SERMON III. juft alfo in much. If therefore ye "have not been faithfull in the un- "His Lord faid unto him, Well done, thou good and faithfull fervant; "thou hast been faithfull over a few things, I will make thee ruler over "Be ye afraid of the fword: for wrath bringeth the punishments of the SERMON VI. On the judicial Confequences of 86 PROVERBS Xxiv. 21. My Son, fear thou the Lord, and the SERMON SERMON I. I SAM. XV. 29. "And alfo, the Strength of Ifrael will "not lie, nor repent: for He is not a "man that He fhould repent." As true and ftedfast Faith in God is the only fure foundation of practice truely righteous, fo every omiffion of fuch practice might perhaps be traced to a correfpondent deficiency in faith; even when men appear to dare the effects of tranfgreffion, and to act under the knowledge of the punishments which await the guilty, they have some confused hope, that the penalties of the law may in their cafe be evaded, and they so far difbelieve those menaces which declare that the wicked fhall not go unpunished. To manifeft to you the juftice of this obfervation, I need only recall to your remembrance what passes in your own minds when ye yield to temptation: that the law forbids the tranfgreffion ye are about to commit, ye do not deny; nor do ye in general doubt the divine origin of that law. Yet is there not in your hearts a lurking hope, that God will in your cafe repent of the threatenings He has denounced against finners? and, however inconfiftent such a hope may be with the belief of the unchangeable perfection of your great Creatour, does not it in fact serve as an encouragement to you to proceed in tranfgreffion? To obviate such fallacious hope, and prevent Chriftians from deceiving them |