The Gospel, in this age, has acquired a consider- able degree of popularity; so that, wherever it is preached, it is attended by multitudes who previously had shewn no regard whatever for religion : yea, to such a degree does it interest many, that their whole souls appear to be engaged in an attention to it. Yet of these, not a few may be characterized by the words before us : they are " ever learning," losing no opportunity, whether in public or in private, of gra- tifying their thirst for spiritual instruction, and " yet never able to come to the knowledge of the truth," either in principle or in practice.
1. In principle —
[Of those who indulge a spirit of scepticism, and who make all that they hear an occasion for calling in question the truth of God, it is not my intention to speak. The persons alluded to in my text are rather those who take partial views of the Gospel ; insisting on some particular truth, to the exclu- sion of many others; or espousing some great error, to the utter subversion of the whole Gospel. Such are they who deny the corruption of human nature, the necessity of an atonement, the divinity of our blessed Lord, and the influences of the Holy Spirit. Persons of this description find pleasure in nothing which does not foster their heretical opinions : and to diffuse their principles is as much their labour, as it was the labour of the Pharisees of old ; who " compassed sea and land to make one proselyte," whom, by their hostility to the truth, they reduced to a still more abject condition than them- selves.
Nor are Antinomian heretics less zealous, or less pernicious, than they. They can hear of nothing, and talk of nothing, but God's decrees ; whilst all the fruits of Christianity upon the spirit and temper are as much overlooked as if they were of no importance whatever to the soul.
But, not to speak of those who magnify any peculiar tenet to the neglect or exclusion of other truths, a great multitude of those who hear the Gospel get only a vague and indistinct view of it; discerning nothing of its ti'anscendent excellency, as displaying the glory of the Divine perfections, or as suiting the necessities of fallen man : so that, amidst all their zeal for the Gospel, they never get their souls duly impressed with it as " the wisdom of God in a mystery," or " the power of God unto salvation." I grant that a truly correct and systematic view of Christianity is not to be expected of those who are altogether illiterate, and whose opportunities of investigating