2. After thus considering the attributes, attend to the word of God. What terms does it use when it speaks of his nature? When he makes his name known unto Moses, he proclaims: "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin.” And elsewhere he declares, "I am the Lord, who exercise loving-kindness, righteousness, and judgment; for in these things I delight, saith the Lord." When the church of Israel worshipped him, they declared, "Thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness." When his eternal Son would give us a true view of his Father's character, he assures us that his goodness so infinitely exceeds that of any creature, that on a comparison it may be said, "There is none good, save God." When John would teach us the nature of Him for whom his heart burned with such warm affection, he exclaims, "God is love." Now, if God be to blame for the sinner's perdition, these and a thousand similar texts, are not merely unmeaning-they are false.

When God beholds sinners obstinately despising his calls, scorning his proffered grace, and rushing on to destruction, what is his language? "O that they were wise; that they understood this; that they would consider their latter end!" "O that my people had hearkened unto me!" "O that thou hadst known, at least in this thy day, the things that belong to thy peace!" "Turn Turn ye, turn ye, from your evil way, for why will ye die, O house of Israel ?" "How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? How shall I deliver thee, Israel? How shall I make thee as Admah? How shall I set thee as Zeboiim ?" Now

if God be to blame for the sinner's perdition, all these tender expostulations must be only a pompous display of unreal feelings; all these pathetic complaints must be only vain and delusive mockery.

Besides, God gives us many express and unequivocal assurances that he would have all men to be saved;"" that he is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to the knowledge of the truth:" and lest these assurances should not satisfy us, he has confirmed them by his oath; and "since he could swear by no greater, hath sworn by himself," saying, "As I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live." Now, if God be to blame for the sinner's perdition, these assurances and this oath must be untrue: the God of heaven must not only be a deceiver, he must also be perjured.

You shudder, my brethren, and you justly shudder, at so impious a conclusion: but it is a conclusion which we must necessarily embrace, unless we maintain that the ungodly are themselves the authors and procurers of their eternal wo. "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself!"

3. From considering the word, let us pass to an examination of the conduct of God; and whether we reflect on the manner in which he has acted towards our race in general, or towards each one of us in particular, we must be convinced that if we are lost, the blame of our perdition must rest entirely on ourselves.

He created our race pure and holy, enstamped with his own image, having no criminal desires, no tendency to evil, no irregular appetites. He endued us with reason to direct our conduct, with

conscience to point us to duty, with affections which could be satisfied only when fixed upon the sovereign good. He barred against us the gates to perdition; and it was man, not God, which burst open these gates to make a passage to wo. When we had thus fallen, when the flames already were kindling around us, when the curses of a violated covenant were just descending on our heads, and we could find no refuge, the Lord interposed and rescued us. Entering into a covenant of grace, he made salvation possible; he gave up the Son of his bosom to fulfil the law in our behalf, and to bear the punishment due for our sins; he offers the righteousness and merits of this Son, to all, without exception, who will accept him as their Ruler and Redeemer. The sentiments of conscience, the declarations of his word, his fearful threatenings, the instructions of the pious, the attractive displays of heavenly glory, the dreadful denunciations of future misery, are so many mounds and barriers with which he has guarded the avenues to destruction. The transgressor must leap over these mounds before he can plunge into destruction; he must force these barriers before he can seize on death. Besides all this, God has freely offered his blessed Spirit, as a safe and unerring guide to heaven, to all who will ask for him sincerely, humbly, and under a sense of their need: He has caused the blood of the Saviour to flow, an ocean of mercy, between us and hell. And after thou hast done all this, O my God, shall we still dare to say, that thou art the cause of our destruction? No, no: "To thee belongeth righteousness" and mercy; "but to us shame and confusion of face." After thus thinking of his conduct towards our race in general, think of his conduct to you in particu

lar. How much has he done to deter you from misery, to allure you to happiness? How many times has he called to you by his providence, by his word, by his ministers, by his people, by his Spirit; how many times has he called to you in all these different manners, “ Why will ye die ?" Though his dealings have been diverse, yet there is not one of you to whom he has not given numerous assistances and encouragements in the path to heaven. To this person he has given a pious parent; to that a holy wife or husband; who have with earnest solicitude and with bitter tears, besought their sinful relatives to think of the concerns of eternity. You have received from him riches and pleasures, that he might draw you through gratitude to devote yourself unto him. You have received from him disappointment, affliction, poverty, and pains, that finding no joy upon earth, you might be driven to seek spiritual pleasures. You were in imminent danger of sudden death whilst you were unprepared for it; but his providence warded of the stroke, and lengthened out your season of probation. You were brought by sickness to the borders of the grave, and standing on the brink of the pit were just ready to take the final plunge. God stretched forth from heaven the arm of his power, pulled you from the brow of the precipice, set you at a distance from it, and waited to see whether you would be instructed by the peril from which you had been delivered. My brethren, let each of you fill up this sketch for himself. Let each of you silently review the conduct of God to you, from the time that you first laid on the bosom of your mother to the present moment. Mark attentively the mercies you have received, the dangers from which you have been saved, the long-suffering compassion

which has been exercised towards you, the calls and invitations of God which have sounded in your ears, the means of grace, the public instructions and the private helps which you have enjoyed, the movings of the Spirit upon your hearts inciting you to obedience. Let each of you mark these circumstances, and you cannot fail to be convinced, that if you perish, you must be the authors of your own perdition. "O Israel thou hast destroyed thyself."

4. The sentiments of all believers establish this same truth. Inquire of them why they so long remained in the road to destruction: ask them whether God, or they, were to blame, that they did not sooner abandon it. They will without hesitancy reply to you that they alone were in fault; that God invited them and was willing to receive them; but that their own obstinacy and impenitence, made them reject his invitations, and refuse to come unto him. And can it be conceived for a moment that Christians of all ages, of all conditions, of all denominations, should without a single exception concur in embracing a sentiment so mortifying to the pride of human nature, unless this sentiment were established by scripture and confirmed by their own feelings?

5. Finally, remember that this testimony of believers is corroborated by the confessions of sinners themselves. With whatever confidence and ingenuity transgressors, while in health and strength, may assert their blamelessness; with whatever impiety and boldness they may charge God as the author of their destruction, yet their language will be changed in that honest hour when they shall have to struggle with the king of terrors. I have more than once heard the sinner, while he supposed that death was yet at a distance from him, quieting his con