II. It is also evident that the guilt or malignity of sin may be increased, by reason of several aggravations. This will at once ap. pear, when the circumstances and considerations which render sin aggravated are brought into view. These circumstances and considerations I have, to a considerable extent already stated, in my sixteenth lecture-to which I refer you; and request you particularly to regard the warning I have there given, against the common and pernicious evil of seeking to excuse and extenuate guilt, by comparing one sin with another. To what have heretofore said, I shall only now add what the pious, judicious, and accurate authors of our Larger Catechism, have said on this subject. Their statement is at once so comprehensive and so particular, that it will not be found easy to think of a single circumstance or consideration that aggravates sin, which they have not specified. In answer to the question-"What are those aggravations that make some sins more heinous than others?" this answer is given:

"Sins receive their aggravations, "1. From the persons offending: If they be of riper age, greater experience, or grace; eminent for profession, gifts, place, office, guides to others, and whose example is likely to be followed by others.

"2. From the parties offended: If immediately against God, his attributes and worship; against Christ, and his grace; the Holy Spirit, his witness, and workings; against superiors, men of eminency, and such as we stand especially related and engaged unto; against any of the saints, particularly weak brethren, the souls of them or any other; and the common good of all or of many.

"3. From the nature and quality of the offence: If it be against the express letter of the law, break many commandments, contain in it many sins: If not only conceived

in the heart, but breaks forth in words and actions, scandalize others, and admit of no reparation: If against means, mercies, judgments, light of nature, conviction of conscience, publick or private admonition, censures of the church, civil punishments; and our prayers, purposes, promises, vows, covenants, and engagements to God or men: If done deliberately, wilfully, presumptuously, impudently, boastingly, maliciously, frequently, obstinately, with delight, continuance, or relapsing after repentance.

"4. From circumstances of time, and place: If on the Lord's day, or other times of divine worship; or immediately before, or after these, or other helps to prevent or remedy such miscarriages: If in publick, or in the presence of others, who are thereby likely to be provoked or defiled.”

I would recommend to you, my young friends, as a very profitable employment for an hour on the Lord's day, to go over deliberately this enumeration of the aggravations of sin, contained in your Larger Catechism; to consider each article attentively; to connect it with an attentive reading of the scripture proof, to which you will find a reference; and with a serious meditation on the whole. I know of no exercise better calculated to promote a holy fear of sinning, and to guard you especially against flagrant transgressions. If the exercise be rightly conducted, you can hardly fail to be led by it, to join in the exclamation and prayer of the Psalmist-" Who can understand his errors! Cleanse thou me from secret faults; keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me; then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression."

There is one clause in the answer of our catechism now before us, which has not yet been noticed,

and which we must by no means overlook. It is, that the nature and aggravation of sin is to be estimated as it appears "in the sight of God." Men often regard particular sins very differently from the manner in which they are regarded by God. Human estimate in such cases is always erroneous, and indeed in every case it is defective; but God's estimate is always right and perfect. This is a point, my dear youth, that deserves your particular attention. You live in a sinful world, and you will frequently find yourselves, from a corrupt state of society, or the prevalence of fashionable vice, in great danger of putting evil for good, and good for evil. Unquestionable virtues you will often hear stigmatized as mean and contemptible qualities; and certain vices represented as indications of a noble and manly spirit. Vile practices, and very sinful acts, will often be disguised by giving them soft names, or by representing them as the venial aberrations of a generous mind and a good heart-and very often as nothing more than the effervescence, or at worst, the frailties of youth. But, O remember! that "God seeth not as man seeth." Take his holy word, and not the opinions of sinful men, blinded and perverted by their lusts, and passions, and prejudices, as the criterion of virtue and vice, truth and error. Although it be true, as you have just been hearing, that some sins are more heinous than others, yet remember that this does not imply that there are any little sins. No truly; every sin is a violation of God's most just and holy law; and many of those practices which a world that lieth in wickedness think harmless, or regard as mere foibles of character, the oracles of infallible truth pointedly condemn, and show that they have sometimes brought down on those who indulge in them, the marked and severe displeasure of

God, who is of " purer eyes than to behold evil, and who cannot look on iniquity."

