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"to give me more? Can I believe that the abuse of mercies past will, to the eye of God, be a reason for bestowing upon "me future mercies? Shall I plead my ingratitude as a title "to the Divine favour? Shall I allege the guiltiness of my 66 past life, and the worthlessness of my present character, as a recommendation to Him who has been present at the "commission of all my sins, and the omission of all my du"ties? Will such a recommendation avail? If not, what is "to become of me? No, I will arise, and go to my Father, "and say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, "and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy “son." I will humbly and cheerfully confess my polluted "character, my absolute unworthiness of his favour, my desert “of his wrath and indignation in time and in eternity. I will "present before him my own miserable condition, and my in"finite need of his mercy. I will urge the righteousness, the "sufferings, and the death of his beloved Son; the atonement "which he hath made for sin, and the reconciliation which he "hath accomplished for all returning sinners. I will fly to "the compassion of a forgiving God. I will supplicate the renewing influence of the sanctifying Spirit. If these pleas "do not avail, I am undone."

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"But I will not despair. The Lord is gracious and mer"ciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth "him of the evil. Who knoweth if he will return, and re"pent, and leave a blessing behind him. He that spared not "his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he "not with him also freely give us all things? Christ himself

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says, that he came to seek and to save that which was lost; "and that he came, not to call the righteous, but sinners to "repentance. The father of the prodigal bade his whole fa"mily rejoice, because a son, who had been dead, was alive ❝ again, and after having been lost to him and his family, had "been found anew. Nay, the Redeemer has said, ‹ There is "joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than "over ninety and nine just persons who need no repentance." "I am a sinner; I may be of the number of those who are

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"called to repentance by the Son of God. I am spiritually "dead; I may be made alive again. I have long been lost "to the virtuous universe; I may be found. The joy of "heaven may be renewed over the repentance even of such a "one as I am. Author of all mercies, hast thou but one "blessing? Bless me, even me, O my Father."

Often have sinners relied for future safety on their numbers, and have felt as if God would not condemn and punish such a vast multitude. No opinion can be more unsafe, or in its consequences more unhappy. If one sinner is thus insignificant, unnecessary, and useless to God, all others sustain exactly the same character. If one sinner is thus odious and guilty, the guilt and the odiousness are only increased by increasing their number. If one is a nuisance to the universe, thousands are only a proportionably greater nuisance. What reason, then, can their multitudes furnish to their Creator, either for continuing them in existence, or for delivering them from the punishment which they have merited? To the imagination and the feelings, this consideration is indeed overwhelming; but the understanding is compelled to the concluIsion which has here been made.

Accordingly, when the angels rebelled, the sentence against them was not at all relaxed on account of their multitude. The deluge overwhelmed the old world with a destruction which swept away the whole human race, except the family of Noah. All the inhabitants of the cities of the plain, except Lot and his family, perished in the storms of fire and brimstone which was sent to reward their wickedness. Not an individual, in all these cases, was at all the more safe, nor in any degree less severely punished, because he was accompanied by so many other guilty beings. Why should we expect this consideration to avail any more for our safety, than for the safety of the sinners, who in these several cases were utterly destroyed?

VII. This doctrine teaches us, that humility is the true wisdom, interest, and duty of man.

If we are thus unnecessary to God, and if we are thus insig

nificant, thus useless, thus guilty, thus odious, of what should we be proud?

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"Pride," says the Son of Sirach, "was not made for man.” How strangely do the observations which have been made in this discourse support this interesting declaration! Of what shall we be proud? Of our personal worth? Let us remember, (for if we do not, God will,) that we are sinners. What to his eye must be the moral worth of a sinner? What, indeed, is that of the best of mankind? Paul, after all the proofs which he received of the favour of God; after all his benevolent and wonderful labours, and after all his high attainments in piety, pronounced himself, while writing with the pen of inspiration, the chief of sinners. David, the man after God's own heart, says of himself, "I am a worm, and no man. I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." Of Job, God said, "There is none like him in the earth; a "perfect and upright man; one that feared God, and eschew"ed evil.” This perfect and upright man said to his Maker, "Behold I am vile, what shall I answer thee? I will lay my "hand upon my mouth. I abhor myself, and repent in dust " and ashes." Where could either of these men have found, in their personal character, reasons for indulging pride? The real worth even of such men is alloyed by multiplied sins and infirmities, which render the whole composition odious. Accordingly it is declared, "that if God should mark iniquity, no "man living could stand before him, or be justified in his sight." Plainly, therefore, the best of our race have no foundation on which pride can rest.

