not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin ; but that now they had no cloak for their sind." What, then, must I say to you ? You well know, that " many prophets and kings have in vain desired to hear and see the things which have been made familiar to you ; and that, at this moment, many would account themselves " blessed," if they could possess the privileges which you enjoy6 : but you cannot but know also, that on these grounds a proportionable responsi- bility attaches to you. Yet, is there not reason to fear, that many of you are still so ignorant both of the Law and of the Gospel, as not to understand their respective offices, and not to render to them that peculiar honour which they severally demand? Is there not reason to apprehend, that many have never yet come to Christ, as helpless, hopeless sinners ; dis- carding every other ground of hope, and glorying in him as all their salvation and all their desire ? Yet, if you have never been brought to this, O ! think how much you have to answer for ! If the fate of Chorazin and Bethsaida was made worse than that of Tyre and Sidon, yea, than that of Sodom and Gomorrah, by their abuse of the Gospel, judge, I pray you, what the criminality of those is, who, like you, have slighted all the blessings of salvation, which have been so freely offered, and so fully set before you ? Jehovah himself appealed to his people of old : " Judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vine- yard : what could have been done more for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? And wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes f ?" The same appeal I must, in Jehovah's name, make to you also. The various means of grace you have enjoyed in rich abundance; and they must be accounted for as talents which you were bound to improve.]
2. Their danger is imminent —
[It is an awful truth, that " the word preached, if it be not a savour of life to those who hear it, proves to them a savour of death unto their death8." In fact, it is sometimes sent to a people in judgment, rather than in mercy : " Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not ; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed1'." No less than six times is that passage quoted in the New Testament, to shew us the immense importance of it, and to put us on our guard, lest it be realized in us. We are warned, that " the earth
<i John xv. 22. e Luke x. 23, 24. t lsai. v. 3j 4.
s 2 Cor. ii. 16. !> lsai. vi. 9, 10.