, that when the ungodly come to the consecra-
ted elements, their means of grace are not increased^
while their prospects of heaven are greatly darken-
ed. I close with one general

REMARK.

How above all price is an honest and distin-
guishing gospel. In the

1. Place such a gospel is the only true gospel.
My audience I hope are persuaded that we have a
distinguishing bible. God intended, when he inspir-
ed his word, to give us, not the means of guessing
at the truth, but of knowing it. " Ye shall know
the truth and the truth shall make you free." Hence

169

he has made his word plain, so that the wayfaring
man though a fool shall not err. Now we should
depart from honesty, to either teach, or suffer our-
selves to'be taught, indistinctly^ from this plain bible.
There must be some base design, when the truth of
God, that stands intelligible on the record, is ren-
dered obscure and confused in the lips of the pub-
lisher. The doctrines clearly taught in the bible,
must be made evident by the preacher ; and the
characters, there distinctly marked, not be by him
blended and confounded : else we can easily be sure,
that we have not before us the honest legate of the
skies.

2. It is only an honest and distinguishing gospel,
that does honour to the Saviour. Its grand object
is to redeem men from all iniquity, and purify to the
Lord Jesus Christ a peculiar people, zealous of good
works. The church it gathers, and feeds, and com-
forts, has on the image of her Lord, stands out
from the world, an illustrious monument of his sanc-
tifying power, and tells all the generations that
pass by, how holy and how glorious, and how migh-
ty, is her Redeemer. Christ has declared that his
people are like him, he is formed in them the hope
of glory. But if you mix up the church with the
world, and the people of the saints of the Most
High, cannot be known from the multitudes with
whom they are amalgamated, and you call this
whole mass the churchy which is expected to wear
22

170

the image of her Lord, then jou grossly libel his
character.

If the ungodly, as they look upon this church,
are to learn from its character, what is the charac-
ter of the Saviour ; and from its conduct, what is
the life and conversation he would approve ; and
from its temper, what is the Spirit of Christ ; then
is the Saviour degraded and abused by such a
church, and the whole design of his mission covered
with reproach. He came to save his people from
their sins. Are these then the people he has sav-
ed ? these worldlings ? these profane men ? these
gamblers ? these covetous men ? these ambitious
men ? these proud," litigious, thoughtless, prayerless
men ? Are all these the saved of Jesus Christ ? this
the multitude that he has washed from their sins in
his blood \ !

Thus an indistinct gospel, builds up a worldly
church, and that church by its open, and barefaced,
and abounding iniquities, brings reproach and con-
tempt upon its Redeemer. But let the church be
pure as he would have it, be composed of only such
as will put on his image, and glory in being like
him ; then the world will take knowledge of them
that they have been with Jesus, and he will be hon-
oured in the house of his friends.

3. It is only an honest and distinguishing gospel
that ivill be useful.

It gives men the means of knowing their own

171

character. Its very first object is to distinguish, be-
tween the clean and the unclean, between him that
serveth God, and him that serveth him not. Then
the christian discovers that he is in Christ Jesus,
and takes the comfort of it ; and the unregenerate
learn that they are in the gall of bitterness, and un-
der the bonds of iniquity, and feel the pain of it,
and apprehend the danger of it. He will have many
a song, and they feel many a pang, under such a
gospel ; he may have high hopes of future blessed-
ness, and they many strong anticipations of the wrath
to come.

A gospel that is not distinguishing, by building
up a worldly church, withholds from sinners one of
the mightiest means of grace. There is nothing
that so much affects men, as to see religion embodi-
ed, and acted out by the people of God. The gos-
pel then presents itself to their consciences in a liv-
ing shape, and carries with it an influence that is ir-
resistible. There the law is, and there the gospel is,
right before their eyes all day, in their houses, and
in their streets ; and they must die or embrace it.
But under a loose and indistinct gospel, there is no
such example, and of course no such influence ex-
erted. If there should be some few in the church,
who honour the religion they profess, which is not
very likely under a gospel that does not feed them
with the truth, still their influence will not be felt.
They will be nicknamed, and despised, and cast out,
as sour, unsocial, and austere beings, ol whom none

172

may speak kindly, and with whom none will associ-
ate. Thus the ungodly, under such a gospel, lack
one of the most efficacious means of grace.

Hence under such a gospel there is no reason to
hope, that sinners will repent, and turn to God, and
live. Men will not be alarmed till they know their
danger, nor will know their danger, till they learn
their true character. Hence under a gospel, that
does not distinguish, that rears not a pious christian
church, that mixes up the Lord's people with the
world, calls the whole congregation brethren, and
deals out the promises without descrimination ; sin-
ners cannot be said to enjoy the means of grace, will
never become alarmed, and will never repent, and
will die in their sins, and where Christ is they can
never come.

To the people of God, who are under a process
of sanctification through the truth, it is of unspeak-
able importance that they enjoy a distinguishing
gospel. Else they will ripen but slowly for heaven,
will not enjoy the comforts of religion, nor be extent
sively useful. To place them under a tame and tem-
porising gospel, is like the attempt to grow plants
in the shade. They may just live, but they can
neither be vigorous nor healthful. Place the men
of heavenly birth, where they can have the whole
truth, and feel its full influence. Then they
" spring up, as willows by their water-courses."
Every day advances them in the divine life. Their
religion is healthful and vigorous, and there is rea-

173

son to believe that they will feel the blessed effects
forever. They will be when they die better pre-
pared for heaven, will take a higher station, and
shine more illustriously in the celestial firmament.
O, then suffer not a christian for a worlds to
spend his days under a loose and indiscriminating
gospel. Advise him to sell all he has, and buy a
better gospel, or go where the truth is proclaimed,
that he may daily feel its influence, " till we all
come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowl-
edge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto
the measure of the stature of the fulness of
Christ." Amen.

^:imm®ir ©^

SINNERS MADE USEFUL TO GOD'S
PEOPLE.

ISAIAH X. 5—12, V

^^ O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their
hand is mine indignation. I will send him against an hyp-^
ocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I
give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey,
and to tread them doivn like the mire of the streets. How-
heit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so ; but
it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few.
For he saith, are not my princes altogether kings 1 Is not
Calno as Carchemish ? is not Hamath as Arpad 1 is not Sa-
maria as Damascus ? As my hand hath found the kingdoms
of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Je^
rusalem and of Samaria ; shall I not, as I have done unto
Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols 1
Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lovd hath
'performed his whole work upon mount Zion, and on Jerusa^
lem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of
Assyria, and the glory of his high koks.^*

We sometimes discover, in a scrap of sacred sto-
ry, a rich and lucid comment upon the essential
doctrines of revelation. The simple statement of
facts, dissipates the darkness that obscured the
ways of God, and removes the cloud behind which

175

roll the wheels of providence. Let us only read of
what God, by his immediate agency, or by the agen-
cy of others, has done^ and we shall find very little
mystery in all he has said. The doctrines are noth-
ing more than the general principles of the divine
administration. The moment men put themselves
in the attitude of quarrel with what God has said,
they invariably tax themselves with the necessity
of denying what he has done. The father who
returns to his house, and finds his beloved child a
corpse, and still denies the sovereignty of God, proves
himself a pitiable reasoner. A doctrine so pointed-
ly illustrated, can no longer be matter of doubt, un-
less he choose to believe a lie.

The history of the Assyrian invasion, forseen
and described by the prophet in the text and con-
text, is one of those expository scriptures, which il-
lustrate and confirm, what are erroneously termed
the hard doctrines of revelation. God is here seen
in the attitude of administering correction to his
people, and using wicked men as the staff, destined
like any other rod to be commited to the fire, when
the children are reduced to obedience. If instead
of intending to bless the people of God, they mean
not so, mean no service to their Maker, but their
own elevation, intend to injure whom they hate, all
this does not disqualify them to be the sword of the
Lord. There is something fearfully interesting in
the divine sovereignty, thus illustrated by the very
finger of God himself. We must either believe

176

what God has spoken on this subject, or deny what
he has done, and what he is doing daily before our
very eyes.

I must detain you a few moments, on the his-
torical facts in the case, and then notice more large-
ly the doctrines they inculcate.

I. We attend to the historical facts, God had a
church in the family of Abraham, but they were so
wicked, that he stiles them in the text a hypocritic-
al nation. He would correct them for their sins,
and would employ for this purpose Sennacherib the
king of Assyria, the very staff they had leaned on.
But that prince would intend no such good to the
covenant people of God ; his object would be de-
vastation and plunder. It was in his heart to de-
stroy and cut off nations not a few. He boasted,
and heaven knew his impudence, that his power
was great, his victories numerous and splendid, his
princes, monarchs, and the gods all too weak to re-
sist him. And the worst is yet to be spoken, he
threatened that he would do to Jerusalem's God as'
he had done to the deities around him. How con-
temptible must he have appeared to him who sit-
teth in the heavens. Thus the axe boasted itself
against him that hewed with it, the saw against
him that shook it, and the rod threatened him who
lifted it up.

God now resolved that when he had chastised
Israel for their idolatry, and their waywardness, he

177

Would curse the Assyrian for his pride. He
might live till he had performed all the divine will
upon Mount Zion, and upon Jerusalem, then God
would punish the fruit of his stout heart, and bring
down the glory of his high looks.

God would make him know that he was a mere
worm, that an almighty arm, and not his own, had
gotten him his victories, and that all his wrath to-
ward the people of God, must meet a final and a
fearful judgment.

When God speaks in the text of sending that
proud and impious man, to chastise his people, we
are not to understand that God would command him
to go, or justify the motives by which he would be
actuated. God does not punish as a crime, the
very deed which his injunction renders duty. It is
believed that nothing more is meant, than that God
would so order events, that the Assyrian should
hope to gratify his avarice and his pride in hum-
bling Jerusalem. The history tells for itself, that
the king had one purpose, and the King of kings
another, and that God kept his own purpose a se-
cret, from the miscreant whom he used as his rod.

Why was he not sent of God, precisely in the
same sense as God hardened the heart of Pharaoh ?
by the concurrence of events, that should have pro-
duced a contrary resolve. The Egyptian's heart
was hardened by means that should have softened
it : by alternate judgments and mercies, that should
have rendered him one of the holiest men that has
23

178

lived. So the Assyrian was sent, by an agency that
should have rendered him Jerusalem's w^armest
friend. God had given him victory over the
idols whose shrines he had assaulted, and made him
rich with the spoil. He should then have honoured
the God of battles, and should have come to Jeru-
salem to worship his Benefactor. He should have
been content, when he had been suffered to spoil the
temples of idolatry.

But these very successes made him covet the
treasures of Jerusalem, and thus had the very oppo-
site effect which they should, and would have had,
upon a benevolent and holy mind. There is a par-
allel case in Jeremiah. The church had forfeited
the favour of God, and must go into captivity.
Babylon must lead them captive, and when Israel
should be humbled, must be punished for making
War with the people of God. Read the twenty
fifth chapter of Jeremiah, and you will have the
facts in a shape more interesting, than that in
which any comment can place them.

Thus God employs wicked men in the service
of his people, while they mean far otherwise, and
are in fact the agents of another prince. Still God
holds them accountable, restrains their wrath when
it will not praise him, and finally does his whole
pleasure, precisely as though the agents he employed
were his trusty and devoted servants. How calcu-
lated are such facts to beget respect for the charac-
ter and ways of God ! How do they corroborate the

179

doctrines of revelation, and humble the pride of
man !

It is a solemn and bitter reflection, that the peo-
ple of God must be so frequently and severely chas-
tised. That God should term them a hypocritical
nation, and the people of his wrath, and let loose
upon them the armies of idolatry, to scatter and peal
them. But God will assuredly take care of his own
people, and though many may perish who profess his
name ; still where he has begun a good work, he
will not fail to employ the best means and the best
agents, till the work be consummated, and the happy
subjects are brought home to his kingdom.

II. There are several doctrines that these facts
inculcate, which now claim our particular attention :
each prominently suggested in the text. There is an
important sense in which unregenerate men are the
servants of the most high God ; He employs them
to bless his people ; They mean not so ; While they
are doing their work, God restrains them ; When
their work is done, as God intended it should be, he
will punish them, for not doing his pleasure from
right motives.

1. There is an hnportant sense in which unre-
generate men are the servants of the most high God.
This general truth is seen distinctly in the service
done by the Assyrian for backsliding Israel. God
would send him, and would give him a charge, to

180

take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread
them down like the mire of the streets.

In support of the proposition, that ungodly men
are the servants of the Lord, we say. He gave them
being. He made all things for himself, yea even
the wicked for the day of evil. If men have be-
come alienated in their hearts, still God is their
rightful Sovereign. His propriety in them is orig-
inal and unalienable. If they have entered into
the employ of the adversary, still God has given
them no discharge from his service. His right to
them as his creatures can admit of no question.

And it will not be denied that men, however
offensive their character in the sight of God, are de-
pendant on him as their Preserver and Benefactor.
" In him we live and move and have our being."
Said the Psalmist, " The eyes of all wait on thee,
and thou givest them their meat in due season.
Thou openest thine hand and satisiiest the desire of
every living thing." Thus wicked men are the
property of God, and 3.^^ preserved by him, two es-
sential relationships between the master and his ser-
vants.

And he has occasionally stiled them his servants.
" I will send and take all the families of the north,
saith the Lord, and Nebuchadnezzar the king of
Babylon, 7ny servant^ and I will bring them against
this land." His anointed, and his shepherd, are
terms which God applied to Cyrus. And he com-
missioned the prophet to say to Israel, *' The sons of

181

strangers shall build up thy wall, and their kings
shall minister unto thee — For the nation and king-
dom that will not serve thee shall perish." Thus
the world, from its crowned heads, to its meanest
vassals, are constituted the servants of the church
of God.

And he assigns the ungodly their work, as
the master does the servant. The law of God,
in all its minute detail, is the rule of duty to
every ungodly man. And he has sometimes spe-
cified the service, which he required of individu-
al sinners, still withholding from them a knowl-
edge of his purpose. Sennacherib must scourge
the backsliding church, Nebuchadnezzar carry
them to Babylon, and Cyrus restore them, and re-
build their city and their temple. Nebuchadnezzar
was sent to punish the iniquity of Tyre, and was
then directed to take Egypt as a prey. Thus have
the enemies of God been assigned sometimes a spe-
cific task, as the Master decides in what field each
servant of his shall toil.

And God sits in judgment upon the service which
unregenerate men do for him. I refer now, not to
the last judgment, but to decisions which God pas-
ses, and punishments which he inflicts in the present
life. Nor yet do I refer to judgments, which God
inflicts upon the wicked generally, but to those
instances when he has terribly reproved them, for
not doing to his mind the very work assigned them.
I shall notice here but a single case, Nebuchadnez-

182

zar the king of Babylon was the Lord's sword to
punish Israel, and all the nations bordering upon Is-
rael. So eminently was he sustained as the Lord's
servant, to scourge the nations, that destruction was
threatened to every nation that did not submit to
him. And still, in performing the very service for
which he was thus made great, he so offended God
as to render his overthrow as conspicuous as had
been his pride, his insolence, and his oppressions.

I remark once more, in confirmation of the fact
that wicked men are God's servants, that he rewards
them for their labours. For the hard service which
the king of Babylon performed against Tyre, in
w^hich every head was made bald, and every should-
er pealed, he was commissioned to go and take the
spoil of Egypt as his reward. Indeed so extensive-
ly was that man employed by the God of heaven,
to scourge the enemies of Israel, and his own
church when they needed chastisement, that there
went out in his behalf this wonderful edict. ** I
have given all these lands into the hand of Nebu-
chadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and
the beasts of the field have I given him also to
serve him, and all nations shall serve him, and his
son, and his son's son, until the very time of his
land come." — *' The nations that bring their neck
under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and
serve him, those will I let remain still in their
own land, saith the Lord ; and they shall till it
and dwell therein." Even Israel was command-

183

ed, " Bring your necks under the yoke of the kuig
of Babylon, and serve him, and his people, and live."
I will mention only one other case, out of scores
that might be mentioned, where God rewarded a
wicked man, for services done for him. Jehu seems
not to have been a man of God, but for the service
he performed, in cutting off the house of Ahab, and
destroying idolatry, his children to the fourth gen-
eration, should sit upon the throne of Israel.

It is believed by many, that the promise con-
tained in the fifth commandment, and all those
which secure present prosperity to the liberal, are
often fulfilled to ungodly men, who from wrong mo-
tives, have honoured their parents, or been generous
to the church and people of God. Perhaps many a
wealthy man in our land, who yet has no treasure
laid up in heaven, has received his wealth of the
Lord, in reward for deeds of kindness done his peo-
ple, or exertions made to extend and bless his king-
dom. With the measure they mete, it shall be
measured to them again. If without loving God^
they will feed his children, and sustain his minis-
ters, and spread his gospel ; he will, without loving
them, fill their barns with plenty, and cause their
presses to burst out with new wine. It was perish-
able treasure that they loaned to him, in perishable
materials he will reward them a thousand fold. But
the wealth he bestows, since they give him not their
hearts, cannot be accounted a covenant blessing, it
may be so abused in their hands, as to ripen them

184

for an earlier destruction. May the mercy of a par-
doning God prevent !

Thus do we argue, that wicked men are God's
servants. He gave them being, is their Preserver
and Benefactor, has stiled them his servants, has ap-
pointed them tlieir work, sits in judgment upon the
services they render him, and rewards them for their
labours. I have not said they were servants in the
same sense in which his people receive this appella-
tion. Unhappily it is in a widely different sense. The
one accomplishes his purposes with no such design^
and is rewarded with the meat that perishes ; the
other receives the law at his mouth, does his will
with design, and has for his reward the meat that
endureth to everlasting life. I proceed to the

2. Prominent suggestion of the text, God em-
ploys ivicked raen to bless his people. If God would
say to his church once, " For the nation and king-
dom that will not serve thee shall perish ;" why
has he not thus published to the world a permanent
and established principle of his government. And
if nations hold their being and their prosperity, on
the condition that they subserve the interests of
God's people, why do we not infer with assurance,
that individuals are under the same law. Hence
all the ungodly, and especially those who shall die
in their sins, live to serve the church of our Lord
Jesus Christ.

This subject is illustrated in the parable of the

186

tares and the wheat ; they must both grow together
till the harvest. It is easy to see how grieved and
injured would be many of the people of God, were
not his enemies permitted to live. Remove the
wicked husband, and the pious wife is a widow, poor,
and dependant, and exposed to temptation and re-
proach; while her children, the seed of the covenant,
are perhaps removed from her, must be uneducated,
be reared without the means of grace, and in a
world, cold and inhospitable like this, might be con-
strained to beg their bread* Thus the promise of
God would come to the ground.

In other cases, one who is not born of God may
be, as it regards temporalities, the support of a chris-
tian church. His death might remove its faithful
pastor, and the people perish for lack of vision. On
the exertions of one wicked man may depend, in a
variety of ways, the instruction of a vast number of
the rising generation. God, then, will sustain him
in life, and fill his storehouse with good things, and
bless him, that he may bless others, and continue
him down to the extremest old age.

It may happen that one who does not love God
may be a valuable citizen or statesman. The pres-
sure of government may be upon his shoulders,
and a state or kingdom be greatly injured by his
death, and ultimately the church suffer. Let both
then grow together till the harvest. God has laid
his plan, and will not abandon it, in which he has
24

18G

secured beyond the possibility of hazard, the best in-
terests of his people.

We should have some difficulty in vindicating
the ways of God, if the multitudes of the ungodly,
especially those who at last perish, had no profitable
employment in his world. A wise and good man^
would not make provision for the idle and the va-
grant. He would be unwilling to foster inaction,
or waste his property. Hence it cannot be that the
blessed God, who makes the wants of a disloyal
world his care, has not the wisdom to find them
employment in his house. Thus his known char-
acter gives us assurance, that he will not give breath
and bread and raiment, to beings for whom he has
no service in his kingdom, and whose existence and
agency in that case would but cumber and curse
his creation.

Let us look at facts, and let them speak in be-
half of God. They were doubtless ungodly men^
who built the ark, in which Noah, and all his, were
saved from the miseries of the deluge. Joseph's
ungodly brethren raised him to that seat of honour
and power which he filled in Egypt. The impious
Pharaoh fed the church of God during a long pro-
tracted famine. The blood-thirsty Haman elevated
Mordecai in the court of Persia. The princes of
Babylon procured Daniel his great advancement in
that monarchy. So the Canaanites lived and pros-
pered, till they had cultivated their land, and made
it fertile and beautiful for the comfort of Israel*

187

They built cities, and planted vineyards and olive
yards, and Israel eat the fruit of their labours. Cy-
rus sent back the Jewish captives to their land, and
Darius contributed from his own purse to build the
house of God, and supply the daily sacrifice. Ju-
das marked out the Lamb, and the impious Sanhe-
drim, and the Roman soldiery put forth the decree,
and buUt the alter, and slew the sacrifice, that aton-
ed for the sins, and procured the redemption of a
world. The proud Csesar reduced the world to one
empire, that the way might be prepared to promul-
gate the glorious gospel of the blessed God. Colum-
bus suffered every thing but death, that he might
search out a place for the pilgrims, just at the junc-
ture when they must flee or suffer.

I know that the wicked have sometimes perse-
cuted the people of God even unto death. But this
is still the same service, as faith views it. When
believers are matured for heaven, their death is pre-
cious in the eyes of the Lord. While men have for-
ged their chains, and built their dungeons, and light-
ed their fagots, they have performed a service as
necessary to the accomplishment of the grand plan
of redeeming mercy, as when they have housed,
and fed, and cherished, and comforted them.

Yes, from the time of Cain till this very day,
wicked men have served and blessed the church of
God. And the increase and the joy of his king-
dom, admits now a foreign agency, as readily as
when Jerusalem was to be rebuilt, and the second

188

temple set up. Men pursue their own inclinations,
and do what thej please, while God directs all their
energies into the same channel, and renders them
subservient to the interests of that blessed kingdom
which he has established in this world. Not a
muscle, a nerve, a passion, or a thought exist for
any other purpose ; or worm or sparrow perishes but
with this design.

Many a foe of Zion, many who finally will have
no interest in a Saviour's love, are employed in ac-
cumulating wealth, clearing forests, cultivating
farms, and building habitations to accommodate the
friends of God, in that day when the knowledge of
bim shall cover the earth as the waters cover the
sea. Hence we read, ''the wealth of the sinner is
laid up for the just." And we read again, " Though
the sinner may heap up silver as the dust, and pre-
pare raiment as the clay ; he may prepare it, but the
just shall put it on, and the innocent shall divide the
silver."

Every storm that blows has its commission to
bless the church, and every passion that raves the
same charge The revolutions that have been so
frequent in our day, so disastrous to kingdoms, ruin-
ous to individual fortune, and torturing to the heart
of sensibility ; though managed as they evidently
have been, almost exclusively by ungodly men, and
usually with the basest design, have helped to pre-
pare the way for the heralds of salvation to carry
glad tidings of great joy to all people.

