my hearers, who have never yet been renewed by the grace of God. And I ask,
1. Is not the charge true of you ?
[Look, I pray you, and examine the matters before pro- posed. See in what state you are, as it respects repentance for sin, and faith in Christ, and holy obedience to the commands of God. Compare yourselves with the Scriptures which ye profess to believe: see whether you are "cast into them, as into a mould;" and whether ye are really living as the Apostles did ? I will not ask whether you have attained the eminence of Paul ; for to that none of us can pretend : but are we followers of him, as he was of Christ? And if he were to see the daily habit of our minds, would he acknowledge us as imbued with the same spirit with him, and as treading in the
same steps? It is evident, then, that we are guilty
before God; and that the accusations which Moses, and the Pro- phets, and the Apostles, are exhibiting against us, are trueb.]
2. Are ye not then deeply criminal ?
[We are in the habit of reprobating infidels as amongst the vilest of men. And far am I from intending, in any respect, to lessen the abhorrence with which they are viewed, and should be viewed. But it may well be doubted, whether the great mass of Christians be not in a worse state than they. For infidels, however profane, are at least consistent : they do not profess to believe the Scriptures : they regard them all, and every thing contained in them, as " a cunningly-devised fable." But the Christian world profess to receive the Bible as the word of God, and to expect that men shall be dealt with in judgment according to the plan proposed in it : yet do they in their lives give the lie to all that they profess. If they really believed in that word, they would believe in Christ, and love him, and serve him, and glorify him. Could a man believe that his house was on fire, and ready to fall upon him, and not flee out of it ? It is a delusion altogether : and in pretending to believe at all, they only lie unto the Holy Ghost.]
3. Are ye not utterly inexcusable ?
[What excuse can you offer in vindication of yourselves ? Ts not every part of the inspired volume brought before you in its season? Ye know that " we have kept back nothing that was profitable unto you," but " have declared unto you the whole counsel of God." But, at all events, the inspired volume has been in your hands, and ye might have drunk water at the fountain-head. It has been accessible to you at all times : and
b See John xii. 48. where all this is plainly asserted.