[All unenlightened men agree in this ; they affect supremely the things of time and sense. In this also they agree ; they dis- affect things spiritual and eternal. Here we may range through all the gradations of men, from the prince to the peasant ; and through all their ages, from infancy to old age ; yea, and through all the different periods of time, from the beginning of the woi-ld to the present hour ; and we shall not find so much as one differ- ing from the rest, unless indeed a very few, who have been sanc- tified from the womb. The testimony of Almighty God is this : " They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; and they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. The carnal mind is enmity against God : for it is not subject to the Law of God, neither indeed can be\" Here both of these points are asserted, with equal clearness, and with unquestion- able authority. If the point be doubted, look for a person who, from his youth up, has shewn a superiority to the pleasures, honours, interests of this world, and sought his happiness in communion with God, and in the exercises of prayer and praise. Alas ! not one such person will you find : the hearts of all have been in perfect agreement with each other, even as the face that is reflected, with the face that inspects the mirror.]
2. Vy^hen awakened to a sense of their perishing condition —
[Let but the eyes of any one be opened to see his real state, and he will begin immediately to tremble before God. No sense of earthly dignity will uphold a man at that hour. Felix on the throne of judgment, and Belshazzar in his drunken carousals, become weak as other men ; and betray the convic- tions of their mind, that " it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." Not the most obdurate sinners in the vmiverse can any longer defy the arm of justice : the very instant they see themselves obnoxious to its stroke, their spirits sink within them. Even the murderers of our blessed Lord, whilst yet their hands were reeking with his blood, cry out in agony of mind, " IMen and brethren, what shall we do*^?"
In another thing, too, they all agree : they all, without ex- ception, seek, in the first instance, to conciliate God's favour by some works of their own. They will repent ; they will reform their lives ; they will perform the duties which they have hitherto neglected ; they will exercise benevolence to the utmost of their power : they will do any thing, if by any means they may re- commend themselves to God as objects of his mercy. Those amongst them who have been somewhat better instructed will allow to Jesus Christ the honour of saving them ; but still they must do something to entitle them to come to him, and to
a Rom. viii. 5, 7. ^ Acts ii. 37.