189

That scourge of nations, and contemner of hu-
man life and human happiness, who lately died in
solitude, on one of the isles of the sea, though long
the curse of Europe, and remembered with horrid
interest by the millions whom his ambition bereav-
ed, and immortalized by the rivers of blood tliat
every where flowed at his feet, still wrought for the
church of God. He gave popery a deadly wound,
crushed the inquisition, avenged no doubt much of
the blood of the martyrs, and though himself a ty-
rant, was the means of enkindling a spirit of free-
dom, which will, not long first, result in the down-
fall of every despot in Europe.

The tract system, that mighty engine by which
God is now promulgating the honours of his name,
was the invention of infidelity, and was first used
in corrupting the world with error.

The wise and discerning can see evidence in the
events of every day, that wricked men are employed
in serving God's people. When their treatment is
unkind, it renders believers humble, watchful,
prayerful, and heavenly minded. Thus the promise,
*^ Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and
persecute you, and say all manner of evil against
you falsely for my sake ;" and another promise
more ample yet, " all things are yours ; whether
Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life,
or death, or things present, or things to come ; all
are yours ; and ye are Christ's ; and Christ is God's.
We do not say, that christians could not be sancti-

196

fied, in a world where they should be treated only
with kindness ; but we apprehend that in such a
world they would ripen for heaven more slowly.
They would be too well satisfied, and wish no oth-
er or better home.

Even the buffetings of the adversary, have been
made a blessing. Job was thus made a humbler
and a better man. And Peter, when Satan had
sifted him as wheat, was a more useful apostle.
When John in his vision, was questioned respecting
some, who appeared to be approaching heaven from
this world, *' Who are these arrayed in white robes ?
and whence came they ?" the question being refer-
red, was answered, " These are they which came
out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes,
and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."
The idea distinctly conveyed is, that tribulation
made them illustrious Spirits. And w^e have all no-
ticed, in our walk through life, instances of believ-
ers, who evidently were making great advances in
the divine life, in the most adverse circumstances
that can be well conceived of. When they have
not dared to pray, nor attend a place of worship, nor
enter into covenant with God, it has seemed as if
every lash of adversity pressed them on toward
their home in the heavens. We have admired the
straight-forwardness of their course, when they have-
wet every foot of their way with tears.

Thus since the revolt in heaven, and the fall in
paradise, devils, and those whom they have led cap-

191

tive at their will, have had employ in the service of
God's people. Directly and intentionally, or other-
wise, they have served the people of the saints of
the most high God, and will continue in the service,
while the earth shall remain, and there shall be on
it a believer ripening for heaven. And God is so
sovereign in managing the affairs of his people, that
he asks not the consent of the ungodly, to be thus
employed. They pursue their own plan, and he
his ; but whether they love or hate, are kind or hos-
tile, their highest love, and their bitterest rebukes,
achieve for the people of God the same object, and
push them on toward their house not made with
hands eternal in the heavens.

3. They mean not so. It is very far from being
the intention of wicked men to serve the people of
God. So much may be asserted on the authority
of facts, and what is more yet, on the authority of
God. Sinners have one purpose which they intend
to accomplish in every enterprise of theirs, and God
another in the decree that assigned them that ser-
vice. " Ye intended evil against me," said the in-
jured Joseph, " but the Lord meant it for good, to
save much people alive." Haman intended the ruin
of Mordecai, but God purposed his high exaltation.
The princes of Babylon meant the ruin of Daniel,
but God would advance him to the highest renown.
The infidels of France, while they spilt the blood of
the priests, and confiscated their funds, purposed

192

the overthrow of religion, but God meant a deadly
blow at Antichrist. Voltaire contrived the tract
system, to proscribe the scriptures, but God design-
ed the dissemination of gospel truth. And when
the wicked intention is less or more manifest, still
the case does not widely differ.

It does not as we conceive prejudice at all the
position we mamtain, to allow, that there are indi-
viduals among the ungodly, who wish well to those
who love God, and are daily employed in doing
them kindnesses. The questions to be asked in
that case are, do they esteem God's people any the
more because of their piety, or less ? or do good to
them the more cordially, or the less so, because
they love God ? Is the zeal to do them favours in-
creased or diminished because they are partially
sanctified ? Men may continue kind to them not-
withstanding their religion, and still be the farthest
possible from intending to bless them, as the friends
of God. The most selfish motives may induce
them to act ; as the christian may be the wife, or
the husband, or the brother, or the child, of the un-
regenerate benefactor, and the instinctive affections
do all we see done. And even then it is doubtful,
whether there is ever a wish in the unrenewed to do
them spiritual good, to advance them on toward
heaven. I know of no authority, either from scrip-
ture or fact, to warrant the supposition, that any
believer ever had an unregenerate friend, who wish-
ed him to progress in putting on the image of the

193

Lord Jesus Christ. What, wish a wider, and still
wider separation, and finally an eternal remove
from them we love ! urge them to depart from us,
be more unlike us, and have less fellowship with us ?
and this because we love them ! There would be
something strange in all this.

Nor will it be any argument against the position,
they mean not so, that men are not conscious of this
operation of their hearts. The same heart that is
desperately wicked, is deceitful above all things.
Very few are conscious of hating the character of
God, or his law, or his government. You may go
to the careless, stupid, prayerless multitude, and
only one in a thousand will confess that he hates
God, and he, rather because of his orthodox educa-
tion, than his consciousness, and the residue will
most of them be angry, that you should presume to
charge them with a crime so monstrous. You may
accuse them in the very language that God uses, of
having evil hearts of unbelief, of being carnally
minded, or of being dead in trespasses and sins, and
if you make them understand that all this implies,
that they do not love their Maker, and his people,
they will resist the imputation in the very face of
this inspired testimony. If no charge may be
brought against the unregenerate, but such as they
are ordinarily conscious is true, we must either find
them in a state of conviction, or may press home
upon them no guilt of any shape or hue.

If then the doctrine may stand, it is but what
25

194

every believer in divine revelation expects, that God
will employ his power, to convert to the use of his
people, what is or is not done with this view. He
would not leave them in a world where, our doctrine
true, there are so few to design their good, without
some sure promise, that he will defend them, and
will by all events, promote their present sanctifica-
tion, and their ultimate blessedness. Hence the broad
fields of promise. *' The wrath of man shall praise
thee.'' " He made a pit and digged it, and is fal-
len into the ditch which he made. His mischief
shall return upon his own head, and his violent deal-
ings come down upon his own pate." What a keen-
ness is there in that divine challenge in the second
Psalm ; '' Why do the heathen rage, and the peo-
ple imagine a vain thing ? The kings of the earth
set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together,
against the Lord, and against his anointed saying,
let us break their bands asunder, and cast away
their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens
shall laugh : the Lord shall have them in derision."
^ The address of God to the tempter soon after the
fall, contains the very sentiment we enforce, " I
will put enmity between thee and the woman, and
between thy seed and her seed." And said our
Lord to his disciples, '' I came not to send peace
but a sword. For 1 am come to set a man at vari-
ance against his father, and the daughter against
her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her
mother-in-law. And a man's foes shall be they of

195

his own household." From language like this, with
which the bible is filled, we should seem to be jus-
tified in supporting the position, they mean not so.
It is not the design of unregenerate men to bless,
directly or indirectly, the people of God. J proceed
to say

4. While God employs wicked men in serving
his people, he holds them under close restraint.
Look at the fulfilment of the prediction of the text
in the eighteenth and nineteenth chapters of the
second book of Kings. That prince ivas sent as
predicted in the text, and his generals with a great
army encamped under the walls of Jerusalem.
There Rabshakeh in the name of his master insulted
God, practised perfidy with the king of Israel, abus-
ed and ridiculed the people, and pretended to have
a commission from God to destroy Jerusalem. Hez-
ekiah committed the matter to the Lord, and in
sackcloth appealed to him to defend his own great
name, and save his people. And God by his proph-
et sent him an answer of peace. Said Jehovah, of
the proud monarch who had come to wage war with
his honour, "I know thy abode, and thy going out,
and thy coming in, and thy rage against me." It was
a moment of awful interest. Just without the gates
of the city was a victorious army of nearly two
hundred thousand men. Now it was that faith on-
ly could penetrate the dark cloud, that hung over
the city and sanctuary of God.

196

But God had chained that impudent blasphemer
to the foot of his throne, and he had now gone to
the extent of his limits. When men, in abusing
God's people, have enough of the fiend about them,
to go on and insult God himself, then his people are
safe, for the divine honour must be vindicated, and
God will do that himself, most promptly. I should
be afraid of no man who would curse me, mid my
Maker too, I have then only to stand still, and see
the salvation of God.

That proud man was in the hand of a mighty
Conqueror, and here was Israel's safety. " I will
put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips,
and I will turn thee back by the way by w hich thou
camest." That night the angel of the Lord enter-
ed the Assyrian camp, and slew a hundred four-
score and fi\e thousand. When Sennacherib awoke,
and saw his whole army dead corpses, he returned
to his own land, and went to worship in the tem-
ple of Nisroch his god, w here two of his own sons
embued their hands in his blood. When men have
blasphemed God, he can easily overtake them, and
slay them. " It is a fearful thing to fall into the
hands of the living God." That impious man per-
ished in the very temple of the god he worshipped,
that Jehovah might doubly avenge the insults that
had been offered him, on the idols to whom he had
been compared, and the wretch who had defied his
power. Thus God, while [he had that blasphemer

197

in his employ, was careful to hold him under close
restraint.

We infer the same doctrine from the history of
Balaam. He would have cursed Israel, because he
lored the wages of unrighteousness. And he per-
severed in the design, while conscience, and the
dumb ass speaking reproved his madness. But
God loved his people, and although Balaam's suc-
cess could not have hurt them, still he would not
allow his impious maledictions to contaminate the
atmosphere that breathed through the camp of Israel.
After all his pompous efforts, he pronounced a bless-
ing only, and the curse lighted upon his own head.
He perished by the sword, and went to his own
place. He intended one thing, and God another,
and he failed because God kept a bridle upon his
lips.

So Haman was hanged upon the gallows he had
erected for Mordecai, and the foes of Daniel were
food for the beasts of prey that would not devour
him. In the bloody scenes of Bethlehem, the very
child escaped whom Herod would have slain, and
the curse of God fell on him. If time permitted I
could swell this catalogue of facts, indefinitely, all
going to show, how terrible as well as sure are
God's restraints.

But his restraints are sometimes merciful
Saul of Tarsus is a happy case. He set out with
the fury of a beast o{ prey, and dragged to prison
and to death all that loved the Lord Jesus. At

198

Jcngth he must needs go to Damascus, and try his
zeal upon the lambs of the flock hi that region.
But he had now finished his career of blood, and
the grace of God arrested him. It would not long-
er comport with the divine purpose, to permit the
prowling wolf to range among the sheep-folds.

And we could give you, had we time, more re-
cent facts, of both descriptions, where judgment and
w^here mercy produced restraint. Ask the minis-
ters of the gospel, who notice and record such facts,
and they will tell you of many a man, who raved
against God and his truth, like a mad bull in a net,
up to the time when God subdued him by his grace.
Or they will turn over the darker page, and tell
you of the sweeps of death, among the enemies of
the gospel, till all your blood would chill. In some
fearful instances, a whole gang of gospel opposers,
infidel, and hardened, and desperate in character,
have perished, in such rapid succession, as not to
leave a doubt behind, ivhether God did it ? or why
he did it ? Men have found a grave on the very day
when some impious vow against God or his people
was to have been executed, and have roared upon
their beds, when they have learned too late, that
their sins had found them out. We might not say
at their funeral, that they had gone to their own
place, but verily we thought so, and trembled. We
have seen them stripped of their property and their
influence, at the moment, when it was too evident

199

to doubt, that the interests of the church required
that they should be brought low.

But whether the divine restraints are merciful
or vhidictive^ they are sure, wicked men are govern-
ed by the same voice that controls the waves of the
sea. *' Hitherto shalt thou come, and no farther ;
and here shall thy proud waves be stayed." Till
covenant love consent, the children of God cannot
be hurt in their person, their interest, or their char-
acter, by the ungodly. A plan to injure them may
be all ripe for execution, and is still as perfectly
under the divine control as at any previous moment.
Men may gnash their teeth, under the agonies of
painful disappointment, and curse the hand that re-
strains them, but God will not be moved from his
purpose, nor abandon one of his little ones, if he must
destroy a world to protect him.

5. When their work is done, as God intended
it should be, he will punish them, for not doing his
pleasure from right motives. This doctrine is ex-
hibited with the greatest distinctness in the history
of Sennacherib. When the Lord had performed
his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem,
he would punish the fruit of the stout heart of the
king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.
So it was threatened Babylon, that she should be
brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. And
all the other nations which were the rod of God's
anger to Israel, and accomplished his decrees,

200

perished foi injuring the church. So the nations
that slew the martyrs, although they fulfilled the
purpose of God, are yet to suffer, and perhaps perish,
for that sin.

And all the finally impenitent will go on accom-
plishing the decrees of God, with a heart that
meaneth not so, and when their work is done, must
perish because all their motives were wrong. Dev-
ils are doing the same thing, accomplishing God's
design, without intending it. And now the ques-
tion is. How is God to be vindicated in this proce-
dure ? We have facts in the case still, by which
this question can be settled.

Firsts " he meaneth not so." There was no de-
sign in that proud monarch to do the divine pleas-
ure ; else surely he would not have so blasphemed
the God he would serve. It never enters into the
heart of the ungodly to do, what ultimately they
will accomplish. And it is a maxim with men, and
why not with God, that we deserve neither credit
nor reward, for the good we do without intention.
Suppose there operate no very evil design in an act
that works our good, if there be the absence of a
design to do us a kindness, we feel under no obliga-
tion for the good that is done.

In a dark and cold night, you call for hospitali-
ty at the door of some stranger, but you are denied
lodgings, and come home, and find your house on
fire, and extinguish the flames, and save your house,
and your famUy. Do you thank that man, for

201

the kindness which his inhumanity did you ? Does
he, on hearing of the event, feel that you are obli-
gated to him ? Or does he have but the deeper
sense of his own baseness ? It is then a plain case,
that God can give his creatures no credit, if they
serve him without intention. A

2. Fact in the case must be noticed ; *' It is in
his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few."
Not only was there in the heart of the Assyrian, no
good motive, but there was a motive positively bad ;
and still he did the pleasure of God. Hence, w^hy
should he not be punished ? And why should not all
ungodly men be punished, though it shall at last ap-
pear, that they have accomplished the divine pur-
poses ? " As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he."
One gives you poison intending to kill you, but you
have some obstinate disease upon you, and the
poison cures you : is he the less a murderer ? Was
Mordecai indebted to Haman for his advancement,
or Daniel to the princes of Babylon, or Joseph to
his brethren ?

Will it be denied that all unregeherate men act
from wrong motives ? Then assuredly their motives
are either positively good, or neither good nor bad*
But a moral agent cannot be wholly indifferent with
regard to God and his law. There is no such be-
ing among all the creatures of God. Our motives
in every action that may be considered morale must
be positively bad, or positively good. Hence if
you acknowledge that unrenewed men da not act
26

202

from good motives, and this must be true or they
are christians, then they act from bad motives.
" The heart of the sons of men is full of evil.''

Thus every unregenerate man is thrown upon
the very ground, where stood the proud and impi-
ous Assyrian. Not that every man is accustomed
to sin with that boldness, or has so thrown off re-
straint, as he had ; but there is in his heart, while
God is rendering him serviceable to his people, the
absence of a good motive, and the presence of a
motive positively bad. And if we allow this, we
justify God in his dealings with the Assyrian, and
thus approve of the principle on which the last judg-
ment will proceed. I close with

BEiyEiLnKs.

1 . The sovereignty of God, and the agency and
accountability of the sinner, are associate truths.
In the passage we have contemplated, God makes
a very bad man do his pleasure, and still pronoun-
ces him free, accountable and punishable, in these
very deeds. Hence sovereignty, agency, and ac-
countability, concentre in the very same act ; and
if compatible once, then are they kindred truths for-
ever ; and what God has thus joined, let no man
put asunder. If Sennacherib could do what God
intended he should, and yet act freely, and deserve
punishment, another sinner may, and every sinner
does, I will give you one parallel text : I could
give you many. '' Him, being delivered by the de-

203

terminate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye
have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and
slain." What, did God determine the deed, and
still their hands wicked who did it ? Just so ; or
the mind of God had been very unhappily ex-
pressed.

Do sinners still ask, " Why doth he yet find
fault ? We answer, not because sinners do not ac-
complish his purpose. He never thought of bring-
ing a complaint against them on this ground. He
will take care that his purposes be accomplished.
But he has still this charge against them, that they
mean not so. To please God, men must not mere-
ly do w hat he purposes they shall, but do it with
an intention to serve and honour him. He has a
right to the allegiance of the heart. The meanest
parent demands this, and thinks his child disobe-
dient until he serves him with design.

2. Hoio wrong is that notion^ that if the matter
of an action be correct^ it is of no importance what is
the motive. In the scrap of sacred history that we have
contemplated, the whole result, as hearing upon the
agent ^ turns on the motive. The Assyrian corrected
the Lord's people, this was well ; but he meant
not so, and this was the source of his ruin. His
motive was, butchery, spoil, and dominion ; this
brought the curse of God upon him. He might
have corrected the Lord's people, as he did ; and ac-
complished his purpose, as he did ; and been now in
heaven, if only he had meant so.

204

Thus is established a general principle of the di-
vine government ; the motive is the whole that God
will notice. If men will be careful on this one
pointy God will provide for the residue. They need
have no fears that his decrees will not be done, and
that exactly as he determined ; but the motives
with which they are done, will decide the destiny of
every agent employed, from the beginning of thq
creation to the last day.

3. God did not create intelligent beings merely
that he might destroy them. His ministers have
been represented, as making this assertion ; or ad-
vancing sentiments that must lead to this result.
Now the sovereignty of God, as taught in this dis-
course, leads to a directly opposite result. Here
we see him employing men, of the very worst char-
acter, in doing good ; makes them correct his people,
and feed them, and clothe them, and sanctify them,
and save them. And if God can oblige bad men,
who do not love him, to do him a service like this,
and still leave them free, and permit them to be as
happy as they can be, and will at last merely de-
mand of them that their motives were good, none but
devils, and men desperately hardened, will complain.

They all have liberty to attach themselves to his
family, and be his people, and be served, and be hap-
py. But if they will not quit their sins, will not
love the Saviour, and will not serve voluntarily, so
good a Master, they must either do nothing, that shall

205

turn to any good account, or God must employ his
wisdom and his power to turn all they do into a bless-
ing to his people ; and is this a hardship ? For my
life I cannot see, that in all this God does the impen-
itent any wrong. Or w^ould it make them happy to
know, that on their way to perdition, they had done
mischief that God himself could not repair ! !

I should think from what I know of God, that
he would do just so. It is spoken very much to
the praise of Cromwell, that he could employ to ad-
Tantage the vilest man in England. And it seems
to me that every good man must be glad, as every
angel is, that God has this power, and this wisdom.
*' And again they said. Alleluia. And her smoke
rose up forever and ever."

If any would prefer not to serve as the ungodly
do, while they mean not so, but prefer to do the
voluntary service of a child, they may, and this is
the very thing we wish, and what God wishes.
You need not build a Jerusalem, in which you are
jiot to dwell, or a temple in w^hich you are not to
worship, unless you prefer the condition of a slave,
to that of a son or daughter. You have but to come
in at the invitation of the gospel, and you may in an
hour belong to the family of Christ.

God lets you do wTiat you please. And if he
turns your mischief into good, this cannot hurt you.
Serve him willingly, and he will reward you, and
love you. O, can there be a fairer offer ? can there
be a kinder God than this ? I should think devils

206

would be ashamed to complain of this doctrine. — I
know it exalts God, but I cannot see, if the life of
my soul depended on it, what there is hard, or cruel,
or oppressive, or discouraging, in the divine sove-
reignty. If men choose to say, that God is not sin-
cere in offering them mercy, and that he always
meant to destroy them, after making them hewers
of wood and drawers of water in the camp of Israel,
and that they have only to serve and then perish ; —
if they will give divine truth this construction, and
thus pervert it to their own ruin, we have only to
leave them in the hands of a sovereign God, and
rejoice that he is not the Jehovah they suppose him
to be.

Finally this subject must afford comfort to God^s
people. Here they see all their interests identified
with the prosperity of God's kingdom, and he de-
termined to make that kingdom happy, and employ-
ing for this purpose all beings and all events. If
their enemies would hurt them, he puts his hook in
their nose, and his bridle in their lips. He bids
them *' fear not," and has pledged his word, that all
things shall work together for their good. He will
guide them with his counsel, and afterward receive
them to glory.

Ye happy believers, my soul casts in her lot
with you. The God we serve is a gracious, and a
mighty God. He rolls along the spheres, guides
the events of every hour, manages the wrath of

207

man, and the rage of devils, controls every storm,
and directs the course of every atom. He is known
in the palaces of Zion for a refuge, and his name is
a strong tower into which you may run and be safe,
whenever alarm comes over you.

It was in the confidence which this very doctrine
inspires, that the Psalmist could say, " Though an
host should encamp against me, my heart shall not
fear." A people so shielded, so served, and so be-
loved, can want only a song, equal to the gratitude
they owe their Lord. They may keep at their Mas-
ter's work, high in the confidence, that he will
never leave them, never forsake them. Amen.

^^mitt®» a®^

WRATH CONQUERED BY KINDNESS.

ROMANS XII. 21-
" Be not overcome ofevili but overcome evil with goody

A VERY good man once said, " If there is any
one particular temper I desire more than another, it
is the grace of meekness ; quietly to bear illtreat-
ment, to forget and forgive ; and at the same time
that I am sensible I am injured, not to be overcome
of evil, but to overcome evil with good." But this
sentiment, be it remembered, could be learned only
from heaven. It did not belong to the systems of
heathen philosophy. In them it was taught, that
to forgive, till revenge had been taken, was weak-
ness. To swear undying wrath, and plot the most
summary redress, and sleep not till the enterprise
was accomplished, all this was the height of virtue.
And above this it is not to be expected that unsanc-
tified human nature will rise. Hence every unchris-
tian land is a field of blood. ''The dark places of the
earth are full of the habitations of cruelty."

At the dawn of the age of mercy, a Pliny said,
but had learned the sentiment from that very relig-

209

ion which he affected to despise, '' I esteem him
the best good man, who forgives others, as
though he were every day faulty himself; and
who at the same time abstains from faults, as if
he pardoned no one." But it was one from heav-
en, who had long enjoyed the harmony of happy
spirits, and had himself the power to mould the
hearts of men into his own image ; who came down
in all the amiableness of God, and taught the world
principles of kindness ; that to forgive is possible,
and that the meek are blessed. His conduct accord-
ed with his principles. When smitten on the one
cheek he turned the other. When led as a lamb to
the slaughter, he opened not his mouth, and when
nailed to the tree, he merely prayed for those who
drove the nails, and plead in their behalf, that they
knew not what they did. When he quit the world
he made it one of his last acts, to engrave upon the
hearts of his followers, as with the point of a dia-
mond upon a rock, the very text I have read you.
Its spirit has constituted ever since, and will while
the earth is blessed with a trace of his religion, the
leading and prominent social virtue of his people.
It is that feature of their Master which if they do
not wear, they cannot now be recognized, nor can
be known when they come to heaven.

