affirms it with the strongest asseverations that it was possible for him to utter1. When king Uzziah was smitten with the leprosy in the temple, all the priests with one accord rose upon him, and thrust him out of the temple ; yea, and he himself also hasted to go outu. And thus it would be in heaven, if by any means an unrenewed sinner were admitted there : he would be thrust outx, as unworthy of a place among that blessed society; and he would haste to flee out, from a consciousness that no- thing but redoubled misery could await him there y ]
Address —
1. Let us entertain a godly jealousy over ourselves — [Men are very apt to " think themselves something, when
they are nothing." But we should diligently " prove our own work, that we may have rejoicing in ourselves alone, and not in another2." As in the leprosy, so in the dispositions of the heart, it is often difficult to distinguish with certainty : the lines of distinction between unbelief and fear, presumption and faith, worldliness and prudence, and between a variety of other principles existing in the mind, are more easily defined on paper, than discerned in the heart : truth and error often so nearly resemble each other, that none but our great High- Priest can enable us to discern them apart. Yet if an evil principle be admitted into the mind, it will produce a thousand evils in the life. Hence a peculiar stigma was put upon the leprosy, when detected in the head : then the person was de- clared " utterly unclean a." Be on your guard therefore, beloved Brethren ; and beg of God, that you may never be permitted to deceive your own souls. When doubts arose about the leprosy, the person was shut up for seven days ; and this was repeated, till the point could be ascertained. And if you would occasionally retire from the world, and spend a day in fasting and self-examination, you would detect many evils of which at present you have very little conception, and acquire a perfection of character not to be attained in any other way.]
2. Let us humble ourselves for our remaining im- perfections—
[However we may have been cleansed from our leprosy, there is, as was before observed, the leprous scurf still over us from head to footb. We still therefore have occasion to cry with the prophet, " Woe is me ! for I am a man of unclean lipsc." " Our very righteousnesses are, in fact, but filthy
* John iii. 3, 5. u 2 Chron. xxvi. 20. x Luke xiii. 28.
y Ps. i. 5. z Gal. vi. 3 — 5.
a ver. 44. This expression does not occur anywhere else.
b ver. 12, 13. e Isai. vi. 5.