But in reality there are many sins, and some of very great enormity, which are "naked and open to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do," which are and will be hidden from every human eye, till the disclosures of that day, when "God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." I have here in view, not only those acts of flagitious wickedness, which are never brought to light in this world; but also, and chiefly, those sins of the heart, which have been long cherished and brooded over, in the secret recesses of the soul, but which, for the want of opportunity, or from the fear of detection, have never issued in overt acts of transgression. When we consider that the heart is the seat and source of all sin-that the outward act, in a moral view, is nothing, farther than as it indicates the state of the heart. -we may easily perceive that in the view of that "God who searches the heart," a man may be chargeable with sins of the deepest die, which have never broken forth into deeds of atrocity. There is no reason to doubt that there have often been, and now are, mental blasphemers, murderers, adulterers, thieves and robbers, who are at present known as such to God, and whom he will judge and punish as such hereafter, who yet have never perpetrated, and never will perpetrate, the outward acts to which their inward dispositions fully correspond. Cultivate, my dear young friends, an habitual sense of your Maker's omniscience, and the recollection that every secret of your souls, is as perfectly set in the light of his countenance as the most conspicuous action of your lives. This will produce a strong inducement to watch against all sin, both of heart and life; and it will tend to

make you seek its pardon-to seek earnestly to be cleansed in your Redeemer's blood, clothed with his righteousness, and sanctified by his Spirit, that you may be prepared to dwell with him in those pure and blessed mansions, from which all sin, and all its awful consequences, shall be forever excluded.

WITHERSPOON ON REGENERATION.

(Continued from p. 252.)

4. As this great distinction [the sanctified and the unsanctified] divides the whole human race, and is so very important in its consequences, let me earnestly entreat every one who peruseth this treatise, to bring the matter to a trial with regard to himself. Answer this question in seriousness, Whether do you belong to the one class or the other? We are dropping into the grave from day to day, and our state is fixed beyond any possibility of change. What astonishing folly to continue in uncertainty whether we shall go to heaven or hell, whether we shall be companions of angels, or associates with blaspheming devils to all eternity. Nothing, therefore, can be more salutary, than that you make an impartial search into your present character and state. If you have ground to conclude that you are at peace with God, what an unspeakable source of joy and consolation? If otherwise, there is no time to lose in hastening from the brink of the pit. May I not with some confidence make this demand of every reader, that he would set apart some time, and apply with vigour and earnest ness to the duty of self-examination? Is not this demand reasonable? What injury can you suffer by complying with it? Will conscience permit any to continue unreproved in the neglect of it? Have you read so much on the subject of regeneration, and are you unwilling

to reap the benefit of it? Let every one, without exception, take up or renew this grand inquiry, "Am I in Christ? That is, am I a New Creature or not? Am I a child of God? or do I still continue an heir of hell?"

5. As it is more than probable there will be some readers who are, or have reason to suspect, themselves unrenewed, I would now come as an ambassador from Christ, and endeavour to negotiate peace. Wherefore, "as though God did beseech you by me, I pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled unto God."* While I attempt this, I desire to do it under a just impression of the great and principal truths, which have been illustrated on this subject. I know that this change is a work of the Holy Spirit of grace; that he only can bring a clean thing out of an unclean; that without his effectual blessing, the clearest and most conclusive reasoning directed to the understanding, the most warm and pathetick application to the affections, will be altogether fruitless. I know that great natural abilities are often perverted and abused, that the soundest reason in worldly things, and the most brutish folly in matters of eternity, are often joined together. That men may be learned scholars, eminent politicians, active merchants, skilful tradesmen, and yet blinded sinners, whom no instruction can enlighten, whom no warning can alarm. But I know and believe, at the same time, that God "whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son," is able to make "his word quick and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." There is an express appointment that the wicked shall "receive warning," and in this way alone the watchman can "deliver

his own soul." It is also agreeable to reflect, that when God giveth "a door of utterance," he is also often pleased to give "a door of faith," which I pray may be the case with many who read this discourse, for Christ's sake.

Let me, therefore, repeat in your ears this truth, and may God Almighty by his Spirit carry it to your hearts, that "except a man be born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." Every child of Adam, by nature, is at enmity with God, and must either be renewed in the spirit of his mind, or perish eternally. It is of no consequence what you are as to outward station, if you are not reconciled to God; it is of no consequence what you are as to outward profession, if you are not inwardly changed. God is no respecter of persons, and, therefore, whether you are high or low, rich or poor, whether you are of one denomination of Christians or another, if you have not been the subjects of a renewing and sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, you are children of wrath, and, if you die in that condition, must "go away into everlasting punishment." To reflect seriously but for a few moments on this truth, and that every one of us is so deeply concerned in it, one would think might be sufficient to alarm us all, either for our selves or for others, or for both. Who could imagine that this weak flesh, so frail in its nature, and so easily taken to pieces, should yet so harden us against the impression of approaching eternity: but is there any hope of relief? Yes there is, and that as universal as the danger. The commission is unlimited, Go ye into all the world, and preach the GOSPEL to every CREA

TURE.'*

In order to make this exhortation the more distinct and effectual, I shall endeavour to address it in a particular and separate manner to the following classes: the rich and * Mark xvi. 15.

the poor; the young and the old; the self-righteous and the chief of sinners.