Suffer me to make three inquiries. When may it
be considered that one is overcome of evil ? How
may we save ourselves from the shame and the in-
27

210

jury of being thus vanquished ? and How may we
overcome evil with good ?

1. When may it be considered that 07ie is over-
come of evil? This is a calamity that may doubtless
happen to the good man, but is a matter of every
day's occurrence to the multitudes of the ungodly.
I remark then that a man is overcome of evil,

1 . Wheii illtreatment excites the angry passions,
and produces harsh and illnatured language. In
this snare unsanctified men are caught daily. Even
men of correct habits are sometimes surprised by
sudden and unexpected abuse, and rage when they
should reason. But in every such case much is lost,
and nothing gained. To lose our recollection and
temper, and thus be brought down to a level with
the man, whom we should rather have held in digni-
fied and christian contempt, is to be in a very un-
comfortable sense overcome or conquered. This
unhappy result was perhaps the very design of the
onset. The foe has gained his whole object, and
his antagonist is vanquished.

2. One is still more completely Overcome of evil,
when he settles down into confirmed hatred of the of-
fender. He gives place to the devil, and lets the
sun go down upon his wrath. By suffering anger
to rest in his bosom, he becomes in God's esteem a
fool. His passions have the mastery over him, and

211

he becomes and remains a conquered man. And as
he pours again and again over the insult that at first
unmanned him, and thus deepens the tone of his
anger, he may be seen in a figure putting chains up-
on himself, and riveting the very fetters that bind
him. Hardly may he be said to wish an escape
from his bondage, or to make the least effort to
break the chain that holds him. And not the mis-
eries of an Algerine bondage, could more jade the
spirits, or vex the heart. It may be too, that the
foe was one whom in his calmer moments he would
disdain to set with the dogs of his flock. Yet he
has done the very deed he intended to do, and glo-
ries in his victory. How unhappy, that one should
be thus rendered a captive and a slave, by suffering
his passions to rise upon him, and bind him !

3. One is overcome of evil loJien he indulges
designs of revenge. The divine injunction is, that
we return good for evil, that we love them that
hate us, and pray for them that despitefuUy use us.
If the enemy hunger we are to feed him, if he thirst
we are to give him drink, and thus heap coals of
fire on his head. By no other means can we so readi-
ly conquer our foes. We use in this case a weapon
whose thrust they can neither parry nor endure, un-
der which they melt and perish.

But when we take the opposite course, and re-
turn evil for evil, we grant the foe a victory. We
suffer ourselves to be driven from the delightful du-

212

tj of doing good to all men, the only post where
we can be happy. The foe who mvades our land,
and drives us from our farm and 6ur home, has not
gained a point, to him more dear, or to us more dis-
astrous : for not the family and the fireside, yield
us better comforts, than the habit of doing good as
we have opportunity. No wealth will buy a luxury
like it. Money will purchase food, and raiment,
and ease, and influence. But the habit of blessing
others with kindnesses, of making glad every heart
about us, this is angels food. The recollection of
good done, can make calm the surges of adversity,
and render light the gloomiest evening. It has pro-
duced a smile upon the brow of death.

It is when nothing can hinder us from doing
good, that we are like God. He sends rain upon
the just and upon the unjust. Now who will deny,
that when injuries prevent us from acting like God,
we are overcome of evil. We cease then, for the
time being, to have any right to say, that we are
the children of our Father in heaven, who causeth
his sun to rise on the evil and on the good. And
what result more painful, and more degrading, could
any foe desire, than thus to dislodge us from all the
comforts and privileges of adoption.

4. We are overcome of evil, when the illtreatment
of one, leads us to suspect the friendship of others.
If to some extent it should be the fact, that suffer-
ing one instance of abuse, should draw upon us the

2\S

necessity of suffering other abuses, and the treach-
ery of one friend make others treacherous ; still this
is far oftener true in imagination than in reality.
In the gloomy moments of suffering injury, we are
often induced to believe a lie. An individual may
treat us rudely and unkindly, and he may be the
only one in the whole circle of our acquaintance,
who would be willing to injure us. The contrary
apprehension is begotten by the gloominess of the
mind. And we are sometimes so ungenerous, as to
believe ourselves abandoned by a whole list of
friends, because one has proved treacherous. Thus
we are plunged into distress, are ready to say that
all men are liars, and by our groundless suspicion,
and consequent coldness and distrust, produce the
very miseries we forebode. Our apprehensions
are the very demons that break the tie of friendship,
and dissolve the bonds of brotherhood. They be-
get distance, caution, jealousy and neglect, and the
result is abandonment and hatred. Thus in an evil
hour we draw upon ourselves the very miseries we
might avoid, and the foe is suffered to inflict a
wound deeper and deadlier than he had hoped to.
The bonds of friendship are sundered, the peace of
the mind is destroyed, the interest of Zion are in-
jured, and the foe sits and smiles in his ambush at
the miseries we inflict upon ourselves. We are
overcome of evil.

6. We are more yet completely overcome of

214

evil, when abuse begets habitual sourness of temper.
When God does not prevent by his grace, long pro-
tracted injuries, inflicted by insidious foes, are prone
to produce this unhappy result. The spirits are
jaded by adversity, and become expert in transfer-
ring odium from one person or thing to another, till
very soon it can be expanded over the whole crea-
tion of God. There is begotten an acid temper,
and the very landscape is robed in gloom. The ir-
ritated master wreaks his vengeance upon the unof-
fending slave. The innocent child dreads the re-
turn of his illnatured father, and the very wife turns
pale, when some foe has kindled anger in the bosom
of her husband. The indulgence of one unkind af-
fection, like some leprosy, infuses its poison through
the whole soul. The eye it looks through becomes
a contaminated medium, and transfers its own dis-
ease to every object of its vision. The man had a
friendly heart, but he becomes a misanthrope ; he
did enjoy society, but would now be content with a
hermitage ; he prized christian fellowship, but he
doubts now whether piety itself can make an hon-
est man. How evidently is such a man overcome
of evilt

6. One is overcome of evil, ivhen he attempts

unnecessarily a public vindication of his character,

I say unnecessarily, for it cannot be denied that a

good mail, without his wish, may be forced into such

a measure. Often is this the very object which

215

some malicious foe would accomplish. He knows
perhaps, what is too true, that the best character
will suffer by handling, and when he cannot catch
the good man in crime, will compass his wishes if
he can so fix imputation, as to force him to go into
a proof of his innocence. Conscious that he cannot
himself establish the positive, he would put the
virtue he hates upon proving the negative, or of per-
ishing.

He issues his libel, invents circumstances that
shall favour it, employs ail the truth he can, in cor-
roboration of his falsehood, and where truth fails to
fill out the picture, he scruples not to employ a lie.
He would try both your temper and your reputation.
Screened from view, he would cast filth upon you,
and amuse himself and others to see you wipe it off.
He hopes there may be some spot indelible, or that
you may sin in the act of establishing your inno-
cence.

Now the snare is laid. But calmness, and
reflection, and prayer, may easily be victorious.
Good character cannot be hurt but by its own-
er. The tongue of slander may injure for a mo-
ment the stranger, but good conduct will inva-
riably sustain good character. And it has come at
length to be noted as a suspicious circumstance,
w^hen we court the aid of law and counsel to defend
our reputation. It was a shrew^d remark of Doctor
Mather, " The malice of an ill tongue cast upon a
2;ood character, is like a mouthful of smoke blown

216

upon a diamond which at present may obscure its
beauty, but is easily rubbed off and the gem restor-
ed to its prestine lustre." " Depraved as the world
is," said a man of long experience, '' let them have
your character, and though they may handle it rough-
ly, they will ultimately restore it whole as they
found it." But let them see that their attacks en-
rage you, and put you off your guard, or place you
in the quixotic attitude of arming yourself for a con-
flict with a shadow, and their object is accomplished
and you are overcome of evil.

II. Hoio may we save ourselves from the sham&
and injury of being thus vanquished ? It is possible
no doubt to obey the injunction of the text, as well
as any other in the whole list of precepts. There
are exertions which if we make, with a proper
sense of our dependance on God, will enable us in
the most evil day to stand. Let us then in the

1 . Place bear it strongly in mind. That he who
would designedly injure us does himself a greater
injury. There is in nature, or rather in the divine
purpose, a principle of prompt and powerful reac-
tion. Let one attack your character, and sure as
life he hurts his own. Let him spread ill report, and
that report will recoil upon his own reputation.
He will be considered a slanderer. If one act will
not fix upon him this stigma, that very impunity
will induce him to repeat the deed, till the charac-

217

ter he deserves will adhere to hhn. Thus he suf-
fers and not you.

Or would he merely disturb your peace, let him
but alone, and his own peace is injured more than
jours. God can give jou a peace, that nothing can
disturb. If jou must unjustly suffer, God can sup-
port you and comfort you, but this he will not do
for the man who wrongs you. His, on reflection,
will be the shame, and the guilt, and the remorse,
of a deed which God will not justify. The wound
he intended for you, will rankle in his own bosom.

Now if the man who intended to injure us,
has wounded himself, then we should pity him, and
pray for him, and not study a desplicate revenge.
There opens upon us the delightful opportunity,
to bind up his wounds, and pour in oil and wine,
and we may have the luxury to forget and forgive,
a luxury which the whole herd of evil doers never
tasted.

Or be it our temporal interest they would hurt,
or our influence, there is but this one issue to all
the operations of malevolence, the curse lights up-
on the perpetrators. Their violent dealings shall
come down upon their own head. They are taken
in their own snare.

2. If ive resist evil, we are invariably injured.
The foe is the more courageous, the more fierce
and prompt the repulse he meets with. He exhib-
its now a prowess that he could never have summon-
28

218

ed, had he coped with mere nonresistance. A slan-
derous report is repeated and magnified,' because it
has been wrathfully contradicted. The presump-
tion is that when the mistatement shall have varied
its shape and attitude, it can be imposed upon the
credulous as a new fact, that shall go to corroborate
the old. And let resistance be kept up, and soon
the insulated charge becomes a long catalogue of
crimes, that go to establish each other, and render
unquestionable the whole series of alligations.
Now it is hoped that the world will say, such a host
of imputations cannot want for some foundation in
fact. The charge of intemperance corroborate that
of fraud and falsehood. The testimony of two li-
ars, when they substantially agree, and there has
been no concert, may establish the truth.

Thus charges which are all false, and are multi-
plied by resistance, are made to prop each oth-
er, till there is begotten suspicion that never need
have been. And the needless attempt at investiga-
tion fixes the impression, that character is crum-
bling, and that a still bolder push will be accompa-
nied with complete success. Thus by wrestling
with the blast, we are liable to be discomfited,
when had we lain down and been quiet, the storm
would have beat upon us a little, and passed over,
and we should have seen the sun again in all his
brightness. The foe intended to render us unhap-
py, and he learns that he has, and hopes most cor-
dially that another onset may undo us. But let

219

him see that you remain unmoved, that his attack
has not even discomposed you, that you are invul-
nerable as the rock, and he must be the veriest idiot
if he draws another arrows from his quiver. Hence
said the Poet,

** Tempest will rive the stiff est oak,
Cedars with all their pride are broke,
Beneath the fury of that stroke,
Which never harms the ivillows.^^

3. It will calm us in an hour of onset, to feel that
ivicked men are God^s sword. From him w^e de~
serve all the evil that the most malicious foe can
inflict. True, men are none the less free agents, and
accountable, because they are the rod and the staff
in the hand of the Lord. But it w^ould argue a
want of submission to parental restraint, should the
child seem angry at the rod. It is our consolation
to know that God holds our enemies in his hand,
directs every wound they shall inflict, and has
promised to restrain their wrath, when it will not
praise him. He has put his hook in their nose, and
his bridle in their lips, and will in due time, when
he has sufficiently humbled his people, lead their
enemies back by the way that they came.

Hence when ungodly men w^ould do us injury,
it should rather awaken our pity for them, than
our anger agahist them. We have a divine illus-
tration exactly in point, and conscious ill desert
should ever lead us to say with David, in reference*

220

to Shimei, " Let him curse for the Lord hath bid-
den him." " Why doth a living man complain, a
man for the punishment of his sins ?" If the men
who injure us are to be the instruments of our sanc-
tification, and then, unless the grace of God inter-
pose, are to be the objects of his everlasting dis-
pleasure, be their design never so base how can we
feel otherwise than pitiful and kind ?

4. It will he a timely and siveet reflection, for a
period of abuse, that illtreatment is among the all
things that shall work together for our good. Trials
may come from a quarter unexpected, and from
those who owe us the kindest treatment. We took
sweet counsel with them, and went to the house of
God in company. Be it even so, still faith assures
us, that their injuries will bless us, will sanctify us^
and help us on in our preparation for the enjoyment
of God in his kingdom. This one question settled,
and I w ill inflict no wound upon my adversary. He
is doing me everlasting good, and though he mean
not so, still I cannot injure him who is constrained
to be my benefactor. I will forgive him before he
asks forgiveness, and will exert myself to induce
him to pass on to heaven with me. And if unsuc-
cesful, still the promise, " I will never leave thee
nor forsake thee," will bear my spirits up through
the darkest and dreariest hour.

5. It should ever he our reflection in the hour of

221

attack^ that to he like Christ we must not resist eviL
"He was led as a lamb, to the slaughter, and as a
sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not
his mouth." He passed meekly through torrents of
abuse. It poured in upon him wave after wave,
but he stood, a rock. When they would catch
him in his words, he spoke wisely and kind-
ly. When they would stone him, he inquired
for which of his kind deeds they did it. When that
fiend of midnight betrayed him, after joining in thq
Pascal supper, and having long borne the badge of
discipleship, how meekly he inquired, " Betray est
thou the son of man with a kiss ?" Now would we
be followers of the Lord Jesus, the track is plain ;
we must not suffer ourselves to be overcome of evil.

Finally^ there is the direct command of God,
No precept can be more binding than the text. To
indulge a vindictive spirit is an infringement upon the
divine prerogative. " Vengeance is mine, I will
repay, saith the Lord.'' There is a day of retribution
appointed, and one is constituted judge who cannot
err. In the hour of conflict we have only to refer men
to that day. Every wrong will then be rectified. And
if our sufferings are prolonged, still the years of heav-
en will run on till they are all forgotten. A chris-
tian is but a pardoned rebel, and may not avenge
himself. And all others may well fear to be vindic-
tive, lest wrath come upon them to the uttermost.

222

With the same measure that we' mete, it shall be
measured to us again.

III. Hoio may we overcome evil with good f
To do this will require the sacrifice of bad passions.
The unrenewed heart has a keen relish for revenge.
Not the most delicious food pleases the palate bet-
ter. But this malicious appetite the grace of God
must subdue, ere the heaven born principle of the
text can be adopted : a sufficient reason why the hea-
then have never imbibed the spirit of meekness. Par-
ents taught their children to retain anger. Instance
the father of Annibal, whose dying injunction to
his son was, that he should never forgive the Ro-
mans : this precept he must swear he would obey.
And many children learn of their parents now the
same lesson. They are apt to learn, and they often
have precept and practice to teach them. " Curs-
ed parents ! Cursed children !"

But let the heart be once subdued by the grace
of God, and the lesson of the text is easily learned.
The doctrine is simply this. If one treats us unkind-
ly, we must treat him well. If he defame, let us
say the kindest things possible of him. If he hurt
our interest, let us advance his. If he expose our
faults, let us cover his. If he will not oblige us, we
must do kindnesses to him. If he deals reproach,
we must practice no retort. If he curse us we must
pray for him, if he hunger we must feed him, and if
he thirst give him drink. If he smite us on the one

223

eheek, turn the otlier. In one word, when he has
done his best to hijure us, let us do our best to
bless and comfort him.

It may be well when possible to do another good
in the very article in which he has intended our hurt.
This will be entering the list with him, and will
bring our virtues into a close comparison with his
iniquities ; thus shall we heap coals of fire on his
head, and if he be not a rock shall melt and subdue
him. When we would overcome an enemy with
kindness, we make his conscience our ally, and
bring him to hate himself and respect us. Then
his weapons recoil upon his own head, and his vio-
lent dealings come down upon his own pate. We
conquer him by love.

But in every effort of this nature we must feel
kindly. A counterfeit affection will not bear us
through. The heart must be primarily consulted in
every such act of christian revenge. Else the hy-
pocrisy will be evident, and the defeat certain.
When Paul said to the high priest, who had com-
manded him to be unlawfully smitten, " God shall
smite thee thou whited wall," he neither obeyed
the injunction of the text, nor was in a proper state
of mind to obey it. Not even piety will render it
certain that we shall feel kindly under abuse. In
the blessed Jesus we have the only example that
never failed. He was proof against attack. The
only case in which he exhibited the appearance of
anger, was when his Father's house was made a

224

den of thieves : and then he was angry without sin.
Let our temper be like his, and we shall find it easy
to do right : and to be like him, we are infinitely
obligated.

It may greatly help us, when we come in con-
tact with unhallowed passions, to reflect, that not
certainly is the man our enemy, who may be temp-
ted to treat us unkindly. When he has done us
this one injury, if we bear it with a christian te nip-
per, he may remain kindly disposed to us, may be-
come a firm and steady friend : while our wrath
and revenge may erect him into a subtle and dan-
gerous enemy. He may have made his onset upon
us in an hour of irritation, and may be in an hour,
more ashamed of himself than we are of him.

Is the offender an ungodly man, there is a single
thought that must prepare us to meet his rage with
calmness. He has no treasure in the heavens. He
is passing on to the blackness of darkness forever.
We shall see him when a few days have gone by,
unless the grace of God prevent, covered with
shame and confusion. His harvest will be passed
and his summer ended, and he not saved. And can
we be angry to day with one who is to perish to-
morrow ? Can any sensation but pity control us,
while we see a deluded man raving on the very
threshold of perdition ?

Or is the offender a christian, then how it should
shame us to become angry with him. Angry with
a brother, a follower of the Lord Jesus ! He could

225

not intend me wrong; his judgment erred ; he will ask
forgiveness, before the sun goes down, of God and
of me. The followers of the Lord Jesus bite and
devour one another ! " O, tell it not in Gath ; pub-
lish it not in the streets of Askelon !" The Saviour
must not be so wounded in the house of his friends.
Let me have, I will not say my religion^ let me
have my reason in exercise, and I will bear any
thing from a child of God. For my right hand, I
will not raise it against one who is heir with me to
an inheritance in the skies, and is to help me adore
the Lamb forever. Joint heirs with Jesus Christ !
what a binding influence has this thought upon
christian hearts.

RESIARKS^

L How highly should we value our bibles which
teach us this amiable lesson. But for this book,
we had never learned how to receive an injury, or
forgive one. It belongs not to human nature, un-
taught from heaven, to invent such a sentiment as
the text. Our parents had been fierce and cru-
el, and they had taught us to be implacable, had
not the bible been the associate of our home. And
how this one heavenly principle lessens the mise-
ries of human life ! How many the wrongs it ob-
literates, and how many the social endearments it
begets ! Precious book, be thou the inmate of my
bosom, till this spirit shall quit its house of clay !
29

226

2. This subject will teach us to pity the hea--
then. Their endless quarrels are because they have
no bible. They would let their children, their wid-
ows, their sick, and their aged live, if they had a
bible. They would forgive their enemies, and be
meek, and benevolent, and gracious, had they not
been without the book that teaches these heavenly
lessons. Send them a few of your bibles, and they
will soon beat their swords into plow-shares, and
their spears into pruning-hooks, and those vast fields
of blood will be transformed into the garden of the
Lord. He will accompany his word with his Spirit.

3. How happy the period of the Millennium.
The bible will then have its legitimate influence,
and there will prevail the very spirit inculcated in
the text. In what a noble figure does the prophet
teach us this truth, " The wolf also shall dwell with
the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the
kid ; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling
together ; and a little child shall lead them. And
the cow and the bear shall feed ; their young ones
shall lie down together ; and the lion shall eat straw
like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the
hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his
hand on the cockatrice-den. They shall not hurt
nor destroy in all my holy mountain : for the earth
shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the
waters cover the sea." You have often read this
precious text. How happy the eyes that are not

227

closed upon the scenes of life, till that sweet mor-
ning has come, and all these tumults, that keep this
world a wilderness, have subsided ! May some fav-
oured child of mine live to see that happy period.

4. Let us learn, brethren, whether that day ap-
proaches. It will not burst upon us in a moment.
There will be a gradual increase of that spirit
which the text inculcates ; till every parent will
teach it to his children, and every child will love to
learn. From the family circle it will spread out
over the whole land, and ren'er itEmmLinuePs land,
a mountain of holiness and a habitation of righteous-
ness. Do we see an increase of this spirit ? Do
we feel it in our hearts ? Does it go out to view in
our daily deportment ? Then the day approaches.

5. This subject will try our piety. Can we
overcome evil with good ? Does the tyger or the
lamb, predominate in our social intercourse ? When
we receive abuse, with what temper do we act ? To
this test our religion must at last be brought, and by
this and other similar tests, the question must be
decided, whether we can be happy with angels, or
must make our bed in the pit. Will God sanctify
us by his Spirit, and fit us all to dwell in a peace-
ful happy world. Amen.

GOSPEL-TRUTH DEFINED.

JOHN XVIII. 38.
" What is truth ?'»

This question was put to our Lord by the mis-
erable limeserving Pilate, who had no heart to love
what he inquired after. He, and the whole multi-
tude of the ungodly in all ages, would have the
reputation of being the friends of truth. But when
they have inquired what truth is, they are careful
to turn away their ear from the answer. This one
fatal error characterizes the whole human family,
till the Spirit of God sanctifies the heart. Till
then, they will not candidly examine the bible, nor
put themselves under the guidance of the Spirit of
God, nor will love the truth when they know it*
Hence to know and love the truth, is characteristic
of a heavenly mind.

But the question still comes up. What is that
truth, which I must know and love, in order to have
evidence that I am born of God ? The text would
furnish a field too large for a single sermon, and
must be diminished. It will he my object to give you
a fexo general characteristics of gospel truth. In do^

«29

iiig this, I shall name the particular doctrines no
farther, than may be necessary, to illustrate some
leading feature of revealed truth generally. It has
always seemed to me, as possible to know truth hy
its properties^ as to arrive by this means at knowl-
edge on any other subject, and have rather been
surprised, to have met with no attempt at definition,
such as I now have in contemplation, unless in those
beautiful lines of the poet, which I quote with great
pleasure.

*' But what is truth 1 'twas Pilate's question, put

To truth itself, that deign'd him no reply.

And wherefore 1 will not God impart his light

To them that ask it ? — Freely — 'tis his joy,

His glory, and his nature, to impart.

But to the proud, uncandid, insincere,

Or negligent inquirer, not a spark.

What's that which brings contempt upon a book,

And him who writes it ; though the style be neat,

The method clear, and argument exact ?

That makes a minister in holy things

The joy of many, and the dread of more,

His name a theme for praise and for reproach ? —

That, while it gives us worth in God's account,

Depreciates and undoes us in our own 1

What pearl is it that rich men cannot buy.

That learning is too proud to gather up ;

But which the poor, and the despis'd of all,

Seek and obtain, and often find unsought ?

