wholly devoted to God? Or when do they shed a single tear at the recollection that they have not cherished their neighbour as themselves? Are they ever heard to lament the want of that faith in Christ, “which worketh by love?" Are they ever engaged in seeking after that communion of saints, by which believers become of one heart and one soul? Alas! so far are they from this, that they continue equally tranquil under the maledictions of the gospel, as under those of the law. They hear without terror those dreadful words of the apostle, "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maran-atha :" and though they neither love nor know him, yet they vainly look upon themselves as godly mourners and unfeigned penitents.

3. This repentance is unfruitful, inasmuch as those who repent after this manner are utter strangers 'to compunction of heart. None of these are constrained to cry out, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" They come not to the Redeemer among such as are weary and heavy laden. They have no experience of that godly sorrow by which the true penitent dies to sin and so far are they from being born again of the Spirit, that they neither expect, nor desire any such regeneration. In short, this repentance is rarely as sincere as that of Judas, who confessed his sin, justified the innocent, subdued his ruling passion, and returned the money he had so dearly gained.

Evangelical repentance is an incomprehensible work to the generality of ministers. Wherever it appears, they are prepared to censure it; and are earnest in exhorting men to fly from it, rather than request it as a gift from God. Thus, when they behold any one truly mourning under a sense of sin, smiting upon his breast, with the publican; stripping off, with St. Paul, the covering of his own righteousness, and inquiring, with the convicted jailor, "What must I do to be saved?" they suppose these to be certain signs of a deep melancholy; they imagine the conversation of some enthusiast has driven the man to despair, and will not scruple to affirm, that he has lost the proper use of his reason. So true it is, that "the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God," nor is even able to form any just ideas of that repentance which is the first duty imposed upon us by the gospel, and the

first step toward that holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.

The moralists of the present time acknowledge that all men are sinners; but they neglect to draw the just consequences from so bad a truth. To be found a sinner before an infinitely holy and just God, is to forfeit, at once, both our felicity and existence. To appear as an offender in the eyes of our all-seeing Judge, is to lie in the condition of a broken vessel, which the potter throws aside as refuse; it is to stand in the circumstances of a criminal convicted of violating the most sacred laws of his prince. The two most important laws of God are those which require piety toward himself, and charity toward our neighbour. Now if we have violated both the one and the other of these laws; and that, times without number; it becomes us not only to confess our transgression, but to consider our danger. When a traitor is convicted of treason, or an assassin of murder, he immediately expects to hear his sentence pronounced: and thus when a sinner confesses himself to be such, he makes a tacit acknowledgment, that sentence of death might justly be pronounced upon him.

Some persons are naturally so short sighted that they can only discover the most striking objects about them. Many in the moral world are in similar circumstances, to whom nothing appears as sin, except impieties of the grossest kind. If we judge of God's commands according to the prejudices of these men, idolatry is nothing less than the act of prostrating ourselves before an idol; and murder is merely the act by which a man destroys the life of his fellow creature. But if these deluded persons could contemplate sin in a scriptural light; if they could avail themselves of the law of God, as of an observatory erected for sacred meditation, their moral view would be sufficiently strengthened to discover the following truths:

1. If we have not at all times placed a greater confidence in the Creator, than in any of his creatures; if we have either feared or loved any one more than our celestial Parent, we have then really set up another God in opposition to the Lord of heaven and earth.

2. If neglecting to worship him in spirit and truth, we have suffered ourselves to be seduced by any splendid

degree

vanity of the age, we have sinned in the same though we had fallen down before a molten image.

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3. If, in our conversation, our reading, or our prayers, we have ever irreverently pronounced the name of God, we have then taken that sacred name in vain: and God himself declares, that he will not hold such a one guiltless.

4. If we have refused to labour diligently through the week, in the work of our particular calling; or if we have ever made the sabbath a day of spiritual indolence and frivolous amusement; then we have neglected and broken that law which we are peculiarly commanded to remember and keep.

5. If we have, at any time, been wanting in obedience, respect, or love, to our parents, our pastors, our magistrates, or to any of our superiors; or if we have neglected any of those duties, which our relations in society, or our particular vocation has imposed upon us, we have merited that God should cut us off from the land of the living.

