dle with your domestic affairs, mark us for suspicious and dangerous persons, and drive us back to our schools and studies: but when we are in this pulpit, when we preach nothing to you but what proceeds from the mouth of God himself, and no other laws than those, which come from his throne, be not surprized when we say to you, Hear us with respect, hear us with attention. We are ambassadors for Christ. The Lord hath spoken. This is our commission, these are our credentials.

The

Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice. Hear ye hills, hear ye mountains, hear ye strong foundations of the earth, hear ye what the Lord saith. When God speaks, all ought to attend to what he says. He causes the most insensible creatures to hear his voice. voice of the Lord is powerful, the voice of the Lord is full of majesty, the voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon, it maketh Sirion to skip like u young unicorn, it divideth the flames of fire, it shaketh the wildernesss, it maketh the forests bare, Psal. xxix. 3. &c. The whole universe knows this voice, the whole universe submits to it. The voice of God does more than I have mentioned. reigns in empty space, It calleth_those_things which be not as though they were. By it the heavens, and all their host, were made. God spake and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast, Rom. iv. 17.

It

There is but one being in nature deaf to the voice of God, that being is the sinner. He, more insensible than the earth, and harder than the rocks, he refuseth to lend an ear. The prophet is forced to address himself to inanimate creatures, to hills and mountains, and strong foundations of the earth. Hear ye hills, hear ye mountains, ye strong foundations of the earth, and put my peo

sions, expressions so tender that nothing in uninspired poets and orators can equal them. O my people what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me.

In fine, the matter of this controversy is remarkable; it is the whole conduct of man to God, and the whole conduct of God to man. God is willing to exercise his patience to hear the complaints of his people: but he requires in return, that his people should hear his against them.

This is a general view of our text: but are general observations sufficient on a subject, that merits the most profound meditation? We must go into the matter, we must go even to the bottom of this controversy; we must hear both parties, how disproportional soever they may be, and how improper soever it may seem to confront them; we must examine whether the fault lie in God or man. Forgive, O God! if worms of the earth presume to agitate the rash question, and to plead thus in thy presence! Thy condescension will only display thy glory. Thou wilt be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest, Psal. li. 4.

Let us hear first what complaints man hath to bring against God, and what God hath to answer. Then let us see what complaints God hath to bring against man, and what man can allege in his own defence. But, as we have already hinted, you will not be surprized, my brethren, if we sometimes forget the prophet and the Jews, to whom he spoke, and consider the text as it regards christians in general, and this congregation in particular.

That a creature should complain of his Creator should seem a paradox. Of him every creature holds his life, motion, and being. The air he

breathes, the animation of his frame, the sun that gives him light, the earth that bears him up, are all emanations of the goodness of his Creator. Yet, strange as it may appear, it is certain, man complains of God. To set the Deity at nought, to trample his laws under foot, to blaspheme his holy name, to harden under the tenderest marks of his love, as we do every day, is not this to murmur? Is not this to complain?

Let us hear these complaints. You have your wish, my brethren, and are all of you to-day in the condition, in which Job desired to be, when, in an excess of grief, he uttered these emphatical words, O that I knew where I might find God! I would go even to his seat. I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments. I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would say unto me, chap. xiii. 3-5. Order this cause, mortals, prepare these arguments, God is ready to hear you. When we enter into our own hearts, we find we are apt to complain of God on three accounts; his law seems too severe; his temporal favors too small; and his judgments too rigorous. Let us follow man in these three articles.

The laws of God seem too severe. My people, what have I done unto thee? To this concupiscence answers; I choose to domineer in the world. but God would have me be humble, wash the feet of his disciples, esteem others better than myself, Phil. ii. 3. and place myself, so to speak, in the meanest post in the world. I like to amass riches: but God requires my conversation to be without covetousness, Heb. xiii. 5. and he would have me learn of lilies and sparrows to confide in his providence. I love to live well, and to fare Sumptuously every day: but God requires me to be

sober, to keep under my body, and bring it into subjection, 1 Cor. ix. 27. and instead of living to myself, to take from voluptuousness, and expend what I take in charity to others. I love to divulge the vices of a neighbor, and to erect my reputation on the ruin of his but God threatens to exclude slanderers from his kingdom. In a word, the law of God controls every passion of my heart. Ah! why did God give me laws so opposite to my inclinations, or why did he give me inclinations so opposite to his laws?

I understand you, sinners, you wish God had formed religion, not on the eternal rules of righteousness and judgment, which are the bases of his throne, Psal. xcvii. 2. but on the suggestions of such passions as animate you. Religion, intended by its wisdom to free the world from the vices, that disfigure it, should have revealed, in your opinion, more ample methods of committing these very vices, and provided for the hardening of such consciences as the justice of God means to terrify. You wish, that the sovereign God, by a condescension incompatible with the purity of his perfections, had imbibed, as it were, the wicked views and inclinations of sinful man, sinful man being so base and so wicked as to refuse to conform to the holiness of the supreme God.

But hast thou, man, sufficiently reflected on this article? Thou complainest of the laws of God. Who art thou? Whence dost thou come? Who gave thee thy being? Is not God thy governor? This firmament before thine eyes, that infinite space in which thine imagination is absorbed, those heavenly bodies revolving over thy head, the earth beneath thy feet, is not this the empire of God? And you, vile creature, confined in a corner of the universe, you house of clay, you worm of the earth,

you nothing, lighter than vanity itself, you, who are only a vain phantom, walking in a vain shero, do you murmur at the laws of God? would you be Lord of religion? would you either say to God, Command this, forbid that, or would you mount his throne, and give the universe law? What presumption !

You complain of the laws of God. Are not these laws just in themselves? God requires you to love him. Is it possible to refuse obedience to this just command, considering the eminent perfections, the majesty and benevolence of him, who requires your esteem? God requires you to love your neighbor. And would it be right that you, made of the same dust as your neighbor, and doomed both to return to dust again; would it be right for you, under pretence of some exterior advantages in your own condition, to cherish a self complacence, that would debase the dignity of human nature, and teach mankind to estimate their worth by external appendages? Would it be fair in civil society that each should contribute to your happiness, that the artist should assist you by his industry, the scholar by his learning, the statesman by his wisdom, the soldier by his courage, and that you, a simple spectator of all these things, should think of nothing but enjoying yourself at the expence of all mankind? Would this be right? Are your complaints well-grounded? My people, what have I done unto thee? wherein have I wearied thee? testify against

me.

You complain of the laws of God. But what is the design of all these laws? Is it not to make you as happy as possible? Judge again yourself. Imagine yourself violating all the divine laws, having no veneration for God, no love for your neighbors, being haughty, overbearing, a liar and a slanderer.