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fore it be prepared for ufe! The fame may be faid of raiment; of trade; of fcience; of every thing valuable and excellent, you do not expect to gain them without diligence; you would not efteem and prize them if you could.

"On earth nought precious is obtain'd,

"But what is painful too.

"By travail, and ro'travail born,
"Our fabbaths are but few."

-Indifpenfable, if we appeal to the character of a Christian. He is a merchant, a scholar, a husbandman, a traveller, a foldier. The anxiety of the merchant, the application of the scholar, the hardy toil of the husbandman, the wearying progrefs of the traveller, the painful exercife of the foldier, are images which ill accord with indolence and ease.

-Indifpenfable, if we appeal to the promises of the Gofpel. Thefe all require it, encourage it, produce it. Is God faid to work in us to will and to do of his own good pleasure? It is made a motive to induce us to work out our own falvation with fear and trembling. Has he engaged to renew our ftrength? It is when we are waiting upon him; this is the condition. It is that we may mount up with wings as eagles, that we may run and not be weary, and walk and not faint this is the defign. And if the promises of divine grace do not fuperfede the neceffity of diligence, what else can render it needlefs?

Awake then, my fellow Chriftians, and be zealous. Be not fatisfied with your prefent attainments; but forgetting the things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,be ever preff

ing towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Chrift Jefus. Others are ambitious, covetous, active. The learned are adding to their intellectual treasures; the honourable are adding to their splendour and diftinctions; the rich are adding houfe to houfe, and field to field; and none of them faith," It is enough." And have you no concern to go from strength to ftrength, to be changed from glory to glory, to fhine more and more unto the perfect day? Will not you add to your faith, virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godlinefs; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity?

Here, my Brethren, call forth all your diligence. Here is a prize which is able to reward it, which will affuredly crown it; but which it is impoffible to acquire without it. Keep this always in your remembrance, that there is only one way to profper in religion; that your strength is not to fit ftill; that fomething more is necessary than airy notions, fleepy wishes, feeble refolutions, wavering and cold endeavours; that temptations are to be refifted, obftacles to be overcome, means to be inceffantly used, especially prayer, that divine Grace my be mighty in you, and fufficient for "He becometh you. poor that dealeth with a flack "hand; but the hand of the diligent maketh rich." "The foul of the fluggard defireth and hath noth"ing; but the foul of the diligent shall be made fat." "And we desire that every one of you do fhew the "fame diligence to the full affurance of hope unto the "end; that ye be not flothful; but followers of them,

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"who through faith and patience inherit the promif66 es.' "Wherefore, my beloved Brethren, be ye "stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work "of the Lord, forafmuch as ye know that your la "bour is not in vain in the Lord."

SERMON

XVII.

THE ABUSE OF DIVINE FORBEARANCE.

ECCLES. viii. ii.

Becaufe fentence against an evil work is not executed Speedily, therefore the heart of the fons of men is fully fet in them to do evil.

My Brethren, to know things in their principles has always been deemed the highest kind of science. The attention of a vulgar mind may be roufed by effects; but a wife man looks back from confequences to the caufe, and explores the fource of the disease, in order to prefcribe more certainly the means of cure.

That there is much wickedness in the world is undeniable. Whence does it arife? Solomon views it as refulting from an Abuse of Divine Forbearance. Not that this is the only fource of iniquity; but it is a very powerful, and a very prevailing one. In fuch a dreadful courfe as Sin, a man needs encouragement; and he awfully derives it from the goodness and long-fuffering of his God. "Because fentence "against an evil work is not executed speedily, there

"fore the heart of the fons of men is fully fet in them "to do evil."

THERE IS A SENTENCE DENOUNCED AGAINST SIN. THE EXECUTION OF IT IS COMMONLY LONG SUSPENDED. THIS DELAY EMBOLDENS THE SINNER These three things are obviously IN HIS CRIMES. contained in the words before us; and with thefe I would engage your prefent attention. "To-day if ye "will hear his voice, harden not your heart."

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I. Sin is defervedly called an EVIL WORK. fear none of us are fufficiently impreffed with a fenfe of its vileness and malignity. It is "the work of the "devil." It is folly, ingratitude, rebellion, treason. It degrades the foul; it defiles the foul. It robs us of the likeness, the prefence, the favour of God. How deplorable are its confequences! What mifery has it produced! For it cannot go unpunished. THERE IS

A SENTENCE DENOUNCED AGAINST IT.

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God is of "purer eyes than to behold iniquity :" "He is angry with the wicked every day." But what is anger in God? Not a paffion, but a principle, a determination to punish. It is juftice, and this juftice is effential to the perfection of his character; and we could neither adore or love him, if we believed that he was indifferent to an evil which not only fubverts his defigns, but deftroys the welfare of his creatures. What would you think of a magiftrate who fhould "bear the fword in vain ;" and who, when you led before him one who had invaded your property, and another who had killed your child, should fmile and fay, What is that to me? Would you not

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