unbelief," and " lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin."]
If any thing can stimulate us to caution, surely this must —
[Eternity is at stake, and depends on our present con- duct : according as we approve ourselves to the heart-searching God, will our state be fixed for ever. Is it not madness to be remiss and careless under such circumstances? Would any one, who should have reason to think his house were on fire, sit still without endeavouring to find out the latent grounds of his alarm ? And shall we know our proneness to unbelief, and not guard against its operation, lest it prevail against us, and lead us to apostasy? Shall we acknowledge the deceitful, hardening nature of sin, and not exhort each other to mortify and subdue it? Surely, if we have the smallest concern for our own souls and the souls of others, we shall not only regard the caution given us in the text, but shall labour to improve it in the way prescribed.]
Address —
1. Those who have never come to God at all —
[The foregoing subject is in 27;ye//" applicable to those only who profess religion ; but it may be accommodated to those also who make no such profession : for, if they who have come to God are in danger of departing from him, and they who have enjoyed a scriptural confidence, may lose it ; if they, who have believed, may " make shipwreck of their faith," and they, who have " begun in the Spirit, may end in the flesh ;" if they, who have " begun to run well, may be hindered," and- they who have " escaped the pollutions of the world, may again be entangled therein and overcome ;" and, lastly, if they who " have been enlightened, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come, may so fall away as never to be renewed unto repentance ;" what must become of those who have never experienced any of these things ? Can they be safe ? Can they have any scriptural hope of heaven? If the strongest have so much need of caution, and the most circumspect such reason to fear the deceitful, hardening effects of sin, surely the careless have need to tremble, lest they " die in their sins," and " be driven away in their wickedness." If all, except two, of those who came out of Egypt, perished in the wilderness, can they hope to enter into the heavenly Canaan, who have never once come forth from their spiritual bondage ? The point is clear ; may God enable us to lay it to heart, and to consider it with the attention it deserves !]