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out necessity; when dissimulation and falsehood abound, and murders, and robberies are not unfrequent, and multitudes delight in war; and when adultery and fornication are found among all ranks, can we wonder that the land should mourn, and the fields languish, and that the hands of the cultivators of the soil are weak? Thus "evil pursueth sinners."* Nations are punished here; and individuals feel, by experience, that suffering is attached to sin; which however is not to be considered as a substitute for, but as a pledge, or foretaste of the WRATH TO COME. The blasphemer is sometimes arrested, and called away, in the very act; and the bow of God is seen quite naked.+ In acts of lewdness the ruinous effects of sin, and the doctrine of a partial retribution here in punishing it, are peculiarly striking. When the solemn contract, which forms the marriage union is infringed, and trampled upon, how wide-spreading is the mischief which ensues! It is not confined to the guilty individuals the honour, peace, enjoyment, prospects, and well-being of whole families in connexion are smitten, and destroyed. How dismal is the prospect which opens on the unhappy female, the victim of seduction! Bereft of character, and peace, forsaken by friends, an outcast of society,: and despised even by her seducer, whither, O whither shall she turn? Too often she plunges into an abyss of guilt and infamy, and sinks to rise no more. Or wrought up to despair, the hand, that should cherish, cuts the thread of life, and selfmurder closes the tragic scene. It is well for her, that Christ has in the gospel erected a penitentiary for such as she is. And it is well for her, that

* Prov. xiii. 21. Hab. iii. 9.

there are some, who will shew her, that the door is open, and press her to enter in. In these latter days God has shown his abhorrence of these sins by sending a new disease of a disgusting and horrible nature, evidently designed to punish them, which may be fitly named the scourge of whoredom, by which many thousands of young persons are stopped in a course of sinning, and wasting away, loathsome, and intolerable to themselves and others, are swept into an early grave. Yet how few understand this, and turn to him that smites them! In the case of intemperance, the ruinous consequences of sin, as seen here, are perhaps still more manifest. If we look among the irrational creatures, we search in vain for one, that we can justly compare to the drunkard, and say, with truth, they are alike. The brute animals do not violate the law of their nature, as he is in the habit of doing with his. For the drunkard unmans, and debases himself to a state shocking, and unexampled among other creatures. He is chargeable also with cruelty to his wife and children; and his example becomes contagious to others whom he tempts and seduces to the same infatuation and perdition. An awful woe is denounced in the scripture on all, who press the bottle on others, to make them drunken!*

But I hasten to another part of my office. O ye unclean, who have made yourselves vile by the multitude and enormity of your pollutions! who have sinned against your own bodies, and sold yourselves to commit iniquity, and abomination! Ye ungodly and profane, who have insulted the Majesty o Heaven, and blasphemed your Maker

* Hab. ii, 15.

and Judge, though you know the devils believe and tremble! Hear the message he sends to you, and be astonished! Should you feel alarmed, and be ready to ask, what have such wretches as we to expect from God? it would be encouraging. Hear then the gracious message, the thoughts of peace, and the word of reconciliation; and know that "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."* Know then that sinners, such as you are, have been reconciled, and made righteous in Christ. They were washed, and sanc

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tified, 'and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." If you tremble, when you think of your sins, and of death and judgment, which are before you, then, I say, "be lieve in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved." If you still hesitate, because you are a great sinner, look at those words of Christ, which "ALL MANNER of sin, you may run, and read. and blasphemy shall be forgiven." There is no bar but unbelief, the chief cause and strength of which are the love of sin. O pray for a new heart. "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out." Then others, it may be, will turn to God. Saints and angels will rejoice, and a new song will be sung, "Unto

* 2 Cor. v. 19. + 1 Cor. vi. 11.

Acts xvi. 31. § Mat. xii. 31.

Acts iii. 19.

him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, "*

There yet remains a subject of vast importance, which I cannot allow myself to pass over in silence; because in the present divided state of the church it is always seasonable, and more especially when members of various denominations are met together. It is deeply to be regretted, that the church of Christ, instead of appearing as “one fold under one Shepherd," should resemble the divisións, of contending armies, drawn up against each other, and either engaged, or ready for the conflict. This must have the worst possible effect on the world, because it prevents them from understanding what Christianity really is. It puts a keen weapon into the bands of popery, and may be considered as a master-piece of satan, by which he bewilders and disheartens men in their inquiries after truth, and strives to quash all attempts at farther reformation. For instead of the primitive remark by lookers-on among the heathen, 'see how these Christians love,' the inference now is, see how these professors bite and devour one another! We are more agreed than they in what we believe; and therefore had better leave them 'to search after what, it is evident from their ex'ample, cannot be found. Since you know these things to be so, suffer me to deal plainly with you; for I consider it a call of duty to warn you against the evils of bigotry and a party-spirit, and also to point out what I conceive to be the proper remedy.

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Some of you have heard me say from this place, that, in the religion of Christ, all parties, as such, are wrong. They are sinful so far as they cherish

* Rev. i. 5.

a party-spirit, and alienate the members of Christ from each other, because they deform the face of the church, and counteract the design of Christ's death, which was to "gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad,"* These children are all beloved of their heavenly Father, with the same everlasting love, and washed in the precious blood of his only-begotten Son, and "called in one hope of their calling." They are all led by the same Spirit, walk in the same way, and are going to the same place of habitation; and being united to Christ their head by ties never to be dissolved, they have fellowship with him, and with each other. It seems therefore quite incredible, that they should form discordant parties, glorying in their separate interests, as they stand in opposition to others, and yet continue to be that people, whose unity of character and privilege the Holy Ghost has so minutely described. They are likewise all exhorted to 'put on love, which is the bond of perfectness." || For while love is maintained, their unity is preserved, and their spiritual growth certain. But should this bond be removed, and the selfish passions suffered to prevail, the union is broken, and fearful disorders ensue. For where envying and strife are, there is confusion, and every evil work." Such professors are carnal: for "whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?”** The influence of such divisions on the culture of the soul is like that of mildew on the harvest of the earth. They produce a failure of the fruits of

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* John xi. 52. + Eph. iv. 4. ‡ Rom. viii. 14. § 1 John i. || Col. iii. 14. James iii. 16. ** 1 Cor. iii. 3.

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