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such things as many are.' So said the Pharisee in the parable, God, I thank thee that I am not as other men and so said the wicked priests, in the days of Malachi, What have we spoken so мUCH against thee? O my hearers, commune with your hearts, and you will find them to be very different from your present thoughts of . them.

There is one thing in particular, which, perhaps, never struck attention, your total want of love to God. This is the sin of your nature, and the fruitful parent of all other sins. God requires the whole heart; as, indeed, he justly may, for he is worthy of it; but you have no heart to give him. It is preoccupied, and that with such things as are contrary to God. All your actual sins are but little, compared with this. They have been committed only at different times; but this is a tide, deep and large, that flows without cessation or interruption. Those are the fruits; but this is the poisonous root from which they spring. If you loved God, you could not love the world, and the things of the world, as you do. You could not blaspheme his name, neglect his worship, or trample on his laws; and all with unconcern. Neither could you feel towards your neighbour as you do in many instances. All bitterness, and wrath, and malice, and evil speaking; all envy towards them that are above you, and pride, oppression, and unfeeling treatment, towards them that are beneath you; all arise from a want of the love of God; for he that loveth God, will love his brother also.

All unconverted sinners, I believe, retain a good opinion of their hearts, however they may differ in expressing it: which is evidently owing to their ignorance of its deceitfulness and desperate wickedness. Some make no secret of it. 'It is true,' say they, 'I now and then swear, when in a passion, and get too much liquor once in a while; but I mean no evil; my heart is good.' Others who have been brought up under evangelical preaching, are ashamed of this language, and would despise the ignorance of the person who should use it. They will not deny in words that their kearts are bad ; howbeit they mean not so. By heart they understand, they know not what, something distinct from intention disposition, or desire Therefore they are sometimes heard to say, 'It is true, I am not

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converted; but I desire to be, so. I cannot say, I love Christ; but I wish I did.' This is the same thing as saying, My heart is good. If I be not a converted man, it is not my fault. I am willing at any time, if God would but convert me.' But all this is false and delusive. If you were willing to return to God, by Jesus Christ, there is nothing in heaven or earth that stands in your way. The truth is, you love your sins too well to part with them for Christ or heaven; and have no desires after conversion for its own sake, but merely as a something, which, at times, you think you could submit to, rather than suffer eternal damnation. Whoever neglects to commune with his own heart, it is necessary for you, that you may know your true character; of which, with all your advantages, you are hitherto totally ignorant.

Even in the concerns of men with men, there is much blindness to their own motives, and deception in forming a judgment of their own conduct; which is owing to a want of looking into themselves. A thousand things are defended by persons, in company, which, were they to retire alone, and commune with their own bearts, they would be obliged to condemn. In how many instances have contentions been cherished, and half a neighbourhood either brought in as witnesses, or in some way implicated in the contest, which might all have been decided in a quarter of an hour, if the party bad only retired alone, and asked himself this question: Have I done to my neighbour what I should have wished him, in like circumstances, to have done to me?

4. There are things on account of which you may value yourselves, and of which you may make a righteousness, that, if you were to retire alone, would be found of a very opposite nature. It is possible, you may have been in the habit of reading a chapter in the Bible, once a week, or oftener, in your family; of frequenting public worship; of giving away something to people who are poorer than yourself; and of shunning public houses and riotous assemblies. It is possible, likewise, that you may consider this as the way to heaven, and, from hence, lay your account with being happy in the world to come. But, if you look into your heart, you may find that the motives which have influenced you have been such as God can never approve; and, if so, instead of justifying,

they will serve only to condemn you. If you have read the scriptures, or gone to a place of worship, merely from custom, and not from any love you had to these things; if you have relieved the poor out of pride, rather than pure compassion; and if that which has preserved you from the grossest vices. has been rather a regard to your interest, health, or character, than any concern for the honour of God; can such things be acceptable in his sight?

But, if your motives were ever so pure, and your good deeds ever so many; yet, having broken the holy, just, and good law of God, you cannot be justified by any thing which you can do. If you commune with your heart to any good purpose, you will never think of being saved by the works of your own hands; but feel the necessity of a Saviour, and of a great one. The doctrine of salvation by the death of Jesus will be glad tidings to your soul. Finally: you will, as you are exhorted in the verse following the text, offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the Lord. In other words, with a broken and contrite spirit, you will approach the God against whom you have sinned; mourn over your unprovoked offences, as one mourneth for an only son; and be in bitterness as one that is in bitterness for his first-born and this, without thinking of either your prayers or tears as being any thing, or of any account; but, placing all your hope and help in him, who, when we were without strength, in due time died for the ungodly. To him be glory for ever! Amen.

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ADVICE TO THE DEJECTED: OR, THE SOUL DIRECTED TO LOOK OUT OF ITSELF FOR CONSOLATION.

SERMON XII.

PSALM Xiii. 2.

How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily?

We have, in a former discourse, considered the importance of looking into our own hearts; but that counsel is not applicable in all cases. There is such a thing as to pore on our guilt and wretchedness, to the overlooking of our highest mercies. Though it be proper to know our own hearts, for the purpose of conviction, yet, if we expect consolation from this quarter, we shall find ourselves sadly disappointed.

Such, for a time, appears to have been the case of David. He seems to have been in great distress; and, as is common in such cases, his thoughts turned inward, casting in his mind what he should do, and what would be the end of things. While thus exercised, he had sorrow in his heart daily but, betaking himself to God for relief, he succeeded; trusting in his mercy, his heart rejoiced in his salvation.

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