[We, also, have been passing through a dreary wilderness, in our way to the promised land : and has he been inatten- tive to our wants ? Has he not given us his only dear Son to
be our Saviour ? Has he not also given his Holy Spirit,
to guide, preserve, and sanctify us, and to make us meet for our
destined inheritance ? Tell me so much as one thing
which you have ever lacked, provided you sought it humbly at
his hands ? 1 hesitate not to affirm, that if there be
any one thing that you have ever lacked, it has been, not from want of care in him, but from your own negligence in asking it : for " he never said at any time to any human being, Seek ye my face in vain." I say, then, that your charges against him, as defective in kindness or care or liberality, are alto- gether false ; and that there is no one thing that you could reasonably hope to be done for you, which he has not freely and effectually donee.]
But not satisfied with vindicating God, I call you to hear, II. His charge against you —
He complains, and justly too, of two things ;
1. The flagrancy of your rebellion —
[His people of old said, " We are lords : we will come no more unto thee." And such has been the language both of your hearts and lives. You have affected independence. Satan's temptation to our first parents was, " Ye shall be as gods :" and ye have affected to be as gods, even from that very hour ; and have felt no disposition to come to Jehovah for any thing. In truth, independence is the very essence of the Fall : it is that which characterizes every living man. Every man trusts in his own wisdom and righteousness and strength ; and follows his own will, and " walks after the imaginations of his own heart." Let any one ask himself, Whether, during his whole life, this have not been his state ? Can any of us say with truth, that we have been from the beginning so deeply sensible of our own utter destitution of all good, that we have cried day and night to God for every thing which our souls needed, and have cleaved to Christ alone as our wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption ? Have we, even this very day, come to God for these blessings, as persons who felt their need of them, and their entire dependence on him for a supply of them ? Have we not rather imagined that we were " rich, and increased in goods, and in need of nothing ; instead of feeling ourselves wretched and miserable, and poor and blind and naked?" Then you must confess
e Isai. v. 3, 4.