portionable reward : but those who hide them in a napkin will be dealt with as wicked and unprofitable servants''. What then do you say, in fact, when you neglect an acknowledged duty ? You say, in reality, ' I care not for my soul ; I care not whether it is happy in a future world, or not : I know that by a diligent attention to all God's commands, I might ad- vance its eternal interests : and I know that by inattention to his will I shall involve it in misery : but let me have present ease ; let me be excused the trouble of doing what does not suit my taste and inclination : let me have the world with its pleasures and interests : and if through my love to present things I must lose my soul, be it so : I consent to " the ex- change*:" " I will sell my birth-i'ight for a mess of pottage V" Tell me now, Is there nothing criminal in this ? May not such persons be justly charged with " loving death, and wronging their own souls s?" Yes : whether a man do a thing of which he doubts the lawfulness, or neglect to do a thing of which he admits the necessity, he is equally " a sinner against his own soul:" for, as "whatsoever is not of faith, is sin "^j" so to know what is good and to neglect it, is sin also.]
3. A contempt of Amighty God —
[Whatever obedience a man may pay to all other com- mandments, if there be one which he knowingly violates, or wilfully neglects, he is a rebel against God, and a contemner of his Divine Majesty'. For the same authority that enjoins one, enjoins all : and if it be disregarded in one, it is in reality disregarded in all'': for it is impossible to have a due regard to it in any thing, if we have not a regard to it in every thing. And is it no sin to cast off the yoke of God, and to say, " As for the word that has been spoken to me in the name of the Lord, I will not hearken unto it* ?" Our blessed Lord has told us what he will say to such persons in the last day : Bring hither those that were mine enemies, who would not that I should reign over them, and slay them before me." " Those who knew not their Lord's will," and sinned through ignorance, are chargeable with guilt, and will be \isited with punishment ; because they had the means of instruction, and did not diligently improve them : but if " the servant who knew not his Lord's will shall be beaten with few stripes, be assured, that the servant who knew his Lord's will and did it not, shall be beaten with many stripes"."]
Verily this is a solemn truth and deeply to be wei<2^hed by every Child of man. Let me therefore proceed,
IL To
'' Luke xix. 15—37. • Matt. wi. 26. ' Heb. xii. 16.
« Prov. viii. .36. ^ Rom. xiv. 23. ' Ps. x. 13. Luke \ 16.
" Jaai. ii. 10,-11. * J«r. xliv. 16. " Lukexii. 47, ^3.