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animals to shun those things, which they have found to 'be hurtful.

Near akin to this is the presumption of those, who harden themselves against the mercies or the judgments of the Most High; who abuse their health and competence, their wealth or power, as engines of luxury, oppression, or impiety; who continue unreformed, af ter, and perhaps under the scourges of personal, domestic, or national calamity; who resolutely oppose the united admonitions of God's word and providence.

Finally, to the class of wilful and obstinate offenders we must refer all those, who refuse to believe and obey the gospel, while favoured with clear and abundant evidence of its truth and importance.

This particular view of presumtuous sins suggests

to us,

V. The reasons, why the Psalmist was so earnest to be restrained from committing them. The reasons may be summed up in one idea, namely, the peculiar malignity of such transgressions. They flow from cool and stubborn depravity. They blaspheme the essential attributes of God, by practically saying, either that he has not knowledge, power, and justice sufficient to punish them, or that his mercy is so easy and so undistinguishing a quality, as to pardon the most unrelenting and daring wickedness, or, at least, to accept the cheapest and latest repentance. They are likewise very pernicious in their effects. They destroy the light, the energy, and the delicate feelings of conscience. They bring a natural and judicial hardness upon the heart. They consign the soul to the absolute empire of sin. They bring it to the precipice of total apostasy and ruin. Hence David prays to be kept back from wilful sin, that so he might be innocent from the great trans

gression, that is, from final impenitence, which cannot be forgiven.

In the review of this subject, what reason have the best of us to exclaim, in the language of David, Who can understand his errors? Who can conceive, how of. ten and how greatly he has departed from the perfect standard of duty? Who can reckon up the improper thoughts and feelings of his mind, the unguarded sallies of his tongue, and the faulty actions of his life? Who can enumerate his neglected opportunities of doing or receiving good, of resisting or preventing evil? Who can form an accurate and complete list of the vicious mistakes of his judgment, of the irregular motions of his passions, of the wrong inclinations and purposes of his will? Who can fully state every circumstance of aggravation, which has marked each guilty defect, omission, or act of his life? Surely, my brethren, if we have any knowledge of ourselves, of the divine law, of the infinite purity and majesty of God, we shall readily adopt that humble address, "If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?"

Hence let us all unite in the prayer of the text, that GOD would cleanse us from secret faults, and keep us back from deliberate transgression. Humble and fervent prayer against sin is a natural preservative from it; as it tends to give us a solemn and habitual sense of the presence and holiness of GOD, of the evil and danger of offending him, and of the vile hypocrisy of practically contradicting our own petitions. As prayer is the appointed medium of obtaining succour from Heaven; so it solemnly binds and urges us to employ our own diligence in mortifying sin, in opposing temptation, and in practising universal holiness. Thus sincere petitions call forth corresponding exertion. Let us then unite

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holy activity with humble dependence on GOD. If we would be kept back from sins of presumption and from the great transgression, let us maintain a constant reverence for the authority of conscience; let us daily and impartially inquire into the state of our hearts; let us dread and promptly subdue the first risings of sinful thought and affection; let us plant our strongest guard against favourite corruptions; let us avoid the most distant approaches, occasions, and appearances of evil'; let us stop our ears, like the deaf adder, against the enchanting, voice of temptation; let us shun, as we would a mortal pestilence,, the society and conversation of ungodly seducers; let us say with a holy firmness, "Depart from me, ye evil doers; for I will keep the come mandments of my Gon. Above all, let us see, that the fountain of moral exercises within us be purified by heavenly grace; that our souls be clad with the spiritual armour of truth and righteousness, of gospel faith and hope. Then shall we be able to stand in the evil day; yea, we shall prove more than conquerors through him, that loved us.

Sermon IV.

On the Love of God.

MARK Xii. 30.

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first and great commandment.

As all religion is founded in the existence, perfec

tions, and providence of one Supreme Being, the Creator and Governor of the world; so this infinite Being must be the prime and terminating object of religion; and a supreme regard to him must be the first duty, the crowning virtue of rational creatures. Agreeably, when our Saviour was asked by a Jewish lawyer, which is the first commandment of all, he replies in the words just read; "Thou shalt love the LORD thy GoD with all thy heart;....this is the first and great commandment."

In discoursing on this very noble and interesting subject, we will endeavour to illustrate the nature, the grounds, the measure, and the superior importance of love to Gop.

With regard to the nature of the affection here enjoined, it must be understood to comprehend all those inward regards to the Deity, which his perfections, relations, and benefits demand. In other words, it includes the whole of piety, viewed in its internal principles, or as seated in the mind; just as love to our neighbour, required in the second great command,

if the essential perfections of Deity are a proper object of esteem and complacency, then the exercise of these per fections in acts of beneficence to us demands the correspondent feelings and acknowledgments of gratitude; gratitude as constant and progressive, as is the current of divine benefits.

True love of God likewise involves a reverential and filial fear of his power, justice, and paternal displeasure; a steady and cheerful trust in his governing wisdom, benevolence, and faithfulness; a quiet resignation to his disposing pleasure, even in the most trying scenes; an habitual and divine joy in his perfect and universal administration; a prevailing and effectual desire to comport with or be conformed to all his perfections; to be obedient to his whole preceptive will, and to hold communion with him in his various ordinances and works. The way is now prepared to consider,

Secondly, The grounds or motives of this divine affection. These are, first, the essential perfections of God; and secondly, his relations and communica

tions to us.

1. We are to love him primarily for his own loveliness; or as the text intimates, we are first to love him, as the Lord, the infinitely glorious Jehovah; and then, as our God, related to us by many endearing ties.

In proof of this, I would observe, if the character of God is really amiable in itself, it is fit that we should regard it accordingly; for it is certainly right to love what is right. We all find ourselves bound, and even constrained to love a worthy human character, at the first sight or hearing of it, previously to any thought of self-interest, or to the idea of deriving any benefit from it; yea, in opposition to private and selfish affection, Thus the excellent character of a WASHINGTON has commanded the esteem of distant nations, yea, of selfish

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