asleep, and say to yourselves, " I shall have peace, notwith- standing 1 walk after the imagination of my own evil heart1'?" The very heathen were charged with guilt, because, " when from the works of creation they knew God, they glorified him not as Godc:" depend upon it, therefore, that your neglect of known and acknowledged duties cannot but involve your souls also in much guilt.]
2. An indifference to the welfare of our own souls —
[It is by our works that we shall be judged in the last day. We are as servants that have talents committed to us : they who make a good improvement of them will have a pro- portionable reward : but those who hide them in a napkin will be dealt with as wicked and unprofitable servants d. What then do you say, in fact, when you neglect an acknowledged duty? You say, in reality, ' I care not for my soul ; I care not whether it is happy in a future world, or not : I know that by a diligent attention to all God's commands, I might advance its eternal interests : and I know that by inattention to his will I shall involve it in misery : but let me have present ease ; let me be excused the trouble of doing what does not suit my taste and inclination: let me have the world with its pleasures and interests : and if through my love to present things I must lose my soul, be it so : I consent to " the ex- change6 :" " I will sell my birth-right for a mess of pottagef." Tell me now, Is there nothing criminal in this ? May not such persons be justly charged with " loving death, and wronging their own soulsg?" Yes: whether a man do a thing of which he doubts the lawfulness, or neglect to do a thing of which he admits the necessity, he is ecpially " a sinner against his own soul :" for, as " whatsoever is not of faith, is sinh," so to know what is good and to neglect it, is sin also.]
3. A contempt of Almighty God —
[Whatever obedience a man may pay to all other com- mandments, if there be one which he knowingly violates, or wilfully neglects, he is a rebel against God, and a contemner of his Divine Majesty'. For the same authority that enjoins one, enjoins all : and if it be disregarded in one, it is in reality disregarded in all k : for it is impossible to have a due regard to it in any thing, if we have not a regard to it in every thing. And is it no sin to cast off the yoke of God, and to say, " As for the word that has been spoken to me in the name of the
b Deut. xxix. 19, 20. c Rom. i. 21. d Luke xix. 15 — 27.
e Matt. xvi. 26. f Heb. xii. 16. s Prov. viii. 30.
h Rom. xiv. 23. ' Ps. x. 13. Luke x. 16. k Jam. ii. 10, 11.