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SERMON XVIII.

ON VAIN CONFIDENCE.

LUKE XXIV. 21.

But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel.

IN vain had Jesus Christ, during his mortal life, a thousand times declared to his disciples, that they deceived themselves when they calculated upon a reward which had not been merited by crosses and toils: this truth, so little agreeable to nature, had never found a willing audience; and often as the Saviour had tried to undeceive them on the opposite error, they heard not the word, says the Evangelist, and it was hidden from their eyes. Such is still the disposition of the two disciples to whom Jesus Christ condescends to appear, in their way to Emmaus; they expected that their Master would deliver Israel from the yoke of nations, and would cause them to be seated on twelve earthly thrones, without any exertion being necessary on their

part in order to mount them; without the Saviour himself having occasion to suffer, in order to triumph over his enemies.

Besides the mistake which led them to consider Je. sus Christ as a temporal deliverer, I have yet to remark another, which appears to me not less dangerous in them, but which is at present more common among us; it is that false trust by which they are persuaded, that, without co-operating towards it themselves, and in leaving to Jesus Christ the whole management of their deliverance, they shall receive the fulfilment of the magnificent promises, which, in his conversations with them upon the earth, he had so often reiterated. Now, my brethren, this false trust, which causes sinners to expect every thing from grace alone, without any co-operation on their part; and to hope for the reward of the holy, although they labour not towards meriting it; this false trust, which always reckons upon the goodness of God whom it offends; which, without combating, promises itself to be crowned, and which always hopes against probability; this false trust, which is unwilling to purchase heaven, and yet expects it, is the most universal and most established error among Christians; and when Jesus Christ shall once more appear upon the earth, he will find many of his unbelieving disciples, who shall have occasion to say to him, "we trusted."

This, my brethren, is what induces me to occupy your time at present upon so important a matter, persuaded that a false trust is the source of condemnation to almost all sinners; that those who are afraid of perishing, never perish; and that I could not better fulfil

my ministry, than by establishing in your hearts those salutary feelings of distrust which lead to precautions and to remedies, and which, in disturbing the peace of sin, leave, in its place, the peace of Jesus Christ, which surpasseth all feeling. Thus, in order to give the subject a proper consideration, I reduce it to two propositions: That there is no disposition more foolish than that of the sinner who presumes, without labouring towards his amendment, is the first: That there is none more injurious to God, is the second. The folly of vain confidence; the wickedness of vain confidence. Let us explain these two truths.

PART I. I am not afraid of openly agreeing with you, my brethren, that the mercies of the Lord are always more abundant than our wicked deeds, and that his goodness may furnish legitimate motives of trust to all sinners. The doctrine which I am about to establish is sufficiently terrible, without adding to it new terrors by concealing part of those truths which may tend to soften it; and if caution be required in this matter, it is rather in not bringing forward all that might alarm the conscience, than in concealing what might tend to console it.

It is true, that every part of the holy books gives us magnificent and soothing ideas of the goodness of God. At one time he is a mild and long-forbearing Master, who awaits the penitence of the sinner; who covers the sins of men, in order to lead them to repentance; who is silent and quiet; who is slow to punish, and delays in order that he may be prevented; who threatens in order to be disarmed: At another time he is a tender Friend, who is never weary of knocking at the gate of

the heart; who flatters, intreats, and solicits us; and who, in order to draw us to himself, employs every thing which ingenious love can invent, to recal a rebellious heart: Again, and lastly, for all would never be said, he is an indefatigable Shepherd, who goes, even through the wildest mountains, in search of his strayed sheep; and, having at last found it, places it upon his shoulders, and is so transported with joy, that even the celestial choir are ordered to celebrate its happy return. It must surely be confessed, that the comfort and the consolation of these images can receive no addition; and every sinner who, after this, despairs, or even gives way to despondency, is the most foolish of men. But do not from thence conclude, that the sinner who presumes is less foolish, or that the mercy of the Lord can be a legitimate foundation of trust to those who are continually desiring their conversion, and yet without labouring towards that great work, promise every thing to themselves from a goodness which their very confidence insults. To convince you of this, before I enter into the main points of my subject, remark, I beg of you, that, among that innumerable crowd of sinners, of every description, with which the world is filled, there is not one who hath not hopes of conversion; not one who, before-hand, considers himself as a child of wrath, and doomed to perish ; not one who doth not flatter himself, that, at last, the Lord will one day have pity upon him: the lewd, the ambitious, the worldly, the revengeful, the unjust, all hope, yet no one repents. Now, I mean, at present, to prove to you, that this propensity to false trust is, of all which mankind possess, the most foolish: follow, I

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beg of you, my reasons; they are worthy of your attention.

In effect, had I nothing wherewith to make the folly of false trust apparent, but the uncertainty of salvation, felt by a sinner, who has lost the sanctifying grace, no other argument would be required to justify my first proposition. And, when I treat of the uncertainty of his salvation, you can easily comprehend that I am not now speaking of that uncertainty common to all believers, which makes them doubtful whether they be worthy of love or of hatred; whether they shall persevere even to the end, or fall never more to recover themselves: a terrible subject of dread, even for the most righteous! I speak of a more shocking uncertainty, since it does not suppose of the sinner in question, a doubtful state of righteousness and Christian fears, upon backslidings to come, but because it is founded upon a certain state of sin, and upon a repentance which nobody can guarantee to him.

Now, I say that it is the height of folly to presume in this state. For confess it, my dear hearer, inveterate sinner as you are, adhering, as you tranquilly do, to iniquitous passions, in the midst even of all the solemnities of religion, and of all the terrors of the holy word, upon the foolish hope of one day, at last, quitting this deplorable state; you cannot deny that it is at least doubtful whether you shall recover yourself, or, even to the end, remain in your sin. I even grant that you may be full of good desires; but you are not ignorant that desires convert no one, and that the greatest sinners are often those who most long for their conversion. Now, were it equally doubtful, would you be