be your state, when death comes, you will meet it with a smile; and when about to be dissolved and be with Christ, you will have none of those terrors which menace the wicked, though to the last you will experience the christian conflict.

But, O sinner, careless, ignorant sinner, who hast hardly ever had even a thought that thou hadst a soul, thou art only living for damnation, if the Lord take thee not out of damnation's road. Would it be just for God to lay aside his prerogatives because man chooses to be ungodly? "The wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men;" and as surely as you are living in your sins, so surely are you in destruction's paths. O that the Lord may this night bring conviction home, and that some who never thought of praying before, may cry, "Lord save, or we perish." Why, poor reprobate sinners, do you ask for salvation, if you never desired to have it! "Turn ye from your evil ways, for why will ye die?" Think not that Christ will keep any at a distance, for, "whosoever cometh, he will in no wise cast out." May the Lord bless these broken hints for his name's sake. Amen.

SERMON X.

EVERY GRACE THE UNDESERVED GIFT OF GOD.

JOB XXXV, 7.

"If thou be righteous, what givest thou him, or what receiveth he of thine hand?"

THOUGH We were completely ruined by the fall, yet we are notwithstanding, most proud and self-conceited. We have all a thousand wrong fancies respecting ourselves, and unrighteous as we are, we delight in speaking of our right

eousness.

The first idea which now strikes my mind is this-with all reverence be it spoken of the divine existence-it is impossible for God to create another being independent like himself. From the highest archangel in heaven to the lowest creature upon earth, they must all be dependent beings. It was a wise declaration of a heathen-even a heathen could discover this "in him we live and move and have our

being." Not a hair of our heads could we produce ourselves. All contrivances to make us happy come from God, and we cannot manage them alone. He gives us our food, and the good things around us are all at his command. We must sow the seed, but the rain of heaven must make it grow. We have eyes to see what we have to do, but God contrived and made them. As human creatures therefore, it becomes us to remember our dependence; and it is a very practical and proper observation, that in all our enjoyments which we have from God, we should dedicate the use of them to his glory.

The apostle says, "what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?" The psalmist also says in a similar spirit, "my goodness extendeth not to thee;" it reached not beyond the limits of his own little circle of good. Could God be made happier in having a million more of angels to sing his praise? Can the Being of beings be supported by those who proceed from him? What is one poor insect of a man to God, in a world supposed to contain many millions of his race? 2 Ps. xvi, 2.

1 1 Cor. iv, 7.

The loss of a thousand of you would be no loss to the Lord. It is only in mercy that he commands us to perform our duties, designing them to be for our everlasting good. We cannot add to his glory, though he is pleased to say that we do glorify him.

By these observations the subject before us is naturally introduced. My text propounds this -if thou be righteous. I judge by this proposition respecting man, that he ought to be a righteous creature. If we are not made righteous, we can never enter the presence of God. The idea of our being happy without righteousness is the greatest of absurdities, as it is most profane. I have sometimes observed that God's happiness consists in his infinite holiness and righteousness, and that as our eyes are only the recipients of light, and as we have no breath in ourselves for life and its enjoyment, but as we receive it from the air around us, so there is nothing of a spiritual nature conducive to our spiritual well-being and comfort, which we do not receive from God. All the ideas we may have of eternal bliss in heaven, of singing everlasting praises, of the company of the blessed, are nothing without the recollection of the capacity for such happiness, which is God's own

dear image on our minds, and which he alone can give. This one text merits our perpetual surprise; "we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them."3 The idea that we must be righteous should be deeply impressed on us all. "Without holiness no man can see the Lord;" and therefore, let us inquire, whence can we get a righteousness that shall please God? Certainly, we can only obtain it from God himself; yet this righteousness, while it is infinitely profitable to us, cannot be profitable to him.

Now, what is the first grace which leads to this righteousness? It is repentance; we feel this first. But, what is the language of real penitence? It is that we are grievous sinners, that we have transgressed God's laws, and therefore deserve punishment. But was there ever yet a criminal about to die for his breach of the law, who said, "I ought to be pardoned because I repent?" Repentance is a humble acknowledgment that we are vile sinners, and that we have nothing left us but "shame and confusion of face." Hence, how preposterous the idea of a proud penitent, sup3 Eph. ii, 16.