every day provoking God to leave him to hardness of heart and blindness of mind; that God would do perfectly right now to leave him; and that there is a fearful probability that God will for ever leave him unless he turns speedily. And will such considerations induce men to defer the work of repentance? But suppose I told him that he could not repent, would that probably induce him to try to repent? Would not that rather be the way to make him defer the work? Would he not think, "Well, I have nothing to do then but to wait and wait, and perhaps God will send his Spirit to turn my heart?" Nay, is it not that very delusion which has induced nearly every impenitent sinner here present to defer his repentance up to this hour? Is not that very thing stupifying your hearts, and deadening the influences of the truth?

But it may be objected, that I disparage the grace of God; that if I tell men they can obey God, they will ascribe their salvation to themselves, and not to God. But in reply to this, I merely ask, what is the grace of God? Grace is the bestowment of undeserved favors. Now then let us suppose two characters introduced into heaven; the eternal doors of that city, where God in his glory dwells, are thrown open, and at once the redeemed spirits are fanned by the breezes of heaven; harmonious music from ten thousand golden harps bursts upon their ears, and heaven's high arches ring with the joyous welcome, that other sons have come home to glory.--One remembered that on earth he was the voluntary enemy of God; that with full power to obey, he started even in the morning of life in a course of the most wicked rebellion; that the offers of heaven he often and voluntarily scorned; that even the very God whom he now beholds as a reconciled Father, he had chosen to disobey; had actually and voluntarily preferred sin, when he might have loved and obeyed; that for such a malignant rebel the Son of God descended from heaven and died; and that to such a perverse and scornful sinner was the Spirit of God sent: when he was mad in his rebellion, hateful in his voluntary guilt, God had compassion on him, and by his Spirit subdued his enmity, and rescued him from the hell he deserved. What matchless grace! what infinite love! And now suppose the other stands by his side and reflects, "This God sent me into the world with sin created in me; so that it was utterly impossible for me to obey his laws. He was therefore bound in justice to remove all obstacles to my salvation; it was nothing more than my just claim that he should, by his Son and by his Spirit, help me to do that which I could not do. I therefore stand here by as good a right as any of those spirits who have never sinned!" Which now, think you, would feel that he was most indebted to grace for his salvation? Which would raise the highest notes of praise to him who redeemed them with his own blood? Which would find eternity too short to discover the height and depth, the length and breadth of the love of God in Christ?

The third, and only remaining argument which I have to present is, the plain declaration of Scripture. No one can deny that God has given to men certain explicit commands:-Love the Lord thy God with all thy

heart; whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God; cast away your transgressions: make you a new heart: repent, and be converted. None will deny that these commands exist; and so perfectly explicit are they, that not even the most determined caviller can have any doubt as to their meaning.

Now men either can or cannot obey these commands. If they can, then, of course, the question is settled at once. If they cannot, then there is no getting away from this dilemma :-God has commanded men to do that which he knew they could not do; which he had no expectation that they ever would or could do, and then has threatened them with his eternal displeasure, unless they do impossibilities.

This is a result which cannot be evaded: the simple representation which it gives of the character of God, is that of a moral governor commanding impossibilities, when he knew them to be impossibilities, and sending sinners to hell for not doing impossibilities.

Now, I ask, is he such a being? It will not answer to resolve all into the mysterious sovereignty of God: here is no mystery; here is plain injustice, which we can see and understand to be injustice; injustice which even an earthly tyrant would scorn.-Again, then, I ask, is God such a being?

Every command, then, in the Bible, is a plain and explicit declaration of the truth I am endeavoring to maintain; a declaration, on God's part, that he does consider his creatures able to obey. Nay, the very words of the law prove the doctrine. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart." What is meant by all thy heart? Simply this, that we shall love the Lord our God with all the heart we have, i. e. with all the power of loving we have. When we have done this, we have done all we are required to do, be it more or less. In short, the amount of the law, in the very words of the law, is, that men shall serve God as well as they can; and is it any strange doctrine, that men can obey God, when God only requires them to do all they can?

Thus have I endeavored to show how admirably and beautifully this doctrine harmonizes with all the other doctrines of Scripture; how the consciousness of men bears witness to the truth; how it entirely clears away all the cavils and objections which men are accustomed to urge against the doctrines of the Bible; how it places in the pure light of holiness and benevolence all the dealings and government of God; and magnifies the grace of God in the salvation of men.

But you will perceive, too, that this doctrine bears hard upon the impenitent sinner. If what I have said be true, then, for aught I see, he is stripped of every excuse; cannot find a single refuge to flee to, where he can screen himself from guilt, or find one cavil against his God.

But you will observe that it bears hard upon him in a way of which he cannot complain. It is not like some hard doctrine of which he complains; and the hardness of which consists in this, that if true, he can say that he is treated harshly and unjustly.

But it shows that God treats him fairly and mercifully; and that he only is

to blame. If I am right in my position, then the impenitent sinner is placed in the attitude of open and voluntary rebellion against God. God is right, and he is wrong. He is voluntarily opposed to God, the greatest and the best of beings; he is daily transgressing a law, which it is for his own interest and happiness to obey; he is refusing to repent, when nothing is more reasonable than that he should be truly sorry for doing wrong; he persists in doing so, when he is plainly told that the consequence will be the eternal misery of hell; this course he will follow, even when he can turn about and be saved.

