1. Our guilt resembles theirs —
[The sins of Israel may be comprehended under these two, ingratitude and unbelief. And let me ask, Are not these sins as prevalent amongst ourselves as ever they were in the days of Israel ? Are not we loaded with benefits, even as they were ? What conveniences had they, which are not showered down on us? It matters not whether our food be rained down from the clouds, or raised up from the earth : here it is, and we gather it, and have the calls of nature satisfied. The providence of God, if less visibly displayed towards us, is not a whit less careful of us, nor is his goodness towards us less manifest to the eye of faith. But where do we find hearts duly sensible of his tender mercy ? Where do we find persons rendering to him the honour due unto his name ? Where do we find persons, under circumstances of trial, able to repose their confidence in God, and with peaceful resignation ex- pecting his gracious and seasonable interposition? Where do we find that his word forms such a ground of affiance, as to supersede all doubts and fears respecting the final issue of events ? In a word, who amongst us is in the daily habit of acknowledging God in every thing, and of committing every thing to his disposal, and of living only to his glory ? If our murmurings and discontent be less visible, they are not less real, when we cast the blame of our trials on second causes, instead of tracing them to that divine hand from whence they all proceed. And if, instead of living with heaven in our view, and proceeding towards that as our desired rest, we are occu- pied mainly with the things of time and sense, we are really in the state which we have before contemplated, and may see in the Israelites of old our own hateful deformity.]
2. The gradations of our guilt, too, are the same —
[They sinned — they sinned still — they sinned still, not- withstanding all that God could do to reclaim them. And what have we done from our youth up ? In our earliest years, we no sooner began to act, than we began to violate the laws
of God As our reason became matured, it might be
hoped that we should act in a way more suited to our profes- sion, and more pleasing to God. But neither days nor years have made any difference in this respect : on the contrary, we have gone on adding iniquity to iniquity, in one continued series, even to the present hour : nor have any dispensations of God, whether in a way of mercy or of judgment, produced any per- manent effect upon our minds. Now and then, perhaps, we may have felt a transient gleam of thankfulness on our minds, or some faint resolve to amend our ways : but both the one and the other have passed away without lasting benefit; and notwith- standing all God's efforts to reclaim us, we are still the same.]