Tell me — and I will tell thee what is truth."

I should choose to say in answer to the question
in the text. What is truth ?

230

I . Truth is that ivhich is consistent loith the main
scope of GofPs ivord. An insulated text or two,
may seem to support what is not truth. By such
means ahuost any sentiment may be drawn from the
bible, or from any other book. We could thus prove
that, "There is no God:" "Thou shalt not surely
die :" " Thou shalt hate thine enemy :" " I shall
have peace, though I walk in the imagination of my
own heart, to add drunkenness to thurst." Now
you may fill a book with such insulated texts, but it
would be all false ; a lie couched in bible language,
but not the less a lie.

All the false doctrines, that have spread their
plagues through this ill fated world, have thus origi-
nated, and been thus sustained. To him who is
willing to understand it, the bible is plain ; but to
one who prefers delusion, and wishes to believe a
He, because he has no pleasure in the truth, the bi-
ble presents it in that disconnected form, that he
may wrest it, if he please to his own destruction.

Still it will prove true, that when a tortured text
has been made the basis of a false doctrine, that
doctrine will not be sustained by the main drift of
inspiration. It cannot be supported by other texts,
without giving them a false and forced construction,
and the whole system when thus built will be a
baseless fabric. There will be many texts in the
very face of the false doctrine, and in a greater
number still its falsehood will be implied. But it
will not be thus with truth. When you have fairly

231

gathered any doctrine that God meant to teach,
from any part of his word, you will fmd it asserted
in other parts, implied in others, and in none con-
tradicted.

Now apply this rule to any one doctrine, or sys-
tem of doctrines, and it will assuredly assist you in
discovering what is truth. The saint's persever-
ence, for instance, is clearly taught in this text,
" The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord,
and he delighteth in his way ; though he fall, he
shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord uphold-
eth him with his hand ;" and in this, " For I am
persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels,
nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any
other creature, shall be able to separate us from the
love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord ;"
and in this, "Being confident of this very thing,
that he which hath begun a good work in you, will
perform it, until the day of Jesus Christ ;" and in
this, " The righteous shall hold on his way."

Now the doctrine thus taught in a number of
texts, of which I have quoted but few, has implied
support in a far more numerous class still. All
those texts which speak of heaven, as the final home
of believers, imply the doctrine ; all those which
make regenerated men the Saviour's reward ; the
promises made to believers, of help in the time of
need, of victory in the hour of conflict, of escape
from temptation, of light in darkness, of strength

232

equal to their day, of guidance through life, and of
hope in death. It is implied in that assurance of
salvation which Paul had, and which every believer
may have ; in the terms of the covenant, which is
said to be everlastings ivell ordered in all things and
sure ; and in the very nature of holiness, which im-
mediately, on taking existence in the heart, seizes
heavenly objects as its own inheritance. And the
doctrine thus supported directly, and by extensive
implication, is no where contradicted.

Now bring any doctrine to this test, and if thus
supported it is true. Upon the truth, light will
shine from almost every page of inspiration. But
we must be candid and diligent, or we may not
hope to be enlightned. If men go to the Bible,
determined to support a scheme of their own,
it is by no means certain, that there is any lie, so
obvious to detection, that it may not be thus sus-
tained : for it is threatened, " For this cause God
shall send them strong delusions, that they should
believe a lie ; that they all might be damned who
believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unright-
eousness." If you still ask, What is truth ? I an-
swer again,

II. Truth is that, after ivhich men inquire hum-
bly and prayerfully. That was a good ejaculation
of the Psalmist, " Open thou mine eyes, and I shall
behold wondrous things out of thy law." All bible-
truth is in its very nature humiliating to a sinner ;

233

hence there must be humility, or there can be here
no possible evidence of that candour, which is ne-
cessary in researches after truth of any kind. And
we shall pray while endeavouring to acquaint our-
selves with God's word, because a desire to know
the truth implies a heart to love it, and this implies
a spirit of prayer.

All those men who have searched the most pro-
foundly, after the mind of God, have been men of
prayer. They made ample proficiency in their in-
quiries, because in the outset they imbued their
souls with the spirit of the gospel. In answer to
their prayers they had the teachings of the Spirit
of God. It is only a mind opened by the Sanctifier
for the reception of truth, joined to a he^^'t softened
and subdued by him. that can have an' very exalted
pleasure in becoming acquainted vith those holy
objects which the truths of God present. He will
have a low opinion of his own wisdom, and will feel
his need ofdiv/neaid at every stage of his progress.

It is recorffecl of one good man, who is known
to have mad- uncommon proficiency in his research-
es after *ruth, that he studied his bible every day
upon ills knees. And of every good man it must be
true, from the nature of the case, that he studies the
word of God with his eye directed toward heaven
for divine teaching. Between truth, and a humble
prayerful spirit, there is that indissoluble connex-
ion, that will justify the inference, that where the
30

234

one is, there we may with great probability look for
the other.

But the search for error requires no humility,
and no prayer. He who forms his system out of
his own heart, and goes to the bible to have it sus-
tained) will be too proud to let the testimony of in-
spiration alter it. He feels no need of light and
asks none ; would be afraid to pray, lest God should
convince him that his favourite system is a lie.
Hence inquire, would you know what truth is,
what are the doctrines that men learn on their
knees ; feeling themselves ignorant, and poor, and
blind, and naked, and in need of all things. And
would yoNj know what is not truth, inquire what
doctrines a^ brought to the bible to be compared
with it, with tx pride and a selfsufficiency, that scru-
ple not to hew chjwn any section of that book that
will not quadrate with the favourite system ; and
prepared to proscribe the who\e, if it assume any
authority over the decisions of huniah reason. Do
you still ask, " What is truth r" I a^^^^er,

HI. Truth is that ivhich produces ckmges of
character for the better. God has told us plainly
what is the design of his word. It was given to
teach us, " that denying ungodliness, and every
worldly lust, we should live soberly, and righteous-
ly, and godly in this present evil world." Such
then is the effect, that it is to be expected truth will
have upon human character ; hence that which has

235

this effect is. truth. It was the prayer of our Lord
for his disciples, " Sanctify them through thy truth ;
thy word is truth." And who will deny, that men
are fitted for heaven, through sanctification of the
Spirit, and belief of the truth. This fact admitted,
if we can ascertain what doctrines have been the
means of making men better, we shall have learned
what the truth is.

Where then do we look for the most frequent
conversions ? under what system ? and under what
men ? The question amounts to this, AVhat doc-
trines have been preached, and believed, where the
Spirit of God has the most frequently, and the most
powerfully operated, in producing revivals ? The
men who have been the most favoured, in seeing
the work of God prosper under their ministrations,
and have turned many to righteousness. What is
their creed ? Do they deny the atonement ? or do
they place it at the foundation of all human hopes ?
Do they acknowledge the divine nature of Jesus
Christ ? Do they consider man so depraved, that
his sacrifices are an abomination to the Lord ; i^nd
his obstinacy such, that God must take away the
heart of stone, and give a heart of flesh, or there
will be no repentance, and no obedience ? Do they
believe, or not, that God is a Sovereign, and work-
eth all things after the counsel of his own will ? Do
they credit the fact, that God has prepared a
quenchless fire, and a never dying worm, for the
punishment of the finally impenitent ?

236

We do not deny that in some instances congre-
gations have become acquainted with the truth, by
other means than through the ministry placed over
them, and that the truth thus acquired has produc-
ed awakenings ; nor yet, that the hihle aloiie has
been the means of saving men, notwithstanding the
opposing influence of a false gospel. We ask what
are the doctrines that have generated alarm, and
induced men to fly for refuge to lay hold on the
hope set before them in the gospel ?

Will it be denied that these revivals, so called,
have made men better ? It will be admitted, that
they have made some men worse, that the truth
long and daringly resisted, has produced not a few
of the most hardened and desperate men, that have
ever lived. There have been sore and alarming in-
stances of relapse, that have cast whole churches in-
to deep distress.

But, this admitted, have not revivals produced
very noted and numerous cases of reform ? Have
not the profane, the intemperate, the proud, and the
false, been rendered virtuous, by some power that
operated at these seasons ? Now if it was God who
wrought, it was truth he used ; and whether you
own or not, that the power of God produced the
changes w^itnessed, you will hardly deny that truth
was the means : for it is not more unscriptural,
than unphilosophical, to believe that falsehood will
generate virtue.

Ascertain then whether the reception or the

257

rejection of any given doctrine, or system of doc-
trines, is more generally attended by a change of
character for the better, producing sobriety, morali-
ty, and benevolence, and the fact will aid you in
your search after truth. I know there is much
boast of morality, where doctrines are current, that
are plainly at war with what the bible seems very
clearly to teach, but I know too that such boast is
vain. The virtue that thrives under error is proud,
and selfish, and cold, and often very malignant, and
cruel ; makes but few and small sacrifices, and is at
the best a mere polished and civilized idolatry. It
may drop a tear over the sufferings of the hody^ and
be prompt to cure temporary distress ; but can look
with the indifference of a statue at the ruins of the
moral worlds and feels not a pang or utters a groan,
at the sight of six hundred millions of souls sinking
to perdition, and degraded and miserable all the
way thither. It cares not who suffers through ig-
norance of God, or is miserable through lack of vis-
ion. We do not deny, if they like this picture, that
such a morality does prevail where men have turn-
ed the truth of God into a lie.

But let us make a high regard to the best inter-
ests of men, the leading feature of morality, and
then inquire where we find it. Does such a moral-
ity thrive under what is termed evangelical truth, or
where this system is scouted, and libeled, and pro-
scribed ? If we see men, on embracing these doc-
trines become better, then believe them true, but if

238

worse, then you may believe them a lie. Do you
ask me still, " What is truth ?" I answer,

IV. Truth is that ivhich distresses, and often of-
fends ungodly men. The character of God, and
his people as far as they are like him, is built on
the truth. But unholy beings, men and devils,
have a character bottomed upon falsehood. They
feel and act as they do, because in their esteem a lie
is the truth. Hence the truth is at war with their
character, their conscience, their pleasures, and
their hopes. It holds before them a mirror in
which they appear ugly to themselves, and see their
need of a better character, in order to be accepted
of God. It shows them that their strong hold is a
house of straw. It exhibits them as playing the
fool with their own best interests. A mad man,
who in a paroxism of his disease has butchered his
family, and half dispatched himself, and has w aked
to consciousness in the very act of suicide, is scarce-
ly a sorer picture of wretchedness and ruin, than a
sinner upon whose conscience there has been pour-
ed suddenly the li^ht of truth. It shows him that
he is labouring hard to lit himself for irrecoverable
ruin ; and is heaping treasure together for the last
days. His character must be altered, or the light
shut out that shows him its deformity.

Now assure yourselves what doctrines bring un-
godly men into this condition of distress, and you
learn what is truth. On the other hand, if you will

239

ascertain what doctrines offend and grieve the good
man, you will learn what is not truth. Let me ap-
peal to that part of my audience, who have yet no
hope that they are born of God, but who have fre-
quently felt alarm. On that night when you went
home so unhappy from the place of worship, and
wet your couch with tears, and roared and was in
anguish all night, what doctrine had been exhibited ?
Was it the entire depravity of the heart ? or was it
an attempt to prove, that you are not that lost and
ruined being, which this pitiless orthodoxy would
render you ? Was it divine sovereignty ? or a dis-
course that went to show, that wiien God had built
the world, he placed it without the limits of his em-
pire, and left it to govern and watch over itself?
W^as it the doctrine of decrees ? or an attempt to
show that a sparrow may fall to the ground, and
God 7iot know it, and that the hairs of our head are
not numbered ? Was it election ? or was it an ef-
fort to prove that the Father has not given any of
our race to the Lord Jesus Christ, and that if he
has, they may not come to him, and that many who
do come to him may be cast out ? Was it the doc-
trine of ever during future punishment ? or a train
of reasonings that went to prove that the great gulf
had been bridged over?

Go on, my audience, and apply this rule to other
doctrines, to whatever extent you please, it will
help you greatly in determining what is truth, Let
us suppose a case, or rather state one that has hap-

240

pened. A sinner lies on the dying bed. There
goes to him one in the character of a minister of Je-
sus Christ. But he tells the dying man, that he
has no occasion to be much alarmed, that his heart
is not radically polluted, that he must receive bap-
tism, and forgive his enemies, and be willing to die,
and all will be w ell. He is baptized ! ! The min-
ister goes on ; God is merciful, and Christ has died
for sinners : there can be no doubt but the dying
man will be soon in Abraham's bosom. — He retires,
and another man, with far other views, takes his
chair by the dying bed. He assures the poor man,
that he has probably come to his last hours with a
heart at enmity with God, and so obstinate in its
enmity, that none but a power divine can subdue it ;
and that it must be sanctified very soon, or he per-
ishes forever. Still God has made no promise that
lays him under obligation to effect this change, hence
the man's eternal life hangs upon uncovenanted
mercy. True a Saviour has died for sinners, and
God is merciful, infinitely merciful, but that atone-
ment and that mercy, have conditions annexed,
which must be complied with, or they avail nothing.
The sinner must repent and believe in Jesus Christ ;
and God will give repentance unto life to whom he
will, whose names are written in the Lamb's book
of life.

I have thus given the substance of the instruc-
tion administered by the two legates. The dying
man continues impenitent. Now who of the two

241

gives him comfort, and toko alarms and distresses
him ? He who gives comfort to one who is out of
Christ, must deal in lies ; he who distresses him,
though he may not use the mildest, best language,
has the presumption in his favour, that he pours in
truth upon an ungodly mind. God requires that
we say to the wicked, that it shall be ill with them,
and a message like this will not give them comfort,
unless it prove the means of their conversion.
Hence the irresistible presumption is, that he who
gives pain to the dying sinner, and not he who gives
comfort, makes use of truth.

And what thus gives pcmi, is very liable to give
offence. Men are proud, and when the truth from
the necessity of the case, bears against their char-
acter and conduct, they scowl. You cannot offer
them mercy in the style of scripture, but you convey
to them a threatening, if they believe not. The
gospel intrudes upon the sii^ner's pleasures, and
pours unwelcome light upon his conscience, and, as
he esteems it, degrades his character; tells him of a
judgment he is loath to think of, and predicts a doom
he hates to anticipate, a hell whose fires he would
gladly put out, where there await him weeping, and
wailing, and gnashing of teeth. Ah, the truth tears
from the sinner all his hopes of heaven, pulls down
about his head his refuge of lies, breaks his covenant
with death, and annuls his agreement with hell, and
leaves him the prey of despair, till he raises one be-
lieving look to the hills whence his help conieth ;
31

242

and sure as life, all this, if it does not save him, will
offend him.

If then you would test the truth of a doctrine,
propose it to ungodly men, and watch if it gives of-
fence. What effect has divine sovereignty, decrees,
and election, upon such men ? If they offend, the
presumption is that they are true. Go to that man,
standing in the door of that grog-shop, reeling and
cursing, with a glass in his hand ; and name one of
these doctrines ; will it please or offend him ? will it
calm or enrage him ?

Let me take another view. Christians have
been much of their life ungodly. Did they general-
ly love these hard doctrines before conversion or
since ? The doctrine of universal salvation ; do men
more generally believe this doctrine before they are
regenerated, or afterward ? You may thus bring to
the test any doctrine or system of doctrines. That
individual truth, or system of truths, which pleases
more generally unsanctified men, is more likely to
be false than otherwise. Error loves its child de-
pravity, and the child its mother.

I know that to make this experiment fairly, you
must arrest attention. Men may be too stupid to ,
be distressed by the truth, and may hold the truth in
unrighteousness. The mass of impenitent sinners
in our orthodox congregations and who could not be
persuaded to receive, and support, a loose and un-
godly ministry, are on the side of truth, because
they are thoughtless, or consider it disreputable to
reaouiice the creed of their fathers. But every pe-

243

riod of awakening draws out enmity more or less,
because it brings men to think. I doubt not but
there is sufficient hatred to truth, in New England,
to explode the gospel, and its ministry, and the bi-
ble, and seal up the doors of every sanctuary, if
God should remove restraint, and wicked men be
generally aroused to thought, and see how at war
truth is, with their heart and their life.

There may be a kind of general acknowledg-
ment of the truth, where it would be most cordially
hated, were it so brought home to the conscience as
to be strongly felt. Then it becomes manifest that
the truth had previously floated merely upon the
surface of the mind, and had not been opposed, be-
cause it had not been felt. Do you still inquire,
" What is truth ?" I answer,

V. Truth is that, ivhich is consistent with itself,
and inconsistent ivith all error. Should two men
appear in a court of Justice to bear witness to the
truth, their testimony would agree, without any
previous consultation. There might be many ap-
parent discrepances, but they could all be explained
satisfactorily. Say it is a case of assault, that hap-
pened several months since. One affirms that the
attack commenced in a house, on the evening of
such a day ; at the hour of eleven ; the other pla-
ces the scene of attack without the doors of that
house, at the hour of twelve, and names another day
of the week, another day of the month, and even

244 '

another month. But the court perceives in a mo-
ment, that the attack might commence in the house,
and be renewed without, and that one of the wit-
nesses mjo^ht mistake whollv the time Hence
finally their testimony may substantially agree.

Now although we would not place the seeming
discrepances of the bible on the same footing, for
here there could be no mistake, yet there are many
apparent discrepances. One apostle testifies that
the thieves^ implicating both, reproached the suffer-
ing Redeemer ; another fixes the charge upon one
only ; vvhile the truth probably is, that at the first
both reviled, and finally but one, the other being
sanctified ; and the evangelists record, what they
saw and heard at different times. So when Saul
was addressed by the Saviour on his way to Da-
mascus ; one account is, that those who journeyed
with him heard the voice but saw no man ; while
another asserts that they heard not the voice of him
that spake. The truth no doubt is, that they heard
a sound, but did not distinguish what was spoken.
Many such apparent discrepances are found in the
sacred volume, serving however to corroborate its
testimony. If men had agreed to lie, they would
have been careful to have a perfect harmony in their
statements, especially when their testimony was
voluntary and deliberate. Truth is consistent with
itself.

Now let us make application of the rule. If it
be correct, then, an entire change of hedrt is neces-r

245

sary only on the supposition that the heart is totally
depraved ; if regeneration be entirely the work of
God, then man does none of it ; no promise could
insure heaven to the believer, and still he be lost ;
if God foreknows an event, that event is certain ; sin
requires an infinite atonement, if in its nature it
tends to infinite mischief: thus one truth is consist-
ent with another.

But between truth and error there is no such
harmony. No court can reconcile a true and false
witness. Error thwarts the track of truth, and its
own track. It is a body opaque, that cannot light
its own way, while truth surrounds itself with the
light necessary to guide its course.

Let us look at one case. I take this position ;
God is the implacable enemy of sin ; now reconcile
this with the idea that there is neither a judgment nor
a hell. It then follows, that the vilest men are often
taken to heaven first : the people of the old world
were at rest in the bosom of the Lamb, while Noah
and his family had yet to weather many a dark and
dreary night upon a shoreless ocean ; the Sodomites
went all up to heaven, while Lot was left to wander
upon the mountains ; Judas was glorified before
John ; and all those who shorten their lives by de-
bauchery are sooner at rest than the virtuous. To
such results are we driven when we would reconcile
truth with error.

Take another case. The heart till renewed in
regeneratidii is void of moral goodness. Now re-

246

concile this with the idea that the unsanctified do
any thing pleasing to God* The heart gives every
moral action its character. " As a man thinketh in
his heart so is he." Hence a bad heart will give
every moral act a bad character : the motives by
which we act are in the heart, but if the heart of
the sons of men be full of evil, then every motive is
bad ; hence every deed instigated by such motive is
bad. How then can sinners do any thing pleasing
to God ? Thus truth and error are at open war.
They must not mingle in the same system, nor unite
in governing the same heart, cannot have a place in
the same bible, can have no fellowship, no harmony.
They are the two contending powers, that have so
long distracted this fallen world, and the war will
continue, without truce or treaty, till one or the
other is exterminated ; and which must perish, it is
not difficult to decide.

And I might add, that error is equally inconsist-
ent with itself. There is no such thing as a system
of error. I could as soon conceive of harmony made
up of a combination of discords. Hence we need
not wonder that those who depart from the simplic-
ity of the gospel, are driven about with every wind
of doctrine. It must be so. They can never so
mend up their system, that it shall suit them ; but
will alter it, and alter it, till all truth is excluded,
and it has become a scheme of infidel morality. So
we conceive of some comet, that will not be gov-
erned by the laws of gravitation, and wanders from

247

system to system, till no other world can be safe in
its vicinity, and no sun will lighten it, and finally it
goes out beyond the reach of suns and there is in
reserve for it, the blackness of darkness forever.
Ah, how infatuated men have been, when they gave
up one doctrine of the bible, and supposed that it
would not essentially alter their creed ! By that
act they cast themselves oflf from their anchorage,
after which there was no guessing, before what
storm they would be driven, into what latitude
borne, or upon what clift be dashed, and broken,
and destroyed. O that men would be wise sooner,
and fall on their knees, the moment they have ta-
ken up their pen to blot and interline their creed.
It is only in the edifice of truth, that there can be a
perfect unity from the foundation to the top stone.
Do you still inquire, " What is truth ?" I answer,

VI. Truth is that which ivill stand the test of a
dose examination, A man reports to you a fact
which he witnessed. You have some doubt, and
demand particulars. He goes on to state when, and
where, and how the event transpired. He tells
you why he was there ; who else were present ;
the hour of the day ; how long he was there ; how
many were concerned in the matter ; — in a word,
he will readily answer any question you put to him.
And he makes every statement fearless of contra-
diction.

Now a lie will not stand this pressure. Ask

248

the man who comes to you with a false report all
these particulars, and jou will soon perceive that
although he has marked out several steps, jet be-
yond these he moves with hesitancy. He has the
particulars of the lie to fabricate. Now all this will
apply to gospel truth. Take an example.

Total depravity is proved by this text, " The
carnal mind is enmity against God ;" and this,
" There is none that doeth good, no not one;" and
this, " Every imagination of the thought of the heart
is evil, only evil continually;" and this, '* The heart
of the sons of men is full of evil."

Now let us see if this doctrine will stand the
test of a close examination. If it be true, men will be
seen to act very basely ; and this we see. If it be true
men will need restraint, and will act the worse, the less
restrained ; and this is fact : " Thou hast spoken and
done evil things as thou couldst." If it be true, noth-
ing that the sinner does will please God : '' Without
faith it is impossible to please him." If it be true,
God must renew the heart : '' Which were born, not
of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will
of man, but of God." If it be true, the change will
be great : '' Old things are passed away, behold all
things are become new." If it be true, God must
hate our native character : '' He is angry with the
wicked every day." If it be true, they will not rel-
ish it ; and such is generally the fact. You may go
on, and press the doctrine as much as you please, or
any other doctrine in the system of truth, and it will

249

stand. Not the surf-beaten rock, that lines the
shore of ocean, stands half so firmly as the truth.
It will live and flourish, and will still be tnuh,
when all its opposers have perished, and every rock
is rolled from its bed.

