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thus addresses his converts, whom, having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:' 1 Peter, 1. 8. This joy covered even their persecutions and sufferings: 'wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now, for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations,' 1 Peter, i. 6. meaning persecutions. In like manner St James saith, 'count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations,' that is, persecutions; And why? knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience:' James, i. 3. Let no one, after these quotations, say, that it is necessary to fix our attention upon the virtues of our character, in order to taste the comforts of religion. No persons enjoyed these comforts in so great perfection, as the Christians whom we read of in Scripture, yet no persons thought so little of their own virtues. What they continually thought upon was, the abounding love of Christ towards them, "in that, whilst they were yet sinners, he died for them,' and the tender and exceeding mercies of God, in the pardon of their sins, through Christ. From this they drew their consolation; but the ground and origin of this train of thought was, not the contemplation of virtue, but the conviction of sin.

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But again; the custom of viewing our virtues has a strong tendency to fill us with fallacious notions of our own state and condition. The almost constant deception is this, viz. that in whatever quality we have pretensions, or believe that we have pretensions, to excel, that quality we place at the head of all other virtues. If we be charitable, then charity covereth a multitude of sins.' If we be strictly honest, then strict honesty is no less than the bond which keeps society together; and, consequently, is that without which other virtues would have no worth, or rather no existence. If we be temperate and chaste, then self-government, being the hardest of all duties, is the surest test of obedience. Now every one of these propositions is true; but the misfortune is, that only one of them is thought of at the time, and that the one which favours our own particular case and character. The comparison of different virtues, as to their price and value, may give occasion to many nice questions; and some rules might be laid down upon the subject; but I contend, that the practice itself is useless, and not only useless, but delusive. Let us leave, as I have already said, our virtues to themselves, not engaging our minds in

appreciating either their intrinsic or comparative value; being assured that they will be weighed in unerring scales. Our business is with our sins.

Again; the habit of contemplating our spiritual acquirements, our religious or moral excellencies, has, very usually, and, I think, almost unavoidably, an unfavourable effect upon our disposition towards other men. A man who is continually computing his riches, almost in spite of himself grows proud of his wealth. A man who accustoms himself to read, and inquire, and think a great deal about his family, becomes vain of his extraction. He can hardly help becoming so. A man who has his titles sounding in his ears, or his state much before his eyes, is lifted up by his rank. These are effects which every one observes; and no inconsiderable degree of the same effect springs from the habit of meditating upon our virtues. Now humble-mindedness is a Christian duty, if there be one. It is more than a duty; it is a principle. It is a principle of the religion; and its influence is exceedingly great, not only upon our religious, but our social character. They who are truly humble-minded, have no quarrels, give no offence, contend with no one in wrath and bitterness: still more impossible is it for them to insult any man, under any circumstances. But the way to be humble-minded is the way I am pointing out, viz. to think less of our virtues, and more of our sins. In reading the parable of the Pharisee and the publican, if we could suppose them to be real characters, I should say of them, that the one had just come from ruminating upon his virtues, the other from meditating upon his sins. And mark the difference; first, in their behaviour: next, in their acceptance with God. The Pharisee is all loftiness, and contemptuousness, and recital, and comparison; full of ideas of merit; views the poor publican, although withdrawn to a distance from him, with eyes of scorn. The publican, on the contrary, enters not into competition with the Pharisee, or with any one. So far from looking round, he durst not so much as lift up his eyes; but casts himself, hardly indeed presumes to cast himself, not upon the justice, but wholly and solely upon the mercies of his Maker; God be merciful to me a sinner.' We know the judgment which our Lord himself pronounced upon the case: I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other.' Luke, xviii. 14. The more, therefore, we are like the publican, and

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the less we are like the Pharisee, the more we come up to the genuine temper of Christ's religion.

