ior-that we must be convinced of our guilty and lost state, and of our desert of the wrath to comethat we must renounce all selfconfidence, lay ourselves at the foot of divine mercy, and seek salvation as a free gift from God, to which we can make no claim on the foot of any thing which we have done. The natural pride of the human heart objects against this humiliation and selfabasement. It would make out some merit of its own. It would set up some kind of demand on God's justice. It would indulge the persuasion, that God has not been so much offended and dishonored as to justify him in any great severity. It is only through the power of God, that the word becomes mighty to cast down these proud imaginations, and to captivate every thought to the obedience of Christ.

4. Some reject the gospel, because they hate the threatenings which are there uttered against the finally impenitent.

These threatenings are indeed awful. They plainly import, that there is a punishment for the workers of iniquity, and that this punishment will be terrible in degree, and interminable in duration. Such threatenings as these, sinners resolved to continue in a wicked course, choose not to believe. They contrive various artifices to mollify their harshness, or shorten their duration, or to cavil them out of the Bible. But after all that can be done, here they are; the language of them is plain; it will not yield to human sophistry. They are so deeply engraved, that they cannot be effaced-so inwrought with the doctrines and precepts of revelation, that they cannot be separated. While this remains, they will remain in it. Some, therefore, to get rid of these threatenings, renounce the gospel which contains them. They had rather believe, that the gospel is not true, than believe, that such a punishment awaits them, as these threatenings import. And in this, they are more consistent with themselves, than those who pretend to believe the gospel, and yet disbelieve all future punishment. For, if there is any thing in scripture which can be understood, it certainly denounces destruction against the finally impenitent. The man who pretends that all the threatenings, which he reads, must mean something else, may as well pretend, that the precepts, which literally forbid murder, theft, drunkenness, lying and swearing mean something else; and that the promises which seem to import a state of future happiness for the righteous, mean something else; and that there is no intelligible meaning in any thing which we read there. But whatever artifice men may use with themselves to suppress the fears, or with the Bible to expunge the threatenings of future punishment, still the danger awaits them; and they can obtain no security, till they comply with the terms which the gospel has stated, and by repentance flee from the wrath to come and by faith lay hold on the hope set before them.

5. Some dislike and reject the gospel, because it contains doctrines which are not within the reach of human discovery, and affirms certain facts which are now out of the course of common observation. In their exalted opinion of their own wisdom, they despise a scheme of religion, which is too deep for their penetration, too wonderful for their investigation, and too grand for their comprehension. They make their own pride and prejudice the standard by which to judge what the wisdom of God ought to do, what his justice has a right to do, and what his goodness will be inclined to do. Professing themselves to be wise, they become fools, and change the glory of God into the likeness of men, and degrade his sovereignty to the dictates of men. The Apostle says,

"We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which none of the princes of this world knew." And how should they know it, without a revelation from God? "For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him ? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God." If we cannot know the intentions of a man without information from the man himself, much less can we know the will of God without a revelation from God. "The Spirit searcheth," or perfectly knoweth "all things, even the deep things of God; and God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit. We have received the the Spirit, that we might know the things, which are freely given us of God; and these things we speak. The natural man," vainly relying on his own powers, "receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things; and to him the gospel of Christ is the wisdom of God."

The gospel is a glorious scheme for the salvation of sinners. As such it is worthy of immediate attention, full belief and thankful acceptance. It is to be lamented, that among those, to whom it comes, so many either deny the truth of it, or hold the truth in unrighteousness. The cause of their infidelity is the wickedness of their hearts. The wickedness which prompts their opposition to the gospel, disqualifies them for the blessings of it. They cannot be saved by the gospel, while their enmity to it remains. They must embrace it with faith, love and submission; else, instead of being to them a Savior of life unto life, it will be a Savior of death unto death.And awful will be the condemnation of those, who, when light has come into the world, still love darkness rather than light.

Enmity to Religion in general the natural Consequence of Enmity to the Gospel.

If I had not come and spoken to them, they had not had sin; but now they have no cloak for their sin. He that hateth me, hateth my Father also. If I had not done among them the works, which none other man did, they had not had sin; but now they have both seen and hated both me and my Father,

OUR Divine Lord in these words teach

es us, that, in respect of guilt, there is a great difference between those, who have never heard of the gospel, nor had an opportunity to receive it, and those who have seen its evidences and yet have rejected it. The former cannot be charged with the sin of unbelief; the latter have no cloak for their sin.

He shews us what is the true cause of unbelief in those who have known the gospel: It is their hatred of it. They have seen and hated me.

He warns us what is the next and natural consequence of rejecting his gospel: It is the rejection of all religion in principle and practice. hateth me, hateth my Father also."

"He that

It is this last observation, which now lies before Some of those, who discard the Christian revelation, pretend to believe the truth of natural religion. They verbally acknowledge, that there is a God, a providence, a future existence; and that there are certain moral virtues, which are useful to mankind, such as justice, veracity, beneficence, temperance and prudence. Though they have no reverence for Jesus as a divine teacher, nor for his gospel as a divine communication, yet they believe there were such men as Socrates, Plato and Seneca, who taught good moral rules of life, and whose rules are still worthy of observation. But whatever they may pretend, our Savior expressly affirms it, at least as a general truth, that they who hate him, hate Godthat they who despise his gospel, cast away all religion.

And this is not merely an incidental observation; but what he often repeats and much insists upon, in his discourses to the unbelieving Jews, as a matter which deserved their most serious consideration."He that honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father-he that despiseth me, despiseth him that sent me. Every man that hath heard, and learned of the Father, cometh unto me. Ye neither know me, nor my Father. If ye had known me, ye would have known my Father also."

If against so high authority as this, an authority, which the Christian surely will not dispute, any doubt the truth of our position, that "they who reject the gospel, after they have known it, generally reject all religion," let them attend to some considerations, which will illustrate and confirm it.

1. So far as we can judge from facts, this is gencrally the case.

I will not say, there are no temporary exceptions. Some, I suppose, there may be. For men run not at once, to the last extreme either in dissipation of