transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape, if we neglect so GREAT salvation?

We are in the habit of pitying heathens, who are inthralled by abominable superstition, and immersed in the immoralities which accompany it; but to live in the midst of Gospel light, and reject it, or even disregard it, is abundantly more criminal, and will be followed with a heavier punishment. We feel for the condition of profligate characters-for swearers, and drunkards, and fornicators, and liars, and thieves, and murderers; but these crimes become tenfold more heinous, in being committed under the light of revelation, and in contempt of all the warnings and gracious invitations of the Gospel. most profligate character, who never possessed these advantages, may be far less criminal in the sight of God than the most sober and decent, who possesses, and disregards them. It was on this principle that such a heavy woe was denounced against Chorazin and Bethsaida, and that their sin was represented as exceeding that of Sodom.

The

The Gospel wears an aspect of mercy towards sinners; but towards unbelieving sinners, the Scriptures deal wholly in the language of threatening. I am come, saith our Savior, a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. IF ANY MAN HEAR MY WORDS, AND BELIEVE NOT, 1 judge him not, [that is, not at present;] for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that

judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. John xii. 46-48. It will be of but small account, in that day, that we have escaped a few of the lusts of the flesh, if we have been led captive by those of the mind. If the greatest gift of Heaven be set at nought by us, through the pride of science, or a vain conceit of our own righteousness, how shall we stand when He appeareth?

It will then be found that a price was in our hands to get wisdom, but that we had no heart to it; and that herein consists our sin, and from hence proceeds our ruin. God called, and we would not hearken; he stretched out his hand, and no man regarded: therefore he will laugh at our calamity, and mock when our fear cometh. It is intimated, both in the Old and New Testament, that the recollection of the means of salvation having been within our reach, will be a bitter aggravation to our punishment. They come unto thee, saith the Lord to Ezekiel, as the people come, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them. And when this cometh to pass, (lo, it will come!) THEN SHALL THEY KNOW THAT A PROPHET HATH BEEN AMONG THEM. Ezek. xxxiii. 31-33. To the same purpose, our Savior speaks of those who should reject the doctrine of his apostles. Into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say, Even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you. NOTWITHSTANDING, BE YE SURE OF THIS, THAT THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS COME NIGH UNTO YOU. Luke x. 10, 11.

Great as is the sin of unbelief, however, it is not unpardonable. It becomes such only by persisting in it till death. Saul of Tarsus was an unbeliever; yet he obtained mercy. And his being an unbeliever, rather than a presumptuous opposer of Christ against conviction, placed him within the pale of forgiveness, and is, therefore, assigned as a reason of it. 1 Tim. i. 13.

This consideration affords a hope even to unbelievers. O ye self-righteous despisers of a free salvation through a Mediator, be it known to you that there is no other name given under heaven, or among men, by which you can be saved. To him whom you have disregarded and despised, you must, either voluntarily or involuntarily, submit: To him every knee shall bow. You cannot go back into a state of non-existence, however desirable it might be to many of you; for God hath stamped immortality upon your natures. You cannot turn to the right hand, nor to the left, with any advantage. Whether you give a loose to your inclination, or put a force upon it by an assumed devotion, each will lead to the same issue. Neither can you stand still. Like a vessel in a tempestuous ocean, you must go this way or that; and, go which way you will, if it be not to Jesus, as utterly unworthy, you are only heaping up wrath against the day of wrath. Whether you sing, or pray, or hear, or preach, or feed the poor, or till the soil, if self be your object, and Christ be disregarded, all is sin, (Prov. xv. 8, 9: xxviii. 9: xxi. 4,) and will all issue in disappointment: The root is rottenness, and the blossom shall go up as the dust. Whither

will you go? Jesus invites you to come to him. His servants beseech you, in his name, to be reconciled to God. The Spirit saith, Come; and the bride saith, Come; and whosoever will, let him come, and take of the water of life freely. An eternal heaven is before you, in one direction, and an eternal hell in the other. Your answer is required. Be one thing or another. Choose you, this day, whom ye will serve. For our parts, we will abide by our Lord and Savior. If you continue to reject him, so it must be. Nevertheless, be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God has come NIGH unto you.

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Finally From what has been advanced, we may form a judgment of our duty, as ministers of the word, in dealing with the unconverted. The work of the Christian ministry, it has been said, is to preach the Gospel, or to hold up the free grace of God through Jesus Christ, as the only way of a sinner's salvation. This is, doubtless, true; and if this be not the leading theme of our ministrations, we had better be any thing than preachers. Woe unto us, if we preach not the Gospel! The minister who, under a pretence of pressing the practice of religion, neglects its all-important principles, labors in the fire. He may enforce duty till duty freezes upon his lips. Neither his auditors nor himself will greatly regard it. But, on the contrary, if, by preaching the Gospel, be meant the insisting solely upon the blessings and privileges of religion, to the neglect of exhortations, calls, and warnings, it is sufficient to say that such was not the practice of Christ and his apostles. It will

not be denied that they preached the Gospel; yet they warned, admonished, and entreated sinners to repent and believe; to believe while they had the light; to labor not for the meat that perisheth, but for that which endureth unto everlasting life; to repent, and be converted, that their sins might be blotted out; to come to the marriage supper, for that all things were ready; in fine, to be reconciled unto God.

If the inability of sinners to perform things spiritually good were natural, or such as existed independent of their present choice, it would be absurd and cruel to address them in such language. No one in his senses would think of calling the blind to look, the deaf to hear, or the dead to rise up and walk, and of threatening them with punishment in case of their refusal. But, if the blindness arise from the love of darkness rather than light; if the deafness resemble that of the adder, which stoppeth her ear, and will not hear the voice of the charmer, charm he never so wisely; and if the death consist in alienation of heart from God, and the absence of all desire after him; there is no absurdity or cruelty in such addresses.

But enforcing the duties of religion, either on sinners or saints, is, by some, called preaching the law. If it were so, it is enough for us that such was the preaching of Christ and his apostles. It is folly and presumption to affect to be more evangelical than they were. All practical preaching, however, is not preaching the law. That, only, I apprehend, ought to be censured as preaching the law, in which our acceptance