you are deeply criminal in the eye of God and of man, and justly liable to all the penalties due to an associate in their felony. But if, whilst ignorant of their persons and their plans; the depredators, in order to insult and annoy you, should fill your premises with their booty; if night after night they should repeat the outrage, and deposit their spoils in your dwelling: while you abhor their unlawful proceedings, and are grieved and ashamed at the indignity which they have inflicted; while you send the most prompt notice to the lawful owners, and raise the hue and cry against the banditti; whilst you have recourse to every measure and employ every mean to check their depredations, and bring them to justice: can you be fairly chargeable with dishonesty and house-breaking?

If you deliberately cherish any foul and criminal thoughts you are a sinner. Whether you entertain those that spontaneously spring up in your mind, or indulge those that are suggested by wicked men or injected by Satan; you are deeply guilty in the sight of God. You may fancy that whilst your thoughts are confined to your own bosoms, you are innocent and safe. This, however, is a most egregious delusion. For as every man thinketh in his heart, so is he. Your contemplations may be airy and visionary. They may never be reduced to practice, nor imbodied in actions. But the mind that can dwell with delight, even in idea, upon what is forbidden, is dreadfully polluted and desperately wicked. But if blasphemous thoughts are hated and repelled; if you labor to exclude them from your fancies, and to pre-occupy your mind with pure and holy meditations; if you pray for deliverance from every wandering and unworthy imagination, and desire above all things that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; if you endeavour to abide in the comforts of the Holy Ghost, and maintain constant fellowship with God: however frequently and vehemently these detestable suggestions may return; however humbling, galling, and painful they may prove; can you be justly accused of being their author or abettor, and subjected to punishment for their unwelcome and hateful presence? It is not the crime, but the calamity of the man of integrity, that stolen

goods are secretly thrown upon his premises. And it is not your crime, but your calamity, that you are pestered with the thoughts which you dread, and which you vigorously labour to drive away. It is an enemy that hath done it. For "if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me." After shewing him all the kingdoms of the world, and all the glory of them, the devil had the audacity to say to the incarnate Redeemer, "All these things will I give unto thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me." And if the Captain of salvation was assailed with such an impious temptation, is it any marvel that his followers should be harassed with the most horrid and odious suggestions? While, however, you give no place to Satan, but resist him steadfast in the faith; all is safe. Greater is he that is for you, than all that can be against you. Rest on him, and cleave to him. He will bruise Satan under your feet shortly, and make you more than conquerors.

Some perhaps will tell me that they fear that they have committed the unpardonable sin, because

3. They have uttered blasphemous words against God, and Christ, and the Holy Ghost.

No language can express, nor any mind can conceive, the guilt and the danger of voluntary blaspheming the name of Him whom all nature obeys, and all the angels adore. Every thing approaching to profanity partakes of the dialect of fiends, and shews that the speaker is possessed of the spirit that reigns in hell. But we dare not say that even blasphemous words, when uttered through the force of delirium, or the surprise of sudden and violent temptation, are beyond the reach of forgiveness. To save his life, Peter denied his Master with oaths and curses. In his rage against the faithful, Paul compelled many of them to blaspheme. But, though their guilt was great; for a Christian ought rather to die than conceal his attachment to his Master, or betray the cause of the Gospel; we have no reason for believing that their crime was unpardonable, or their condition desperate. Peter obtained the remission of his iniquity; and it is highly probable, that some of those whom Paul had driven into this

transgression were afterwards humbled for their. offence and restored to mercy. Instances have occurred of persons, who, like Jerome of Prague, from a temporary alarm, have disguised or renounced their religion; who afterwards have been enabled, with heavenly calmness and holy fortitude, to surrender their lives for the truth.

If oppressed with the recollection, that in a season of melancholy or madness, you have spoken blasphemously, you ought to remember that melancholy and madness are diseases and not sins; and that they frequently deprive the sufferer of responsibility for his actions. We cannot blame the child who, in a fit of convulsion, unconsciously strikes his parents. And if you have unintentionally uttered profane and impious language, and are now grieved and humbled for what you have said; this grief and humility prove that you have not sinned beyond the possibility of forgiveness. If you had sinned the sin unto death, you would have been regardless of your fate, and given yourselves no uneasiness about the matter.