And the truth will stand firmly without the aid
of sophistry. It is when you attempt to establish a
lie, that you must use false arguments. Hence
there never was an orator, who could ably support
the side of an argument, that is opposite to that of
truth and righteousness. Take an example. He
tries to prove that no plan guides the divine opera-
tions. But there are a thousand facts, and the whole
bible, and the best conclusions of reason, all con-
fronting him. Hence he makes no advances, till he
affixes to the doctrine he would oppose, some odi-
ous name, calls it election, and suggests some mis-
chievous consequences if it prove true, and casts
about the hated doctrine a cloud of darkness and
mystecism, and then, when his hearers are highly
impassioned, and so blinded by rage, as not to see
the weakness and wickedness of the orator, he plies
his false and worthless arguments. It would des-
troy man's free agency. It would render the invita-
tions of the gospel insincere. It would excuse ev-
ery violation of the divine law. Now th^re is not
one of these arguments worth a straw, if he had a
candid auditory to enlighten. But one may as well
attempt to convince a rock that it is hard, as to
pour truth upon a mad congregation. The ear that

250

should hear it is deaf, and the eye that should see it
is blind, and what is worse than all, the heart that
should feel it is biased.

But let one attempt to prove that God has a
plan, and guides all his movements by it, and he
may use solid and honest arguments. He may ap-
peal to the unequivocal testimony of inspiration ; to
the attributes of God ; to the impossibility of a wise
intelligence operating without a plan ; or to matters
of fact, which show unequivocally that such a plan
exists, and is going into rapid and successful opera-
tion. And when he has exhausted his substantial
arguments, he need proceed no farther, for the truth
is proved, and will stand without the prop of
sophistry. And the same is true relative to any and
every other doctrine of the bible. A mere school-
boy can reason better in support of truth, than the
w^isest philosopher, when he would prove the truth
of a falsehood. The very father of lies himself
could never defend successfully any one doctrine of
his creed. You still ask me " What is truth ?" I
answer,

VII. Truth is that against which all oppositon
is iveak. It must have opposers, in every world
where there is depravity. But the Patron of truth
is the mighty God ; hence all opposition is insignifi-
cant. Truth could never be checked in its progress,
by all the terrors of the dungeon, or the agonies of
the stake and the cross. Every heretic that was

251

executed during the reign of intolerance, promoted
the triumph and widened the spread of truth. At
every scene of persecution, other hearts were sanc-
tified, and other witnesses rose, as it were from the
ashes of the martyred, to erect again, higher and
still higher, the standard of the cross, and vindi-
cate, more and more triumphantly, the honour of
truth and the glory of God. Opposition to truth
warms its advocates, and produces a reaction that
carries the war back into the territories of the
foe, eclipses the brilliancy, and humbles the tri-
umph of his boasted victories.

Were it not for the reluctance we feel that
men should undo themselves forever, it could be
wished, that error might ever have warm and able
advocates, to call into action the friends of truth,
and show the world that it has a light of its own,
that can eclipse and consume every wandering star
that would thwart its track. In its very nature
truth is invulnerable and eternal. Its author is
God, whose character and whose throne is built on
it, and who has pledged all in him that is sacred,
that it shall exist and flourish commensurate with
himself.

Oh, that its enemies did but know their desti-
ny. When they shall have done their best, and cri-
ed aloud to their gods, and leaped upon their altars,
and wounded themselves, till they are covered with
their own gore ; then God will speak, and fire will
come from heaven to testify to his truth, and devour

252

its adversaries. No warfare has ever been so unprom-
ising as theirs. The victory has never hung in doubt
an hour. When the foe has been intrenching him-
self, and was proud of his forces, and sure of the vic-
tory ; and the friends of truth lay on their faces be-
tween the porch and the altar, and could only say,
*' Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine her-
itage to reproach ;" even then, angels were not
afraid, nor God afraid, nor should faith have been
afraid, that the truth might suffer. Do you still
ask me, " What is truth ?" I answer,

VIII. Truth is that which never becomes obsolete,
but is rendered the more illustrious by use. It may
at times seem obscured, and likely to become ex-
tinct, in some limited territory of this world, but it
will come into credit again, and will pervade the
very ground from which it seemed excluded. The
human heart does not love it, and would destroy it,
and has been making efforts to this effect, ever
since the apostacy ; but the conscience, to whatever
extent it has light, is on the side of truth, and often
exerts an influence to give it countenance and cur-
rency, where it would otherwise be without a
friend. Its light may be eclipsed, but cannot be
extinguished. So the sun may suffer some little
world to roll athwart its beams, and cut off a few
fragments of its light from some other world, but
the sun when eclipsed is not extinguished. While
the ignorant multitude stand appalled at the brood-

258

ing darkness, he emerges from behind the screen,
and rolls and shines with unbroken velocity and un-
diminished lustre.

Some have believed, and many liave hoped, that
the scriptures would one day become obsolete, and
men be released from its obligations, and its terrors.
Poor souls, they think it a great grievance that
there should be any sun to light the moral world.
They would it were one unbroken night through all
the territories of intellect. So we have known
when the thief and the robber cursed the open-
ing day as a nuisance, and were not ashamed to
wish, that the sun might cease to shine, and the
moon and stars withhold their light. But the pray-
er of the thief will not put the sun out, nor will
the enemies of truth live to see the scriptures per-
ish. No, the men will perish, and the arguments
that have stood in martial array against that book,
while the book itself is destined to outlive all the
nations, and will be in the hands, and deeply im-
pressed upon the heart, of that last believer who
shall rise to meet the Lord in the air. This great
luminary of the moral world, will hold its station,
and shine on in all its glory, and lighten and warm
the beings it was sent to cherish, till the elect are
all gathered in. Every doctrine of that book, will
outlive its foes, and will be embraced and loved, by
every believer that shall be sanctified through the
truth. Wisdom is justified of her children. There
is no danger, nor has there ever been, that any one

254

doctrine of the bible should be lost. No powe; but
that which can build a world can stop truth in its
course, and that power i(;z7/ not. Bury in one com-
mon grave every bible that has ever been published,
and let them lie till their mortal parts perish, still
their doctrines, like so many imperishable gems,
shall resist corruption, and emerge unhurt from the
embers of the last conflagration.

By being controverted truth increases its lustre.
The attacks made upon the doctrines of the reforma-
tion, gave them currency. Men would risk their
lives, to see that book, which was so much the
dread of some of the ruling powers, especially the
powers spiritual. Thus the eyes of a blinded world
were opened the more effectually upon the glorious
gospel of the blessed God. And all the efforts that
have been made since then, or that may be made
against the truth hereafter, have had, and will have
but this one effect, to establish it friends, in the
more perfect belief, and the more full enjoyment of
the precious bible.

Truth is in most danger when its foes are asleep,
for then its friends sleep too. "While the bride-
groom tarried they all slumbered and slept." To
drive his people to their post, God sometimes gives
their enemies a temporary triumph : never however
leaving it doubtful in the eye of faith w^here victory
will rest. When infidelity threatened to deluge the
w^orld, God raised up a standard. And when it
crept within the pale of the churches.

255

(" As when a prowling wolf,
Whom hunger drives to seek new haunt for prey,
Watching where shepherds pen their flocks at eve,
In hurdled cotes amid the field secure.
Leaps o'er the fence with ease into the fold ;
Or as a thief bent to unhoard the cash
Of some rich burgher, whose substantial doors,
Cross-barr'd and bolted fast, fear no assault,
In at the window climbs, or o'er the tiles :
So clomb this first grand thief into God's fold ;
So since into his church lewd hirelings climb.")

an eye divine watched all its movements. And its
defeat is now as certain, as when it libeled the en-
trance of the grave yard, and daringly proscribed the
Nazarine. God can recognize his enemies under
whatever vestments they may conceal themselves.
It requires only common faith to predict, that the
churches of our Lord Jesus Christ will not long har-
bour in their communion errors that dethrone their
Master. In the present and in every future conflict,
the result will be as in the past. God will not suf-
fer a flood of error to pour in, mightier than the
standard he will lift up against it. He will contin-
ue forever to be the friend and advocate of truth,
and should the time again come when he must blot
out a world to recover its influence, he has all his
stores of wrath ready. Do you still ask me, " What
is truth ?" I answer.

Finally, Truth is that against ivhich an im-
penitent ivorld is armed ivith objections, I mention

256

this characteristic of truth because many conceive,
that nothing can be truth that meets with opposi-
tion. They act on the false supposition, that the
world is friendly to truth, will readily embrace it
when distinctly seen and will object to nothing that
is truth. Hence if they hear a doctrine objected to,
in the belief of which they have been ever so well
established, they feel it to be their duty to doubt its
truth. And yet there is no doctrine against which
there may not be brought a variety of objections.
In the affairs of common life it would not answer to
act on this principle, else we should believe nothing.
There stands a tree by your door, and you affirm
that it grew there. I object to your position, first,
that such a mass of timber could never rise to such
a height without hands ; secondly, that earth cannot
produce wood, as every effect must have the nature
of its cause ; and thirdly, the tree was never seen
to grow. But do you doubt whether the tree grew^
there, because I have offered three objections to
your faith ? And if I could offer thirty, instead of
three, would it shake your confidence ? Then why
are the precious doctrines of the gospel to be yielded
on the first attack ?

The fact is, and it is a fact that we ought to
know, the truth is far more likely to be assailed
with objections than error. There are more who
are engaged in opposing truths than error, perhaps
ten to one. None but the true believer finds a real
interest and a real pleasure in supporting the truth,

257

tvhile the great mass of ungodly men are stronoly
in the opposition. Hence all those whose hearts
are at enmity with truth, are engaged, and have
been ever since the apostacy, in fabricating objec-
tions to truth, while very few have endeavoured to
meet these objections with a proper answer.

And moreover when objections to truth have
been invented, there are ten who will circulate
them, where one w\\\ make the same sacrifice to
disseminate the truth. Hence when a book or
pamphlet full of error leaves the press, many be-
cause they hate the truth will purchase it, and give
it circulation, but if there follow it an able answer,
there will be few, perhaps none, who will make a
similar sacrifice. Christians should not he so re-
miss^ but it was long since declared, that " The chil-
dren of this world are wiser in their generation
than the children of light." The fact, then must be
that ten will become familiar with objections to
truth, where one will hear those objections answer-
ed. Against the truth then there will stand more
objections than against error, hence a doctrine
strongly, and frequently objected to by unbelievers,
has presumptive evidence of its truth. And per-
haps in a world like ours, truth has no test more in-
fallible.

We shall be sadly mistaken however^ if we sup-
pose that a mere profession will make men the
friends of truth, and that all is error to w hich those
who make profession are opposed. It not unfre-
33

258

quently happens that truth finds its bitterest enemies
within the pale of the communion, and even in the
sacred ministry. As there was a Judas in the apos-
tleship, so in the gospel ministry there are men, O
that it were not so, who bend all their energies to
betray the design and to pollute the honours of
their Lord.

But let us apply the rule. What doctrines are
constantly assailed by unsanctified men ? What
doctrines are the drunkard, the liar, the profane, the
swindler, and the sabbath-breaker, ever prepared to
repel ? What doctrines has it been considered im-
proper to preach, because of the numerous objec-
tions that stand against them, and which are sup-
posed to destroy their usefulness ? Ascertain these
facts and you learn what is truth. I close with

1. We see ivhy the bible in all its parts is so ew-
tirely harmonious, and has so long continued in use*
Writers so numerous, and so seperated as to time,
place, education, and habit, could not have written
so harmoniously, but from the fact that they all wrote
truth, and nothing else, and truth is consistent with
itself. And if the sacred volume by divine direction
should be continued, and an additional prophecy or
epistle be written in every future age down to the last
day, they would all agree. Each under the guidance
of the Holy Ghost would write only unadulterated

259

truth, and truth is consistent with itself. Hence
the word of God, unlike every other book, can nev-
er thwart its own track, and can never become obso-
lete.

2. We see loliy no other hook can outlive a few
short generations. All others, although containing
some truth, contain also error sufficient to bring
them soon into disuse. Error is ever transitory.
Let a book have been written if you please in the
first age of the world, be it inspired or not, and let
it contain nothing but truth, and that truth import-
ant, and it shall be iit for use till the funeral of the
world, and shall be new and interesting to every
succeeding generation of men. The character of
God is pledged for the security of truth, and noth-
ing else. It is as old as God, and will have a being
commensurate with his. Its very nature is eternal.
Truth is the reflected image of being and of fact.
Hence ever since there was any being or any fact,
and while these endure truth must live. But error
has attached to it no such immortality. Perhaps
it would not be saying too much to assert that ev-
ery uninspired volume, has attached to it error suf-
ficient to sink it sooner or later into the grave.

3. We are now prepared to say, that one cannot
reject the truth and be innocent. The marks of truth
are so visible, that one cannot mistake it but from
choice. Its features are all prominent and visible,

260

and must be familiar to every man who has made a
proper use of his eyes, and his understanding.
Hence to not know the truth or embrace error is sin,
and argues a heart unsanctified. He who loves God
must wish to know and love the truth. Christ view-
ed the truth of such importance that he came into
the world to declare the truth, and will now frown
upon the man who diminishes its value.

It is absurd to suppose that truth has a character
so doubtful that it cannot be known. If God has
placed his statute-book in our hands, he will expect
ns to be familiar with the laws of his kingdom. He
has not furnished us an unintelligible code. He
has not suspended our destiny on a belief of the
truth, and yet left it so uncertain what we should be-
lieve, that it is no crime to believe a lie. The Holy
Ghost would not inspire for us a volume which we
cannot understand. If God sanctifies his people
through the truth, there is not the same hope that
those are bound for heaven who believe a lie, as
those who believe the truth. We cannot be sancti-
fied through that truth which we do not embrace.
Hence it would seem that it must be fatally criminal
to reject the distinguishing doctrines of the gospel.

4. If the definitions which I have given of truth
be correct, sinners ought to wish to hear those doc-
trines which they do not relish, and which fill them
with distress, for none else are true. It would be
easy to preach so as never to distress or offend im-:

261

penitent men, but it would not be the gospel, and
the preaching would be useless. They would sleep
under it till they waked in perdition. They would
neither quarrel nor repent. There are such preach-
ers, and the effect of their labours is exactly what
we should expect. Their *' burden of the Lord" is
a mere heathen morality, and the best effect a mere
reform of some grosser vice, leaving the moral char-
acter unbleached, and the heart unchanged.

But it should be the wish of perishing men to
hear another gospel, one that will alarm their fears,
cut off their false hopes, arouse their consciences,
and renew their hearts. It is pleasant to find that
men are pleased, but far more important to find that
they are sanctified. And those act a very weak
part, who are conscious of impenitence, and yet
prefer a gospel that is not truth, and can never point
them to heaven.

Finally^ the subject will help us to account for
the stability of the christian character. It has its
foundation in truth, the same that is the basis of thq
divine character, and of the throne itself of God,
So the character of angels, and of all holy beings is
built on the truth. Hence a holy character will differ
as to its permanency, from the character of the sin-
ner, as much as the truth differs from falsehood.
Every christian principle is some truth of God,
every grace some impress of truth upon the heart.
Hence we expect the christian character, and no

262

other, to have permanency, unless that truth could
become mutable on which it is founded. Christ
styles himself the truth, and is that rock on which
his people build their character and their hopes :
" Christ in you the hope of glory."

Hence the believer, though " Kept by the power
of God, through faith unto salvation," has a perma-
nency of character, from the fact, that God sancti-
fies him through the truth. He grows in grace and
in the knowledge of the truth ; and to whatever
moral stature he attains, truth secures his standing,
'' Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of
the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect
man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness
of Christ." Thus it is made certain that the saints
shall never fall.

But we do not wonder that those who have n#
such idea of the permanency of truth, doubt whether
the believer will assuredly persevere. Those who
suppose him to build his house upon the sand, must
fear, lest when the floods come and the winds blow,
its foundations be removed, and it fall. But he
builds upon a rock, firm as heaven itself, and we
shall see him safe, when every other rock, but that
which he makes his foundation, is melted down ;
and when those who have not built on Christ and
on truth, " Shall call upon the rocks and mountains
to fall on them, and hide them from the face of him
that sitteth upon the throne, and from the wrath of
the Lamb,"

263

May God bless his truth, to the sanctification of
his people ; and make them zealous to learn it, and
to propagate it. May he give us a high esteem for
our bibles, and sabbaths, and sanctuaries, and a
preached gospel, by the aid of which we learn truth.
And may he sanctify his ministers, and leave none
of them to '' Depart from the faith, giving heed to
seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils." And may
he through the truth glorify his own name, and pre-
pare a great multitude, that no man can number,
to worship about his throne forev^ and ever. Amen.

^mM®ir aa

AN HONEST MINISTRY.

2 COR. IV. 1,2.

" Therefore, seeing ive have this ministry, as we have received
mercy, we faint not ; hut have renounced the hidden things of
dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word
of God deceitfully ; hut hy manifestation of the truth, com'
mending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of
Godr

The ministry of the reconciliation is an office
peculiar as to its responsibility, its trials, its hon-
ours, and its enjoyments. We are placed in the
office through the instrumentality of men, but have
our commission from heaven. We negotiate a re-
conciliation between God, and a rebel world. Men
are saved by our ministry, if we do our duty, if we
are unfaithful they are lost. If we give them not
the timely alarm, we must answer for their blood.
We must meet our hearers in the last day at the
judgment seat, and must know, when no mistake
can be corrected, what has been the bearing of our
ministry upon their everlasting destiny.

Hence we must do our duty, at the risk of inter-
est, reputation, and life. Under every dispensation,
the messengers of God have but one plain track,

they must hazard the danger of being faithful. Jer-
emiah might not withhold his message, when he
must write it in a dungeon, when he must anathe-
matize the monarch who imprisoned him, and when
his message would impeach his loyalty, and his pa-
triotism, and endanger his life. Paul must do his
duty in the face of stripes, the dungeon, and the
cross. To hope that we can fully please the holy
God, who sends us, and the disloyal to whom we
are sent, is a fruitless hope ; and none but the trai-
tor will ask, whose pleasure he shall seek. If we
had no interest of our own to risk, the honest man
would aim to do his Master's honour. But person-
al perdition hangs over us, if we compromise the
honours of our Lord. Men should be pleased with
us when we do our duty, but men are not what
they should be, else they had needed no gospel.
The same depravity that prompts them to hate the
government of Jehovah, renders them hostile to
any conditions of peace, that will consist with his
honour. Hence the minister of Christ, who culti-
vates a bending conscience, and is seen carefully
providing for himself, at the expense of his Master,
is of all men the most miserable, and the most con-
temptible.

But upon a ministry thus exposed, God has
poured the highest honours. Not the gospel sim-
ply, but the gospel in the lips of men, he has pledg-
ed himself to use a:;; the grand instrument of re-
deeming the world. » VNow then we are ambassa-

266

dors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by
us : we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled
to God." Not the very angels, who minister to
those who shall be the heirs of salvation, have a
commission more dignified. We are workers to-
gether with God, in laying the foundation and rear-*
ing the superstructure of a spiritual temple, whose
topstones are to be laid with shouting, Grace, grace,
unto it !

And with the responsibility and the trials of the
office, God has mingled not only honours^ but enjoy-
ments. The work is pleasant. To study divine
truth, and proclaim the divine honour ; to be con-
versant with sacraments and sabbaths, with prayer
and praise, is living, if the heart be right, hard by
the oracle of God. And when the work is done,
the reward is great. They that turn many to right-
eousness are to shine in the kingdom of their Father,
and as the stars forever and ever.

The apostle in the context had been commend-
ing his office : had showed, by various arguments,
that it was more honourable than a ministry under
the law. The law he denominates the letter, the
gospel the spirit. That was the ministration of con-
demnation and death ; this the ministration of the
Spirit, and the ministration of righteousness. The
legal ministration was temporary, but that of the
gospel remains a lasting and permanent establish-
ment. Hence Moses, conscious that he was the
minister of a dispensation that would soon be eclips-

267

€d by one more glorious, veiled his face. But the
heralds of the gospel may use great plainness of
speech, as they proclaim a system in which there is
nothing dark or mysterious. The true light has shin-
ed ; the veil is taken away, and we now behold the
glory of God, not enveloped in clouds and darkness,
but with open face as in a glass, shining in the face
of Jesus Christ, in whom dwells all the fulness of
the Godhead bodily. And while we gaze upon this
brightness, we are changed into the same image
from glory to glory. And all is accomplished by
the Spirit of the Lord, else the world had abode
still in its native hideous darkness. Thus does the
apostle, when he contemplates the dispensation of
which he is a minister, rise to a tone of triumph,
where language and figure are exhausted. There-
fore says he, seeing we have this ministry, we faint
not. The office is so dignified, that no trials shall
shake our confidence, no onset subdue our courage.
We will neither use dishonesty, craft, or deceit, but
commend ourselves to every man's conscience, by
manifesting the truth. Thus interesting is the atti-
tude in which the apostle places himself, and all
who after him should publish salvation to a dying
world. Following the train of thought he suggests,
I remark

I. The mercy of God, qualifies men to be his
ministers. The very messengers he employs are by
jiatLue hostile to the truths and glories which the

268

gospel reveals, and to the temper and duties it en-
joins. The character of God and of the Saviour
displeases them. There cluster in the Godhead
the very attributes that render character unlovely to
the carnal mind. We naturally spurn the kingdom
that God erects, and the heaven he reveals. All
that was odious in the law, and more yet, we see
in the gospel, till the eyes of our understandings
are enlightened. It contains a law as rigid, as that
which issued from the flames of Sinai, while it digs
a deeper pit ^ and kindles a more consuming fire than
were employed to avenge the broken law of Mo-
ses.

We are by nature like our hearers, the prey of a
carnal mind, that is not subject to the law of God.
Hence, till the grace of God renew us, how disqual-
ified are we to be ministers of the reconciliation !
But of just such men, sanctified, he makes minis-
ters. He forgives them, and loves them, and they
afe then called to plead with rebels, just such as
they were themselves up to the hour of the new
birih. They have but just quitted the standard of re-
volt, and lo ! they are seen standing hard by the
host they have abandoned, proclaiming a pardon in
the name of the Lord Jesus. Paul had gone to lay
waste that very church, which a few days afterward
it was his honour and his joy to edify. The devour-
er was caught with the very prey in his teeth, and
was made a lamb. The disciples were afraid of
him ; nor can we wonder : a few days gone and he

269

was a fiend : and very much so of all Christ's minis-
ters. We mingled with the congregation of the un-
godly,, and could resist the kindest entreaties of a
pitying Redeemer. Not one of all the multitude
had a conscience more polluted, or a temper more
revolting. If grace has sanctified us, how surpris-
ing our escape. Perdition we deserved, but are
made the messengers of life. What a humiliating
retrospect ! One look behind, covers us with shame,
cast we that look but through a little space. Then
the overtures of the gospel, which we now pro-
claim, were like music to the deaf adder. Some of
us perhaps were pressing on to perdition like Paul
in the very van of that multitude which now it is
our eftbrt to save. On this point I hardly know
how to say enough. We were " Aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the
covenants of promise, having no hope, and without
God in the world :" We " walked according to the
course of this world, according to the prince of the
power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience."

