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have mercy upon me, O thou God of mercy." Thus pray, and keep your souls, as it were, always in a praying posture until you are heard.

the

And now, my dear brethren, what is your resolution upon whole? Are you resolved to use these means for your deliverance, or are you not? If you are, you have great reason to hope for success. But if not, I defy you to find one encouraging word to you in all the Bible. On the other hand, I am commanded, upon my peril, to warn you; and therefore I would once more sound this dreadful alarm in your ears, "O wicked man, thou shalt surely die." And if, when you hear the words of this curse, you bless yourselves in your hearts, and hope better things, God foresaw there would be such self-flattering presumptuous sinners in the world, and he hath prepared his terrors against them. If" there should be among you a man or woman, or family or tribe-a root that beareth gall and wormwood, that when he heareth the words of this curse, shall bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of my heart; the Lord will not spare him ; but then the anger of the Lord and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven; and the Lord shall separate him unto evil, out of all the tribes of Israel."* What a tremendous threatening is this and you see it stands in full force against those that presumptuously flatter themselves with false hopes of impunity, whether they be men or women, family or tribe: and it will certainly have a dreadful accomplishment upon such of you, as disregard this repeated warning, "O wicked man, thou shalt surely die."

I doubt not but there are some of you to whom the character of the wicked does not belong, and therefore are in no danger of dying their death. To you I would speak a few parting words of encouragement. You must die; but oh! death to you will be a harmless, stingless thing-your Father's messenger to fetch you home, that you may be forever with him. You will have good company in death; Jesus, your faithful and never-failing friend, will then be with you, and support you and his angels will wait round your dying beds to receive your departing souls, and conduct them to eternal rest. Death will be your birth-day:

* Deut. xxix. 19-21

then you will be born, not a helpless, weeping infant, into a world of sin and sorrow, but a perfected immortal, into a world of consummate happiness and glory. Death will be the last enemy that ever you shall conflict with; after that, you will be conquerors, more than conquerors, forever. Death to you will be a blessing,

and not a curse: so that as to you, I may change the threatening in my text, into a promise, "O good man, thou shalt surely die." Yes, blessed be God, thou shalt die in spite of earth and hell; thou shalt not be doomed to live always in such a sinful wretched world as this; but death, thy friend, will set thee free, and convey thee to the place where Jesus is, and where thy heart is gone before thee. This may perhaps, seem strange language, that death should become a blessing: but such strange things does Jesus perform for his people. O may we all "die the death of the righteous; and may our latter end be like his!"*

For a more immediate improvement of this funeral occasion, instead of haranguing upon the virtues of the dead, many of which, I doubt not, deserve commendation, my business is with the living, who alone can receive advantage from what I say; and to them I would suggest a few solemn reflections.

First, How uncertain and frail are the nearest ties of relation, and all our domestic and relative happiness! therefore, how much should we be concerned, to contract immortal friendships, and secure a never-dying happiness!

Secondly, Such bereavements should be made occasions of exercising resignation to the will of God.

Thirdly, Let this instance of mortality put us in mind of our Shall others die to warn us that we must die; and shall the warning be in vain ?

own.

Fourthly, Let us rejoice, that though our friends die, yet the Lord liveth, and blessed be our rock !†

* Numb. xxiii. 10. † 2 Sam. xxiii. 47.

Psa. xviii. 46.

SERMON 75.

EVIDENCES OF THE WANT OF LOVE TO GOD.

JOHN V. 42. But I know you that you have not the love of God in you.

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NOTHING seems to be a more natural duty for a creaturenothing is more essential to religion-nothing more necessary as a principle of obedience, or a qualification for everlasting happiness, than the love of God; and it is universally confessed to be so. Whatever be the object, or whatever be the religion, all acknowledge, that the love of God is an essential ingredient in it. Should we consider only the excellency of the divine Being, and the numerous and endearing obligations of all reasonable creatures to him, we should naturally think, that the love of God must be universal among mankind; and not one heart can be destitute of that sacred, filial passion. But, alas! if we regard the evidence of Scripture or observation; we must conclude the contrary. The love of God is a rare thing among his own offspring in our degenerate world. Here, in my text, a company of Jews, highly privileged above all nations then upon earth, and making large professions of regard to God, are charged with the want of his love; charged by one that thoroughly knew them, and could not be deceived. "I know you, that you have not the

love of God in you."

But, blessed be God, his love is not entirely extinct and lost even on our guilty globe. There are some hearts that feel the sacred flame, even among the degenerate sons of Adam.

