pardon. Had we not lived so long in sin, had we not run such lengths in wickedness, we might lay aside our fears. But guilty as we are, what hope can we have of mercy? Can God forgive such great ⚫ offenders? Can he cleanse and soften a heart so foul and hard as ours?' Yes, my brethren, He can cleanse and soften the foulest, the hardest heart. Suppose that your former state has been as bad as that of the Corinthians. Suppose that, like them, you have followed all uncleanness with greediness;" yet He who saved them, can save you. He who washed, who justified, who sanctified them, can wash, can justify, can sanctify you. Distrust not then his power. There is mercy with him for every penitent offender. Believe in the name of the Lord Jesus, and your sins, though many, though great, shall be blotted out. Pray for the Spirit of our GOD; and your soul, though "all as an unclean thing," shall be purified. Listen to this gracious and encouraging promise: "I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean; from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, I will cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you. And I will take away the stony heart

out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh and I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes; and ye shall keep my judgments and do them."

you

But while the truth before us speaks comfort to the penitent sinner, it leaves the impenitent without excuse. Is the gospel of Christ abundantly sufficient for saving the greatest sinners? May all, even the chief of sinners, be pardoned and sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God? Then why do any of continue in the practice of sin? Why, when you may be freed from its guilt and power, do you continue in a state of wrath and wretched slavery? Is it not plain that you "love darkness rather than light;" that you prefer slavery to freedom; that you will not come to Christ, that you may have life?" The grace and mercy of God set forth in the gospel, and the plentiful and wonderful salvation there provided, strikingly expose, and greatly increase, the wickedness of those, who still continue the slaves of lust, of pride, of anger, of sensual appetite, of violent and uncharitable tempers, Had these Corinthians persisted in giving way to their evil and depraved incli

nations, after the grace of GoD had come among them, they would have been far more guilty and inexcusable, than even they had formerly been. Tremble then for yourselves, my brethren; if not made better by the mercy of the gospel, you still cleave to your iniquities; and thus too plainly show, that you receive the grace of God in vain.

II. I go on to explain and apply the truth to be drawn from the text; namely, that a man's religion is to be tried not by his past, but by his present character, not by what he was, but what he is.

This truth may be easily explained, and stands in need of little proof. True religion makes a real change in a man. It "transforms him by the renewing of his mind." It makes all things new within him; puts into the heart new desires, new hopes, new motives, and leads him to walk in newness of life. Would we then know, whether a man be truly religious or not, we must enquire into the proofs of his conversion: we must see, whether he have undergone this change or not. Is he a new creature? Are old things passed away? Are all things become new? What is his present conduct? Does it agree with his profession of religion? To judge of his religion by what his character was before he became religious,

would be foolish and unjust. Would it not be trifling to say that these Corinthians were not true converts to Christianity, because formerly, before their conversion, they had been idolaters, adulterers, or drunkards? Whatever they were, their character as sound Christians is built on solid grounds. The point is this. Have they, or have they not, forsaken their former evil practices? If they have renounced the hidden things of darkness: if they be now "walking as children of light:" if their lives and tempers, and conversation, now show that they are sanctified by the Spirit of our God: if they have these marks of true Christianity you surely would not attempt to prove that they are not Christians, even if in the days of their ignorance, they had been more abandoned than they actually were.

Let this truth then correct a practice, which is too general in the world. When a man begins to take up a serious profession of religion, nothing is more common than to hear all the irregularities and sins of his former life charged against him as clear proofs of his present hypocrisy. What pretensions can this man make to be religious? Have we not known him from • his youth? Do we not remember such and such parts of his conduct? Are we

6

not well acquainted with what his manner of life has been ?'-But, my brethren, what are all these charges to the purpose? What do they prove, except the ignorance of those who bring them, and the secret enmity which they indulge against religion? Allow that the man has been as bad as you describe him to have been, (probably if asked, he will acknowledge himself to have been far worse,) yet the question is, not what he was, but what he is; not what you remember him to have been, but what you now see him to be. Do you not now see him leading a new life? Do you not now see him leaving off those practices, which he once followed; forsaking those companions, which he once loved; denying and subduing those tempers, which he once indulged? While you While you have these proofs of the sincerity of his religious profession, cease to expose your own folly and wickedness, by reproaching him with sins, which he committed before he had taken up that profession.-True Christian charity would lead you to hope, to believe the best of every one would lead you even to make great allowances, wherever circumstances will admit; and to adopt on every occasion, the most favourable opinion.

But while we apply this truth for cor