And we had a mind as benighted, as was the
heart depraved. Whether the apostle had reference
or not to the supernatural gifts, by which he and
his fellows had become qualified to serve God in
the gospel, we may well ascribe to his grace any
small degrees of preparation in us for such an em-
bassy. That gospel which it has become our duty
and our delight to publish, little as we now und^r-

^70

stand it, was once still less understood. The bible
was a dead letter. Neither was the mind imbued
with its doctrines, nor the memory stored with its
facts, nor the tongue used to its dialect. It seems
incredible, when we look as it were but to yester-
day, and recollect how gross was our ignorance of
the gospel, that we should now be the teachers of
that same religion to the multitudes who are per-
ishing as we were for lack of knowledge. But the
grace of God furnished us the means of improve-
ment, and poured in the few rays of light, covered
as we still are with ignorance, by the aid of which
light we are introduced into an office similar to that
which once was filled by the Son of God.

But the grace of God was still conspicuous, else
our unworthiness had debarred us from a situation so
sublime and so honoured. Might we but have oc-
cupied the obscurest place in God's house, been on-
ly door-keepers, it had been more than we deserved.
The shame of having been totally depraved, and the
guilt of having stood in the ranks of revolt so long,
the habits of indolence we had acquired, and the still
remaining passions, and prejudices, and the whole
catalogue of moral plagues, deep rooted in our na-
ture— all seemed to forbid us the occupancy of a
station so honoured. God has indeed committed
the treasure of the gospel to earthern vessels, that
the excellency of the power may be of him and not
of us. How well does the language of the prophet
become us. *' Behold, Lord, I cannot speak, for I

271

am a child." And that of the apostle, " Unto me
who am less than the least of all saints is this grace
given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the
unsearchable riches of Christ."

And where is it that God has put us ? Into al-
most the very same office once filled by prophets
and apostles, and even by the Lord Jesus himself.
He has emancipated slaves, and sent them to invite
back a strayed world. He has placed us on the
ramparts of his Zion, and has entrusted the pros-
perity of his kingdom, the honour of his government,
the vindication of his law, and the glories of his
name, to our sleepless, and watchful, and devoted
fidelity. On our way to the place of execution, and
the halter about our necks, he hailed us, and par-
doned us, and now here we stand, between the con-
demned, and the arm of justice, between the burn-
ing glories of the Godhead, and the wretches whom
his ire threatens to consume. We are occupying
the station that Moses filled, while Israel were
dancing around the golden calf; or that of David
while he offered sacrifice on the threshing floor of
the Jebusite ; or that of Abraham when he sent up
his last petition in behalf of the devoted cities — to
turn away the wrath of heaven, to stay the plague,
to ward off the storm of fire, and save, if it be pos-
sible the abandoned transgressor.

Connected with our fidelity, are the everlasting
hosannas of a multitude that no man can number, or
with our neglects, the weepings and wailings of the

272 -

damned. Ah, why did the holy God attach so high
an office to beings so debased. Why did he not
commission angels, who would have been faithful,
and who were worthy of his honours. They would
have brought no pollution with them, would have
made no compromise of truth, would have exhibited
no dire instances of apostacy, would have seen eye
to eye, and might have gathered in the elect from
the ranks of revolt, leaving wholly behind that mul-
titude of hypocrites, who now pollute the ordinan-
ces of God. Well may we exclaim, *' I am a worm
and no man," and ascribe, with the apostle, our ap-
pointment to the work, and our equipment for it,
all our success in it, and the reward, if any should
be ours, to the grace of God.

II. The mmistry of the reconciliation is an of-
fice big with trials. This we should infer from its
very nature. We are the agents of negociation, be-
tween God, a holy and a good Jehovah, and men
who hate his character, his government, and his glo-
ry. We preach a gospel which till men are sancti-
fied they cannot love. We are directed to describe
their character, in all its odiousness, and show that
they have been unreasonable and vile, in every prin-
ciple, and in every act of their revolt. We must
warn them of a moment coming when all their sin
and their shame must be uncovered. We dare hide
from them no part of the truth, whether they
will hear or forbear : must show them that not

213

merely is their conduct offensive to God, but evepy
imagination of the thought of the heart, is evil, only
evil continually. We must inculcate principles that
violate every inbred sentiment of their hearts, and
press maxims, and doctrines, and duties, that give
their whole conduct the lie, and cover their whole
character with guilt and pollution. We must as-
sure them that, as God is true, it will be ill with
the wicked in every stage of their being, and in
whatever world God may place them. We must
uncover the pit before them, must prophesy evil
concerning them, must say loudly and fearlessly,
that the wicked shall be turned into hell, and all
the nations that forget God, where their worm shall
not die, nor their fire be quenched.

But it needs no prescience to feel assured that all
this will not please. Men are not disposed to have
their characters laid bare, and their hopes destroy-
ed. The refuge of lies where they have taken
sanctuary, they will not allow us with impunity to
demolish. The god of this world persuades them
that he is their enemy who thus beforehand brands
them with the marks of perdition.

And while we are thus liable to offend, we de-
pend on them for support. Wliile every doctrine
we preach, and every duty we urge, and every woe
we announce, are at issue with the strongest bias-
es of their hearts, we expect them to clothe our
children, and fill our board with bread. While they
are in the very act of doing us a kindness, we may
35

274

see them violate the law of God, and may be under
the odious necessity of returning the favour with
reproof.

Hence trials come as certainly as death. If we
watch the interest we are set to watch, and cannot
be bribed to perf5dy, there will grow thorns in our
path, and we shall wet our couch with tears.
Hence the fact that the Lord's servants have been
stoned, have been sawn asunder, have been tempt-
ed, have been slain with the sword, have wandered
about in sheepskins and goatskins, been destitute,
afflicted, tormented. Hence the scenes of persecu-
tion that fill the pages of ecclesiastical history, the
agonies of the cross, the fires of the stake, the in-
quisitorial dungeons, and the whole catalogue of
plagues, that have borne off the stage the armies of
the martyrs.

HI. This same ministry furnishes an antidote to
the woe it generates. It is, of all the appointments
of the court of heaven, the first. The leader of Is-
rael had a commission less dignified. He was the
minister of a transient service, promulgated a tem-
porary economy, was conversant with types and
symbols. He released men from the chains of a
human and temporary bondage, led them to an
earthly Canaan, and built them a perishable sanctu-
ary. But all these were the mere shadows of good
things to come. Ours is the office, not of typifying^
but of substantiating ; not oi predicting^ but of nar-

275

rating ; not of breaking the bcmds of a temporanj
bondage^ but the league with deaths and the agree-
ment with hell ; not of leading men to a paradise of
hills and brooks of water, but to a city not made
with hands eternal in the heavens ; not to a crumb-
ling material sanctuary, but to the very throne itself
of God. ^ Under the ministration we occupy, Sinai
blazes not with wrath, but with glory, God is seen
not through a veil but with open face ; " Mercy and
truth are met together, righteousness and peace
have kissed each other."

Such the office ; every trial is light. He who
may fill the first embassy in a kingdom, will suffer
any privations, will risk any dangers, will endure
any trials, will submit to any hardships. He will
traverse, with such a commission, the dreariest
heaths, and the stormiest seas, will inhale in any
clime the most polluted atmosphere, will live in the
wildest solitude, with beings the most rapacious and
bloody. And shall men endure, supported by the
honours of a human embassy, trials, dangers,
and death, without complaint, which the min-
ister of the Lord Jesus, with the high hopes
that attach to his office, cannot endure? If in-
sulted we think of our commission, and feel the
inspiration of its honours, and instantly rise superior
to shame. He whom heaven has commissioned,
needs no human applause to animate him. " He
that despiseth you, despiseth me ; and he that des-
piseth me, despiseth him that sent me." And what

276

if men do condemn, while God approves ? There lies
an appeal from every human tribunal. To none of
these lower courts are we amenable, in a sense that
can excite alarm. Said an apostle, '* It is a very
small thing that I should judged of you, or of man's
judgment." To our own Master we stand or fall.
If our message does not please men, we have only
to see to it, that it has not been altered in our
hands, and, if not, take courage. When we can see
affixed to every doctrine we preach the broad seal
of heaven, we have no farther concern except, to in-
quire if we have chosen out acceptable words, and
felt a right spirit. If to the book of instruction we
add or diminish, the deed blots our names from the
book of life, and brings upon our heads the plagues
recorded. If men will not hear us, we have only to
weep in secret places for their pride.

If to men it should seem that we urge them too
assiduously, we have only to assure them that they
must believe or die. The direction is, " Cry aloud,
spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew
my people their transgression, and the house of
Jacob their sins." Our stand is between men and
the pit, and our business to stop them. If they
now think us too urgent, they will curse our supine-
ness when they have perished. Before we have
done with them, they will know the truth of all we
have said, and more yet; and will w^onder that we
could believe it all, and proclaim it so coldly.

If men are angry, still there is hope. This may

277

be the first step to conviction and faith, and they
may still be our crown of rejoicing in the day of the
Lord Jesus. The gospel may produce wrath, and
still may be a savour of life. The tenant of the
tombs raved, and then believed. Our assurance is
that Christ is able to bind the strong man.

But when we fear the worst, and have no hope
that the miserable beings will live, whom we would
warn and waken, still we may be to Christ a sweet
savour, though it be of death unto death. Christ
has not suspended our reward on our success. He
will provide for his ministers who have dared to be
faithful, though the whole population of the apostacy
should go in a mass to perdition. "Though Israel
be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes
of the Lord." For the faithfulness of our ministry,
not for the effects ; for the good we intended to do,
not for the good we have done, shall we be tried in
the last day. If the Lord has made us rulers over
his house, to give them their meat in due season,
blessed are those servants whom their Lord when
he Cometh shall find so doing. And he will soon
return. In a few days we shall have his decision
upon our conduct, and till then it is of small impor-
tance what is human opinion respecting us.

Thus the godly minister takes courage. If our
toil be hard, we serve a good master, and the period
of rest is nigh. If we should even faint and die un-
der the fatigues of the service, still we can die in no
other circumstances so honourable. If our i)resent

278

])nvations are many, and our joys few, there is just
before us a far more exceeding and eternal weight
of glory. If the corner of the vineyard where we
labour is unpromising, still we know that Christ
shall see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied.
We have only to fill the place appointed us, as God
shall give us ability, and for what remains he will
provide. Do we but cast our seed corn upon the
moist field, we shall see it after many days* Should
the seed lie buried in the dust till we are in heaven,
we may still see the fruit of our toil. Thus our
commission so presents its consolations in the time
of trial, that we may well say w^ith the apostle,
^' Having this ministry as we have received mercy,
w^e faint not."

IV. The text prescribes that open and ingenuous
conduct, which it is the duty of Chrisfs ministers on
all occasions to exhibit. Let us notice them

1. In their daily ivalk. The apostle says of
himself and his fellows, probably in allusion to the
intrigue and duplicity of the false teachers, " That
they renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, and
did not walk in craftiness. He does not mean to
imply that this had ever been their course. They
had, from the period of their vocation to the apos-
ileship, refused to reach any point of enterprise, by
deception and fraud. Even when Paul says of him-
self, that on a certain occasion, being crafty he

279

caught them with guile, he is thought merely to
have alluded to the language of his enemies.

The ministers of Christ have nothing to hide,
have no budget of secrets, and may say and do noth-
ing, that is inconsistent with simplieity and godly
sincerity, either in their social and commercial trans-
actions, or in connection with the functions of their
office. The w^orld will doubt, if we show duplicity
in one case, whether we are sincere in any case. If
we can smile complacently upon the man we would
betray and ruin ; if with one hand we can embrace,
while the dagger is fast held in the other ; can sooth,
Rnd flatter, and hate ; men will have no confidence
in us when we thunder the anathemas of the law,
or breathe out the counsels and the accents of mer-
cy. If it cannot be said of the minister of Christ,
that he is r. sincere and honest man, nothing can be
said of him that does not put the whole brotherhood
to shame. The man may be able in theology, and
in oratory, may be a profound general scholar, may
have made the multitude bow to him, but if lie be,
to adopt a very homely, though a very significant
figure, a two-sided man ; if his assent and his smile^
are not tokens of approbation, and we may fear he
will betray us, when pledged to serve us, then has
he not renounced the hidden things of dishonesty,
and will be as readily suspected of insincerity in the
pulpit as by the fireside. Heaven's ambassador
must exhibit, in his countenance, and on the face ol
his whole deportment, the simplicity of the man oi

280

God. The veriest wretch with whom he has inter-
course, ought not to doubt for a moment his hon-
esty.

Toward his ministerial brethren duplicity is
doubly odious. We are but distinct agents attach-
ed to the same grand embassy, and sent to make
overtures to the same disloyal multitude. When we
have no trust in each other, the foe is strengthened,
and our defeat and shame sure, and the least aproxi-
mation to duplicity destroys confidence. We may
differ in shades of doctrine, and points of duty, and
still if honest men, may cooperate, and there may
be in the general embassy an efficiency and a unity^
that shall pour honour upon Christ, and shame upon
the adversary. We must have confidence in each
other's prompt and cordial cooperation, or the world
we have come to sanctify, will be strengthened in
every deadly and desperate principle of revolt, and
will sleep on till they are waked by the terrors of
the last trumpet.

The motives to such a confidence are obvious.
Our trials and, our enemies are numerous, and are the
same, and the same our joys and our friends. We
serve the same Master, and hope for the same
heaven. Without an asylum in each others bosom,
in this outcast world, where we find so rarely an
honest friend, we should be the loneliest of all flesh.
No union can be more sacred. There is not only
christian sympathy, but the fellowship of office.
There belong to the sacred ministry special hopes

281

and promises. In what relationship do the hidden
things of dishonesty wear an aspect so monstrous,
or wage a war so cruel, as when they disturb the in-
tercourse, and break the compact, that binds togeth-
er the ambassadors of the Lord Jesus. One would
sooner lose confidence in his mothers children, and
betray his offspring, than see marred the fellowship
of the divme legation* That Jesuitical fraud, nick-
named pious, so long current in the church of
Rome, is the worm that now devours that polluted
community. May it go with its foster mother to
perdition, and never find a lodgement in the bosom
of Christ's mmisters. Let us notice the minister
of Christ

2. Li his official capacity. While the apostles
renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, and
would not walk in craftiness, so neither ivould theij
handle the word of God deceitfully. They would
not, nor may we, hide, misrepresent, or leave out
of view, any truth meant to be conveyed to us
in our book of instructions. The ambassador
of Christ resolves, that the bible in all its plain-
ness and simplicity, shall be permitted to pour forth
its precepts, its doctrines, its denunciations, unadul-
terated, upon the congregated multitude of the un-
godly. To inquire, what is pleasing, and what is
popular, and what is safe, belongs only to the trait-
or, who would make a kiss the signal of arrest.

282

We may choose out acceptable words, may
watch for the best moment when to press an unwel-
come truth : this is duty. And in illustrating truth
we may put to use all the softness and sweetness of
language and figure that is possible, still no truth
may be covered up or mistated. We may say to
the righteous, it shall be well with them, but we
must with equal plainness say to the wicked, it shall
be ill with them. He that believeth shall be saved,
but he that believeth not shall be damned. We
may dwell upon the glories of heaven, till we, and
all about us who believe shall long to ascend, but
we must also raise the covering of the pit, till the un-
godly if they will not repent, shall begin to feel the
scorch of its torments. He who would not handle
the word of God deceitfully, cannot suffer his unre-
generate hearers to choose what doctrines he shall
preach, or what duties he shall urge, or what follies
he shall spare, or what the fervency of soul he shall
breathe into his message. If he believe a doctrine,
he will not hide his faith ; if there prevail an error,
he dare not conceal his dissent ; nor against any
vice, however popular, can fail to bear his prompt
and unequivocal testimony.

The minister of the gospel, ivho conceals his
faith, is a traitor, and goes over soon to the enemy.
And while he stays he is a plague and a nuisance.
" If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall
prepare himself to the battle." Why have a plain
and pungent and intelligible bible, and put it into

283

the hands of a crafty ministry, to be neutralized, and
tamed, and mangled, before it can reach the con-
science ? As well may the bible be a riddle or a
dream, as the herald a knave. He can fritter down
its doctrines till the whole book is a mere ballad.
A people with such a ministry are in a case as pitia-
ble as the wandering Tartar-

V. The text instructs Chris fs ministers how they
may best commend themselves to the consciences of
men. By manifestation of the truth. To be useful
we must have an advocate in the conscience of the
people. Many may not relish the doctrines we de-
liver, and may hate our faithfulness, but there may
still be, and there must be the conviction, that we
are honest men, who act with reference to the judg-
ment. In such a case one may be useful, even to
the itien who cordially disrelish the whole testimony
of God. They may kindle with rage at the junc-
ture when the truth has found an avenue to the
conscience.

And this ascendency is gained by an undisguised
exhibition of the truth. When men see, that we
dare not go beyond the word of the Lord, and that
we dare say all that God has bidden us ; that we
feel ourselves fast bound by the letter of our com-
mission, then the conscience of our people, if well
enlightened, will take part with God, and do hom-
age to our integrity. They may wish that we
would alter somewhat the message we have receiv-

284

ed from heaven, may even demand that the pomtof
truth be bkmted, may refuse to attend upon a mhiis-
try that handles so unceremoniously then* passions,
their practice, and their prejudices ; but if we com-
ply, we lose their respect, and their judgment de-
nounces us contemptible hypocrites. They would
rejoice to be successful, but the moral sense would
reprobate us. While men writhe under the thrusts
of truth, they yield the highest homage to the man
whom no bribery can corrupt, who can be content-
edly poor and homeless, but cannot be treacherous.
The American ambassador at some foreign court,
may give offence, by pressing our claims ; but should
he violate his commission, and compromise the hon-
our of his country, and the rights of his constitu-
ents, he would lose all respect abroad and at home,
and sink into deep and lasting contempt. Let it be
seen early that no threat can scare us, that no bribe
can buy us, that no considerations of ease, honour,
or affluence, can for a moment put our integrity to
the stand, or bring us to yield an inch of the terri-
tory of truth ; thus we give evidence that we have
a conscience, and the enemy will be afraid that God
will protect us. Men suspect in this case, that our
message is true, and fear that their obstinacy will
undo them, and, feel as they may, they yield us re-
spect. Here that divine maxim is verified, " For
whosoever will save his life shall lose it ; but who-
soever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall
save it." The most contemptible of all men, is the

285

man, who holds this high commission, but employs
his talents to lower down the terms of reconciliation,
to the wishes of the unsanctified. He will stand
yoked with the wretch who betrays his country, and
goes over to be hated and despised in the camp and
country of the enemy. But the man who is true to
his Lord, who sacredly adheres to his commission,
should he not be favoured with any very signal suc-
cess, may be respected, and happy, and safe.

Finally^ the apostle and his brethren felt them-
selves urged to faitJifuhiess, by the consideration that
God ivas present. Commending ourselves to every
man's conscience in the sight of God. It was the
last promise of the Lord Jesus, " Lo I am with you
alway even unto the end of the world ?" The re-
motest idea of compromising the truth is immedi-
ately known to God, and is peculiarly provoking.
All sin is committed in his presence. But of all
sins, how flagrant and daring is the crime of deliber-
ately altering the message he has given us to deliver
to a rebel world ! If we are faithful he is present
to comfort and support us, but if we shrink, through
the fear of man which bringeth a snare, he is present
to despise and reprobate us. Hence let this be our
motto, '' Thou God seest me ;" and let us live and
die under a solemn impression of this truth. Let
us have a character and exhibit a conduct upright
in his view. Then the gospel we preach will be to
us a savour of life unto life. The allseeing God

286

will watch us till we die, will guard the slumbers
of the sepulchre, and will raise us to enjoy his
smiles forever.

How delightful the thought, when slavish fear
has not chased away hope, that we minister in the
very presence of our Master. If we are in our
study he is there, or on our knees he is there, or in
the consecrated pulpit he is there ; to know our em-
barrassments, lay our fears, raise our hopes, and
pour consolation into our hearts. From what duty
can we shrink, of what foe be afraid, by what suf-
ferings be disheartened, while we serve a God at
hand and not a God afar off, and may at any mo-
ment roll over our cares upon One who careth
for us. He who had not rather be a minister of
Christ with all its trials, than wear a crown, knows
not the pleasures of the service.

HEIXARKS.

1. The subject is very humiliating to Christh
ministers. We enter the office by mere sufferance.
We were under a sentence of condemnation, and
any thing short of perdition is mercy, and yet so
honoured ! Hence no position becomes us but that
of the most complete prostration of soul. Our ap-
propriate prayer is. " God be merciful to me a sin-
ner." From no station of usefulness, enjoyment
or honour, can we fail to look back to the rock
whence we were hewn, and the hple of the pit

287

whence we were digged. None were more nnwor-
thy of the office than we, none more richly deserv-
ed perdition, or if we reach heaven will celebrate
our escape from death in sweeter Alleluias. How
free, how sovereign, and how rich the grace that
could raise such beings to a station so distinguished !

2. The subject ivill help us to judge, ivho are
the true ministers of the Lord Jesus Christ. They
have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, do
not walk in craftiness, nor handle the word of God
deceitfully. In the aspect of their whole moral de-
portment there is seen the open ingenuousness of
truth. When they have known the mind of God
they dare divulge it ; they dare, even if the mes-
sage be unpleasant. If faithfulness should endan-
ger their interest, offend their benefactors, cut off
supplies from their table, and make their children
barefoot and houseless, still in their message will be
seen the truth, the whole truth, the truth simple,
and unadulterated, as it dropped from the lips of
Jesus. If they must be lodged in a dungeon, and
see kindled the fires that are to consume them, still
supported by his presence who said, " I will never
leave thee," it is presumed you would see associat-
ed with their rags, and their wretchedness and
martyrdom, a soul too honest to betray the truth.

But we see occasionally the opposite of all this.
The man presents himself in the attitude of Christ's
minister, but makes it his great object to accommo-

288

date his message to the taste of the poor dying crea-
ture whom it should be his object to awaken and
sanctify. He believes many a doctrine, and reads
many a precept that he dare not urge upon his
people, and sees approaching dangers against which
he dare not warn them. His first concern is to
secure to himself the honours and the emoluments
of his office, even should it require the compromise of
the divine authority, and the divine glory. It grieves
us to know that he is likely to perish himself, and his
deluded hearers with him. And moreover he gen-
erates a contagion, that spreads like the plague
through all the churches, and brings the reproach of
the whole apostacy upon the men who have a less
pliant conscience, and courage enough to do their
duty ; producing a fastidiousness of taste, that pre-
pares men to resist the pressure of truth, till they
have reached perdition. And it should greatly
grieve us to apprehend, that our children, when we
are dead, may be thrown under such a ministry,
may imbibe the contagion, may deny the Lord that
bought them, may hate the doctrines that should
sanctify them, and under the influence of a smooth
and fair and popular religion, glide down gently and
smoothly to the place of torment.

3. In a work so dignified, so responsible, and so
perilous, we ought to expect the confidence, the affec-
tion, and the aid, of those for whose salvation this
ministry is established.

