b Heb. iv. 13. c Ezek. xi. 5. d Prov. xvi. 2. e Gen. viii. 21.
f2
your "thoughts," " the imaginations of your thoughts," what report must you give of them ? Have they been all correct ? or, could you bear that man should see them as God has seen them ? The proud, the envious, the uncharitable, the angry, the vindictive, the impure thoughts, say, (whether carried into effect or not) have they not sprung up within your hearts as their proper soil, and so occupied the ground, that no holy fruits would grow unto perfection ? If occasionally a transient thought of good has arisen, how coldly has it been entertained, how feebly has it operated, how soon has it been lost ! And, at all events, if compared with what the Law requires, and what God and his Christ deserve at your hands, tell me whe- ther it do not fall so short of your duty, that you cannot ven- ture to call it good, but only evil of a less malignant kind ?
Know ye then, all of you, that this is your real state before God : and now learn,]
II. What effect it should produce upon you —
Certainly this view of our state, and especially as attested by the heart-searching God, should produce in us,
1. Humiliation —
[Even on a review of our words and actions, I am con- vinced there is not any one of us who has not reason to be ashamed, especially if those words and actions be tried by the standard of God's holy Law. But who amongst us could bear to have all his thoughts inspected and disclosed ? Who would not blush, and be confounded before God and man, if his heart were exposed to public view, so that every imagination of every thought of it should be disclosed ? Yet God beholds it all ; and has as perfect a recollection of all that has passed through our minds from our earliest infancy to this present moment, as if it had passed not an hour ago. What then becomes us, but the deepest humiliation ? In truth, our reli- gious thoughts, when compared with what they ought to have been in number and intensity, are no less a ground of humi- liation, than those which have sprung from a more impure source ; since they prove, indisputably, how defective are our conceptions of God's excellency, and how faint our sense of the Redeemer's love. I call on you then, every one of you, my brethren, to " lothe yourselves for your abominations," and to " abhor yourselves," as Isaiah did, and as holy Job did, " in dust and ashes f."J
2. Gratitude —
[We have often told you, that God has sent to us a Saviour, even his only dear Son; and that through Him all
f Isai. vi. 5. and Job xlii. 6.
13.] EXTENT OF Man's WICKEDNESS. G.)
our iniquities, how great soever they may have been, shall be forgiven. But methinks, this is only " a cunningly-devised fable:" for, how can it be supposed, that God should ever have shewn such mercy, and manifested such love, towards such vile creatures as we? But, brethren, however incredible it may appear, it is true, even the very truth of God. Not- withstanding all you have done amiss, " God is not willing that any of you should perish, but that all should come to repentance and live." Yes, brethren, he has laid all your iniquities on his only-begotten Son; who, agreeably to the Father's will, has expiated them by his own blood, and wall take them away from your souls for ever. Tell me, then, whether gratitude do not well become you? Tell me, whe- ther there should be any bounds to your gratitude? What, think you, would the fallen angels feel, if such mercy were shewn to them? And what are millions of the redeemed now feeling before the throne? Oh, let your souls be penetrated with a measure of their love, and your songs of praise abound day and night, even as theirs.]