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SERM.

VI.

MATTHEW viii. 7.

Ask, and it shall be given unto you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

WHEN I open the sacred volume, now

before me, and confider the doctrines, the precepts, the examples of holiness; the promises and threatenings, the rewards and punishments; together with the affurances of fuccour to the faithful difciples of Chrift, which it contains,—I am prompted to say, "Such a religion as this book unfolds, must

purify the hearts of all who profess it,

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VI.

"and exhibit on earth a refemblance of SERM. "heaven. But, when I look around me, and behold, instead of fincerity and ardour of devotion, so much indifference or hypocrify; instead of sobriety and decency, fo much libertinifm and intemperance; inftead of equity and juftice, fo much fraud, violence, and oppreffion; instead of mildness and charity, so much malevolence and rancour; in a word, inftead of pure and undefiled religion, fo much fuperftition or enthusiasm, on the one hand, and, on the other, fo much profanity and blafphemy; I am apt to exclaim, with the Pfalmift, O God! thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derifion to them that are round about us. Thou makest us a bye-word among the heathen, a shaking of the head among the people *.

In this ftate of diftreffing perplexity with regard to the probable and the actual effects of the profeffion of our religion, the annals of the Chriftian church are prefented to my view. They exhibit the primitive followers of our bleffed Lord, difplaying the liv

*Psalm xliv. 14.

VI.

SERM. ing image of that purity and rectitude which are delineated in his gofpel, refifting the strongest temptations, overcoming the most formidable difficulties, vanquishing Satan and his kingdom, and propagating their religion, no less by their irreproachable lives, than by their miraculous powers, and the irresistible arguments of its divine origin, which they produced.

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But this is, my brethren, only to change the object of surprise. For, if Christianity had fuch an happy influence on the lives of its first profeffors, why is it fo ineffectual in our own? This queftion might lead to very curious and important fpeculations, into which I shall not enter at prefent. I fhall, therefore, content myself with the following short answer to it, which will, in the mean time, account fufficiently for the different appearances I have just now stated. As the most efficacious medicines will not cure those who neglect the prescription; as a treasure buried in the earth, can be of no fervice to its poffeffor; as the richest crop can fupply no nourishment, if it be not

reaped

VI.

reaped and applied to use ;-fo, the moft SERM. fublime and folacing doctrines, the justest and most falutary precepts, the voice of God himself, will not fecure our everlasting happiness, if we neither attend with reverence to inftruction, nor ftudy it with affiduity, nor apply it with conftancy to practice. For, ask, and it shall be given unto you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

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Ask present fanctification and future glory, with an elevation of mind, and an enlargement of conception, adapted to the magnitude of the objects which you pursue. Seek them, not with indifference and languor, but, with an ardour and zeal tioned to the obftacles which you furmount. Knock at the door of the divine fanctuary, not in occafional vifits, and with intermitting fits of devotion, but with that conftant and persevering application which is requifite to obtain admittance, and to fecure the prize for which you contend. In these three divifions the plan of my difcourfe is comprised; and may the bleffing

of

SERM. of God render it conducive to the ends to VI. which it is directed.

I. You must ask fanctification and eternal glory, with an elevation of mind and enlargement of conception adapted to the magnitude of your purfuit. Whoever attentively confiders the human soul, must be convinced that its happiness can never be placed in the objects of fense and the enjoyments of this tranfitory fcene. He muft, on the contrary, acknowledge, that it is formed for a felicity which neither accident can impair nor time can limit. This felicity can be found only in him from whom defcendeth every good and perfect gift, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning, and in whose presence springs that river of joy t, from which is derived every ftream of happiness that winds through the wide extent of his creation. What reafon so strongly suggests, revelation completely confirms. The foundation of the whole Chriftian scheme is, that our peace, our happiness, our destination,-are

*

James 17.

+ Psalm xvi. II. xxxvi. 8.

not

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