289

It should secure us their confidence to know,
that our mmistry admits of nothing concealed and
mysterious, but is open, undisguised and ingenuous.
We spread before the people our whole commission,
make our design known, and open to them our
whole hearts. We are willing to earn the confi-
dence we ask, and would say to the world, if on
any point we betray your interest, believe any doc-
trine or credit any precept that we do not urge, or
hide the danger that approaches you, then be dis-
trustful and jealous, believe that we have run be-
fore we were sent, and that under the guise of the
lamb, there rages the appetite of the wolf. If oth-
erwise, we deserve your assurance. The office
that God instituted, that Christ personally honoured,
should hold a place very sacred, and very high, in
your esteem.

I know there are sections of Christendom
where the vilest of men, who do not deserve esteem,
serve at the altar. But by their fruits ye shall
know them. If they deal in the hidden things of
dishonesty, or walk in craftiness, or handle the
word of God deceitfully, you are not obligated to es-
teem them the ministers of Christ. And still it
sometimes happens that a false and deceitful minis-
try is more popular than the one that Christ ap-
proves. It aims to commend itself not to the con-
science but to the unsanctified heart. It prophecies
smooth things, heals the wounds of the awakened
conscience slightly, and assures the wicked that it
37

290

shall be well with them. It covers the pit over,
and makes great efforts to lay the cry of alarm.
The men whom you may trust, expose your danger,
and depict your depravity, lead you to search your
hearts, and try your hopes ; and they deserve and
need your confidence. They have trials enough,
when their people rally about them, and confide in
their integrity.

Let me say to all the lost, it is equally your du-
ty and your interest to love the ministers of Jesus
Christ. They come to you on an errand the most
kind, and it may happen, and God may know it, that
when they disturb you the most, they feel the most
tenderly. When it has seemed to you that they
must hate you, they have gone home and wept over
you, and interceeded with God in agonized prayer
for your eternal life. So your child thought you
cruel, when you tore the thorn from his wounded
hand ; but was you not kind ?

One thing it is easy to know, he who so presses
home upon your conscience the doctrines and duties
of the gospel as to offend you, is not probably gov-
erned by selfish motives. His interest, when no ref-
erence is had to the last day, would lead him so to
soften his message as not to give offence. You
would then the more generously fill his board. Still
when you find him unbendingly faithful, he deserves
your esteem the more. Else you tempt him to be-
tray your interest. When you move him from his
integrity, he but goes down with you to the pit ;

291

or if God forgive him, and he is saved, he may
first have destroyed you and your children. Let
him then be faithful and still have your affection,
then his work will be pleasant, and your danger di-
minished.

And the ministers of Christ will also need your
help. The enterprise in which they are employed is
the redemption of men from eternal misery. And
they have all the weaknesses of other men, and need,
in a work so awfully grand, the prompt cooperation
of all who value the soul. The seed they sow must
be watered with prayer, their duties must be made
easy by your friendship, and their trials be softened
by your sympathies. When the burdens of the
ministry are thus lightened, they are still weighty
enough for the shoulders of an angel. Our con-
stant exclamation is, ^' Who is sufficient for these
things ?" Next to him who in the very work itself
has continued faithful unto death, the high reward
of heaven will be his, who has aided our efforts, and
has laboured with us in the gospel. If you could
have helped in building the world, it would have
been a service less honourable than that of helping
to redeem it. It was built of clay, but must be re-
deemed with blood ; it took its form in a iveek,
but its redemption has been progressing these six
thousand years.

You may contribute to save a soul from death,
and cover a multitude of sins ; may snatch a spirit
that can never die from perdition, and elevate it to

, 292

a seat high in bliss ; may substitute the glories of
heaven, for the darkness and horrors of the pit ; and
change the wailings of the damned into anthems of
Alleluia. By motives mighty like these, you are
urged to ease the burdens of the ministry, to render
the service pleasant and efficient, by your sympa-
thies, your counsels, and your prayers. It is sweet
to know that we have sometimes the entire confi-
dence as well as the prayers of those whom it is our
work to build up in the faith and purity of the gos-
pel. It cheers the solitude of many a midnight
hour, that we are preparing a repast for the disci-
ples of the Lord Jesus, who when they have fed up-
on the word, will pray for him who published it.
May every such prayer for us be answered, and then
returned into your own bosoms, and when the lips
are cold and the tongue silent that address you, and
the sanctuary where you worship has crumbled, and
other generations fill the places we occupy, may
we be together about the throne, to sing and say,
" Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who
only doeth wondrous things. And blessed he his
glorious name forever : and let the whole earth be
filled with his glory. Amen, and Amen."

Finally it is a crime of no small magnitude to
treat with neglect or contempt a ministry formed
after the pattern of the text. The embassy that
God commissions deserves regard. He that receiv-
eth you, receive th me." If ministers are faithful,
it is not at the option of their people, whether they

293

shall receive or reject their message, and treat
kindly or otherwise those who hold the high com-
mission of ambassadors of Jesus Christ. To their
own Master they are accountable, for every doc-
trine they advance, every duty they urge, and the
proper application of every promise they repeat ;
and you too are obligated to insert that doctrine if
true into your creed, to practice that duty, and ap-
ply legitimately that promise. If they deliver the
true gospel, and you reject it, it proves to }ou a
savour of death unto death. Even cold indifference
is criminal toward that ministry which has im-
mediate connexion with your salvation, and the
eternal life of your offspring. God will punish
those who treat rudely his ministers. We could
point you to the places where sterility and death
have reigned for half a century, when the hand
had been raised against one whom God sent to
them with the news of pardon. The law in Is-
rael, *' Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets
no harm," has been renewed in other terms under
the gospel. Blessed God, let no child of mine ever
hurt or offend thy ministers. Amen.

^mmm®ir a®

THE RICH BELIEVER BOUNTIFUL.

1 TIMOTHY VI. 17—19.

" Charge tliem that are rich in this world that they he not high-
minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, hut in the living God,
icho giveth us richly all things to enjoy ; that they do good,
that they he rich in good works, ready to distrihute, loilling to
communicate ; laying up in store for themselves a good founda-
tion against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eter-
nal life.''''

The bible admirably adapts its instructions to
every character and condition in human life, from
the greatest monarch to the meanest slave. And
this fact is an evidence that the scriptures are from
God. They teach with an authority that men un-
inspired would not have been likely to assume.
There is no crouching, no sycophancy, no flattery.
Duty is taught to every man in the same style, with
the same plainness, and the same assurance. What
was said of our Lord, that he taught as one having
authority, is true of the whole bible.

In the text Paul is directing Timothy what he
must say to the rich. They may not be highmind-
ed. God distinguishes one man from another. " In
thine hand it is to make great." They may not
trust in their riches, for they are uncertain, and may
take to themselves wings and fly away. They must
trust alone in God, the living God, who giveth them

295

richly all things to enjoy. God suffers them to en-
joy their wealth, but he also commands them to com-
municate enjoyment. They are to be rich in good
works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate.
They must not even wait to be urged to this duty,
but hold themselves in the attitude of handing out
to others what God has put into their possession.

Thus they lay up in store for themselves a good
foundation, a treasure upon which they may draw
at any future period of want. Hence to be liberal
renders them ultimately the more wealthy, and
what is more important enables them to lay hold on
eternal life. Thus their duty and their interest are
united, and are equally plain. To do good with their
wealth is an important means of bringing them to
heaven. It is that test of piety which God will de-
mand of the rich. Hence said our Lord, " How
hardly do they that have riches enter into the king-
dom of God.^' We cannot then be kind to this
large and respectable class of men, unless we urge
them to liberality, as an indispensable test of their
hope. They have some liberty of choice as to the
objects they will the most liberally patronize, but
may not choose whether they will or will not be
ready to communicate, for if they will not, they can
have no evidence that they shall lay hold on eternal
life.

In proceeding, I shall present an object, whicii
seems to me to stand among the first, and urge its
claims upon a single class of the wealthy. Let me
say, that It is the duty of professors of religion, who

296

have wealthy to consecrate their property to the spread
of the gospel.

Ye disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, your Sav-
iour has set up a church in this world, has promised
that the gates of hell shall not prevail against
her, and that she shall one day embrace all nations ;
and calls upon you to consecrate your property to
the diffusion of that gospel, by which he brings men
into -covenant with him and makes them happy.
Will you hear me, while I offer five arguments, to
induce you to obey him, in this reasonable requisi-
tion. I will enter upon the point without detaining
you a moment, and when I have done, you must act
as you think proper. I assert in the

I. Place, that " the earth is the Lord^s, and the
fullness thereof ^^ and hence that he has a right to
make this draft upon you* If I fail in establishing
this point, you may lay down the book, and not
read another line.

You acknowledge God as the Creator of all
things. Here I found his claim ; it is prior to all
others. He who built all worlds, and peopled
them, and gave that people all their good things,
may make a demand upon them, to any amount,
within their power, with the certainty that it cannot
be protested. His are all the beasts of the forest,
and the cattle upon a thousand hills. The same is
true of your silver, your merchandise, your children,
your servants, and all that you have. If not, then
name the good thing that you can be sure will be

297

yours tomorrow. Begin, if you please, at the bot-
tom of the catalogue of your comforts, and ascend,
through the whole series, to the wife of your bosom,
your health, and your life, and tell me, which of the
whole will be yours tomorrow. Dare you name
nothing ? Then whosesoever they are, they surely
are not yours. For he who has nothing that he
can hold a day, has nothing but what is borrowed.
And if the good things you possess are not yours,
they are the Lord's, or whose are they ?

And what was the Lord's at the first, because
he made it, he has carefully watched over and pre-
served. Not merely could we have had nothing, if
God had not made it, but we could have kept noth-
ing, if God had not preserved it. There is no kind
of independence about us; we should have been
beggars, if God had not cared for us. There was
an eye that watched more narrowly than we did or
could, or our wealth had long since taken to itself
wings and had flown stway. You will own, my
christian friends, that it was the blessed God that
watered your fields, and gave success to your com-
merce, and health to your children, that guarded
your house from fire, and your lives from danger ;
else you would have been pennyless, or have perish-
ed years since. How many, once as rich as you,
are now poor ; or as healthy as you, are now in the
grave ; had a home as you have, but it burned
down ; had children as it may be you have, but the
eold blast came over them, and they died. And
38

298

was it not the kindness of God, that saved to you
what you have ? May he not then lay a tax upon
your wealth, as large as he pleases ?

But I am not through the argument. God has
never alienated his right. He has suffered satan to be
styled the god of this world, the prince of the power
of the air ; but he owns nothing. The territories that
he promised the Lord Jesus, if he would fall down
and worship him, were not a foot of them his. And
though men are permitted to hold under God cer-
tain rights, and which they sometimes term unaliena-
ible, still God never has, and never will, renounce
his right to dispose at pleasure of all that we term
ou rs. In a moment if he pleases, day or night, he
puts us out of our possessions, and the places that
kne\v us, know us no more forever. Hence we can
serve God, only with what is his already, what he
has never alienated. " Of thine own we give thee.''
Now tliat which God has put into our hands, and
the right to which, he has never relinquished, we
may not, without the charge of embezzlement, ap-
propriate otherwise than as he shall command us.

But I have not done. God has often asserted
his claim to what ive term ours. Once lie claimed
the whole world, and by a sudden and fearful dis-
pensation, displaced every tenant that had ever oc-
cupied its soil : providing afterward for the single
family that loved him. And none will say that God
went without his own dominions, to lay a world
waste that './as the property of another. When he
turned the cities of the plain, he but asserted,

299.

though loudly and fearfully, his right, and pressed
home to the bosom and the conscience, of every foe
and friend he had, his claim to be served and hon-
oiu'ed, in every valley that he had made fertile, and
by every people whom his kindness had rendered
prosperous.

In the ruin of all the ancient monarchies, God is
seen in the attitude of asserting his claim to the
kingdoms of men, as sections of his own empire, to
which he will send other rulers, and other subjects,
whenever he shall please. The desolating pesti-
lences, by which he has depopulated towns and cit-
ies, and the thousand nameless sweeps of death,
written in our gloomy history, had all their commis-
sion from heaven, to take back the life, and health,
and comforts he had loaned to men. There was
one kingdom we read of, whose whole population,
went seventy years into bondage, because their land
had not been allowed to keep its sabbaths, and they
had not paid their tithes, and emancipated their ser-
vants at the appointed Jubilee.

The storms that have wrecked our merchandize,
and the fires that have devoured our cities, and all
the misnamed casualties, that have ruined our for-
tunes, have been so many claims put in, by the
rightful owner of all things, to what we had api)ro-
priated too exclusively to our own use. And the
occurences of every day are of the same character.

I know this is not the world of retribution, and
that " No man knoweth either good or evil, by any
thing that is done under the sun;" but let us not de-

300

ny, that God is known by the judgment that
he executeth. Will he not, by repeated demands,
keep men in mind, that they cultivate his territory,
and feed on his bounty, and are happy under his au-
spices ? In thus asserting his claim to be served
with the talents that he loans his creatures, he teach-
es us that one unchangeable law of his kingdom Is^
that he never alienates what was once his own.

I shall not offend the good man, when I claim,
that this has been a disastrous, because a disobedi-
ent world. Perhaps the aggregate of property, lost
by the various calamities, that God has sent upon
us, would have exactly met the claims he made
upon our charity. Had that wealth been expended
as he directed, it would have made the world wise
and happy. " Bring ye all the tithes into the store-
house, that there may be meat in mine house, and
prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if
I will not open you the windows of heaven, and
pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room
enough to receive it." "There is that withholdeth
more than is meat, and it tendeth to poverty."

It is impossible to say, how much more prosper-
ous this world might have been, if men had expend-
ed their wealth as God would have them ; how
much more frequently the showers had fallen, or
more genial had been our sun, or more gentle our
breezes, or mild our winters, or fertile our soil, or
healthful our population, if we had been a better
people, and had served the Lord with our substance.
His promise must have failed, or he would have fill-

301

ed our barns with plenty, and caused our presses to
burst out with new wine.

As the churches shall wake to their duty, and
give the world the gospel, I hope, and if infidelity
scoffs, still I will hope, that much of the curse will
be removed from this illfiited territory, and God
kindly stay his rough wind, in the day of his east
wind. How many of its plagues will be cured, its
wars prevented, its heaths made fertile, and its
earthquakes stilled ; and what the amount of bless-
ings bestowed upon this poor world, when it shall
become more loyal and more benevolent, none but
God can know.

I cannot believe, that when we shall do as he
bids us, he will so often rebuke us. When we cease
to waste his goods, he will allow us to continue lon-
ger in the stewardship ; when we shall be faithful in
the few things, he will make us rulers over many
things. If you will now consider me as having es-
tablished the divine claim, to you, and all that you
have, I will proceed to say

II. Christians ivho have the means, should con-
tribute to disseminate the gospel, because they are
heirs of God, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, They
belong to that kingdom which the gospel was intend-
ed to establish. This fact is quite enough, to give
the cause I plead a strong hold upon every pious
heart. Ye disciples of the Lord Jesus, read for once
the charter of your hopes, and while it warms your
heart, tell me if you have done half your duty. "All

sot

things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Ce-
phas, or the world, or life, or death, or things pre-
sent, or things to come ; all are jours, and ye are
Christ's, and Christ is God's." Thus it seems God
and his people have but one interest. Hence when he
commands them to spread his gospel, he but bids
them buy themselves blessings, bids them foster
their own interest, and make their own kingdom
happy. The christian has by his own act identified
his whole interest with that of the church of our
Lord Jesus Christ. If God is honoured, he is hap-
py, and God is honoured in the salvation of sinners,
and in the joy of his people. Hence God can com-
mand his people to do nothing, but that which will
bless themselves.

Now when did you know a king's son, who would
not joyfully expend his father's treasures, to en-
large, and strengthen, and beautify the kingdom to
which he was heir ? He thus polishes his own
crown, and blesses his own future reign. What be-
liever has not the same interest that God has, im
lengthening the cords, and strengthening the stakes
of Zion ? He is one of the little flock, to whom it
is his Father's good pleasure to give the kingdom.
He is to be a king and a priest to God and the Lamb
forever. And has he still an interest distinct from
his heavenly father ? And if not, he will hold all
he has at the control of God, and will need only
to know his duty and will act most cheerfully. A

HL Reason why christians, xvho have the means.

303

should coniribiite to disseminate the gospel is, that
they must be merciful, as their Father in heaven ismer-
cifuL Over that mass of misery which the aposta-
cy has produced their pious hearts have long bled in
sympathy. And then* charity is not of that kind
that it can content itself with saying, *' Be ye warm-
ed and be ye filled." They have read and have
strongly felt, that cutting interrogation of the apos-
tle, '' Whosoever hath this world's good, and seeth
his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels
of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of
God in him ?" And there is no man so poor, as he
who has not the bread of life. The good man
would render all men happy. His charity is warm
like that which beat in the heart of the Son of God,
and to do his duty is his meat and his drink. This
makes him like his Master, and to this he aspires.
He cannot hope to rejoice eternally in the achievc-
mients of redemption, unless moved by the same pit
for the miserable that he felt, he is prepared to march
up promptly and offer the Saviour any service he re-
quires.

I appeal then, ye disciples of Jesus Christ, to
the kindness/ of your heart, when I ask you to con-
tribute to render the world happy by your wealth,
Would you not cure some of the plagues that sin
has generated, and that have so long preyed up-
on the happiness of man ? Would you not quench
the funeral pile, and save the young, and beauti-
ful, but infatuated widow, that she may nurse
her imploring infant, and live to rear it up to life ?

304

Would you not free one half the human family, the
female sex, from that servitude to which paganism
has subjected them ? Would you not snatch ten
thousand infants from the altars of devils, where
they now^ lie, bound and weeping, waiting till you
speak a w ord of mercy for them ? Would you not
teach the vast herd of idolaters, that their is a kinder,
and more merciful God, than those they worship ?
Would you not break in upon the delusions of the
false prophet, and tell his misguided followers, that
you have read of a holier heaven than they hope for ?
Would you not file ofl' the chains, that have
been fastened, so many centuries, upon poor afflict-
ed Africa ? Would you not stay the progress of war,
and save from death the thousands, that are march-
ing, wan and w'eary, toward the field of death ? O,
would you not, were it possible, bring back this base
world to its home, and its Maker ? Have you then
a purse, into which God may not require you to
thrust your hand, and take thence what he has there
deposited, with a view to make this same world hap-

IV. Bear with me^ ye followers of the Lamb, and
Iivill say again that you have covenanted to be work-
ers together ivith God, in achieving the purposes of
redemption, and must now employ your energies, to
tviden the boundaries of his holy empire, or forfeit
your vow. It was in you a vohmtary compact, and
you pledged in that hour your prayers, your iniluence,
your farm, your merchandize, your purse, your chil-

305

dren, and all that you have. And heaven has record-
ed that vow, to be brought up against you, if it be
violated, in the day of retribution. It was wholly
at your option, whether you would enter into that
sweeping covenant, whether you would swear, but you
have entered, you have sworn and cannot go back.
You then relinquished forever your personal rights,
and have had ever since, but a community of interest
with God and his people. Now God is employed
in doing good, and his people too if they are like him.
How then will it correspond with your oath, to
stand aloof from the calls of the church ? and disre-
gard the command of God ? and let the waste places
lie desolate ? and let the heathen die in their pollu-
tions ? and let the captives perish in their chains ?
and let almost the whole of that territory, purchased
with the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, lie still un-
der the usurped dominion of the prince of hell ?
and let a whole condemned world, go on to the
judgment, with all this blood upon it, unsanctihed ?
Oh, how will your broken vows, rise and haunt you,
in that day when the wealth you have saved, shall
be weighed in the balance with the souls it might
have redeemed.

Once more, and I have done. As you hope you
have been sanctified, through the truth, you have
some experience of the value of that gospel, which
we urge you to promulgate. Once you were ignor-
ant of God, and were unhappy. You were in
39

"306

somewhat the same forlorn condition, with those
whose cause I plead ; you had forsaken God the
fountain of living waters, and had hewn out to
yourselves broken cisterns, that could hold no wa-
ter. And you remember that dark period. Your
mind travelled from object to object, through all
the round of created good, in search of enjoy-
ment, and " found no end in wandering mazes
lost."

And there is a world of intelligent immortal
beings, seen panting and weary in the same fruit-
less chase. It was the blessed gospel that arrest-
ed you, and saved you. Your heedless steps it
guided ; your dark mind it enlightened ; your er-
ring conscience it rectified ; your insensibility it
aroused ; your hard heart it softened ; your self-
ishness it subdued; your pride it humbled; your
wayward course it changed ; your covenant with
deathy and your agreement with hell it disannuled.
And here you stand, redeemed, regenerated ; your
whole character changed, and your final destiny al-
tered, through the infmence of the blessed gospel.
The curse is removed, you are a child of God, and
an heir of glory, and shall one day see the king in
his beauty : and the gospel has done it. It has giv-
you peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, a
firm hope of heaven, and the soul-reviving assurance,
that all things shall work together for your good,
till you rise to be where Christ is, behold his beau-
ty, and rejoice in his love forever.

Now the question is, whether you will contrib-

307

ute of your wealth, to save those Avho are perishing
as you so lately were. I now plead with you by
all that religion has been worth to you ; by all the
joys it has brougiit you, by all the woes it has cured,
by all the hopes it has raised, and by all the trans-
formation it has wrought in your character, and your
condition. For what price would you return into
the darkened, and dreary, and hopeless condition in
which the gospel found you ? For what would vou
barter away all the delightUil prospects that open be-
fore you? and calculate on no more precious sacra-
mental seasons? no more communion of saints? no
more delightful hours in your closet ? nor Pisgah-
views of the fields of promise ? nor fellowship with
the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ ? At no price
would you part with these ? Then know how great
are the blessings wiiich you have it in your power to
confer, on those who are perishing for lack of vision.

Do you say, they can purchase the privileges of
the gospel as you have ? No, they will not. They
know not their value, and will die in their sins, ere
they will give a shilling for the light of the gospel.
Not the whole of India, if it w^ould save them all
from hell, would support a single missionary.

Will God send them the gospel by miracle?
No, he once did thus send it to the lost, blessed l)c
his name ! but he now commands us to send it to
those who are perishing for lack of vision. We
know our duty, and God will require it of us.
Can w^e meet the heathen in the judgment, if
we have done nothing to redeem them ?

I will plead no loil|er, but let me tell you in
parting, that when you shall see the world on fire,
your wealth all melting down, and those who have
perished through your neglect, calling upon the
rocks and mountains, to fall on them, and hide
them from the face of him that sitteth upon the
throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, and shall
know that you might have saved them, there will
be strong sensations. If you are saved yourselves,
and this is doubtful if you are not anxious to save
others, you will wish a place to weep over your past
neglects, before you begin your everlasting song ;
and if lost yourselves, then indeed there will be
weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth forever*
May Jehovah bless you, and dispose you to do your
duty now, that you may hereafter lay hold on eter-
nal life. Amen.

If a^^

NOTHING SAFE BUT THE CHURCH.

DEUTERONOMY XXXII. 0.

