charge God hath against you for those rebellious days of your life, when you were not serving him, but following your own lusts.

From this general accusation, should I descend to particulars; should I charge you with the acts of sin, which have been compassed and contrived in your own heart, without being brought forth into outward conduct, how would time and calculation fail to bring before you the incessant actings of pride and impatience, of hatred and resentment, of envy and malice; the ceaseless contrivances for worldly honour and wealth; the projects which have passed through your mind, for the enjoyments of pleasure and lust! Ah, how would you sink under the condemnation, could you see only the sin which hath been committed in your own heart, in desire and purpose, but was prevented in the practice and execution! Might I herewith also draw into one view all the sins of your life, such as the heedless discharge of the peculiar duties of your station, and the repeated omissions of them; the hour vainly squandered, and the talents sacrilegiously misapplied; the scandalous submissions and bowing the neck to human favour, and the irrecoverable opportunities you have lost of glorifying God, and benefiting your neighbour. In a word, the many

leanings and approaches to grosser acts of sin, and the repeated commission of those acts themselves, of whatever kind, together with the aggravations attending them; their having been done against knowledge and conscience: should I be able to draw up this charge and catalogue of actual sins against you, confusion must needs cover your face,

and you would see your "iniquities increased over your head," and your "trespasses grown up unto the heavens."

Let conscience speak; and how great will the sum of your sins be! But however multiplied and aggravated your trespasses are, place them all to the account of that undutiful and apostate spirit which possessed you, your own usurping will and pleasure. This was the fountain that sent forth all these bitter waters. This hath been the foundation of all the other evil dispositions of your heart, and of the various acts of iniquity which lie against you; even this forgetfulness of God as your Creator. It is this which hath frustrated the end of creation, dishonoured God, provoked him to displeasure, and placed man at a distance from his God and happiness. And here you are but one of the many, but one among the whole race of men, all of whom have been found in the same apostacy you are charged with. For all are gone out of the way: all are become filthy." Wherefore, they and you together, as making up a "world lying in wickedness," have the greatest need to weigh with an awakened attention, the sad consequences of such a revolt from, and rebellion against, the majesty of the Almighty.

And the consequences thereof are these three just now hinted at.-Hereby dishonour is brought upon God's government; man is sunk into a state of unfitness for God and happiness; and a sentence of wrath is gone forth against the world.

The first of these consequences is, that by the

sin of man, dishonour is brought upon God's dominion and government. God said, "Let us make man: It is my sovereign pleasure, that man should be. Let him live, and I will reign over him ; let him do my will; let him execute my pleasure. I will be known in this earth which I have made." Such was the great and gracious design of the eternal God; such, the end of man's creation. But see now, how little this design is answered; yea consider, if God be acknowledged as "the great king over all the earth." Where is the hearty willing submission of his creatures? Where the delightful attendance upon his honourable service? It is nowhere to be found. To the disgrace of his majesty and glory, God hath utterly been deprived of his dominion and rule; is not avowed by the children of men, as the wise and mighty Lord, as the kind and most affectionate parent. His sovereignty is disallowed; man hath forsaken and forgotten him. All sense of obligation to him hath ceased; all duty hath failed; all dependence hath been rejected. God hath been left by us to his heavens and his angels, nor known upon earth to be what he is. War, as it were, hath been declared against him; every-where, and by every one of us, he hath been robbed of his dominion; and man hath set up for the Lord of the world. And what other dishonour could we possibly have brought upon God, than by this apostacy? Proud man!

thou couldst do no more than this, against thy Maker: thou couldst not think of setting up thy puny arm against the strength of the Almighty;

thou couldst not hale him out of his heavens; but all which thy little insolence could do, thou hast done. Thou hast forgotten him, deprived him of his dominion over thee; thou hast caused him to be unknown in this earth, which his hands have made; thou hast stubbornly opposed thyself to his will. And what wouldst thou do more to his dishonour? It is not in thine hand to dishonour him more. Oh, how must the faithful holy angels look upon such a world as this? What resentments must they feel for the glory of their God, so vilely trampled upon! Burning with a sacred zeal for the injured dignity of their God, have they not been ready to cry out, "Arise, O God! plead thine own cause!" "See how foolish man reproacheth thee daily!" "Arise, and let thine enemies be scattered!" This is the first sad consequence of sin, the disgrace it brings upon God as the Governor of the world.

The second event of man's apostacy is, that he is left in a state of unfitness for God and glory. "In thy presence is fulness of joy," said David. Doubtless there is so, not only in heaven, but even here; for David spoke from experience; he found God's "favour to be life," his "loving-kindness to be better than life itself." But then, neither in time nor eternity, can there be a capacity for this joy, unless the will of man be in conformity with, and subjection to, the will of God. Without this, there can be no "entering into the joy of the Lord." I can easily conceive of the full joy of those blessed angels, who, always beholding the

face of God," do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word." But if one malig

nant spirit were among them, who affected independency, whose will drew, in the least degree, contrary to God's pleasure; sure I am, he must be a stranger to the joy of heaven. Nay, did any of them come short of an entire, free, and full submission of spirit to God's will, in any the least measure, such must so far fail of tasting the "pleasures at God's right hand." Now, in this respect, there is no difference between angels and us. An obedient spirit, an unreserved submission of soul to God's will, is the only qualification for happiness in us, as well as in them. But you have seen how you have been without such a frame of soul; and, if you are returning to your duty, you cannot but lament how you still fall short of an entire conformity of your will to God's. Man's selfish will directs him to a choice which is far distant from God and happiness. You have chosen your own glory, and your own pleasure; have been intent on seeking human praise, and bodily indulgence: and have been pursuing earthly things, whether the wealth, the opinion, or the honours of the world, in order to gratify your vanity and your lust. Your will and choice hath been thus downward; directly contrary to that full and entire choice of God's service and glory, which can only make you meet for his presence. But can these things, which the perverted will of man hath made its choice; can these present gratifications, upon which man hath set his heart, afford him happiness? Can the praise and ap