Address —
1. Those in whom there is no good thing towards the Lord God of Israel —
[Jeroboam's family bore the name of Israelites, as we do of Clu'istians ; yet was there only one among them that had any good thing in him. And is not this the state of many individuals at least, if not of families, amongst us ? How many are there who feel no concern about the iniquities of the land, no desire after God in their own soixls, and no purpose ever to
exert themselves in his sacred cause ! What then can
such persons expect at the hands of God ? What, but to be made monuments of his heavy displeasiu'e ? O that we would consider what his Prophets and Apostles have spoken respect- ing such characters, and that we would seek for mercy ere it be too late !]
2. Those in whom it is doubtful whether there be any good thing or not —
[There frequently are found some transient motions in the heart, like those in the stony-ground hearers, which yet are not regarded by God as good, because they have no solid prin- ciple as their fomidation. And from hence arises a considerable difficulty in judging of our real state : our self-love is apt to flatter and deceive us. But let us remember that God " searcheth the heart and trieth the reins :" he " discerneth the thoughts and intents of the heart :" yea, he " weigheth the spirits," and that too with such exactness as enables him to ascertain with infallible certainty whether there be in them the smallest measure of solid good. Let us fear lest we deceive our own souls, and lest, after all our favourable appearances, " our religion at last be found vain*^." It is " by the fruits
'^ Zech. iv. 10. d Mai. iii. IG, 17. ° Jam. i. 2G.