if erroneous, renounce them ; if true, we should regulate our lives according to them. To act contrary to the convictions of our mind is unworthy of a rational Being. We all know in what a contemptible light that man appears, who for the sake of human applause pretends to religion, whilst the world and sin are predominant in his heart : and equally contemptible is he, who, with the knowledge of the truth in his head, is deterred by the fear of man from yielding to its influence. Indeed the latter species of dissimulation seems the worse of the two, inasmuch as to disclaim what is good, is worse than to express an approbation of it. At all events, it is marked with a decisive testimony of God's abhorrence; " To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sinc."]
2. The ingratitude —
[The gift of God's only dear Son to die for us is the greatest that God himself could bestow upon us : for from that the Apostle infers the unquestionable willingness of God to give us all other things, seeing that all other things together are not to be compared with thatd. Now to know that God has bestowed that gift upon us, and yet not dare to confess
it, is the basest ingratitude that can be imagined And
if it be ingratitude towards the Father, so is it also towards the Lord Jesus Christ himself, who voluntarily undertook the great work of our redemption. Reflect a moment on this : think of his pitying our undone condition, and leaving the bosom of his Father, in order that he might assume our nature,
and die in our stead What incomprehensible love was
this ! and what a base wretch must he be, who, believing that Christ has so loved him as to give himself for him, is afraid to confess it openly ! To all such persons, well may that indig- nant expostulation be applied, " Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish people, and unwisee?"]
3. The impiety —
[Wherein can any man be guilty of more flagrant rebel- lion against God, than in knowingly and deliberately denying his dear Son ? The command of God respecting the submit- ting to his Son is positive, and enforced with a very awful menaced What an act of defiance then is he guilty of, who against the convictions of his own conscience denies him! What cruelty also is he guilty of towards his fellow-creatures ! Men are influenced greatly by example, especially by the example of those in higher life : the lower classes are ready to suppose that the rich and learned must know better than
c Jam. iv. 17. d Rom. viii. 32. e Deut. xxxii. 6.
* Deut. xviii. 18, 19. with Acts iii. 22, 23.