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contempt on the Savior of the world. For it is not possible to conceive of a mind on this side of hell, armed with hardihood enough thus to challenge the thunders of the Almighty, while he fully knows what he is doing. It cannot be that the scoffer is fully aware who the God is whom he so wantonly insults aware of his majesty and power, of his all-searching eye, and of his awful justice.

But we will come down to some sins of softer name. The man who leads a life of sinful pleasure is not aware of the greatness of his sins. While his heart is bound up in selfishness, and withheld from all obedience to God, he is not aware how numerous and weighty are the commands of God, each of which bears upon him every moment, and how great is the guilt of disobedience -he is unaware that a refusal to obey each and every command-such as to repent, to believe, to love, and others to the number of some scores, which are binding every moment—is a real offence, and that his sins are multiplying at the rate of scores in a minute, and that each of these sins are such as God will visit with righteous retribution,-unaware that he is wronging his own soul, and closing the doors of hope and salvation against himself--that he is degrading the faculties of an immortal nature, polluting the image of God by a slavery to lusts that are hateful to God-unaware that he that liveth in pleasure is dead while he liveth. Because the voice of public opinion is at variance from the voice which comes out from the sanctuary of God, and the world has no execrations for him, the man of pleasure finds it easy to overlook all the hurtful tendencies of his course, and to cradle his conscience into perpetual slumbers, while waging war against the heavens and against his own immortal interests.

Again the worshipper of Mammon is treasuring to himself a load of guilt of which he is little aware. If he keeps himself from oppressive exactions and fraudulent bargains, he has little consciousness of sin. He overlooks the injury done in withdrawing his whole heart from God, in rendering to Mammon the affection that is due to his Maker; in distracting with the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, a heart that ought to be filled with enterprises that take hold on heaven; in bringing down to a base alliance with the dust the aspirations of an immortal spirit; in wearing away a day of grace in sordid accumulations. He knows not what starvation of spirit he is bringing upon himself, while he is so busy in making provision for the flesh. He knows not what loss he is incurring while gaining the whole world, but losing his own soul.

Again those who are spending the season of their youth in the neglect of the one thing needful, know not the folly and the sin of which they are guilty. They know not the preciousness of those invitations which express the Savior's peculiar concern for the young, and which they are neglecting. They know not the force of the command, to remember their Creator in the days of youth—they know not the value of early piety, which they treat as so little worth-what precious opportunities they are wasting-how far they are putting from them the words of everlasting life-how impenitence grows more obstinate by age—what a fearful series of dangers beset the paths of youth-how much they grieve the Holy Spirit-what light and love they are resisting—what amount of guilt they are incurring—with what regrets they will look back upon this golden season wasted-when conscience shall be

roused in after life, if it ever is roused. They know not but that a whole eternity will be spent in bootless wailings that the harvest is past, the summer is ended, and they are not saved.

Again--sinners know not what they do when they refuse to love our Lord Jesus Christ. Surely they think if they do nothing worse than this they shall do well. And yet what can be worse? Says an inspired apostle, If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema maranatha, accursed when the Lord shall come. As if this were a capital crime, he pronounced on it the sentence that was wont to be pronounced upon capital offenders.

Again--those who resist and grieve the Holy Spirit know not what they do. This is a sin that is aimed most directly against the life of the soul; for the Holy Spirit is the immediate agent of all divine life, the comforter, the messenger of all spiritual communications. To hear and resist the gospel only, is a sin of deep malignity. It is ungrateful and cruel to resist invitations so full of mercy, sent by common messengers from the Savior: but it is more to resist the Holy Spirit, and deny him the admittance which he seeks into the heart. When the conscience is roused to action, when the sinner feels something within, urging him to give up his heart to God, when the resolution to do it begins to rise, he feels it a small matter to suppress it. But if he does it, he does a deed whose enormity he knows not now, but he will know hereafter.

