go forward. Though seas of difficulty be before you, I say to you, as God did to Moses, " Wherefore criest thou unto me? Say unto the children of Israel, that they go forward0." Do you doubt whether success shall attend your efforts ? Look at the example of David : see his triumphs, and his acknowledg- ments d and doubt not, but that if you seek God, and
confide in him as David did, like him you shall be more than conquerors, through Him that loveth you.]
c Exod. xiv. 15.
d 2 Sam. xxii. 2 — 20. This whole passage should be cited. See also ver. 30 — 41.
Amos v. 12. / knoiv your manifold transgressions and your
mighty sins.
MANY passages of Holy Writ appear to refer to a particular people only ; whilst in reality, they are applicable to all mankind. Whoever shall consult the passages cited by St. Paul in the third chapter of his Epistle to the Romans, in confirmation of the total depravity of mankind, and compare them with the places from whence they are taken, will be parti- cularly struck with the truth of this remark. The Prophets David and Isaiah speak of certain indivi- duals whose iniquities were of a most enormous kind ; but St. Paul proves from them the depravity of human- nature in general : and this he does with great pro- priety : for, though all persons do not run to the same extent of wickedness, all have the same propensities within them : and if persons enjoying all the advantages of revelation abandoned themselves to such wicked- ness, it must arise, not from the peculiarity of their trials, but from the inward depravity of their hearts. This observation was applicable to the passage before us. The prophet, or rather God by him, is address- ing a people who violated all the duties of social and civil life ; and is denouncing his judgments against them for the sins which they so openly committed : but the same address may be justly made to every