gratifies those appetites which he hath in most importent sense of that word. For common with the inferior creatures. And what is natural death, as it is commonly though he is often, or rather always, dis- styled? The soul, when separated from appointed in his expectation; yet, being the body, doth not cease to exist; and unacquainted with any better sustenance though the body itself moulders into dust, than this earth affords, he only makes new yet no particle of that dust is annihilated experiments, persists in seeking his por- or lost. The principal effect of that hution here below, and will continue to do miliating event, is to put an end to the so, till, by some means or other, he get a creature's connection with a present world; mind to discern those spritual objects, and the man ceases to be any more an inhabitan appetite to relish those spiritual enjoy-ant of this earth: and when we say he is ments, which are the proper food of the dead, this is all we commonly mean to exsoul, the only aliment whereby its real life | press. and well-being can be supported. Hence it already appears, in some measure,

II. THAT to separate a sinner from idols, must be the peculiar work of God himself; which was the second observation I proposed to illustrate.

Now sin hath broken our connection with the spiritual world, as really as the separation of the soul from the body will break our connection with this material world; and therefore, without any metaphor, sin is the death of the soul or spirit of the man, whereby it is cut off from the source of life, and utterly disabled to relish those employments or pleasures which alone can render a spiritual being happy. And in this state it must remain, till the same power that gave it existence at first shall create it anew, and restore those faculties which sin had destroyed, of acting and enjoying according to its true and proper nature.

The natural man, as I just now said, may change the object of his devotion; and having experienced the vanity of any particular idol, he may say concerning it, "What have I to do any more with thee?" Such a change as this is abundantly common, it is easy, nay it is necessary: it requires no exertion of strength: weakness itself is sufficient to produce it, being no other than the natural, the unavoidable, consequence of satiety and disgust. But The use of this observation is twofold; amidst ten thousand changes of this kind, first, that those who are turned from idols the man is only turning from one idol to may, with humble gratitude, give God the another; and though he may pass from glory, and cheerfully trust in him for pergrosser ones to others more refined; from fecting the change his grace hath begun; inere bodily indulgence to the amusements and, secondly, That they who are conof science; or, perhaps, from the gratifica-scious that they are still joined to idols, tion of selfish and turbulent passions to may immediately, and without any circuit, the cultivation and practice of some public and social virtues; yet still he stops short of God: all the objects of his pursuit belong to the present state of things; and he aspires to no higher felicity than may be gathered from the materials of this earth which he inhabits.

go directly to the Fountain of life, even the Father of spirits, who is in Christ Jesus reconciling the world unto himself, and cry as they can, for new life, from him who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things that be not as though they were.

But how doth God quicken the dead in trespasses and sins, and separate the sinner from his idols?

Accordingly, the conversion of a sinner, or the turning him from idols to the true God, is every where throughout the Scrip- III. My third observation is the antures represented as the effect of omnipo- swer to this question. He doth it by the tent creating power. It is called a new discovery and application of his pardoning creation, a being born again, a resurrec- mercy and sanctifying grace. I join these tion, a passing from death to life. Nor are together, because they are so inseparably these expressions metaphorical, but strict-connected, that neither of them can exist ly just; they are the words not of truth only, but of soberness. The apostate creature is really dead, in the truest and

apart; "for whom God justifies, them he also sanctifies." And both of them are expressly mentioned in the context, as the

means by which Ephraim should be dis- | vineyard comes into his garden, to eat his

posed and enabled to say, What have I to do any more with idols?

pleasant fruits; or, to drop the allusion, when the soul, washed, and sanctified, and justified, hath experienced the ineffable delights of fellowship with the Father, and with the Son, through the Spirit ;then the victory over the world is completed, and the person will be enabled to say without any reserve, What have I to do any more with idols?

IV. My fourth and last observation was, that these words of Ephraim, in their most extensive meaning, will, and must be adopted by all, without exception, upon whom God hath been pleased to confer his pardoning mercy, and his sanctifying grace. For these important blessings are not on

The discovery of pardoning mercy is the first means employed for working this change. Fear is the immediate consequence of guilt, which soon degenerates into hatred, or that emnity against God which is the distinguishing characteristic of the carnal mind. No sooner had Adam sinned than he became afraid of his Maker, and preposterously endeavored to flee from his presence. This fear is the natural inheritance of his children. God appears as an enemy to the guilty soul; and so long as he is viewed in that light, it is impossible that he can be the object of its love. But the report of pardoningly the means by which the sinner is sepamercy presents him in a light so suited to the necessities of the apostate creature, that in proportion as it is believed, the sinner is encouraged to look to him with hope. And when the evidence of this report is so fully seen, as to vanquish distrustful, tormenting fear; when the blessed record gains entire credit, "that God hath given to us eternal life, and that this life is in his Son," whom he hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood; that, without staining the honor of his justice, a way might be opened for the free exercise of mercy to the chief of sinners; then God becomes the object both of love and confidence, and appears so completely amiable, that, in comparison of him, those idols which the soul formerly desired, stripped of their delusive charms, are regarded with contempt, nay, renounced with abhorrence.