But the time would fail me to go over the subject in all its broad extent, and tell all the ways which seem right to a man, the end whereof are the ways of death. Let me say, then, to every sinner, You know not what you do. It seems now a light thing to put off the authority of God, and neglect all the overtures of a great salvation. You think you have on hand business of more pressing importance than that of the soul. You count it a trifle to procrastinate the preparation for another world, to reject the counsels of God, to abuse the love of a Savior, to jeopard all the interests with which the immortal part is freighted. But what now seems a trifle, will one day stand out before you a substantial and amazing reality. In eternity you will see with other eyes. Those sinners who drove the nails through the hands and feet of the Redeemer, thought at the time of doing nothing but piercing a piece of beggarly flesh. But what consternation must have overtaken them, when they came to see the nail-prints that themselves had made, in that glorious body that fills heaven's throne? And you who are now crucifying the Son of God afresh, think perhaps of little harm. But what will you think when the opening of the eternal day shall expose the tremendous result!

Think not that the plea of ignorance will shield you then. Whence does this ignorance come, but from neglect of consideration and from wilful blind

ness? Your unconsciousness of the evil you are doing is a part of your sin. This is that hardness of heart because of which the Savior is grieved. Vain will be the hope of going from this land of Bibles and Sabbaths, and setting up the plea at the bar of God that you did not know what you was doing. The plea of ignorance amid so many means of knowledge would of itself condemn you. What! did you not know that these things were so, when God has come all the way from heaven to earth to tell you, and has told you in ways so multiform, and so often and long repeated!

But after all, though you have been to a great degree unconscious of the facts

before you, you have known enough to condemn you. "This is the condemnation that light has come into the world, and men have loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." You will find in the other world charges against you not only for resisting light, but for violating your own convictions. "Ye knew your duty, but ye did it not."

"These are the words to which the harps of grief
Are strung; and to the chorus of the damned
The rocks of hell repeat them evermore;
Loud echoed thro' the caverns of despair,
And poured in thunder on the ear of wo."

SERMON CXXXIV.

BY SILAS MKEEN,

BRADFORD, VERMONT.

SINNERS ENTREATED TO SEEK THE SAVIOR.

ISAIAH lv. 6.-Seek ye the Lord while he may be found; call ye upon him while he is near.

MAY that Spirit, who inspired this urgent exhortation, now enlighten the mind and warm the heart, and give holy energy to the speaker; and attend the declaration of truth with renovating power. In him be my confidence, while, under an affecting sense of the worth of souls, I attempt to show, I. How we should seek the Lord;

II. What is here meant by finding the Lord;
III. And at what time the Lord may be found.

I. In what manner we are required to seek the Lord.

The Lord reveals himself to us, in the context, in the endearing character of a gracious Savior from sin and wo; and it is in that respect, especially, that he is to be sought. Nor may we suppose that every kind of seeking will be successful. We must seek him in a proper manner, in the exercise of right views and affections, or we shall experience the disappointment of those to whom it was said, "Ye shall seek me and shall not find me." "Ye ask and receive not; because ye ask amiss."

To seek the Lord aright we must believe that he is such a Savior as he is declared to be in the Holy Scriptures. "He that cometh unto God must believe that he is; and that he is the rewarder of those who diligently seek him." If we believe that he is the Savior of sinners at all, we ought to believe that he is entirely such as he is revealed to be in the scriptures; for they are the only source of information on this subject. The works of creation, indeed, declare there is a God, eternal, and every where present; almighty, infinitely wise

men.

and good; but they do not reveal him to us as the Savior of lost and perishing Were it not for the holy scriptures, we must, in regard to this, be altogether in darkness; and if we admit their truth as far as to believe that Christ is a Savior at all, we are bound to believe that he is altogether such as these lively oracles declare him to be; and as such we must seek him. In particular, we must believe that Jesus Christ is the only Savior of men; that he has made an atonement, altogether sufficient for all who shall ever come to him; that while salvation is wholly of grace, it is to be obtained only in the way of obedience to the gospel; that Christ is sincere in all his invitations, and will certainly save all who comply with the terms on which salvation is offered; and that he is in all respects worthy of the highest love and firmest confidence of every heart; for surely he is thus represented in the divine word. Now are these your views of Christ, and of the way of salvation which he has revealed?

