the different characters of mankind, is stated, vindi- cated, and improved. It is,
I. Stated —
If the righteous man turn away from his righteous- ness, and die in his sins, he shall perish —
[This is a solemn truth, which men strive by every possible method to evade. When Christian principles are insisted on, they will speak of practice : but here, when practice is spoken of, they will recur to principles, and deny that a righteous man can so turn away from his righteousness as to perish in his sins. They are like the Samaritan woman, who, when our Lord re- proved her for her adulteries, had recourse immediately to controversial matters, and inquired, who were right, the Sama- ritans, or the Jews, as to the place where Divine worship ought to be performed ? Ungodly professors of religion now fly off from what comes home to their own bosoms, and enter on con- troversy in order to avoid the awful truth that is brought to their ears. But it is a fact, that a righteous man may depart from his righteousness : Demas didb: Paul was constrained to use the utmost possible care, lest he should0: and all are com- manded to take heed to themselves, lest they should do so too d. As to God's secret decrees, no man knows what they are, as relating to his own person, or to the person of any individual whatever : nor is there a man in the whole universe that is warranted in saying, I never can fall ; at least, can never so fall as to perish. David, and Solomon, and Peter, display suf- ficiently the instability of man,; and, if they were restored, their restoration does not shew that they could not have pe- rished, but only, that God, for the magnifying of his own grace and mercy, did not leave them to perish. They might have perished, and would have perished, as much as Judas, if they had been left to themselves: it was not any gracious principle which they had in them, and that was in itself indefectible, that recovered them, but God's unbounded grace and mercy, vouch- safed to them according to the good pleasure of his own will.
Hear this then, ye professors of religion, ye who are ac- counted righteous, and who think yourselves righteous ; ye may turn away from your righteousness, and perish. O let this consideration lead you to the utmost vigilance, and stimulate you to the most unremitting exertions in the path of duty !]
On the other hand, if the wicked man turn from his iniquity, and do what is lawful and right, he shall live —
b 2 Tim. iv. 10. c 1 Cor. ix. 27.
a 1 Cor. x. 12. Heb. hi. 12, 13.