1. Regardless of his laws —
[These ought to be written on our hearts, and to be the invariable rule of our conduct. It should be our constant inquiry, What is duty? what does God command? But if this be no part of ovu- concern, if our inquiry be continually, " What will please myself ; what will advance my interests : what will suit the taste of those around me;" are we not wicked? Do we not in all such instances rebel against God, and become, as it were, a God unto ourselves? Yet who amongst us has not been guilty in these respects ?]
2. Forgetful of his benefits —
[Every day and hour of our lives we have been laden with mercies by a kind and bountiful benefactor. And should they not have excited correspondent emotions of gratitude in our hearts ? Yea, should they not have filled our mouths with praises and thanksgivings? But what shall we say to that greatest of all mercies, the gift of God's dear Son to die for us ? Has not that deserved our devoutest acknowledgments ? What then if we have passed days and years without any affectionate remembrance of God ? What if we have even abused the bounties of his providence, and poured contempt upon the riches of his grace ? What if we have " trodden under foot the Son of God, and done despite to the Spirit of grace ? " Are we not wicked ? Do we account such ingrati- tude a venial offence, when exercised by a dependent towards ourselves ?]
3. Unmindful of his presence —
[God is every where present, and every object around us has this inscription upon it, " Thou, God, seest me." Now it is our duty and privilege to walk with God as his friends, and to set him before us all the day long. But, suppose we have been unmindful of his presence, and have indulged without remorse those thoughts, which we could not have endured to carry into practice in the presence of a fellow-creature ; suppose we have been careless and unconcerned even when we were assembled in God's house of prayer ; suppose that, instead of having him in all our thoughts, we have lived " without him in the world ;" are we not wicked ? Is it necessary to have added murder or adultery to such crimes as these in order to constitute us wicked ? Does God judge thvis, when he declares that they who are thus without God, are at the same time " without hope* ? "]
While we rectify our notions respecting the per- sons that are wicked, let us inquire,
a Eph. ii. 12.