"" The LorcVs portion is his people ; Jacob is the lot of his
inheritance.^^

When God exhibits himself, as the portion of
his people, we feel no surprise. He can be to them
all they need, can gratify all their wants, and all
their hopes. But what can his people be or do for
him ? How can they so rise in his estimation, that
he shall style them his portion, and his inheritance ?
The God who has built a thousand worlds, who
thunders in the heavens, and holds the stars in his
right hand ; can he value his people above them
all ! And yet this precious truth is prominent in the
text, and is demonstrated, by the whole course of
providential events, since the creation of the world.
If that is the dearest to God ivhich cost him inost,
as is often the fact in our history, then indeed there is
an obvious reason for the truth of the text. Worlds
took being at his word, and will perish at his bid-
ding, but he redeemed his people with the life of his
Son ; hence his high regard for them. And hence
a reason for all he intends to do for them in futurity.
He will guide them with his counsel, and afterward
receive them to glory.

Hence to God's people the text contains a very

310

precious truth. God has selected from the works of
his hands, as what shall stand the highest in his es-
timation, his redeemed people. Not that he has al-
ienated his ri^ht to any thing. Every world that he
has built is his, and his foes are his. But in his
church he will take peculiar pleasure. He will em-
ploy all his energies, to make his people happy, and
himself happy in them. This was his purpose when
he built creation, and when fully accomplished,
" The heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll,
and the earth and the works that are therein shall
be burned up."

But there is a truth implied in this text of sol-
emn and dreadful import. It makes worthless eve-
ry thing in this world, but the church of God. And
what is worthless is not safe. Hence I purpose to
illustrate this doctrine. There is nothing safe but the
church. My intention is to look at facts ancient and
modern^ together \\\x\\what God assures us shall tran-
spire in future ; all going to show, that while God
has always cared for his church, he never did place
intrinsic value upon any thing else.

I. I notice ancient facts, When the world was
built, it is believed to have exhibited to the eye of
its Maker unmingled beauty ; and would seem to us
to have had intrinsic value. But it was only holi-
ness that God valued. Sin entered,

" Earth felt the wound, and nature from her seat,
Sighing through all her works, gave signs of woe
That all was lost,"

311

There were then generated the thorn and the tliistle,
and the curse of God lighted upon every part of this
creation. A holy God could set no value upon a
world bereft of moral rectitude- It would not have
been surprising, had he destroyed it, and built an-
other, to be filled with beings \vlio would obey his
law, and be worthy of his kind regards. But his
wisdom devised a remedy, and he set up in that
apostate family a church, whose interest has ever
since then given to every thing else its price.
When the church increased, the world was valuable,
and when it diminished, the world became in the
estimation of God comparatively a pile of stubble.

Cast one look at the antedeluvian history. The
church had dwindled to a point, and became at
length embosomed in a single family. To save that
family no pains were spared ; but all else, men and
things, except what was needed to feed the iloating
church, and enable his people to cultivate and stock
the new world, perished. Wealth and magnificence
had now lost their value. If God had pleased, he
could have avenged himself of his adversaries, and
still have spared that vast amount of wealth, which
perished in their overthrow. But w hy do it ?
The treasures of the old w^orld had ceased to be val-
uable, when the church was gone. Their innumer-
able cities walled up to heaven, and filled with pre-
cious things, were all sw^ept away. Uow wonder-
ful, to see Jehovah restrain the deluge one hundred
and twenty years, after his purpose to destroy had
gone out, till the ark was prepared, his long-suff(T-

312

ing evinced, and the happy family housed from the
impending desolation ! This done, he collected into
that house of safety all that was valuable, his little
church and what they needed to sustain them dur-
ing the solitary year, their food and raiment, and
the materials for reanimating the new world. He
could then smile at the tempest, and stimulate the
storm. O how great is God out of his holy place !
How sadly unsafe are that people, and those treas-
ures that have no connexion with his kingdom !

There was offered another argument in support
of the same truth on the plains of Sodom. A branch
of the true church had been located in that dissolute
valley, and was at length in danger of being swal -
lowed up in a gulf of depravity. The population
was too wealthy to be wise, had too much of the
meat that perisheth, to regard that meat that endur-
eth to everlasting life. The Watchman of Israel, as
he surveyed the devoted plain, saw his whole church
in a single house, and what was his he saved, but
swept away the residue. The abandoned popula-
tion, their palaces, their gold, their merchandize,
their flocks and harvests, their gaudy apparel, and
all their guilty instruments of idolatry and lust, were
in God's account of no value, were no part of his
inheritance. The moment Lot was gone, the guard
that kept the plain was called in.

It will not be denied that God could have aveng-
ed upon that guilty community his broken law, arid
still have spared their riches, but these had no value
when his church had retired. If Lot or Abraham could

313

have been made more holy or more happy, God
would have spared them the treasures he consumed.
But he chose here to display his vindictive justi( o,
and create them other and better comforts. All
that in his estimation was valuable, he saved.

So in the land of Egypt, God collected his peo-
ple into Goshen, and there spread a canopy over
them, while he poured out his plagues upon their
oppressors. Out of that little territory, there was
nothing in all that idolatrous land, on which he seems
to have placed the smallest value. Its population,
having filled up the cup of their iniquity, and their
monuments of grandeur, and skill, and oppression,
were the merest vanity. The life or liberty of one
believing child of Abraham out-priced them all.
Hence over his precious fold he placed one hand,
while with the other he wrote Tekel upon the walls
of Egypt, and spread desolation and death through
its fields and its streets. The plagues 1 know raged
under the divine control : but they might destroy
any where except in Goshen.

So at the Red-sea the surest law^s of nature w ere
suspended, for the deliverance of Israel ; while the
pursuing enemy seems to have been as worthless, in
the esteem of Israel's God, as their beasts and their
chariots. When the church had reached the Arabi-
an shore, and the rear-rank was out of danger, God
suffered the raging waters to find their level. He
had saved his people, and there was nothing else to
save. The Egyptian army were God's enemies,
40

ai4

and their overthrow an act of retributive justice, and
while the tender heart bleeds over the grave oi" that
illfated multitude ; we are not forbidden in the
midst of our tears, to reason on the palpable insecu-
rity thus shown us of all but the church of God. He
would open a path through the deep for his people, but
would not employ his power to hold back the sea a
moment longer than the safety of his church required.

So the Amorites and Moabites melted away in
their contests with Israel. And the Canaanites,
when the family of Abraham needed their lands,
were the merest stubble, and the breath of the Lord
consumed them. They cried to their gods, but they
perished in the midst of their devotions : their idols
could not save them. There even went out in be-
half of Israel this edict, " The kingdom and nation
that will not serve thee shall perish." Thus the
world was taxed for the benefit of the church. Na-
tions held their existence on the sole condition, that
they should be found useful to Israel, and perished
when God ceased to have need of them, " I gave
Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee."

Now as we travel down the tract of ages, we
shall find constant illustrations of the fact, that God
values nothing else but his church. This one inter-
est, as far as God has been seen to operate in this
world, appears to have engrossed his whole care.
The church is that monument which has stood and
told his glory to every new-born generation. Other
kingdoms, rapid in their rise, and dominant in their
power, have gone rapidly into oblivion, and heaven

315

has kept no very careful record of their obsequies.
The Assyrian, the Medo-persian, tlie Grecian, and
Roman empires, with all their multitudes, their
wealth, their science, and their military prowess,
have perished in the wreck of time ; while through
all these periods not a promise of God to his people
has failed, nor a pious hope been unaccomplished.
The little stone, cut out of the mountain without
hands, has become a great mountain, while the rock,
from which it was hewn, is seen to crumble and per-
ish. Empires dazzling in the eye of man, but ini-
mical to the ehurch of Christ, were worthless in the
esteem of God. Their proud statues, their triumph-
al arches ; their mausoleums, their heroes and their
gods, he swept away with the besom of destruction.
Baal, Dagon, Moloch, and Jupiter have perished,
with their hosts of worshippers, while not a saint has
wept unnoticed, nor a prayer remained unanswered.
Not for one moment has God forgotten his cov-
enant, while he has thus swept away from time, and
from life, whatever that cov^enant did not include.
In that darkest hour of Israel's history, the seven
thousand who had not bowed the knee to Baal, God
loved and comforted with his presence ; felt all their
oppressions, reproved kings for their sake, put their
tears into his bottle, and minuted all their wrongs,
that he might apportion to each, in the coming life,
his appropriate weight of glory. And the archieves
of heaven can never be lost. The history of every
suffering believer is written as with the point of a

316

diamond on a rock, and will remain legible in the
day of retribution. —

But I must return from this digression. I am
giving you the sad history of what was not the
church. There came a period w^hen Jerusalem
changed its relationship to God. The church's
light went out, and the religion of the sanctuary
was reduced to unmeaning and polluted ceremonies.
The house of prayer for all nations, became a den
of thieves. From that moment the interest which
God had taken in the holy city- and sanctuary was
alienated. No longer would God be known in the
palaces of Zion for a refuge. The people of Jeru-
salem had become as worthless as those of Moab or
Edom. Then the moment was, that God could
without regret see their city demolished, and the
last stone of their proud temple thrown down. He
loved his people, and loved Jerusalem, and the tem-
ple, while they were holy ; but when the priesthood
became corrupted, and the temple profaned, and the
divine glory forsook the mercy seat, he then aban-
doned the consecrated spot, as being no longer a
section of his inheritance, and suffered the hedges
of his vineyard to be broken down. And he now
cares no more for the holy land, than for other lands.
If the time shall come again that his covenant peo-
ple shall be there, walking in his statutes, he will
buJld again the walls he has thrown down, and ren-
der Jerusalem a theatre of his glory. Up to that
hour, Syria, and Egypt, shall be as sacred as Canaan ;
and the stones and dust of his temple be as uninter-

317

esting and unholy, as the ruins of demolished Baby-
lon ; a place of dragons and of owls.

II. I come now to look at modern facts^ expect-
ing to find here the same testimony, as in past
events, to the truth of the doctrine, that nothing but
the church is safe. In the convulsions of our times,
we have seen every thing placed at hazard, but the
church of our Lord Jesus Christ. Every revolution
demonstrates that God has no other interest in our
world. In the past half century how low a prize
has he set upon crowns and kingdoms. And tlie
lives of armies, composed generally of ungodly men,
how unworthy have they seemed of his case. The
fowls of heaven fatten upon their bodies, and the
soil is enriched with their blood. The thousands
that fell at Waterloo, if impenitent, were in the es-
timate of heaven as worthless as the clods that cov-
ered them. But if there died in that murdered mul-
titude a pious soldier, angels will watch his ashes
till he rise, and God be more interested in the
turf that covers him, than in the splendid monument
that stands upon the tomb of the hero. An empire
of his enemies is in God's esteem of more trifling
amount than one obscure believer. The hosts that
have died in the fields of modern battle, perished be-
cause the church had no farther use for them. Else
that promise would not be true, '' All things are
yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or iht
worW^ And well may we ask with the poet,

318

** What are the earth's wide kingdoms else, ii

But mighty hills of prey ?"

In all this a believer will find no mystery. The
bible and the Spirit of God have taught him, that
nothing has intrinsic worth but holiness, and that
God can place no value upon what is worthless.
Hence he lets loose his winds, which go forth teem-
ing with desolation. Navies are wrecked upon the
reaf, and cities torn from their base. Earthquakes
spread the cry of death, and open a thousand graves
at a shock. Kingdoms are shaken, and whole is-
lands, with their wealth, and pride, and enterprize,
sink into the opening gulf. The wealth of ages
perishes in the twinkling of an eye, and with it tal-
ents, eloquence, wisdom, science, the curiosities of
antiquity, and the close kept records of a hundred
generations. All this time the promise holds to
God's people, " No evil shall come nigh thee.''
Things are rich and splended in the view of men,
w^hich weigh nothing in the account of God. If
one saint must share in the general calamity, him
the Lord watches with his eye, supports him in
death, and lightens the glooms of his sepulchre. But
men who have filled up their cup, and the wealth
that bought their perdition, all these God values at
nothing.

The fact is, and no fact is more interesting, the
world was built for the use of the church. Holiness
only, and that which promotes holiness, are valuable.
The walls and hedges of a vineyard, are useful
w hile there are vines to protect, and may be burned

319

©r demolished when the vines are withered. Kiii«-
doms have been built and perished, and armies hvv.n
congregated and slaughtered, to serve the interests of
the church. Hence said the apostle, " fie that spa-
red not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all,
how shall he not with him also freely give us all
things ?"

Hence to Zion's interest bends every other, is
decreed every revolution, contributes every storm,
rolls every ocean, and flows every tide. Earth is
barren or fruitful as her interests require. As on
the whole kingdom of Israel it might not rain for
two and forty months, when God's people needed
the protection of a judgment so long protracted, so
may we presume that at the call of Zion's interests,
God now withholds, or imparts blessings.

The amount of the whole is, that nothing has
value, that does not contribute to advance the one
interest which God has made paramount in this
world. Royal blood, when the king is not his ser-
vant, is base and degenerate. The blood of David
he watched with care, knew every artery in which
it flowed, for he had promised to his seed the throne
of Israel: but the blood of Saul became petrified in
its channels. The blood of saints and martyrs is
royal, the blood of prophets and apostles : for these
he hath promised, shall sit on thrones, and wear
crowns of glory that shall never fade. Thus are the
passing ages gleaned of every relic that belongs to
the saints, and when the gleanings are finished, the
stubbly is promptly consumed. The \^'orld is still

320

under tribute to Zion, as in the ages that have
gone bj, and we must leave it with God to say,
whether he will relax the rigour of his requisitions,
till all the nations have perished, and the redeemed
are all brought home to heaven. I am to look

III. At the events which God has assured us shall
transpire hereafter. If by the light of promise and of
prophecy we look into futurity, God is still seen in
the attitude of fostering his church, and overlooking
every other interest. The kingdoms of this world
are to become the kingdoms of our Lord. Holiness
to the Lord is to be written upon the bells of the
horses, as if to teach us that nothing shall exist, but
that which is consecrated to God. The highest of-
fices of state are to become subservient to the in-
terests of Zion. Kings are to be nursing fathers,
and queens nursing mothers to the church. It is
evident, on almost every page of the prophecies,
that Zion's interests are one day to absorb all oth-
er interests.

The world seems already to be shaping itself to
become one holy empire under the prince of peace.
I would be neither an infidel nor an enthusiast ; but
would fear all that God has threatened, and expect
all that he has promised. I read, " Blessed are the
meek for they shall inherit the earth ;" this promise I
calculate will be verified. I read again, " The
wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations
that forget God ;" this threatening I would fear. The
Avealth which men would not expend in blessing Zi-

321

on will perish in the using. Pearls worth each a
kingdom, God intends shall be melted down in the
last conflagration. When the church shall need
their aid no longer, sun, moon, and stars will lose
their fires and their light. The heavens and the
earth which are now, as we are assured by the word
of God, are kept in store, reserved unto fire against
the day of Judgment, and perdition of ungodly men.
Thus I see the grand system consummated.

But through all these scenes, and even this last,
God will be kind to his people. He will not usher
in that period, till the last believer is sanctified.
The orb of day will continue in full blaze, till the
last pilgrim is lighted home. When Christ has open-
ed the portals of everlasting life upon the rearmost
of the ransomed multitude, then the lights of heaven
will go out. Christ will wake his people, and bid
them escape to heaven, before the last fires are kin-
dled.— Thus to the last the church is safe, and noth-
ing else. This one interest God ever made his care,
and it will continue to be his care forever.

BEMARKS.

1. If it should be objected to this reasoning, that
there have been periods when the church, seemed
««Msafe, while its foes were safe ; it may be replied ;
That the church still lives, and therefore up to this
time has been safe, while every other interest has
been placed at hazard. All the ancient foes of Zi-
41

322

on, who for a time seemed to prosper, have gone t»
their own place. Scarcely a trace of those kingdoms,
which employed their power to destroy the church
of God, can now be found. And her individual foes,
unless converted into friends, have all perished, or
we see them now on their way to perdition. On
this point we have the direct testimony of God.

Moreover we have never seen Jehovah make
bare his arm for the destruction of his church, as of
her foes. He has often rebuked his people when they
sinned, but they repented, and he forgave them,
" In a little wrath he hid his face from them for a
moment ; but with everlasting kindness he had mer-
cy on them." Not so with their enemies. God has
swept them away as with the besom of destruction.
The storms of wrath came down upon them, and
they did not repent till God had utterly destroyed
them. It was not with them a temporary rebuke
and then mercy, but an utter consumption. Thus
the two cases infinitely differ.

2. If it be objected that the subject exhibits GoJ
as indifferent to the welfare of some part of the hu-
man family ; we reply, he will do none of his crea-
tures wrong. The objection arises from viewing
sin as a calamity, rather than a crime. If wicked
men deserve only wrath, God, in destroying them,
does right.

Moreover God offers all men his love, and a
sure sanctuary with his people. If they will not

323

have him to reign over them, then God will appear
gracious, while he provides for those wiio trust in
him, and just and holy while he leaves all others to
€at the fruit of their doings, and be filled with their
^wn devices.

3. Let me suggest that, " All are not Israel who
are 0/ Israel." While we have thus celebrated the
safety of the church, and have seen all else in dan-
ger, let it be remembered that it is the church invis-
ible. If a false profession would secure us, the way
to heaven would be the hroadway. But when any
section of the visible church became corrupt, it per-
ished. A false professor is of no more value in the
esteem of God, than an infidel. Judas and Julian had
a seat among the disciples, but their ruin was none
the less prompt and consummate. It is holiness that
God values. When the Lord Jesus shall come the
second time without sin unto salvation, if he find
any of his people without the fold, he will save them ;
and if he find his foes within, he will recognize
them, and send them away into utter darkness, where
is weeping and gnashing of teeth*

4. The subject we contemplate shows us, that
God is interested in every large or small communi-
ty, more or less, as it contains a greater or less
amount of holiness. Show me a kingdom >^ here
there are none of his elect, and with the word of
God in my hand I can predict its destiny. It

324

will prolong its existence only while in some way
it serves the church, and will then become extinct.
But let a nation embosom a large body of believers,
or let its energies be expended to serve the church,
and it has the surest possible defence.

Hence all that confidence, which in times of po-
litical distress, we place in men and measures is a
delusive trust. It is the presence of moral rectitude,
and the prayer of faith, that render God a nation's
Guardian. Yes, lovers of your country, fill our
land with temples, and bibles, and truth ; let it stand
preeminent in the work of spreading the gospel;
let our officers be peace and our exactors righteous-
ness; and we are more ably defended, than we could
be, by all the armies that were ever congregated, and
all the navies that ever rode upon the sea. Nations
may boast of their strength, and array their forces,
but if they do not please God, and he despise their
host, they fall an easy prey.

So in a city or a town where there is no holiness
God has no interest. He will not care for our im-
provements in trade or husbandry, or take pleasure
in our accumulated fortunes. By how much we
subserve the interests of his kingdom, so will be
the kindness he will feel for us, and the care he will
take of us. Unless held in requisition for God, all
we have is dross ; " Our gold and silver is corrupt-
ed, and our garments are moth-eaten."

So in churches and congregations God has an in-
terest, and exerts an agency in their behalf, exact-

325

\y in proportion to the amount of holiness found
there. Let a church be very corrupt, and Cod will
care bui little for it ; let all its members, be holy,
and it stands high in the estimation of heaven. Not
in exact accordance to their numbers, are the church-
es arranged on the records of heaven. In many a
case shall the last be first, and the first last. And
it is not presumption to say, that God will apportion
the visits of his mercy, to the aggregate of holiness
that shall operate to invite down his gracious and
life-giving influences. How forlorn then is the hope
that God will grant seasons of refreshing, where
there are none to pray ; and will give a new heart
and a right spirit, where there is no house of Israel
to inquire of him.

Still when men are the the most deserted as to
spiritual blessings, God may allow them temporal
prosperity. It is all the heaven he will give them.
Men may prosper most when they are nearest de-
struction. The old world and the devoted cities
were never more prosperous than when their last
sun was rising. Men may be ripe for the sythe of
death, their cup of iniquity full, while yet their
fields wave with the abundant harvests, the atmos-
phere is fragrant with the odours of the ripened
fruits and flowers, and echoes with the song of the
cheerful labourer. Men often perish the sooner be-
cause they prosper. Riches increase and they set
their hearts upon them. Any people who become;

326

rich, faster than they become holy, have this very
destiny to fear.

Inquire then, brethren in Christ, what is the ex-
tent of God's inheritance among you ? This is a
question which I feel willing to press upon your
consciences with the weight of a world. Answer it
and you have determined the extent of God's re-
gard for you, and his care of you. The number of real
believers, and the progress they make in holiness,
are the facts that are to measure your consequence
under the government of God. I know this thought
exhibits wealth, and birth, and talents, as compara-
tively of little worth, and is humiliating as it is true,
God is not attached to places and names as we are,
but to holiness. The territory where the seven
churches were, and even where the Shechinah blaz-
ed, God has forsaken : and he will treat you as he
has others. He will never forsake you while you
serve him, nor your children if they are holy, nor
your seed, to a thousand generations, unless they
forsake God. They that despise him shall be light-
ly esteemed; but let us draw near to him, and he
will draw near to us.

This subject is calculated to comfort yious fam-
ilies. If we aim to render our children holy, God
will build us up a sure house forever. The poor,
family, who walk in the fear of God, he will con-
sider more worthy of his patronage than a whole
community of the profane and the proud. He wilj
not command that house to become extinct where he

327

is feared and worshiped. The angels will pitch
their tent there, and

*' What ills their heavenly care prevents,
No earthly tongue can tell."

If God be for us who can be against us ? if ho re-
solve to prosper and bless us, we and ours shall
be safe, amid every storm that blows. No plague
shall come nigh thee.

The individual believer may take all the com-
fort possible from this subject. No matter what his
station. God regards the pious slave more than
the impious master. The poor widow that can
pray, and is happy in her closet, can do more to
save her land, than the prayerless monarch. She
can sit down calmly, and look at the gathering tem-
pest, and ask her Father to manage and control its
violence. We shall ever find that thought, so beau-
tifully expressed by the poet, true ;

" The soul that's filled with virtue's light,

Shines brightest in affliction's night :

And sees in darkness beams of hope.

Ill tidings never can surprise

His heart, which fixed on God relies.

Though waves and tempests roar around ;

Safe on a rock he sits, and sees

The shipwreck of his enemies,

And all their hope and glory drowned."

But finally the ungodly are not so ; but are like
the chaff which the wind driveth away. Shocking
indeed beyond all description is the condition of

328

that man whom God does not love, and for whose
happiness he will make no provision. He may, if
God's plan permit, enjoy long the bounties of a gra-
cious providence, but if God suffer him to live, and
make him an instrument of his glory, it will all be
no evidence that he loves him. And a day must
soon come, when he will know his own character,
and feel all the guilt, and shame, and misery of his
condition. To be safe or happy, we must become
a part of God's inheritance, and have a character
that shall interest us in his love. The sinner then
who will change his character, may wipe away his
tears ; but if he will continue impenitent and unbe-
lieving, he is exhorted to be afflicted, and mourn,
and weep.

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Full text of "Volume of sermons designed to be used in religious meetings, when there is not present a gospel minister"

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