But it is folly and madness to defer this important work —
[It must be done; or else we inevitably and eternally
perish No man can call an hour his own. " We know
not what a day, an hour, a moment, may bring forth :" whilst we are looking for days and years to come, God may say, " Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee." The diffi- culty of the work increases daily. The force of habit is exceed- ing great : and the longer we fulfil the desires of the flesh and of the mind, the more difficult it will be to mortify and subdue
them We are in danger also of provoking God to ivith-
dratv from us all the assistances of his Spirit. We may " grieve the Holy Spirit," yea, may " quench" also his sacred motions. God has said, " My Spirit shall not alway strive with man :" and if once he say respecting us, " Let them alone," our doom is sealed as surely as if we were already gone beyond redemp- tion. And how awful is the state of those ivho are taken unpre- pared! What "weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth" will they experience, cursing their own folly, and vainly wishing it were possible for them to have another opportunity afforded them for working out their salvation g !
Say then whether any man should defer one hour this neces- sary work ! surely we should " make haste, and not delay, to keep God's commandments11."]
That in this great work you may not miscarry, we would subjoin some useful advice — Cry mightily to God , and seek of him,
1. Impartiality in judging — [Self-love always prompts us to form a favourable estimate of our own conduct. If we search at all, we search rather for excuses than for sins ; for grounds of self-approbation, rather than of self-reproach. But what folly is this ! God will form his estimate aright, whether we do or not ; and by his own estimate he will judge us in the last day. Professors of religion, no less than others, are warped by self-love ; and thousands there are whose spirit and conduct are directly at variance with the Gospel, whilst yet they boast of themselves as lights in a dark world — — — O search your hearts, as the Jews searched their houses for leaven, or as you would search a room for jewels which you had lost. You would not hastily shut your eyes, and say, There is no jewel here ; but you would be examining every corner, to find as many as possibly you could; not content to leave so much as one undiscovered. If such impartiality were once exercised by us in detecting our sins, we should not be far from the kingdom of God.]
s Eccl. ix. 10. h See Heb. iii. 7—14.