prevail over the reluctance of their hearts, it is not by the exercise of an overpowering/orce, but by " making them willing in the day of his power f." If he " work in them to do," it is by " working in them to will5." And I will appeal to every living man, whether he ever did good or evil by compulsion against his will ? That he has acted against his judgment and his conscience, is true enough, and that in ten thousand in- stances: but against his will he never did. God sets good before us ; and Satan evil : and, whichever we prefer, that we choose, and that we do.~\
Exercise, then, your choice with true wisdom —
[The generality, in spite of all that we can say, will choose evil. It is in vain that we endeavour to allure them by the offer of " life," or to alarm them with the threatening of " death: " they prefer evil with all its consequences ; and therefore they do it : as God has said ; " He that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul : all they that hate me love deathh." But do not ye act thus. " Choose good:" " choose life ; that both ye and your seed may live." Of the beneficial consequences to yourselves you cannot doubt : for, who ever sought the Lord, and was rejected? " Who ever truly believed in Christ, and was confounded1?" Who ever " chose the good part, and had it violently taken away from himk?" Choose God for your Father ; and he will acknowledge you as his children. Choose Christ as your Saviour ; and " he will present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy." Choose the Holy Spirit as your Sanctifier ; and " he will perfect that which concerneth you," and "complete in you the work he has begun." Choose heaven for your inheritance ; and sooner shall heaven and earth pass away, than you be permitted to come short of it. The very choice you make will evince, that you yourselves have been chosen of your God1 : and " his gifts and calling are without repentance"1."
And shall not this tend to the benefit of " your seed " also ? Is it not a part of God's covenant, that " he will put his fear in our hearts, for the good of us, and of our children after us n ? " What is there so likely to benefit the rising generation as the piety of their parents ? The force of good instruction is great : but when enforced by good example, it is almost irresistible. Children of pious parents, who have diligently instructed them, and " laboured earnestly and constantly in prayer to God for them," cannot sin so easily as others: or if, through the power of temptation, they be drawn aside after wickedness, they will, it is hoped, feel the remonstrances of
' Ps. ex. 3. e Phil. ii. 13. h Prov. viii. 36. ' 1 Pet. ii. 6. k Luke x.42. ' John xv. 16. and J Johniv. 19. m Rom. xi. 29. n Jer. xxxii. 39.