6. If we have weakened our constitution by excess of any kind; if we have struck our neighbour in a moment of passion; if we have ever spoken an injurious word; if we have ever cast a look directed by malice; if we have ever formed in our hearts a single evil wish against any person whatever; or if we have ever ceased to love our brother; we have then, in the sight of God, committed a species of murder.

7. If we have ever looked upon a woman with any other feelings than those of chastity; or if we have at any time cast a wishful glance upon the honours and pleasures of the world, we have sufficiently proved the impurity of our nature, and must be considered as living in enmity with God.

8. If we have received the profit annexed to any post or employment, without carefully discharging the duties incumbent upon us in such situation; or if we have taken advantage either of the ignorance, or the necessity, of others in order to enrich ourselves at their expense, we may justly rank ourselves with those who openly violate the eighth command.

9. If we have ever offended against truth in our ordinary conversation; if we have neglected to fulfil our promises,

or have ever broken our vows, whether made to God or man, we have reason, in this respect, to plead guilty before the tribunal of immutable truth.

10. If we have ever been dissatisfied with our lot in life; if we have ever indulged restless desires, or have given way to envious and irregular wishes; we have then assuredly admitted into our hearts that covetousness; which is the root of every evil.

When St. Paul considered the law in this point of view, he cried out," It is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin." And when Isaiah, passing from the letter to the spirit, discovered the vast extent of the decalogue, he exclaimed, "Wo is me! for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips." If our self-applauding moralists would be persuaded to weigh their piety in the same balance, they would find it as defective, at least, as that of Isaiah and St. Paul.

Here, perhaps, some objecting Pharisee may say, If I have sinned in some degree, yet I have not committed such crimes as many others have done; and I trust that God will not be severe in attending to trifling sins. But, 1. These pretended trifling sins are ordinarily of so great a number, that the multitude of them becomes equivalent to the enormity of those crimes which are rarely committed; so mountains and seas are but collections of grains of sand and drops of water.

2. Every voluntary trangression argues a real contempt of the legislator's authority; and in such contempt there is found the seed of every sin that can possibly be committed, in opposition to his express command. All the commands of God, whether they be great or small, have no other sanction than that which consists in his divine authority, and this authority is trampled under foot, by every petty delinquent, as well as by every daring transgressor.

3. Those which we usually esteem trivial sins, are the more dangerous on account of their being less attended to. They are committed without fear, without remorse, and generally without intermission. As there are more ships of war destroyed by worms, than by the shot of the enemy; so the multitude of those who destroy themselves through ordinary sins, exceeds the number of those who perish by enormous offences.

4. We have a thousand proofs that small sins will lead a man by insensible degrees to the commission of greater. Nothing is more common among us than the custom of swearing and giving way to wrath without reason; and these are usually regarded as offences of an inconsiderable nature. But there is every reason to believe, that they who have contracted these vicious habits, would be equally disposed to perjury and murder, were they assailed by any forcible temptation, and unrestrained with the dread of forfeiting their honour or their life. If we judge of a commodity by observing a small sample; so by little sins, as well as by trivial acts of virtue, we may form a judgment of the heart. Hence the widow's two mites appeared a considerable oblation in the eyes of Christ, who judged by them how rich an offering the same woman would have made, had she been possessed of the means. For the same reason, those frequent exclamations, in which the name of God is taken in vain, those poignant railleries, and those frivolous lies, which are produced in common conversation, discover the true disposition of those persons who, without insult or temptation, can violate the sacred laws of piety and love. The same seeds produce fruit more or less perfect, according to the sterility or luxuriance of the soil in which they are sown. Thus the very same principle of malice which leads a child to torment an insect, acts more forcibly upon the heart of a slanderous woman, whose highest joy consists in mangling the reputation of a neighbour: nor is the cruel tyrant actuated by a different principle who finds a barbarous pleasure in persecuting the righteous, and shedding the blood of the innocent.

If prejudice will not allow these observations to be just, reason declares the contrary. The very same action that in certain cases would be esteemed a failing, becomes, in some circumstances, an offence, and in others an enormous crime. For instance: if I despise an inferior, I commit a fault; if the offended party is my equal, my fault rises in magnitude; if he is my superior, it is greater still; if he is a respectable magistrate, a benevolent prince, if that prince is my sovereign lord, whose lenity I have experienced after repeated acts of rebellion; who has heaped upon me many kindnesses; who means to bestow upon me still greater favours: and if after all I have been led