These two sorts of persons widely differ in their inward temper; and God, who knows their hearts, makes a proper distinction between them. But in this world they are mixed-mixed in families, and in public assemblies; and sometimes the eyes of their fellow mortals can discern but little difference and they very often mistake their own true character, and rank themselves in that class to which they do not belong. While they continue in this mistake, the one cannot possess the pleasure either of enjoyment or hope; and the other cannot receive those alarms of

Hanover, April 14, 1756.-New-Kent, April 17, 1757,

danger, which alone can rouse them out of their ruinous security, nor earnestly use means for the implantation of the sacred principle of divine love in their souls. To remove this mistake is therefore a necessary and benevolent attempt; benevolent not only to the former sort, but even to those who are unwilling to submit to the search, and who shut their eyes against the light of conviction.

I am afraid many of my hearers, especially in places where I have not frequently officiated, are excited to attend by curiosity, and not by an eager thirst for religious instruction. And while hearing they are either staring with eager expectation to hear something new and strange; or they are lying in wait to catch at some word or sentiment to furnish them with matter for cavil or ridicule or they stand upon their guard, lest they should be catched and ensnared inadvertently to a party, or seized with the infection of some false doctrine and thus all my labours and their attendance are in vain; and immortal souls perish in the midst of the means of salvation. But I tell you, once for all, you need not indulge an eager curiosity: for I have nothing new to communicate to you, unless it be a new thing to you to hear, that the love of God is essential to a christian, and an absolutely necessary prerequisite to your salvation; and that you cannot be lovers of God, while your temper and conduct have the evident marks of enmity or disaffection to him. Or, if cavil or ridicule be an agreeable entertainment to any of you, you are not likely to be gratified; for the things I have to say are too plain and convictive to be cavilled at by men of sense and candor, and too serious and interesting to be laughed at. Nor need you be cau tiously upon your guard; for I assure you, once for all, I have something else to do, than to come here to hang out baits to catch graceless proselytes to a party, or to propagate the infection of some false opinion. I come here to use my poor endeavours to build up such of you as love God, in your most holy faith; and to reconcile such of you to him, as are now destitute of his love. This is my professed design: and when you find the drift and tendency of my labours here aim at something opposite to this, pronounce me anathema, and reject me with just abhorrence. This I not only allow, but invite and charge you to do.

The subject now before us is this: Since it is evident that some, under the profession of religion, are destitute of the love of God; and, since it is of the utmost importance, that we should

know our true character in this respect, let us inquire what are those marks whereby we may know whether the love of God dwells in us or not. Let us follow this inquiry with impartiality and self application; and receive the conviction which may result from it, whether for or against us.

Now it is evident the love of God does not dwell in you-if the native enmity of your hearts against him has not been subduedif your thoughts and affections do not fix upon him with peculiar endearment, above all other things-if you do not give him and his interests the preference of all things that may come in competition with him-if you do not labour for conformity to him-if you do not love to converse with him in his ordinances-and if you do not make it the great business of your lives to please him by keeping his commandments.

First, The love of God is not in you, if the native enmity of your hearts against him has not been subdued.

This will appear evident to every one that believes the scripture account of human nature, in its present degenerate state. By nature we are "children of wrath :"* and certainly the children of wrath cannot be the lovers of God, while such. "That which is born of the flesh, is flesh,† and they savour of the flesh,‡ or, as we render it," the carnal mind is enmity against God."S And hence it is, that "they that are in the flesh, cannot please God." St. Paul gives this character of the Colossians, in their natural state; and there is no reason to confine it to them: that they were some time alienated, and enemies in their minds by wicked works." In short, it is evident from the uniform tenour of the gospel, that it is a dispensation for reconciling enemies and disaffected rebels to God. Hence it is so often expressly called the ministry of reconciliation: and ministers are represented as ambassadors for Christ, whose business it is to beseech men in his stead, to be reconciled to God.** But reconciliation presupposes variance and disaffection to God. From these things, it is evident, that, according to the scripture account, the present state of nature is a state of disaffection and hostility against God. The authority of Scripture must be sufficient evidence to us, who call ourselves christians. But this is not all the evidence we have in this case. This is a sensible matter of fact and experiFor I appeal to all of you that have the least self-acquaintEph. ii. 3. † John iii. 6. + φρονήμα σαρκος. § Rom. viii. 7. Rom. viii. 8. ¶ Col. i. 21. ** 2 Cor. v. 18-20.

ence.

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