But, to seek the Lord in a right manner, it is not enough to have an orthodox belief concerning his character. We must realize our personal need of his salvation. A general belief, that Christ is the Savior of men, can never induce us to seek him until we are deeply conscious of our personal need. Suppose the chief magistrate of our country should issue a proclamation that, on a given day, he would freely pardon all who were guilty of treason, in case they would appear before him, confess their crime, and implore his forgiveness; it is manifest that before any would comply with the terms, they must not only believe in his authority and faithfulness, but also feel that they were guilty of the crime specified; and consider a pardon of high importance. But to feel our need of an interest in Christ, we must be convinced that we have transgressed the divine law, and are justly condemned by it; that we can make no satisfaction to divine justice for our sins; and that except we are saved by the Lord Jesus, wholly in a way of grace, we must for ever lie down in sorrow. And, my hearers, are you now impressed with a conviction of these truths? Are you conscious of your personal need of salvation from sin and condemnation, and that if Christ does not help you speedily, you must perish in your guilt? These convictions must sink deep into your hearts, before you will be induced to come to Jesus.

But all this is not enough. We must be willing, nay, anxiously desire, to embrace Christ as our Savior, in his entire character and on his own terms.

If we are not disposed to embrace the Savior on his own terms, just as he is offered to us in the gospel, we certainly deceive ourselves if we think we are in the way to find him. He has revealed the only way in which it is consistent with his glory to save us; and as he is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever, he surely will never propose any other terms. If we so much as ask or expect him to save us in any other way, we directly insult him. And if we properly seek him to save us in his own way, it must be with the heart; for without that faith which worketh by love, it is impossible to please him. "With the heart man believeth unto righteousness;" "ye shall seek me and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart." To search for the Lord with all our heart, implies not only the greatest earnestness in seeking, but a disposition to receive him cordially when we shall find him. If we have no such complacency in the Lord Jesus, if we feel no such disposition to yield heartily to his authority, but apply to him merely

from selfish considerations, surely he must look on us and on all our pretensions to seek him with abhorrence. He searches the heart, and cannot be deceived with false appearances. And whenever we are heartily willing to embrace him, we shall, of course, be truly penitent for our sins, and sincerely wish to be saved from them all; we shall be sensible of the imperfection of our best services, and realize our need of Christ to be our mediator; we shall have a supreme regard for the commandments of Christ, and desire to live in obedience to them all; we shall have a relish for communion with Christ, and wish to dwell eternally in his presence, and shall say with David, “My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God." Thus contemplating the Savior's character, realizing our need of him, and feeling willing and earnestly desirous to embrace him, just as he offers to be our Savior; we shall ardently seek him in the reading of the holy scriptures, which testify of him; inconversation with those who have found him to be precious; in fervent prayer, where no eye, saving that which seeth in secret, beholds us; and in the solemn assembly where the glorious gospel is preached, and the prayers and the praises of the people of God go up like incense before the throne. Nor can we ever, under the influence of such views and feelings, cease from seeking this blessed Redeemer, until we have found him, and are assured of his saving kindness.

II. What is meant in the text by finding the Lord?

To find the Lord Jesus, in the sense of the text, is to obtain such a spiritual view of his character as is peculiar to those who embrace him; it is to find by experience that he is such a glorious and blessed Savior as he is declared to be in the scriptures. One blind from his birth may be taught to describe, correctly, the appearance of the spangled canopy above him, and the variegated beauty and sublimity of the scenes of earth; but a true impression of this visible grandeur and beauty he can never feel, can never be made to know, until his own eyes are opened to behold them. In like manner to hear the blessed character of the Savior and the benefits to be derived from him declared, and to find the declaration true by happy experience, are very different things.

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If you ever find the Lord Jesus as your Savior, you will find that he is, and ever has been, acquainted with your heart and all your ways. The Samaritan woman who conversed with him at the well, said to her friends, “Come see a man who told me all things that ever I did; is not this the Christ?” And every believer will exclaim with David, “ O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine uprising; thou understandest my thoughts afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways; for there is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether.”

You will find, too, that he is perfectly holy, and looks on sin with infinite displeasure. And this view of his holiness and glory will humble you in the dust before him. When Isaiah had a view of the Savior's glory, and heard the seraphim crying one to another, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts:" he exclaimed, "Wo is me! for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." In like manner Job, when he had been communing with the Almighty, said, "I have heard of thee by the

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