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is the sin of rebellious man. He has received nothing but good from God, for which he has been unthankful, and has returned nothing but evil. In providing for the wants of rebellious men, God has been feeding a generation of vipers, which, under the frost of childhood or adversity, seemed to claim his compassionate regard, but which, under the sunshine of maturer years and prosperous circumstances, do not fail to cast forth their venom, and recoil upon their benefactor. The complaint which God preferred against his people of old, may with equal justice be preferred against many of you: Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken. I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. I drew them with human cords, with the bands of love and I was to them as he that lifteth up the yoke upon their cheek, and I laid down their fodder before them. Thus God acted with the people on whose necks was the yoke of his law. He mingled many privileges, advantages, and comforts with his precepts, to make them at once a righteous and happy people. And he has dealt with you in the same way; giving you line upon line, precept upon precept, grace for grace. And, like the Jews of old, you have been a stiff-necked and rebellious people. But remember these things must come into an account another day; the divine goodness towards us, and our abuse of it, will all be brought to light, when the secrets of all hearts shall be revealed. And what an awful and fearful account some of us will have to render in that day!

2. From this view of the benign benificence, we may be encouraged to trust in the Lord amidst all our wants and difficulties. The evils to which we are exposed are innumerable; and the wants and weakness of man are proverbial. But with what ease can God defend us in time of danger, or supply our wants in time of need? In how many ways, unknown to us, and unexpected by us, can he give a favorable turn to our affairs? Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shall thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Young lions do lack, and suffer hunger; but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing. And these precious promises have been verified to man in all ages of the world. Indeed, David declares, as the result of his observation, that this is the uniform course of Divine Providence. I have been young, and am now old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. Why, then, should any yield themselves up to desponding fears, or sink under the weight of accumulated afflictions? If the clouds of adversity seem to lower over the head of any desponding saint, let me exhort you to trust in the Lord; for in the Lord is everlasting strength. Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is he weary? He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might, he increaseth strength. Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly

fall; but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint.

3. If such be the bounty of providence, how rich must be the provision of grace! If this be the opening of his hand, that is the opening of his heart. If he satisfies natural desires, much more those that are spiritual. He will fulfill the desire of those that fear him; he also will hear their cry, and save them. The bounty of his providence only provides for the temporal wants of man generally, while the riches of his grace provides for our spiritual wants in all possible cases. Not one soul shall ever perish through want or famine, whose desires terminate in Christ. He tasted death for every man, and has commanded his gospel to be preached to every creature. In him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge; for it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell. The fulness treasured up in Christ, is sufficient to supply the spiritual wants of every human being. While, therefore, we cherish gratitude for temporal mercies, let us not rest in them, and neglect the interests of the soul. Worldly prosperity often proves a snare ; and though a blessing in itself, yet through sin may be turned into a curse. God gave to Nebuchadnezzar all the kingdoms of the earth, and all the glory of them; but he became lifted up in the pride of his heart, and forgot God his maker; his kingdom was wrested from him, and he was driven from among men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagle's feathers, and his nails like bird's claws. Beware, fellow-sinner, lest worldly prosperity fill thy heart with pride, and thou become hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Remember that solemn caution of the dear Redeemer: What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? The value of the soul is infinite, it is beyond all price; and he who barters it away for the fading glories of this world, in the end loses all and gains nothing.

4. If the goodness of God be thus displayed in a bounteous providence, and in the riches of his grace, what must sin be, that arms itself against him, and despises all his goodness. Sin is opposed to every one of the divine perfections, and is odious and hateful in the sight of God. It defiles, debases, and destroys the souls of men. Fools make a mock at it; but at last it will sting like a serpent, and bite like an adder. It has filled the earth with misery, and threatened man with the wrath to come. How great that evil which can incense even goodness itself with anger, and arm it with the vengeance of eternal fire. All the perfections of God are arrayed against sin; his holiness, his purity, his truth, and his justice, are all engaged to punish it. Sin is not merely opposed to the authority and majesty of God, which it dares to treat with contempt, but it is directed against all that is amiable in moral beauty, all that is

lovely in holiness, all that is innocent in purity, and all that is awful in goodness; and herein its malignity is indescribable. It is, indeed, an evil and bitter thing to sin against the Lord. And those who persist in its downward course, will surely in the end reap the wages of sin, the death of the soul.

5. If God can so easily supply the natural wants of the whole creation, how great and inestimable must be the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. To effect the one he has merely to open his hand, and the work is done; but to accomplish the other, the Son of God must appear among men in the likeness of sinful flesh, and expire upon the cross. The wisdom and the power of God are all-sufficient in one case as well as in another; but there are things relating to moral government which God cannot consistently do. He cannot deny himself. Had it been possible for man to be redeemed without the shedding of blood, God would have spared his own Son, and the cup should have passed from his lips; but it became him, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through suffering. God devised this method of saving sinners because the highest ends of justice were secured, and because the means were adapted to the end. Man had rebelled against God his Maker, and he must be brought back to his allegiance, or be lost for ever. Jesus Christ came into the world, as the messenger of God to lost and rebellious sinners, to make known to them the kind purposes of his Father, and to preach peace to those who are afar off, and to those who are nigh. He came, commissioned with all the authority and power, all the wisdom and holiness, all the light and truth, that should be necessary to convince, and persuade, and win men to their allegiance to God. And by employing all these powers, by exercising all these gifts, by establishing a new dispensation, by his instructions, doctrine, and example, by his life and sufferings, his labors and toils, and especially his death upon the cross; he did all that was needful to teach men the way to return, and lead them back to God.

