abused the Bible, and the publication of the gospel. "The law of the Lord is right, the commandment of the Lord is perfect and pure;" yet, Oh, may a penitent say, How I abused it, how I neglected its calls, its invitations, its promises! How I refused to behold Christ crucified, to look unto the Saviour of sinners! I perverted that which was right; despising the book, the day, the people of God: so have I abused the best of blessings.

Some men

3. This is a confession of having experienced disappointment in the ways of sin. I have done all this, "and it profited me not." foolishly and wickedly say, It profiteth a man nothing that he should delight himself in God; but every penitent can truly testify, that the way of transgressors is hard, and that it ensures disappointment and dissatisfaction,-"it profiteth me not." Now can I testify that it is all vanity and vexation of spirit. We may try the pursuit of gold, of fame, or of lawless pleasure; but, "What shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" "For when ye were the servants of sin, what fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed?" The sincere penitent confesses, that he was quite mistaken in the hope of happiness from the world; that as yet he has not obtained it; that all has been delusion and deceit ; that he has grasped at shadows, and thus proved his own folly and misery. "It profiteth me not." Oh, sinner, if you never made this confession before, I am sure you will make it on a dying bed;

you will then see that the things which now please and amuse you, profit you not. O that you would now go and tell this to God before that solemn hour arrives. Humbled for sin, confess the cheat the world has played on you; it has profited you nothing.

III. My text discovers the triumph of reigning grace. "For if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." "I have, surely," says God, "heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus: Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke; turn thou me, and I shall be turned, for thou art the Lord my God. Surely, after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth. Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the Lord." "Whoso confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall find mercy." This humble penitent, who sincerely makes the confession I have mentioned, and looks to the Redeemer, obtains grace in his sight; for the Lord-1st, prevents his soul from enduring eternal perdition,2d, raises him to the everlasting enjoyment of divine illumination.

1. The Lord prevents his soul from enduring eternal perdition. "He will deliver his soul from going into the pit:" evidently implying, that to a pit of misery he was rapidly tending, and of falling into it was afraid; perhaps he was saying, "Let not the water-floods overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me." Then God says, "Deliver him from going down to the pit, for I have found a ranJesus is a sufficient Saviour, I will accept him for his righteousness' sake. It may be, that there is here a reference to the grave, in allusion to which, it is said in scripture, "They shall go down to the bars of the pit, where our rest together is in the dust." But does it not rather refer to that awful pit of destruction, mentioned in the 20th chapter of the Revelation, where Satan is bound, where sinners are lost?

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Behold," says a penitent, "for peace I had great bitterness, but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption; for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back." Jesus, the Redeemer, then, delivers us from the wrath to come, saves from the power of death and hell; he prevents our souls from going into the pit, from whence there is no redemption. On us the second death hath no power.

2. The Almighty raises him to the perpetual enjoyment of divine illumination. "And his life shall see the light." This implies the dispersion of his melancholy, the introduction of happiness and

peace to his soul: for, through the grace of the great ransom, Jesus, "the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined." But further, this expression carries our thoughts to the period when we shall behold the light of heaven: for God intends to bring every believing penitent to that city of which it is written, that God and the Lamb are the light thereof. We, "who truly repent and unfeignedly believe his holy gospel," shall possess the inheritance of the saints in light, shall be for ever illuminated and encircled by the rays of the Sun of righteousness, and so shall we be ever with the Lord. The Lord shall be our light, our God shall be our glory, and the days of our mourning shall be ended. Learn from the subject,

The richness of God's pardoning mercy, extending even to sins of perverseness.

The madness of impenitent sinners: they must be banished to the pit, never to see the light.

The importance of imploring daily a penitential spirit: we sin daily, therefore beg always for mercy. Believe in the testimony of God, "I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins."

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SERMON XXI.

PREACHED JULY 21, 1811.*

HEBREWS IV. 13.

ALL THINGS ARE NAKED AND OPENED TO THE EYES
OF HIM WITH WHOM WE HAVE TO DO."

WHERE should a creature look, but to his Creator? and what being should engage so much of our attention, as the God that made us? O my soul, forget, forget thy trifling cares; relinquish thy foolish chase after the world and sin, thy eagerness for the things of time and sense, and look ward to the Being who ever looks on thee.

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Think on his perfections, adore him for his greatness, and tell of the glorious majesty of his kingdom. He, my hearers, who is God over all, blessed for ever, requires us frequently to meditate on his ways; to consider in what relation we stand to him; to remember our own accountableness; and to think how holy and reverend is his name.

We will therefore now contemplate that divine and holy Being, who made us, preserves us, and before whose bar we shall all shortly stand: we will

* Fifteen days before his death.