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counsel, and mighty in work; for thine eyes are upon all the ways of the sons of men, to give to every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings*

Let us think of this, and be deeply impressed with the thought-God remembers all the wickedness of men! "Their works are in the dark; and they say, Who seeth us? And who knoweth us?" "God hath forgotten; he hideth his face; he will never see.” "How doth God know; and is there knowledge in the Most High?" Foolish imagination! There is not a sinful thought, or malicious intention conceived, but He observes it: there is not a falsehood or a slander uttered, but He marks it down: there is no crime committed in open day, or perpetrated in the gloom of night, but it is visible to Him with whom we have to do, and is recorded in the book of his remembrance.

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You that forget God, that forget yourselves, that forget your sins; you that go on in a course of open transgression, or indulge secret iniquity-know that God remembers! and " that for all these things God will bring you into judgment!" "Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come; who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the heart. For there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known." Much that now lies concealed will, in that awful day,

Jer. xxxii. 18, 19.

be disclosed; and sin of every description, unrepented of and unpardoned, will not only be published to an assembled universe, but receive the sentence of eternal punishment.

We observe in the text,

II. The EVIL stated; that men forget this fact. They consider not in their hearts, that God remembers all their wickedness.

It is not said, that they have no thought of this kind. Few are totally void of reflection. Most men have occasional convictions of sin, some notion of God, and some persuasion that wickedness is remembered by him. The great evil here lamented is-Inconsideration: " they consider not in their hearts;" that is, closely, seriously, and with application to themselves.

What is the evidence of this? How does the want of consideration appear?-It appears in men's continued commission of sin: they add iniquity unto iniquity, both in the practice of fresh offences, and in the repetition of old transgressions.-It appears in their doing this without regret: the sin of vast numbers never costs them a sigh; they have no painful feeling under the thought of having offended a holy God, and abused the mercy and love of Christ; wickedness gives them no concern, except when they personally feel its inconvenience.-It appears in their readiness to ertenuate sin. What more common than this? Their inward thought is, I have not sinned it is only a little folly; only what others are doing continually.' A more affecting proof can hardly be given, that they consider not in their hearts that God remembers all their wickedness. Especially if we add, their disregard to future conse

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quences. Where is the sinner that trembles under the apprehension of hell, though laden with unnumbered transgressions? "The end of those things is death." If men duly regarded this fact, could they walk carelessly on the very brink of the bottomless abyss? They suspect no danger; a certain proof that they consider not in their hearts that God remembers all their wickedness.

But wherein consists the EVIL of this want of consideration? What makes it so hateful? Why does God bring it forward as so serious a charge?

1. They who are thus chargeable, neglect the plainest admonitions of Scripture.

The command is twice repeated in the same chapter; "Now, therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts,

Consider your ways." The ways of men are their

doings, their actions, which are all remembered of God, and for which they must give an account at his bar. These ways must be attentively considered; their nature, their motives, their object, and their result, ought to be seriously weighed. But they who consider not, are highly culpable: they neglect what God has plainly commanded. Hence the affecting language of Moses: "O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!" What is the latter end of man? Death, judgment, and eternity. These are realities in which man is closely concerned; and which should, on every principle of reason and interest, awaken the most serious reflection.

2. They oppose the frequent dictates of Con

science.

What man is not conscious that there is a God, on whom he depends, and to whom he is accountable; that this God takes knowledge of all his designs, and

is acquainted with all his conduct? You are frequently urged to the consideration of these things by what you feel within. This inward monitor is Conscience. And are you happy in a careless disregard to its dictates, or in a constant struggle against its faithful suggestions? No: you are far from happy; and truly you are far from safe. Conscience, against which you now strive, will prove at length, if you persist in the sinful contest, your keen tormentor, in that place "where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched."

sin.

3. They allow themselves in the practice of secret

We have already remarked, that no sins are secret with respect to God. Some, however, are concealed from the notice of the world, as covetous desires, unhallowed wishes, malicious intentions, the workings of pride, envy, hatred, and the like. Now they who cast off regard to the authority of God, who forget that he seeth them, who consider not in their hearts that he remembereth all their wickednessthese persons have regard only to man. They may not plunge into all kinds of iniquity; but the fear of God does not restrain: it is the fear of man. They are curbed, perhaps, by regard to interest, or safety, or character. No better motive possessed, while they indulge in one sin they would also indulge in others, were they tempted to them, were the opportunity afforded, and provided they could practise them without fear of detection, and free from the apprehension of disgrace.-But this is not the worst. 4. They proceed, by guilty inconsideration, to the commission of open vice.

It is not in the power of man, with all his contrivances, long to conceal the ruling disposition of

his soul. Loving strangers, after them he will go. -Where there is pleasure in sin, and the mind unrestrained by the fear of God, other restraints will avail but little. The first time man yields to temptation, it is not without some qualms of conscience, and he is smitten with remorse: he thinks, "Never will I yield again, or suffer myself to be thus foolishly overcome." But the beginning of sin is as the letting out of water; having escaped, immediately it forces a wider passage, and presently an inundation follows. Once the man set bounds to himself: "Hitherto will I go, but no farther." Soon, all such purposes are of no account: temptation returning, and the principle of resistance weakened, the inconsiderate transgressor falls an easy prey. By fatal degrees, the fear of shame subsides, the clamour of conscience abates, the heart grows hard, and the mind almost desperate. You have noticed the fly caught in the spider's web: once entangled, it can do nothing; every effort it makes to get free, only winds another thread round its wings; and after a few ineffectual struggles it is destroyed.

Such is the danger of forgetting God; the dreadful evil of not considering in the heart that he remembers all the wickedness of men. They who are guilty of the evil, neglect the plainest admonitions of the Bible; they oppose the frequent dictates of conscience; they allow themselves in the practice of secret sin; and the transition is easy to the commission of open vice. Let none deceive themselves.

5. Thus proceeding, they eventually ruin the soul. Have you not heard, "the way of transgressors is hard;" and "the wages of sin is death?" Yes, by whatever names it may be varnished over, under

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