6. The subject under consideration suggests the most powerful of all motives for kindness and charity towards the poor and needy. If we be the children of God, our conduct should resemble his; and while he so bountifully supplies our wants, he may well say to us as he did to Israel of old: Thou shalt not harden thy heart, nor shut thy hand from thy poor brother; but thou shalt open thy hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth. Our Lord also gives a similar charge to his disciples: Be ye perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect; for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. Charity to the needy and destitute is everywhere recommended and enforced in the Scriptures, and a disposition to supply their wants constitute an essential part of the Christian temper. Whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of

compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? As we always have the poor with us, let us then remember them, and as much as in us lieth supply their wants. A cold and cheerless winter is approaching, and multitudes in this large and populous city* are but ill-prepared to meet it. Their sufferings must be great and severe, if the hand of charity be not opened wide for their relief. May it be our delight to remember them; and let us cause the widow's heart to sing for joy, that the blessings of the needy may come upon us.

DISCOURSE XV.

The Remembrance of God in our Youth.

"Remember now thy Creator, in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them."-Eccl. xii., 1.

A VARIETY of modes may be profitably employed, in giving instruction: indeed, in order to be effectual, it must be accommodated, in some measure, to the dispositions and habits of the persons addressed. To one who is wayward and self-willed, the pungency of irony may be well applied; whilst, with the tractable and the docile, the more plain, simple, and direct way, of affectionate exhortation, may be the most effectual. Both these methods are adopted by Solomon, in the passage before us. In the verses immediately preceding our text, he addresses a young man whom he supposes to be bent on the prosecution of his evil ways: Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou for all these things God will bring thee into judgment. Then, after a serious admonition to avoid the evils which ungovernable passions will bring upon him, he affectionately exhorts him to devote his early life to the exercises of true piety. In addressing you from these words, we shall,

I. In the first place, show you what is implied in Remembering our Creator. Remember now thy Creator, in the days of thy youth. The course of a religious life is very properly here expressed by our remembrance of God; for, to remember a person or thing, is to call them to mind on all proper and suitable occasions-to so think of them as to do what the remembrance of them requires. To remember a friend, is to be ready to do him all good offices; to remember a kindness, is to be ready to requite it, when there is

* Boston.

an opportunity. To remember an injury, is to be ready to revenge it; and to remember our Creator, is to consider the relation in which we stand to him, as his creatures, and to be ready to fulfil the duties of this relation. We should remember, then, 1. His authority over us. God is our Creator, and we are the workmanship of his hands. We have derived from him all our powers, whether of body or mind. It is of his bounty alone, that we have been endowed with the faculty of reason, which elevates us above all the rest of this lower world, and brings us into a near conformity with that higher order of created intelligence, the holy angels. But, for what purpose has he thus distinguished us, but that we might render him services worthy both of our present state, and our future destinies? He hath formed us for himself, that we might show forth his praise. This is the end for which we are to live; nor is anything on earth to divert us from the course which he has marked out for our steps. Obedience, it is true, is due to our parents, and to all others, whom the providence of God has placed over us: but the authority of the creature must always be regarded as subordinate to that of the Creator. And if, at any time, the will of man stands opposed to the will of God, we must then reply: Whether it be right to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. Whatever solicitations we may have from the world, or from our passions and appetites, from within us, to violate any part of God's revealed will, we must withstand them manfully, and resist them, even unto death. Knowing that we are not our own, but God's, we must glorify him with our bodies and spirits, which are

his.

2. We should also remember the commands he has given us to regulate our conduct. We will not, at this time, enter into the different commandments of the law; but draw your attention rather to that great commandment of the gospel, to believe in Christ: This is his commandment, says St. John, that ye believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ. This command should be had in continual remembrance. It is addressed to all mankind, without distinction. There is no one so innocent, as not to need a Saviour; nor any one so guilty, but that he may, through penitence and faith, obtain an interest in that Saviour, whom God has provided for a ruined world. Do not imagine, my young friends, that you are not concerned in this commandment, or that it will be time enough for you to attend to it, when you shall feel a greater need of mercy. You all are sinners you all have a consciousness, within yourselves, that you have done many things which you ought not, and left undone many things you ought to have done. You, therefore, have in your own bosoms a witness, that you need a Saviour; and, as in the presence of the Most High God, I declare unto you, that there is no mercy for the young, any more than for the old, but in the name, and through the mediation, of Jesus Christ: There is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we can be saved, but the name of

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