66

II. Let all men be exhorted to look to God alone for the gift of eternal life, and to cast themselves wholly on him for every part of their salvation. You cannot remove these mighty difficulties which lie between you and heaven. You who are Christians are deeply sensible of these truths, whatever else you may be unable to feel. Your eyes are daily upon the heavens whence "cometh" your help." But let me press this point on those who are yet in their sins. Who shall raise you, poor, prayerless, unsanctified souls, from the horrible pit" and "miry clay?" Who shall purge from you this world of guilt? Who shall subdue the stubbornness of your corruptions? Who shall deliver you from all your spiritual enemies? Here you lie bound by this three fold chain, which all the men on earth and all the angels in heaven cannot dissolve. All creation cannot relieve you. Your own independent efforts cannot relieve you. ever sink deeper and deeper in this "horrible pit" unless God should bend a pitying look upon you, -unless God shall stretch forth his hand and raise you from destruction. You lie wholly at his mercy. If he frown you die, if he smile you live forever. You are altogether in his hands, and all creation cannot take you out. What then is to be done? Will you therefore turn your backs upon him, and under the dreadful pretence that you have nothing to do, take no further care for your salvation? Under the pretence that God must do the work, will you indifferently turn away to other matters? Rather ought you not to go to him and cast your

You must for

selves upon him, and by faith and prayer engage him to undertake for you? If a child is conscious that it cannot walk without the aid of its parent, does it therefore flee from its parent? Does it not rather creep to his feet, and hang upon his knees, and put its little hand into his hand, to be supported and led by a parent's care? Go ye therefore and do likewise. Look to the Spirit of Christ to subdue your stubborn hearts. Look to the power and and grace of Christ to deliver you from your spiritual enemies. Look to the blood of Christ to cleanse you from guilt. Look to the mercy of God to pardon your sins and adopt you as his children. Thus cast yourselves heartily and without reserve on the power and grace of the adorable Trinity, and keep your eyes on the heavens whence "cometh" your "salvation." Lay aside all hope of relieving yourselves, all hope of obtaining relief from others, and put forth your hand and take hold of omnipo

tent grace.

III. "If the righteous scarcely" are "saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?" If such immense difficulties lie in the way of the salvation of Christians, and of sinners who are thoroughly awakened, what will become of those who are asleep in carnal security? Are there any present who know themselves to be in "the gall of bitterness," and yet are unconcerned about their state? Know ye, my unhappy hearers, that all the difficulties which have been enumerated lie in the way of your salvation, and they must all be surmounted or you must endure a miserable eternity.

With so much to be done are you still asleep? Life is rapidly wearing away, and you have never yet begun your work. What calculations are you making for eternity? When are all these difficulties to be surmounted? Do you flatter yourselves that they will be removed while you sleep? This is one of the incoherent dreams of delirium. When are you then to awake and begin this mighty business? Thirty, forty, fifty years of your life are past, and the great business of life not yet begun, -nor any serious attempt to begin it,-nor any anxious thought about making the attempt, or even about neglecting it so long. And yet all this time it is as true as the being of a God, that you must meet and surmount all these difficulties or make your bed in hell. Yea it is true that while you delay, these difficulties are hourly increasing. What phrenzy has seized your brain? O if there is one glimmering of reason left,-if one lucid interval of sense, hear this expostulation and awake without delay. Hasten to the throne of God and cast yourselves at his feet, and throw yourselves upon his mercy. Do it, I beseech you, that your souls may live. Do it before you leave your seats.

seats. Do it now. -Have you done it? If not you deserve

eternal wrath for that neglect.

Whatever be the issue you have been warned. You may remember this warning when you lie tossing on a dying bed. You may remember it when you stand trembling at the bar of God. While the heavens are passing away and the world is on fire, perhaps I may hear you cry, Ten thousand worlds

that I had listened to that sermon! Take it and carry it with you to judgment, or it will inevitably follow you. It will certainly meet you there. God grant that it may not rise up in judgment against

you.

SERMON XXXIV.

WHAT AILETH THEE?

GEN. XXI. 17.

What aileth thee?

This pointed question I wish to put to those who, while they wholly neglect religion, complain of the doctrines of the Gospel as blocking up their way to heaven. Though God has wrought miracles of mercy for our guilty race; though he has sent his Son to die for us, and has offered salvation to all on the easiest possible terms, nay has followed men with the most tender entreaties; yet murmurs are raised through all the world against him and against the way of life which he has opened, as though he had done nothing but oppress a miserable race.— And what is more astonishing, these murmurs come chiefly from those who wholly neglect their own salvation and the means which God has appointed. With all the inconsistency of the slothful servant, they bury their talent in a napkin, and then comVOL. II.

63