Now, if the believing views of God's pardoning mercy have this effect, how powerful must the experience of it be, when accompanied, as it always is, with his sanctifying grace? When the soul hath not only seen, but tasted, that the Lord is gracious, and that in him the fatherless findeth mercy; when God saith, (as in verse 4th) "I will heal their backslidings, I will love them freely, for mine anger is turned away;" especially when, as it fol lows, he becomes "as the dew unto Israel," causing the influences of his Spirit to descend upon the soul, whereby the barren wilderness is turned into a fruitful field; above all, when the great Lord of the

rated from idols, but they are means which can never fail to produce the effect. This happy change is not only their natural, but their necessary consequence; and therefore, if we be not turned from idols, however just and orthodox our speculative opinions concerning these points may be, it is certain, that we have not yet tasted that the Lord is gracious; for thus it is written, (Gal. i. 4) that Christ " gave himself for our sins," according to the will of God, "that he might deliver us from this present evil world; " and it is mentioned as the distinguishing character and real attainment of all his redeemed. ones, (Gal. v. 24.) " They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts.'

By this time you will have discovered your concern in the subject, and the use you ought to make of it. I have showed that man, in his natural state, is joined to idols; that it is God alone who can separate him from them; and that he doth it by means of his pardoning mercy and sanctifying grace. Now it is by faith in the Redeemer that any of the children of Adam come to be interested in these great and inestimable benefits. Here then you are furnished with a plain decisive test, whereby you may judge of your Christian profession, and examine yourselves whether you be in the faith. If idols reign with full power in your hearts, the conclusion is unavoidable, that as yet you have neither part nor lot in the Saviour; you are utter strangers, both to pardoning mercy and

sanctifying grace.

On the other hand, though their dominion be taken from them, so that they cannot be said to reign within. you; yet, in whatever degree their influence remains, you may certainly conclude, that so far your faith must be weak in proportion. Only this is your comfort, that he who hath begun the good work will carry it forward to perfection; for "he is the rock, his work is perfect, and all his ways are judgment." He who is the author, is likewise the finisher of his people's faith. To him therefore let your humble prayer be addressed. Say to him as the disciples did, "Lord, increase our faith." And you may do it in the assured hope of being heard; for he hath promised the Spirit to them that ask it. Let us then ask and receive, that our joy may be full.

ford that kind of happiness which is adapt-
ed to the nature, and commensurate to the
duration, of an immortal spirit. Reason
is, in all respects, unequal to the task. It
no doubt can discover, and may descant
very plausibly, upon the vanity of the
creature: but, alas! a hungry man will
feed upon husks rather than starve; nay,
Rsason itself will justify him in doing so.
Something must be presented to him of
real worth and excellence; something that
can supply all his wants, and render him
contented and happy, independent of the
objects and enjoyments of sense.
It must
likewise be something attainable; and
which, when once obtained, cannot be taken
from him.

ຄ

Upon the whole, then, we see, in the 3d place, the importance and use of faith in Christ. The sacrifice he offered lays a FROM all that hath been said, we learn, firm foundation for the hope of pardon to 1st. How to account for that idolatry the chief of sinners. There we see sin which is so prevalent in the world. While condemned in the flesh, the law infinitely man remained innocent, he had free access glorified, and the justice of the Lawgiver, to the Author of his existence; and, being not only receiving full satisfaction, but assured of his friendship, he rejoiced in the more illustriously displayed, and more displays of his glory; and all the creatures highly exalted, by the sufferings of his he beheld, instead of intercepting or divid-own Son in our nature, than it could have ing his love, served only to remind him been by the final condemnation and everhow much he himself was indebted to the lasting punishment of the whole apostate bounty of their Creator. But sin intro- posterity of Adam. This hath an obvious duced a dismal revolution into the heart and powerful tendency to remove those of man. Alienated from God, and con- fears which necessarily spring from scious of deserved punishment, we either sense of guilt; for when we discover a think not of him at all, or dread him in way in which God may righteously pardon the tremendous character of a judge and the sinner, then we can look up to him avenger. At the same time we must have with hope; we are no longer compelled to something to gratify our inbred desire of flee from his presence; the revelation of happiness; and finding among the crea mercy and forgiveness invites our approach tures around us, not only the necessary to him, and thereby weakens one of the materials for supplying our bodily wants, strongest of those cords that bind us to a but likewise a variety of objects and enjoy. present world; especially when, to the inments suited to the inferior part of our trinsic worth and value of Christ's sacrinature, our hearts cleave to them, we pur-fice, we add, that it was offered up in consue them with eagerness, and hope to ex-sequence of a divine appointment: for tract that pleasure from the possession of "Christ glorified not himself to be made. them which we despair of finding any an High-Priest, but he who said unto where else. Hence likewise we learn, him, Thou art my Son, this day have I 2dly. That nothing can avail for this idolatry, which doth not relieve from the guilt of sin, and vanquish the tormenting fear of wrath, by representing God in a light wherein we can behold him with pleasure; nay, which doth not bring an object in view that outshines a present world, and will af

