according to tlieir day V' and enabling them " to do all things through his strength communicated to them"*."]
Hence then we may see,
1. Whence it is that so many professors of religion dishonour their high and holy calling —
[It is a melancholy fact, that many who profess godhness
are a disgrace to their profession And by their falls
they bring the very truth of God into disrepute. But whence is it that their walk is so inconsistent ? Is it from any want of power or fidelity in God to keep them ? No : it arises from this ; that they have taken up a profession upon false and insufficient grounds : they have got the law in their heads, and in their mouths, but have never truly received it into their hearts. None will shew more zeal for the tenets they have embraced than they, or talk more fluently respecting them : but they have never been " cast into the mould of the Gospel." Their sentiments have been altered ; but their hearts are unchanged ; or, if changed at all, it is only in that they have adopted the spiritual lusts of pride and conceit, and false confidence, in the place of the carnal lusts of worldliness and uncleanness ; or, it may be, they have added the former to the latter, affecting only the concealment of former evils, and not the utter extirpation of them. What then is to be expected from such persons, but that they will dishonour their profession ? From such roots nothing can be hoped for, but bitter fruits. But let not the blame be cast upon religion. " They have a name to live, but they are dead." If ever they had received the law of God into their hearts, it would have produced its due effect upon their lives ; and not upon the outward deportment only, but on every temper and disposition of their minds. Religion is, and must be, the same in all ages : if it transformed the saints of other days into the image of their God in righteousness and true holiness, it vnll do so still : and, if the conduct of any who profess it be unworthy of their high calling, let the blame attach where it ought, not on religion, but on those who make a hypocritical profession of it. Only let the law be in the heart, and we have no fear of the fruits that will appear in the life.]
2. How inseparable is the miion between duty and privilege —
[The self-depending formalist who dreads the mention of privilege, and the Antinomian professor who hates the mention of duty, are equally remote from the truth of God. Depend on God we must ; for it is He who must work all our works in us. And obey '-'s law we must : for " without holiness no man
1 Deut. xxxiii. 25. ■ ^ Phil. iv. 13.
567.]] David's distress and consolation. 307
shall see the Lord." Neither can supersede the other. To the Aiitinomian then I say, " Let the word of God abide in you; and let it dwell in you richly in all wisdom." And to the formalist I say, Look unto God to begin, and carry on, the whole work of grace in your hearts ; for without Him you can do nothing. Let both of you know, that both confidence in God, and obedience to Him, are necessary : it is only by a reliance on Him that you can obtain strength for obedience ; and it is only by obedience that you can prove the sincerity of your faith and love. But whilst to those who would lean to either extreme I would say, " What God has joined, let no man put asunder," I would most affectionately encourage the true Christian to expect all that God has promised. Your difficulties may be great, and your conflicts severe ; but " your Redeemer is mighty ;" and He who bought you with his blood, regards you as his puixhased possession, and will suffer " none to pluck you out of his hands." He has promised to carry on and perfect his work in your hearts ; and wlmt he has promised, he is able also to perform. Only be careful to know and do his will ; and He will bear you up in his everlasting arms, and " preserve you blameless to his heavenly kingdom."]