gressions and sins; but he by no means clears the guilty.

It is often said, "Reason, without recurrence to scripture, will teach us, that God is merciful; and if he is merciful, then he will shew mercy." Be it so. But does your reason, without recurrence to scripture, teach you, in what manner, and to what subjects God will shew mercy? He may be a merciful Being, and yet punish the guilty. If you argue from God's mercy, you must argue on the ground of revelation. That gives you the most exalted representations of the benefits, which his mercy has provided; but it tells you, at the same time, on what terms these benefits may be obtained, and what will be the sad consequence of rejecting these terms.

If you argue from scripture, you must take doctrines, as they are stated there. Life and death are set before you. If you refuse the former, the latter is the consequence, The scripture gives no hope of life, but in a particular way. If departing from this way, you still hope for life, your hope stands, not in the word of God, but in your own imagination. And if you reject the scripture, because it threatens punishment to the workers of iniquity, you reject not only its threatenings, but also its promises. These are the only sure grounds on which you can hope for pardon. Without these, there is nothing to which you can resort as your security from punishment. You may boast of your reason; but, in this case, your reason fails you; for this, without revelation, never can assure you, that God will pardon you on any terms-much less that he will make you happy. He may be just, and he may be good, and yet not extend forgiving mercy to such as you; and if mercy should be denied you, misery will be the consequence, Make not lies your refuge, nor hide yourselves under falsehood; but flee by faith and repentance to the grace revealed in the gospel, and lay hold on the hope, which that sets before you.

"But does not the analogy' of providence lead us to conclude, that all men will finally be happy? God gives us rain and fruitful seasons, and fills our hearts with food and gladness. His rain falls, and his sun shines promiscuously on the fields of the evil and the good. May we not, for future happiness, trust that goodness, which so richly supplies our present wants?" Doubtless you may: But then be as wise in relation to the former, as you are in relation to the latter. God gives you a harvest in its season; but in order to obtain it, you must prepare your ground, sow your seed, and guard your field. With the same care sow the seeds, and with the same diligence cultivate the fruits of righteousness, and you will have a sure reward. The grain, which you reap, is of the kind with the seed which you sow. In the moral husbandry the case is the same. Sow to the spirit, and of the spirit you will reap everlasting life; but if you sow to the flesh, you will of the flesh reap only corruption. Sow in righteousness, and you will reap in mercy; but if you sow the wind, you will reap the whirlwind.

You see every year, that you are on probation for a harvest; and are you not, in this life, on probation for the happiness of a future life? Your favorite argument from analogy certainly leads to this conclusion.

God is good; but still you see misery in this world. If your argument could prove, that there will be no misery in a future world, it must equally prove, that there can be none in this; but fact refutes the argument as it respects this world, and hence shews that it is inconclusive with respect to the other. If the slothful man suffers poverty, or the intemperate man loses his health, or, in a fit of intoxication, breaks his bones, will you say, God is unkind in not preserving him from these evils? No; for they are the effects of his own vices. So are the miseries which men suffer in the other world. You see, that God's goodness does not always exempt men from the painful effects of their iniquities here: Where then is the ground on which you conclude, that his goodness will prevent all misery hereafter? Your argument from the analogy of providence turns full against you: It compels you to this conclusion that this life is a probation for futurity, and that according to the use which you make of it, your future condition will be happy or miserable.

Some, perhaps, may imagine, that the merciful God, who would not that any should perish, will grant to them who die impenitent, a second probation, in which they may retrieve the miscarriages of the first.

But had the inspired writers any such idea? The apostle to the Hebrews, speaking of the grace of the gospel, asks, "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?" Surely he thought, that the neglect of salvation in this life would cut us off from the hopes of an escape in the next. "Behold now is the accepted time," says St. Paul; "behold now is the day of salvation." He speaks of no other day provided for the stuccor of those who now receive the grace of God in vain.

Besides; were a future probation to be granted, who can be sure, that he should make a better use of that, than he now makes of the present? What advantages could sinners enjoy in another world, superior to those which they enjoy in this? Our Lord has warned us, that " such as hear not Moses and the prophets, would not be persuaded though one should rise from the dead." Such as despise the revelation of God-the glorious gospel of his Son-would continue impenitent, though spirits were sent to them from the other world; and probably would continue impenitent still, though they were sent among spirits to the other world.

What arguments could prophets, or apostles, or even angels in the heavenly world, use with sinners, superior to those which have been used with them on earth, and which still the gospel uses. If the apostles now in heaven were commissioned to undertake the conversion of ungodly spirits in hell; what could they do more, than repeat over and over the old arguments, which these impious beings had heard on earth an hundred times before. Sinners, who here spurn these arguments, would not be persuaded, though one were sent to them from the dead, or though they were sent to the dead.

You think, perhaps, that if there is really a future punishment, and wicked men had some experience of it, they would be reclaimed. But this is by no means certain. Habit has great power in this world. If it be carried to the other world, it may be as powerful there. Why is not the drunkard, the thief, or the gambler, reclaimed by his experience? He suffers a thousand miseries, which the honest and virtuous man escapes. But "though the fool is brayed in a mortar, with a pestle, among wheat, yet his foolishness departs not from him." Will not habit be as obstinate in another world? "He who is filthy, will be filthy still."

There are some, it is probable, who, in the neglect of their present probation, comfort themselves with the hopes of another. Now admitting that they should have another, what hinders, but that they may neglect this, and still comfort themselves with the hopes of one probation more? May they not ex

pect a third probation after they have abused the second, with as much reason as they now expect a second to follow their abuse of the first ?

The scripture gives them no intimation of a second: They expect it only because they think it hard to suffer for their sins. But this ground of hope, such as it is, will always remain. They will always think it hard to suffer. Improve then your present probation. Let the goodness of God lead you to repentance.

This thought introduces the other branch of our subject, which was,

II. To shew, that the goodness of God is a reason why we should desire and pray to be taught his commandments. "Thou art good-teach me thy

statutes."

David here prays, not merely for the communication of doctrinal knowledge, but especially for the efficacy and influence of this knowledge on his heart and life. This is the teaching which is the burden of his petitions throughout this psalm. "Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes, and I shall keep it unto the end. Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart. Make me to go in the path of thy commandments, for therein do I delight. Incline my heart to thy testimonies, and not unto covetous

ness."

The goodness of God is a reason, why we should pray for this spiritual teaching.

As God is good, we may conclude that his commandments are good. None but such can proceed from him. Whether we can see all the reasons, in: which his commands are founded or not; yet, if we know they are his, we know they are goodperfective of our nature, and conducive to our happiness. David says, " I esteem thy precepts con