Think, then, less of your virtues; more of your sins. Do I hear any one answer, I have no sins to think upon; I have no crimes which lie upon my conscience? I reply, that this may be true with respect to some, nay, with respect to many persons, according to the idea we commonly annex to the words, sins and crimes; meaning thereby acts of gross and external wickedness. But think further; enlarge your views. Is your obedience to the law of God what it ought to be, or what it might be? The first commandment of that law is, .Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.' Is there, upon the subject of this commandment, no matter for thought, no room for amendment? The second commandment is, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.' Is all with us, as it should be, here? Again; there is a spirituality in the commands of Christ's religion, which will cause the man who obeys them truly, not only to govern his actions, but his words; not only his words, but his inclinations, and his dispositions, his internal habits, as well as external life. 'Ye have heard that it hath been said of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, He that looketh on a woman to lust after her;' that is, he who voluntarily indulges and entertains in his mind an unlawful desire, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart,' is, by the very entertainment of such ideas, instead of striving honestly and resolutely to banish them from his mind, or take his mind off from them, a sinner in the sight of God. Much the same kind of exposition belongs to the other commandments; not only is murder forbidden, but all unreasonable, intemperate, anger and passion; not only stealing, but all hard and unfair conduct, either in transacting business with those who are upon a level with us, or, where it is more to be feared, towards those who are in our power. And do not these points open to us a field of inquiry, how far we are concerned in them? There may not be what, strictly speaking, can be called an act or deed, which is scandalously bad; yet the current of our imaginations, the bent of our tempers, the stream of our affections, may all, or any of them, be wrong, and may be requiring, even at the peril of our salvation, stronger controul, a better direction.

Again; there may not be any action, which, singly and separately taken, amounts to what would be reckoned a crime;

yet there may be actions, which we give in to, which even our own consciences cannot approve; and these may be so frequent with us, as to form a part of the course and fashion of our lives.

Again; it is possible, that some of the miscarriages in conduct, of which we have to accuse ourselves, may be imputable to inadvertency or surprise. But could these miscarriages happen so often as they do, if we exercised that vigilance in our Christian course, which not only forms a part of the Christian character, but is a sure effect of a sincere faith in religion, and a corresponding solicitude and concern about it? Lastly, unprofitableness itself is a sin. We need not do mischief in order to commit sin; uselessness, when we might be useful, is enough to make us sinners before God. The fig-tree in the gospel was cut down, not because it bore sour fruit, but because it bore none. The parable of the talents (Mat. xxv. 14.) is pointed expressly against the simple neglect of faculties and opportunities of doing good, as contradistinguished from the perpetration of positive crimes. Are not all these topics fit matters of meditation, in the review of our lives? Upon the whole, when I hear a person say he has no sins to think upon, I conclude that he has not thought seriously concering religion at all.

Let our sins, then, be ever before us; if not our crimes, of which it is possible, that, according to the common acceptation of that word, we may not have many to remember; let our omissions, deficiencies, failures, our irregularities of heart and affection, our vices of temper and disposition, our course and habit of giving in to smaller offences, meaning, as I do mean, by offences, all those things which our consciences cannot really approve our slips, and inadvertencies, and suprises, much too frequent for a man in earnest about salvation. Let these things occupy our attention; let this be the bent and direction of our thoughts; for they are the thoughts which will bring us to God evangelically; because they are the thoughts which will not only increase our vigilance, but which must inspire us with that humility as to ourselves, with that deep, and abiding, and operating, sense of God Almighty's love and kindness and mercy towards us, in and through Jesus Christ our Saviour, which is ever one great aim and end of the gospel, and of those who preached it, to inculcate upon all who come to take hold of the offer of grace.

SERMON XII.

SALVATION FOR PENITENT SINNERS.

LUKE VII. 47.

Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much.

It has been thought an extravagant doctrine, that the greatest sinners were sometimes nearer the kingdom of heaven, than they whose offences were less exorbitant, and less conspicuous yet, I apprehend, the doctrine wants only to be rationally explained, to show that it has both a great deal of truth, and a great deal of use, in it; that it may be an awakening religious proposition to some, whilst it cannot, without being wilfully misconstrued, delude or deceive any.

Of all conditions in the world, the most to be despaired of, is the condition of those who are altogether insensible and unconcerned about religion; and yet they may be, in the mean time, tolerably regular in their outward behaviour; there may be nothing in it to give great offence; their character may be fair; they may pass with the common stream, or they may even be well spoken of; nevertheless, I say, that, whilst this insensibility remains upon their minds, their condition is more to be despaired of, than that of any other person. The religion of Christ does not in any way apply to them: they do not belong to it; for are they to be saved by performing God's will? God is not in their thoughts; his will is not before their eyes. They may do good things, but it is not from a principle of obedience to God that they do them. There There may be many crimes, which they are not guilty of; but it is not out of regard to the will of God, that they do not commit them. It does not, therefore, appear, what just hopes they can entertain of heaven, upon the score of an obedience which they not only do not perform, but do not attempt to perform. Then, secondly,

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