sire to be made like Him. They think to share the privileges of Religion, while they neglect its duties. They trust that Christ will deliver them from the wrath to come; but here they have no mind to be His real Disciples. They deny not themselves for His sake. They take not up their Cross and follow Him. They confess Him not before men. They keep not the heart with all diligence, nor labour to cleanse themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and the spirit. Now nothing can be plainer than that such persons do not obey the Gospel of God. For the Gospel of God requires them to do all those things, which they leave undone. It bids them to follow after holiness; to bring forth good fruit; to crucify the flesh; to walk in newness of life; to grow in grace; to have the mind which was in Jesus Christ; to let their light shine before men. Consider these things, all ye who profess to know God, but in works deny Him; who calling yourselves Christians, yet seek not after inward purity; who are satisfied at the most with Topping off some of the branches, and lay not the axe to the root of the tree; who, notwithstanding your pretended hope in Christ, remain proud, or covetous, or sensual, or worldly, or passionate, or envious, or uncharitable, who still love mammon more than Christ, or pleasure

more than God; who readily seize every opportunity of gratifying your favourite sin; or if you deny one lust, only do it that you may more easily indulge another.-Consider all ye, who answer to any part of this description, that you are equally guilty with the others before mentioned, of the sin specified in the text. You obey not the Gospel of God. This is your Sin. I proceed,

II. To set before you its great and aggravated Guilt. This is a point but little regarded and understood. Even those, who may have some tolerably correct views of other sins, have yet frequently very unequal conceptions of this. They think but lightly of the Sin of rejecting the Gospel. In disobeying the Gospel, they do not seem to think that they are doing any thing which will increase their guilt. But let us hear what Christ himself has said on this point. "He that believeth not is condemned already; because he hath not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God."* The not obeying the Gospel, or which is the same thing, the want of Faith in Jesus Christ, is expressly assigned as the cause and the ground of condemnation. In fact, this sin, which men esteem so light, or, which they think no sin at all, is the worst and the greatest sin of which any man can be guilty, * John, iii, 18.

It is that sin, which in guilt exceeds all other sins; and will sink those who are guilty of it into the deepest condemnation. Does this assertion surprise you? I will endeavour to convince you of its truth.

Men are apt to measure the evil of sin by the immediate consequences which flow from it. They deem that sin to be the greatest, which does the most injury to themselves or others. But this is not the standard by which the degree of guilt is to be regulated. For the evil of sin does not lie in the injury which is done to man, but in the injury which is done to God. The circumstance which makes sin so evil is, that it is committed against God. It is a breach of His law; an offence against His government; an affront offered to His Majesty. Would we know then the evil of any particular sin, and the degree of guilt which attaches to it, we must consider it in reference to God. this light let us consider the sin of which we are speaking, and we shall then see how great and aggravated is its guilt.

In

In the first place, the Gospel is the Gospel of God. It is that gracious message, which the Almighty Himself hath sent to us, to us His creatures, the work of His hands, the daily dependants on His bounty for life, and breath, and all things. What then can be more affronting to God than not to obey

the Gospel? God has sent us a message, and shall we refuse to listen to it? Hath God spoken, and shall we turn a deaf ear to what He says?

Consider further by Whom He hath sent this message to us. It was not a common messenger that He has employed. It was not a man like ourselves. It was not an angel even of the highest order. No. It was One, who was high above all angels. "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the Fathers by the Prophets, hath in these last times spoken unto us by his Son;" that Son, "whom He hath appointed heir of all things; by whom also He made the worlds;" and who, we profess to believe, will come to be our Judge. Surely the dignity of the Messenger greatly increases our obligation to listen to his message, and our guilt in rejecting it. Hath not God a right to expect that we should reverence his Son? Hath He not a right to expect that we should attend to Him, who came from heaven to speak to us; and whom he hath commanded us by a voice from Heaven to hear? "This is my beloved Son: hear ye Him." What greater insult can we offer to God, than to shut our ears against such a messenger?

Consider again, what is the purport of this

Message. It is a message of mercy; of mercy the most gracious to sinners, to enemies, to rebels. The Gospel is the Gospel of Peace. It brings to us glad tidings of great joy. It makes known to us that way of salvation, which God in his infinite wisdom and goodness has provided for our fallen and guilty race. It teaches us how we may be reconciled to Him, and recovered out of that state of guilt and misery into which sin has plunged us. To refuse then to listen to this message, not to obey this Gospel, is to pour contempt on the rich mercy of God. It is to show that we despise his offers, value not his favour, and desire not to be at peace with Him. How then can we more pointedly declare the enmity of our hearts to God, than by such a conduct? How can we more grossly offend, insult, and sin against Him?

Consider once again what is that wonderful mystery of Love, which the Gospel discloses to us. When God had planned a salvation for us, as it was not any common messenger which He sent to tell us of it, so neither was it any common way in which He prepared it for us. That same Son who came to make known to us his Father's will, came also Himself to perform that will. He came to suffer and to die in our stead, and for our sins. He came to be a sacrifice for