(5.) How much at variance it is with other things uttered by the same lips. At the moment you urge this excuse, you deny the doctrine of Election. Now if it is true that you are as unable to obey the Gospel as a dead man is to rise, it is evident that your salvation depends on God; and if He is unchangeable, it depends on His eternal will or decree. And this is Election. The doctrine of Election follows from your plea in a far more terrifick form than that in which I have presented it. And yet you urge the plea and reject the doctrine. You will neither consent to have power yourself, nor leave your fate with God. If we say you have power, and urge you to move, you deny, and plead your inability as an excuse. If we say you are dependant, (though in a far inferior sense,) and speak of Election, (which is an inevitable consequence,) you again deny and complain. What do you want? "We have piped unyou, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented." You will neither suffer it to be that you can turn yourself, nor that it depends on the eternal, unchangeable God to turn you. How then would you have it? You know not your own mind, and seem settled in nothing but to resist every truth that you happen to dislike. To engage in the divine service is loathsome to you; to bear the blame of refusing you will not; and therefore you take shelter in the plea of inability. To be dependant on God's eternal choice you cannot bear, (though this unavoidably follows

to

from your plea;) and therefore you oppose Election. The three things which you desire are these; to be excused from the divine service, to be exonerated from the blame of neglecting it, and to hold your fate in your own hands. When you would avoid the imputation of blame, you are willing to have no power; but as little power as you have, you insist on deciding your own fate. We may explain Election till we die, and so long as we leave your destiny in the hands of a sovereign God, you are not satisfied. We may heap proof upon proof to establish the point of your ability, and so long as the argument attaches blame to you, you are not convinced. When you are brought to a serious concern about religion, the case is somewhat altered. Then your sole desire is to be permitted to do something short of love and faith, and to induce God by that means to change your heart. To be told that you cannot induce Him by such a withered offering, gives you pain; to be urged to do more, you refuse. But let me tell you that this hope to move God by any act that does not rest on Christ, is the very definition of self-righteousness. Yet here you linger, and here you wish ministers to leave you. But if we leave you there, you are undone. If that self-righteousness is not torn away, it will forever keep you from Christ. We must follow you with loud and repeated warnings not to stop short of a full reliance on the Mediator; and when you recoil, we must show you that your obstinacy casts you dependant on sovereign

grace. And when we do this, you will probably say that we contradict ourselves, and preach that you can and that you cannot.

(6.) This plea if it were true would only condemn you. It was a miserable excuse for the slothful servant, that because he expected his lord would require exorbitant interest, he had taken care that he should have none. Was this the way to deal with a hard master who had him completely in his power? The plea condemned himself. If it were true he ought to have put his money to the exchangers, and swelled the amount to the last limit of his power. Sinner, this retort was intended for you. If you have a Master in heaven who requires more than you can do, is this a good reason why you should do nothing? why you should do so much against Him? Is it a good reason why you should never pray in your family, and seldom in your closet? why you should not look into your Bible once a week? why you should never attend a religious meeting except on the Sabbath, and then perhaps but a half a day? If you cannot change your heart, are you therefore obliged to push God out of all your thoughts, to feel so little reverence for Him and His institutions, to profane His holy day, to utter so many cavils against His truth, to violate so often, in your dealings and con· versation, the rule of doing to others as you would have others do to you, to utter so much slander and profanity, and to commit in various ways so many positive sins? To live altogether to your

self, and never regard His glory at all,—is this the way to treat a hard master who has you in his hands? Out of thine own mouth shalt thou be judged, thou wicked and slothful servant. If your plea is true your conduct is mad.

Thus I have finished what I proposed. I have shown that this allegation against God is false, is impious, is ruinous, is insincere, is at variance with other things uttered by the same lips, and is selfcondemning if true. And now I beseech you all who remain in sin, to renounce this God-provoking plea, and acknowledge yourselves infinitely to blame for not being convicted, for not instantly performing the duties of repentance and faith. Between the full charge contained in the plea, and this frank acknowledgment, there is no medium. It is a solemn truth that for only remaining unconvicted and unconverted this one hour in the sanctuary, you deserve eternal death. And will still attempt to justify yourselves and cast the blame on God? After He has given you full power to serve Him, and redeemed you from death, and offered you life, and pressed it upon you, and given you abundant light, and you have resisted all, shall He bear the blame and you be excused? Do you insist on this? But He will not consent. You and your Maker then are at open war. The contest must last forever, or one of the parties must yield. Shall God submit to you, or will you submit to Him? I forewarn you now that if this controversy

you

goes to trial at the Last Day, the case will go against you. The sentence of every holy being in the universe will be against you. The conscience of every devil,-your own conscience,-will be against you. O agree with your Adversary quickly while you are in the way with Him. "As though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God!"

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I have told you your duty, and for neglecting you have no excuse. But alas! well I know that your obstinacy will resist all considerations till the grace of God subdues you. This casts you at last, ruined, utterly ruined, self-ruined, on His sovereign will,—a will which all creation cannot change. At the moment you are supporting this impious warfare, you are altogether in His hands. If He frown you die. There I leave you, -with these words in your ears, "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself, but in ME is thine help.” O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself, but in ME, in ME ALONE is thine help. Amen.