be never the better, never the nearer God for all their faith and fear.

We are apt, when we hear such warnings as these, to bless ourselves, that such is not our own case. But if there be any truth in the Word of God, there is great reason to fear that very many, I had almost said the greater part of us, are hurrying on in a way which can have no other end. Indeed, my brethren, it is high time we should rouse ourselves and look about us. For our case is not that of those who are unavoidably ignorant, we are not of the heathen, to whom Christ's word never came; we have the Gospel among us, and if we will in earnest attend to it we may yet make our salvation sure, by the mercy of God for Christ's sake.

EASTLEACH, Aug. 2, 1818.

"And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there hath been a Prophet among them."

HE

E that shall seriously consider, what pains God Almighty takes daily to recall sinners from the error of their ways, sometimes by sending afflictions upon them, sometimes by sudden and unforeseen mercies, causing them to hear His Gospel read and preached, throwing good books and good examples in their way, setting before their eyes His sore judgments upon the wicked, and his wonderful and gracious care over all such as diligently seek Him: he who shall lay all this to heart, and shall after that take notice how little effect is, apparently, produced by all this; how few seem to be indeed turned to the care of their own souls, by this great care of their heavenly Father, may in his first astonishment be tempted to ask, 'Doth God do so much in vain? Doth His Word return unto Him void, which is gone out of His mouth ?'

But if we be honest Christians, we may soon find wherewith to confirm our faith, and to comfort ourselves effectually, even in this, the most distressing to a religious eye of all sights under the sun. For, on looking into Holy Scripture, we shall presently see, that this case, namely, 'the case of people holding

out against all the means, that God Himself vouchsafes to use in order to make them repent,' is continually provided for therein. It is supposed, throughout the Bible, that wherever the Gospel is preached, there will always be found many men so completely blinded by their sins, as to reject it obstinately, even unto the end. And lest we should suppose that the counsel of God is thereby made of none effect, we are further told, that even these wicked men, when they themselves least think of it, are made by His supreme Providence instruments of glorifying Him. And And particularly we are told, that this very perverseness of theirs, by which they now reject all that can be said to convince them of their sin and danger, will in the end cause them, through the sad and intolerable remorse which it will breed in their minds when they come to taste its final fruits, to glorify Him by their punishment whom they would not glorify by their repentance in short, that whether people will or no, they shall at last be forced to own the truth of what Christ's ministers are continually telling them, and what they are too apt to regard as mere words of course, concerning the hour of death and the day of judgment, and the need of holy living here, that they may be pardoned through Jesus Christ hereafter.

We find in the text a very remarkable instance of this most awful part of God's dispensations. The message which He sent to the Jews by Ezekiel, was in itself so rational and good, that it might seem beforehand impossible that any should refuse to attend to it. The sum and substance of it was: The soul that sinneth, it shall die. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be

a Ezek. xviii. 20.

your ruin. And one would think they could not require much farther warning of this kind than they had already received, in that their sins had lost them their home and their country, and they were even now serving strangers in a land which was not theirs.

But God, knowing the iniquity that was in their hearts, tells the prophet beforehand, that he must not expect much success in his errand, that the chances were very much against his being received by them to whom he was sent: For, saith He, they are a rebellious house: the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto Me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted.

But then, lest the prophet's heart should misgive him, and he should faint in doing God's work, he is told, that the purpose of Jehovah in sending him would not be made void by all their impenitence: Whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, whether they will repent or continue obstinate, yet they shall know that there hath been a prophet among them that is, if they will hear, and turn from their sins, well: but if not, yet they shall be left without excuse; they shall never be able to say they wanted evidence of the truth; they shall own, in the day of the sad fall towards which they are hurrying, that they have none to blame but themselves.

Now, good Christian people, our case is so far like that of those Israelites, that we also have sinned, are disposed to sin; and that God is daily among us, calling us to repentance, not indeed by the voice of a living prophet, such as Ezekiel was, but by the voice of that Gospel, of which our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ declared, that many prophets and kings © Ibid., iii. 7.

b Ezek. xviii. 30.

C

longed to see the things which are written therein ; and that the least teacher of it was a greater prophet, that is, had more powerful means in his hand to bring men to obedience, than the greatest under the Old Testament. But it is a truth of the utmost concern to us all, and I pray God that we may all of us have grace to lay it to heart, that the utmost that even this Gospel can do for any of us, if we will not hear, that is, obey it, is to leave us without excuse.

For God puts no compulsion upon us: if we will not be drawn by the cords of a man, by the bonds of a holy hope and fear, by thankfulness for the many mercies we have received from Him, by a reasonable consideration of the infinite value of our souls, and of what Jesus Christ has done to save them, we must not expect to be drawn at all from the service of the world to His service.

To this purpose we are warned by the Psalmist, by whom God saith to every Christian, I will instruct thee, and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with Mine eye. Be ye not as the horse or as the mule, which have no understanding, whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle. As much as to say, 'We have a Master who will not be satisfied with any but a reasonable service. He will not govern us as we govern brute beasts, making them do their work by main force. Our gracious Saviour offers to inform us, by His Word and His Spirit, in the way wherein we should go; He is ever near at hand to guide us with His eye, if we will but look, like faithful and affectionate servants, continually towards Him, waiting for, and stedfastly purposed to obey, the slightest nod or look from Him, the least hint of

d St. Luke x. 24.

e St. Matth. xi. 11.

Ps. xxxii. 8, 9.