I would preach the everlasting gospel to the rich and affluent, on whom (as the world chooses to express it) fortune smiles, who are well and plentifully supplied with every present conveniency. The prophet Jeremiah, in trying the suc cess of his message, says, "I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them." It is, indeed, a matter of no small difficulty often, to persuade such to hear the truths of the gospel. Let them not be offended while I mention the words of our blessed Saviour, "Verily I say unto you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven." And again, "I say unto you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God."t When the world is pleasant and inviting, it is ready to engross our attention, to possess our esteem, and to attract our homage. Worldly grandeur is very ready to inspire the mind with pride and self-sufficiency, which is, of all other things, the most destructive of real religion, and which is particularly opposite to the humbling and self-abasing doctrine of salvation by grace. The great and fashionable world is still in danger of the offence of the cross. Denying themselves, bearing profane scorn, mortifying the flesh, loving and following a crucified master, are hard lessons, indeed, to men of wealth and affluence.

But suffer me to warn all such, not to "trust in uncertain riches." Place not your happiness in so unstable a possession. How strong, as well as how just, the wise man's expressions! Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not: for riches certainly make themselves wings, they fly away as an eagle towards heaven."-Behold, I Matt. xix, 23, 24. Prov. xxiii.

* Jer v. 5.

preach the gospel to you, and offer you the true riches. However pride may make you fondly flatter yourselves, however your greatness or wealth may deter others from treating you with plainness and sincerity, you are sinners of the race of Adam, you are lost in him by nature, you are transgressors in practice, and liable to divine wrath, from which there is no shelter but in the blood of Christ. It is but a very little time that your worldly greatness can endure. Death shall write vanity on all created glory; and nothing else shall screen you from the wrath of the Almighty Judge in the last and great day. There the rich and the poor, the prisoner and the oppressor, shall stand upon a level before the Maker of them all. Embrace then while you may, the mercy of God. Put on the spotless robe of your Redeemer's righteousness, and value it more than purple and fine linen, or the most costly attire. Seek the bread of life which came down from heaven, and value it more highly than the most sumptuous and delicate fare. Be not ashamed of a crucified Saviour. Endure with a noble firmness the disdainful smiles of a scoffing world. O! how amiable is the union of high station and piety, honour and humility, wealth and self-denial, with a resolute profession of the gospel! Blessed is the memory of Joseph of Arimathea, an honourable man, and a counsellor, who boldly begged, and honourably interred the body of our Lord, after it had been crucified at the instigation of corrupt priests, and pierced by the inhumanity of brutal soldiers. May the Lord God of nature bless and increase your substance, and make every thing you do to prosper, but in his mercy deliver you from despising the gospel, dying impenitent, and lifting up your eyes in

torments.

2. Let me preach this gospel to the poor. It was the glory of the

gospel that it was preached to the poor, and given by our Saviour himself as one of the marks of the Messiah's arrival, that "the gospel was preached to the poor." Very suitable was this to their state, good news were brought to them in their distress. But think not, my brethren, that your being poor is enough of itself. It may, indeed, preserve you from many temptations to which the rich are exposed, and it ought, one would think, to constrain you to seek to be rich towards God. But, alas! this is not always the case, and, when it is otherwise, how does it make every considerate heart bleed with compassion and tenderness! O! unhappy they who are both poor and profane, miserable in time and miserable to eternity, despised on earth, and outcasts forever. Pitiable case indeed!

But does not the Saviour of sinners beseech you to be reconciled unto God. He intreats you to come unto him that you may have life. He regardeth not the persons of men, but values a precious immortal spirit as much in a mean cottage as in a splendid palace. Your rags and nakedness can be no hindrance to your obtaining his favour. He counsels you "to buy of him gold tried in the fire, that you may be rich; and white raiment, that you may be clothed." But O! consider that you are naturally much more loathsome by sin than by poverty. Humble yourselves deeply in the sight of God. Fly for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before you. Accept of a free pardon of all your sins through the blood of Christ, and of his Holy Spirit to enable you to love and serve him. Rejoice in your portion as all-sufficient and full, and in the covenant of peace, as "ordered in all things, and sure." Go in the spirit of adoption to your reconciled Father in Christ, and ask of him your daily bread. Do not envy the prosperity of others; since it is not material