Some may tell me that they are afraid that they have been guilty of this sin, because

4. They have hated religion, and reviled and persecuted the pious.

But however heinous such a sin may be, I dare not say that even every kind of hatred of the truth and persecution of the righteous, is the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. All natural men are enemies to God in their minds and by wicked works; and entertain a greater or less degree of antipathy against the Gospel and those who live under its power. And yet from the ranks of natural men God is daily adding to the church such as shall be saved. The more holy the man is, the more dreadful is the guilt of hating and abusing him. But the holiest man that breathes is not exempted from the obligation of the precept, even with respect to the most detestable miscreant that annoys him: "Love your enemies; bless them that curse you; do good to them that hate you; and pray for them who despitefully use you, and persecute you." But if these crimes are unpardonable, why are we required to pray for the criminals? Where was there ever a

greater degree of hostility cherished against Christianity, and the followers of Christ, than by Paul before his conversion? What greater malice could be entertained against God and goodness, or what more horrid atrocity could be perpetrated, than was manifested by those who took, and crucified the Lord of glory? yet even some of these were pricked in their hearts, repented, and were baptized with the Holy Ghost.* And if melted into contrition upon account of your past enmity to God and his people; can you doubt, if you apply to the blood of sprinkling, that a free and full pardon will also be extended to you?

Some perhaps may tremble lest they have committed this unpardonable crime, because

5. They have sinned deliberately and wilfully, when they knew that what they did was wrong, condemned by the law of God, and exposed to the severest visitations of his vengeance.

But though presumptuous sin is possessed of the deepest dye; and, without repentance, will be followed with the most dreadful retributions; we dare not say that even this, heinous as it is, is beyond the reach of forgiveness The sin of David in the matter of Uriah; the sin of Jonah, in fleeing from the presence of the Lord, when sent to proclaim the Divine judgments against Nineveh; must have been committed with the knowledge that they were evil, and calculated to draw down the wrath of the Most High. And yet David and Jonah were afterwards brought to genuine humiliation and contrition of spirit, and were pardoned and accepted.

Others perhaps may tell me that they are terrified lest they have committed this sin, because

6. After making a profession of religion, they have fallen by their iniquity; and now when they would wish to be reconciled to God, and return to their duty and allegiance, they cannot.

They feel no compunction for their sins; no bitterness nor vexation of soul for the evils that they have done;

*Acts ii. 36-41.

and, though they wish to mourn over the dishonour which they have offered to the blessed God, no tear drops from their eyes, and no sighing nor sorrow proceeds from their soul. Notwithstanding all the guilt under which they are lying, their heart remains as cold, hard, and insensible as a stone. They fear that their day of grace is past; that God has given them up in anger; and that all their alarms and terror are no better than the unsanctified horrors of the proud and impenitent Saul, when the Spirit of the Lord had departed from him; or of the wretched Judas, who repented, and went and hanged himself.

For the relief of persons in this situation, it must be observed, that there is a wide difference betwixt sickness and suicide. The patient is unexpectedly seized with his malady: he dislikes it; and longs to recover his health. The self-murderer courts death, and is resolved on his own destruction. And there is as great a difference betwixt backsliding and apostacy. The backslider may not be so completely humbled and melted as he would wish for his treachery and baseness. But whilst he abhors himself, he loves and adores the glorious God: and, whilst he is oppressed with an overwhelming sense of his monstrous unworthiness, he has no desire to increase it. Though fallen he has no wish to lie still. The strongest, the supreme desire of his heart is to be raised from his degradation; to regain his former standing; to recover his lost joys, and to be fixed more firmly than before, in the love of his heavenly Father. But the apostate, when he falls, has no desire to rise. He wishes to lie still; and is irritated at every attempt to raise and restore him. The backslider, when admonished of his offence, returns speedily, and seeks earnestly after God. The apostate is indignant at his reprovers; and, the farther he proceeds in his ungodly career, becomes still more outrageous in vice, and more desperately set upon his sins. Evil men and seducers wax worse and worse. Peter as well as Judas sinned against the Saviour: Cranmer as well as Sharp betrayed the faith. But whilst the one was instantly roused to a sense of his criminality, and made the most ample reparation