In conclusion, my impenitent friends, I have a few plain truths to state to you, and which you will see to be the necessary inferences from what I have said. If you finally go to perdition, you only receive the just reward of your deeds; for you would go. No resistless decree of heaven sent you there no refusal to perform impossibilities: no unfortunate depravity, which you could not help, kindled the fires of hell. But you plunged yourself into the pit; and as the bars of the eternal prison close against you for ever, as the last glimmer of light and joy fades upon your despairing eye, and the arrows of the Almighty drink up your spirits, how keen and bitter will be the reflection that you have ruined and undone yourself.

Another serious thing I have to say to you is, that whenever you excuse yourself from instant compliance with the command of God, by saying, I cannot, it is the mere refuge of indolence, depravity, and rebellion. The only reason why you do not obey God is that you will not.

I know when I say this, that the greater part of the impenitent sinners in this house are making this excuse, and this is the way in which you are smoothing over the matter with conscience, and keeping yourself quiet in sin. I know, too, that many of you will say, we are not conscious of any such rebellious determination not to serve God. Just as ten thousand, whom we are constantly meeting with, habitually live under the influence of the most hateful passions, and yet are apparently unconscious of it all the while. Still it is true, as that the throne of God shall endure for ever, that the only reason why you do not obey God is that you will not. Here I fasten the charge of depravity. You are willing to acknowledge yourself a sinner in general terms, and speak much of your unfortunate depravity. But the real truth is, you are such a desperate sinner that you can obey God, and will not.

Another charge which I have to bring against you is, that when you say "you wish to be a Christian, but cannot,―you would be glad to be a better man, but cannot," you say that which is not true. You do not really wish to be a Christian. The only reason why you are not a Christian is, that you are not willing to be. Never yet was a man prevented by any thing but his own voluntary choice from being a Christian. True, you would like well enough to be a Christian, if it could be done without any trouble, or any giving up of sinful and beloved gratifications. You would be glad to be sure of heaven, while living in sin.

O sinner! it is high time begin heartily to serve God.

that you give up your vain excuses, and . Long enough have you been throwing

the blame of your sins upon Him. Long has he in infinite mercy been waiting upon you to repent. Beware lest, if you longer abuse his grace, he should swear in his wrath y shall never enter into his rest.

Cannot! Never was there a more artful and lying suggestion of Satan. Once entrenched here, nothing can move you. Does conscience begin to sting? all is quieted, at once, by the soothing lullaby, I cannot. Does the faithful preacher urge home the obligations of religion? I cannot, at once allays all convictions and all apprehensions.

Ah! wretched, deluded mortals! led captive by Satan, at his will: what shadows you are, and what shadows you pursue, while durable riches are slighted. What toil, and bustle, and activity for the things of this life, while you will not come to Christ, that you may have life eternal. All nature resounds with the hum and din of business. And what is it all for? For things which you may never obtain: which, if you could obtain, you cannot keep; and if you could keep, would only sting and disappoint you. Why will you keep on, and die in your sins? Why not taste of purer joys, and accept of peace and eternal happiness?

But O, if you will not, God is clear; his throne is guiltless. And if now the heaving earth and opening graves should announce the morning of the resurrection; if the breaking heavens should reveal the descending Judge, and all the impenitent begin to feel that "the great day of his wrath was come," we must still say, and for ever say, "GOD IS RIGHT, AND THE WORLD IS WRONG"-"Just and true are thy ways, O thou King of saints."

NATIONAL

PREACHER.

No. 5. VOL. 8.] NEW-YORK, OCT. 1833.

SERMON CLIII.

[WHOLE NO. 89,

BY REV. NATHANIEL BOUTON,

CONCORD, NEW-HAMPSHIRE.

PRIVATE PRAYER.

MATT. vi. 6.—But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet.

men.

66

PRIVATE prayer, in distinction from family, social, and public prayer, is founded on the private and personal wants, sins, and obligations of In discoursing upon the subject, it seems in order, to speak, I. Of the PLACE. "Enter into thy closet"-thy retired chamber, or secret apartment. Be alone. This direction was originally given in opposition to the publicity of prayer as offered by the Pharisees in 'synagogues and at the corners of the streets." The direction may be easily complied with by those who have a home suited to their convenience. No matter what room, chamber, or part of the house it be, provided you can be alone. But if, like the Savior, you have not "where to lay your head," if your house furnishes no conveniences, or circumstances prevent retirement at home; then you may select any other spot which will afford retreat from observation. Jesus often made a mountain, a wilderness, a garden, his closet; and many of his followers have made theirs in out-houses, caverns, groves, and under the open canopy of heaven.

"Where'er we seek him, he is found,
And every place is holy ground."

But the question may here be asked; ought we studiously to conceal our private devotions? Or if we cannot be strictly private, may we omit them? My opinion is, we ought to do nothing with the intention of having it known that we pray in secret; but select our place for the exercise so as to be least likely to attract notice, and regulate our voice so as not to be overheard, except by him who heareth in secret. Yet obviously, every person in a family, who daily and regularly retires for prayer, is liable to be known so to do;-but this furnishes no good reason why he should neglect the duty.

II. The TIME for private prayer. The importance of having a VOL. VIII.--5