tance from him, with eyes of scorn. The publican, on the contrary, enters not into competition with the pharisee, or with any one. So far from

looking round, he durst not so much as lift up his eyes; but casts himself, hardly indeed presumes to cast himself, not upon the justice, but wholly and solely upon the mercies, of his Maker; "God be merciful to me a sinner." We know the judgment which our Lord himself pronounced upon the case; "I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other."* The more therefore we are like the publican, and the less we are like the pharisee, the more we come up to the genuine temper of Christ's religion.

Think then less of your virtues; more of your sins. Do I hear any one answer, I have no sins to think upon? I have no crimes, which lie upon my conscience? I reply, that this may be true with respect to some, may with respect to many persons, according to the idea we commonly annex to the words, sins and crimes; meaning thereby acts of gross and external wickedness. But think farther enlarge your views. Is your obedience to the law of God what it ought to be, or what it might be? The first commandment of that law is, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. Is there, upon the subject of this commandment, no matter for thought, no room for amendment? The second commandmentis, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Is all with us, as it should be, here? Again, there is a spirituality in the commands of Christ's religion, which will cause the man, who obeys them truly, not only to govern his actions, but his words; not only his words, but his inclinations, and his dispositions, his internal habits, as well as external life. "Ye have heard that it hath been said of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: but I say unto you, He that looketh on a woman to lust after

* Luke xviii. 14.

her;" that is, he who voluntarily indulges, and entertains in his mind an unlawful desire, "hath committed adultery with her already in his heart," is by the very entertainment of such ideas, instead of striving honestly and resolutely to banish them from his mind, or to take his mind off from them, a sinner in the sight of God. Much the same kind of exposition belongs to the other commandments; not only is murder forbidden, but all unreasonable, intemperate anger and passion; not only stealing, but all hard and unfair conduct, either in transacting business with those, who are upon a level with us, or, where it is more to be feared, towards those who are in our power. And do not these points open to us a field of inquiry, how far we are concerned in them? There may not be what, strictly speaking, can be called an act or deed, which is scandalously bad; yet the current of our imaginations, the bent of our tempers, the stream of our affections, may all, or any of them he wrong, and may be requiring, even at the peril of our salvation, stronger control, a better direction.

Again; There may not be any action, which, singly and separately taken, amounts to what would be reckoned a crime; yet there may be actions, which we give in to, which even our own consciences cannot approve; and these may be so frequent with us, as to form a part of the course and fashion of our lives.

Again; It is possible, that some of the miscarriages in conduct, of which we have to accuse ourselves, may be imputable to inadvertency or surprisc. But could these miscarriages happen so often as they do, if we exercised that vigilance in our Christian course, which not only forms a part of the Christian character, but is a sure effect of a sincere faith in religion, and a corresponding solicitude and concern about it? Lastly, unprofitableness itself is a sin. We need not do mischief in order to commit sin; uselessness, when we might be useful, is enough to make us sinners be-.

fore God. The fig-tree in the gospel was cut down, not because it bore sour fruit, but because it bore none. The parable of the talents* is pointed expressly against the simple neglect of faculties and opportunities of doing good, as contradistinguished from the perpetration of positive crimes. Are not all these topics fit matters of meditation, in the review of our lives? Upon the whole, when I hear a person say, he has no sins to think upon, I conclude, that he has not thought seriously con cerning religion at all.

Let our sins, then, be ever before us; if not our crimes, of which it is possible, that, according to the common acceptation of that word, we may not have many to remember: let our omissions, deficiencies, failures, our irregularities of heart and affection, our vices of temper and disposition, our course and habit of giving in to smaller offences, meaning, as I do mean, by offences, all those things, which our consciences cannot really approve; our slips, and inadvertencies, and surprises, much too frequent for a man in earnest about salvation. Let these things occupy our attention; let this be the bent and direction of our thoughts; for they are the thoughts, which will bring us to God evangelically; because they are the thoughts, which will not only increase our vigilance, but which must inspire us with that humility as to ourselves; with that deep, and abiding, and operating sense of God Almighty's love, and kindness, and mercy towards us, in and through Jesus Christ our Saviour, which is ever one great aim and end of the gospel, and of those, who preached it, to inculcate upon all, who came to take hold of the offer of grace.

* Matt. xxv. 14..

SERMON XII.

SALVATION FOR PENITENT SINNERS.

Wherefore I say unto thee, her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much.-Luke vii. 47.

It has been thought an extravagant doctrine, that the greatest sinners were sometimes nearer to the kingdom of heaven, than they, whose offences were less exorbitant, and less conspicuous: yet I apprehend the doctrine wants only to be rationally explained, to shew that it has both a great deal of truth, and a great deal of use in it; that it may be an awakening religious proposition to some, whilst it cannot, without being wilfully misconstrued, delude or deceive any.

Of all conditions in the world the most to be de'spaired of is the condition of those, who are altogether insensible or unconcerned about religion; and yet they may be, in the mean time, tolerably regular in their outward behaviour; there may be nothing in it to give great offence; their character may be fair; they may pass with the common stream, or they may even be well spoken of; nevertheless, I say, that whilst this insensibility remains upon their minds, their condition is more to be despaired of than that of any other person. The religion of Christ does not in any way apply to them: they do not belong to it; for are they to be saved by performing God's will? God is not in their thoughts; his will is not before their eyes. They may do good things; but it is not from a principle of obedience to God, that they do them. There may be many crimes which they are not guilty of: but it is not out of regard to the will of God, that they do not commit them. It does not, therefore, appear, what just hopes they can entertain of heaven, upon the score of an obedience, which they not only do not perform, but do not attempt to perform. Then, secondly, if they are to hope in Christ for a forgive

ness of their imperfections, for acceptance through him of broken and deficient services, the truth is, they have recourse to no such hope; beside, it is not imperfection with which they are charged, but a total absence of principle. A man who never strives to obey, never indeed bears that thought about him, must not talk of the imperfection of his obedience: neither the word, nor the idea pertains to him: nor can he speak of broken and deficient services, who, in no true sense of the term, hath ever served God at all. I own, therefore, I do not perceive what rational hopes religion can hold out to insensibility and unconcernedness, to those, who neither obey its rules, nor seek its aid: neither follow after its rewards, nor sue, I mean in spirit and sincerity sue, for its pardon. But how, it will be asked, can a man be of regular and reputable morals, with this religious insensibility: in other words, with the want of vital religion in his heart? I answer, that it can be. A general regard to character, knowing that it is an advantageous thing to possess a good character; or a regard generated by natural and early habit: a disposition to follow the usages of life, which are practised around us, and which constitute decency: calm passions, easy circumstances, orderly companions, may, in a multitude of instances, keep men within rules and bounds, without the operation of any religious principle whatever.

There is likewise another cause, which has a tendency to shut out religion from the mind, and yet hath at the same time a tendency to make men orderly and decent in their conduct; and that cause is business. A close attention to business is very apt to exclude all other attentions; especially those of a spiritual nature, which appear to men of business shadowy and unsubstantial, and to want that present reality and advantage, which they have been accustomed to look for, and to find in their temporal concerns:' and yet it is undoubtedly true, that attention to business fre