3. Because, if it be not to our comfort, it will be, in a most awful manner, to our discomfort —
[It is no light matter to abuse the merciful kindness of God. The day is coming, when every mercy we have received, must be accounted for ; and when " it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for those" who have slighted a preached Gospel. Every mercy therefore should be received with a holy fear and jealousy, lest it should prove only an occasion of more aggravated guilt, and heavier condenmation.]
Application —
[Let us more frequently reflect on the loving-kindness of Gods — Let us meditate on it especially in seasons of trouble''^ And let us endeavour to requite it by devoting ourselves unre- servedly to his service' — ]
8 Ps. xxvi. 3, & Ixiii. 3. '' Ps. cxliii. 78.
' Ps. cxvi. 12. & Isai. Ixiii, 7.
Ps. cxix. 128. I esteem thy precepts concerning all things to he right; and I hate every false way.
RELIGION is the same in every age. The doc- trines of it, though they have been more fully and clearly revealed under the Christian dispensation, have never varied in substance; nor has the prac- tice of it ever changed, except in the observance of rites and ceremonies. To love God with all our heart and mind and soul and strength, and our neighbour as ourselves, was the essence of true religion in the days of Abraham and of Moses ; and so it is at this day. Doubtless there can be no true re- ligion where the Gospel is set at nought and despised : but the Gospel may be highly approved as a system, whilst the heart is far from being right with God. It is not by their profession of any principles that we are to judge of men's states, but by the practical effects of those principles on their hearts and lives. Our blessed Lord has established this as the only- true criterion, the only adequate test; "By their fruits ye shall know them."
Now