Men of inferior excellence possess fewer and feebler virtues. Of course, pride was not made for them. Sinners are unpossessed even of these, and not even a single white spot varies the dark and cheerless turpitude which is the ground-work of their character. Of what then shall they be proud? Of their deformity, their guilt, their shame, or their approaching condemnation ?

But neither they, nor those who are better than they, have any room for the indulgence of pride. He who is wise may indeed be profitable to himself; but who can be profitable to

God? Of what consequence could it have been to this glorious and all-sufficient Being, if the wisest and best man who ever lived had not been created? In the possession of all his endowments and acquisitions, and after all his most faithful and useful labours; even when he may truly say, "In no"thing am I behind the very chiefest Apostles," he must still add, "I am nothing." Even when Paul is the planter, and Apollos the waterer, it will ever be true, that neither he who planteth, nor he who watereth, is any thing; but God who giveth the increase is every thing. The best of men, the most exalted angel, instead of having any claims upon his Maker for the services which he thus rendered, is only the more indebted to his Maker, the greater and more excellent his endowments are, and the more valuable his services. God only brings us in debt to him by enabling us to serve him; by giving us a disposition to serve him, and by furnishing us with opportunities of performing this service. This debt is mightily increased by his acceptance of our services. It is immeasurably increased by the fact, that he permits those who were once rebels and outcasts to return to his service, and qualifies them for it by bestowing on them anew, in the work of sanctification, a sincere desire to be employed in his service. Sinners think the service of God a task, a burthen imposed on them by a hard master, and a kind of dire necessity. No opinion can be more false or more unhappy. Instead of all this, it is the first privilege, the highest honour, the greatest blessing which he can enjoy. It will ever be true, that "the statutes of the Lord "are right, rejoicing the heart" of every good man; that they are more to be desired than gold, yea, than much fine 86 gold; that they are sweeter also than honey, and the honey"comb; and that in keeping of them there is great reward.”

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Away then with all the pride and vanity of the human heart, especially with the pride and vanity of our own hearts. Away with our self-flattery, our self-justification, and our self-righteousness. Christ, although he "was in the form of God, and thought it no robbery to be equal with God, yet made himself "of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant." The spirit which he here manifested, he has required us to assume.

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This very account of him is introduced by St. Paul with these words, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ." "Take my yoke upon you," says the Saviour himself," and "learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart." In the world of sin, pride always claims, and not unfrequently receives, a kind of honour from the miserable sinners by whom it is inhabited. In the world of righteousness, humility is always before honour, and a qualification absolutely indispensable to secure the respect of the virtuous minds by which it is inhabited, and the approbation of the glorious Being by whom it is governed.

VIII. Let no sinner presume upon the continuance of his life, as a reason for his persisting in sin.

For what reason should the life of a sinner be continued? Is it his wisdom? Is it his worth? Is it his importance to the divine kingdom? Is it that God needs his services? Is it that he renders any services to God? Is it that he labours to be a blessing to the universe? How obviously must all these questions be answered in the negative! But if he neither pleases, obeys, nor glorifies his Maker, nor does good to his fellow-creatures, what reason can he possibly allege why his life should be prolonged? Were he annihilated, or swept into the pit of destruction, the universe, instead of suffering an injury, or experiencing a loss, would, so far as we are able to judge, only be delivered from a nuisance. Even were the loss real, it could be repaired, and more than repaired, by a word. In his stead might rise up a child of Abraham, a Paul, an angel.

Can even the sinner, infatuated as he is, can any sinner in this house seriously believe, that God will be induced to prolong his life, merely to give him additional opportunities of persisting in his obstinacy and impiety, his ingratitude and rebellion? Can He, who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, be induced to lengthen out the days of an apostate, that he may anew dishonour his Maker, crucify his Redeemer afresh, and do more and more despite to the Spirit of Grace? Can Jehovah be pleased to hear his glorious and fearful name profaned by a human tongue? Can he look with a smile upon reiterated falsehood, fraud, and injustice, practised by one hu