by every device in their power ; purchasing goods that have not paid the customs, avoiding stamps where they are positively enjoined, and withholding, where they think they can do it without detection, the taxes which by law they are bound to pay. Such is the morality of many, who yet would be very indignant to be called thieves and liars. But God has given them no such licence to dispense with his laws ; nor do they applaud such conduct when they themselves are the victims of deceit and fraud. Let them know therefore, that however partial they may be in estimating their own character and con- duct, God " will judge righteous judgment :" and that, if sins of ignorance and infirmity were not pardoned without an atone- ment, much less shall such flagrant sins as theirs. It is true, they may plead custom ; but before they venture to rest upon that plea, let them be well assured that God will accept it.]
2. There may be much guilt attaching, where there
is but little suspicion of it —
[It is supposed in the sin-offering, that priests, and rulers, and common individuals, and whole congregations, may have committed sins, without being aware that they have done so. And may not the same thing occur amongst us ? Let ministers, the priests of God, look back ; let them consider the nature of their office, the responsibility attaching to it, the multitudes who have been, and yet are, committed to their care ; the conse- quences of a faithful or unfaithful discharge of their duty ; let them then compare their lives and ministrations with the lives and ministry of Christ and his Apostles, or with the express in- junctions of Holy Writ ; will they find no sins which they have overlooked ? Will they see no occasion for the atonement of Christ ? Truly, if it were not for the hope of mercy which we have through his atoning blood, we should be of all men most miserable ; so great is the guilt which the most diligent amongst us has contracted by his defective ministrations. Let rulers proceed to make similar inquiries respecting their diligence, their impartiality, their zeal : let them see whether they might not have promoted in many instances a more active co-operation for the suppression of evil, and for the propagation of true religion : will they see no cause for shame and sorrow, when they see how little they have done for God, and in what a degree they have borne the sword in vain ? Let any private individual institute a similar inquiry into all the motives by which he has been actuated, the dispositions he has manifested, the tempers he has exercised, and the use he has made of his time, his property, his influence : will he find nothing to con- demn ? Lastly, let whole congregations or communities be made to examine the maxims embraced, the habits countenanced, and the conduct pursued among them : will there be no room for