begotten thee." This strikes at the very root of all distrust and jealousy. When we are well assured that "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him might not perish, but have everlasting life;" what stronger evidence could the most

suspicious mind require of his merciful pel. This great object darkens the delunature, and kind regards to the children sive lustre of all seen things. What hath of men? Doth not this astonishing act of this earth to offer that can stand the least grace, this unspeakable gift, unmerited, comparison with that fulness of joy which and even unsolicited, amount to a full de- is at God's right hand? Animated by monstration of what the apostle John re- this prospect, the believing Hebrews "took peatedly asserts, viz. GOD IS LOVE? Can joyfully the spoiling of their goods, knowany one that believes this, hesitate for a ing in themselves, that in heaven they had moment to draw the same conclusion from a better and more enduring substance." it that Paul did, (Rom. viii. 32.) "He They did not regret the loss of those perthat spared not his own Son, but deliver- ishing trifles, for which carnal men coned him up for us all, how shall he not tend with such eager and unremitting lawith him also freely give us all things?" bor: they looked beyond them to permaAnd this leads me to observe, that Christ's nent and substantial blessings, and rejoiced giving himself for our sins, according to in the hope, "that when the earthly house the will of God, hath a mighty efficacy to of this tabernacle should be dissolved, separate us from idols; not only by laying they had a building of God, an house not a solid foundation for our hope of pardon, made with hands, eternal in the heavens." and representing the Father in such a light But I must here add, that all these disas cannot fail to vanquish that fear and coveries, which have so obvious a tendency jealousy which render the thoughts of him to separate us from idols, derive their virpainful and alarming to the sinner; but tue and efficacy from that divine Spirit further, by giving us the animating pros which Christ purchased by his sufferings pect, and the fullest assurance, of that and obedience unto death; whose office it incorruptible inheritance, which our great is, not only to throw light upon the great Redeemer hath purchased with his blood, truths revealed in the gospel, and to open and promised to bestow upon all without or unvail our eyes, that we may see them in exception, who, acknowledging the original all their evidence, but likewise to carry them forfeiture, and the justice of the sentence home into our hearts with such demonstrawhich condemns them to die, are willing tion and power, that they shall become the to receive new life from his hand, and to type or mould wherein that new man is hold it by his right, as a free gift to them, formed, which after God is created in rightthrough the merit of his obedience unto teousness, and true holiness. By this dideath in their place. This world, as I for- vine agent we are born into the kingdom merly observed, vain and unsatisfying as and family of God, and are connected with it is, will still appear of some importance the spiritual world as really as by our nato men, so long as they are unacquainted tural birth we are introduced into and with any thing better. It is this that ren- connected with this material world. In ders death the king of terrors; and they consequence whereof, we become sons, not who cannot look with comfort beyond the in name only, but in nature; and, as St. grave, will not only cleave to a present Paul reasons, upon a principle universally world, but will even submit to the most admitted, "If sons, then are we also heirs, grievous hardships and inconveniences, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ rather than consent to the dissolution of Jesus." This powerful renovation pulls these earthly tabernacles: "Skin for skin, down at once every idol from the throne, all that a man hath will he give for his and lays them all under the feet of the life." Nothing can reconcile us to a re- man in Christ;" for every thing tends to moval from this world but the discovery the place of its original. "They that are of another, where we shall continue to live after the flesh do mind the things of the and to partake of enjoyments preferable flesh: and they that are after the spirit to any of those we leave behind us. Now, the things of the spirit:"--"They have for this discovery we are wholly indebted not received the spirit of the world, but to the Lord Jesus Christ. Life and im- the spirit which is of God, whereby they mortality are brought to light by his gos- I know the things that are freely given them