exposed, and of the persons who were their associates in ini- quity. Thus, as our first parents sought " to hide their naked- ness by fig-leaves*," so do all men by nature strive, by every device they can think of, to hide from themselves, and from each other, their real state.]
4. How to persuade themselves that all will issue
well with them at the last —
[They will not believe that eternal punishment can ever be inflicted on persons for such offences as theirs. God is too merciful to proceed in such a way. And, if he did, what must become of the whole world ? All who die, are considered as having gone to their rest ; and no one ever once thinks of them as in a state of misery. Why then should not they, when they die, go to their rest ? or what reason can they have to appre- hend that any misery awaits them ? But, supposing that God's threatenings were true, they intend to repent at some con- venient season ; and have no doubt but that a gracious God will avert his displeasure from them, in answer to their prayer. It is possible, indeed, that they may be called away suddenly (as many are), and not have time to realize their good inten- tions : but then the suddenness of their removal will plead their excuse, and their purposes be accepted as though they had been performed.
Thus, by means of these inventions which men have sought out, they are kept in a constant state of delusion ; wearying themselves in the pursuit of vanities which elude their grasp, and filling with vexation both themselves and all around them.]
We may see from hence,
1. What is the true intent of the Gospel — [The Gospel is to remedy all this evil, and to restore man to the state of holiness and happiness from which he is fallen. It is to rectify our views of God, and make us see what a great and holy and gracious God he is. It is to make him known to us in the person of his Son, and to fill our souls with admiring and adoring thoughts of his love. It is to bring us also to the knowledge of ourselves, as lost and utterly undone ; and to engage our whole souls in the service of our God, as his right- ful property, his purchased possession.
Beloved Brethren, this is an invention of God ; sought out by him; planned in his eternal counsels ; and carried into effect on Mount Calvary: and, if duly received, it will be effectual to dissipate at once all our " inventions." It will not indeed remove all the evils that abound in the world : there will yet remain much that is " crooked, and that cannot be made straight;" but it will sanctify those evils, and overrule them for our greater
t Gen. iii. 7.
man's original and present state. 375
837.]
good : its operations, however, will be gradual, especially as far as relates to the restoration of the divine image on our souls. We shall be '* renewed in knowledge, after the image of Him that created us":" we shall also be " created, after God's image, in righteousness and true holiness^:" but then, in both respects, our light will be progressive, advancing like that of the sun, from its earliest dawn to its meridian height y. This is the change which the Gospel has wrought on millions of the human race : and that Gospel shall yet be found, by every true Be- liever, " the power of God to the salvation of his soul."]
2. How we may know whether it has produced its due effect upon us —
[You have heard what it was intended to do ; namely, to remove all the obliquity of our fallen nature, and to restore the uprightness in which we were at first created. These are therefore the points for you to inquire into, in order to form a just estimate of your state. Can you say, " I have found this?'' And can you further say, that the delusions, by which the devil has formerly led you captive, are now dissipated and dispelled ? Can you declare yet further, that the intellectual and moral qualities, which man originally possessed, are forming pro- gressively within your souls ? Here are marks which may easily be discerned ; and which will with great accuracy determine, not only the truth, but also the measure, of the change that has taken place within you. Alas ! alas ! on far the greater part of us, it is to be feared, no such change as this has ever taken place at all. The greater part of us still live far from God ; still have our affections fixed on things below ; still are unhumbled before God ; and buoying ourselves up with the vain hopes of future happiness, though there is no one linea- ment of the divine image formed upon our souls. If this be the case with you, my Brethren, deceive yourselves no longer; but " to-day, while it is called to-day, cease to harden your hearts ;" and begin to seek the mercy which God has offered