will find himself fearfully mistaken the moment he comes to the termination of it*.]
2. That the provisions of the Gospel are admh'ably suited to our necessities —
[Here is " a wicked man:" he offers " a sacrifice" to his offended God : that very sacrifice is "an abomination to the Lord. Must the man then be left to perish ? No : the Gospel reveals to him a sacrifice which is pleasing and acceptable to God, and which shall avail for the salvation of all who trust in it, even the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus, who " presented him- self an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour"." Again ; Man, though originally made upright, has fallen^ and become utterly averse to God and his law^. As for creating himself anew, he can no more do it than he could create himself at first. Shall he then perish ? No : the Gospel proclaims to him a promise from almighty God, that " he will give him a new heart, and renew aright spirit within him^;" so that, as the most guilty may be forgiven through the atone- ment that has been offered for him, so the most polluted may be " transformed into the very image of his God in righteousness and true holiness^." Thus may those who were odious as the fallen angels, become as accepted and as happy as the angels that have never sinned. O ! Brethren, when will you study this blessed Gospel? when will you search into it, to find a remedy for your diseases, and a supply for- your wants ? Be- hold it is " a fountain opened," and ever flowing for the relief of sinful man : and every sinner in the universe is invited to " come and drink of it without money and without price"'." I would that you should no longer be " an abomination" to your God ! I would that he should look upon you with " de- light," yea, that he should " rejoice over you with joy, and rest in his love, and joy over you with singing "^ !"]
3. That by the heart, and not by the mere acts, will God form his estimate of us in the last day —
[I know that our actions will be brought into judgment, and be adduced as evidences of our state before God, and as grounds of the sentence that shall be passed upon us. But it is not merely as acts that they will be either rewarded or pu- nished ; but as evidences of the real state of our souls. Even in human judicatories the object inquired into is, the intent of the mind. It is malice prepense that constitutes min-der : where that did not exist, the act of killing is not accounted murder : but where that manifestly did exist, there the attempt
t Matt. vii. 13, 14. " Eph. v. 2. ^ Eccl. vii. 29.
y Rom. viii. 7. =^ Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27. ^ Eph. iv. 24.
b Isai. Iv. 1 — 3. John vii. 37 — 39. "^ Zeph. iii. 17.