be faved, the event is infallible, let them take ever fo defperate a course; and, if otherwise, it is impossible for them to oppose his irresistible decree.

In order to oppose this profane perverfion of divine truth, let me put you in mind, what fin and folly it must be in us, to fet the nature of God at variance with his revealed will, or one declaration of his in opposition to another. It is from the fcriptures alone that you learn God's fupreme dominion and appointment of every event. And is it not certain, that the fame fcripturès do lay the guilt or finfulness of every action to the finner's charge? Does not God abfolutely refuse, nay, in infinite condefcenfion, he folemnly protests against having it imputed to himfelf. Let the guilty hear and tremble, Ezek. xxxiii. 11. As I live, faith the Lord God, I have no plea fure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live. Turn ye, turn ye, • from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house ⚫ of Ifrael!' And, again, James i. 13. Let no man

fay, when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; ⚫ for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempt 'eth he any man.' Perhaps, fome will fay, we cannot reconcile the certainty of events with the freedom of actions, or the imputation of guilt. But what is this, but faying, we are not able to fathom or comprehend the perfections of an infinite God? And is this any caufe of wonder? It would not be the true God, if you could fearch him out; it would not be the Almighty, if you could find him to perfection. It is higher than heaven, what canft thou do? deeper than hell, what canft thou

⚫ know? The measure thereof is longer than the ⚫ earth, and broader than the fea.

Surely, my brethren, it is manifeft, that the fame God, to whom all his works are known from the beginning of the world, and who rules by his power, for ever, hath established a neceffary connection between the means and the end, between cause and effect. And, as it would be altogether madnefs in common life, to fit ftill and forbear activity and diligence, under pretence of its being impossible to hinder or alter the will of God; fo it is equally mad and impious, to lay the blame of our finful hearts and inclinations on the appointment of God. He can and doth control and over-rule, by his fove reign providence, all his créatures, and all their actions, in a fubferviency to his own glory; but, as to the finfulness of every deed, the finner alone is chargeable with it, and, in the day of judgment, the finner alone muft anfwer for it.

Before 1 proceed to the third branch of the deceitfulness of fin, 1 must beg your attention to a few obfervations on what hath been already faid. And,

1st, You may obferve how various and involved, and how deep-laid the excufes for fin are. The ways of the world, the general prevalence of fin, and many of thefe very circumstances which ought to make us dread its influence, and fill us with abhorrence of it, are frequently made ufe of to extenuate its guilt. The corrupt inclination of our hearts, which is the fource of all fin, and may be faid to be thé effence of fin, is often made ufe of to excufe or palliate its effects, as the badness of the tree for the

fournefs of the grapes. How ill qualified are we to judge fairly on fuch a subject? We are partial in our own caufe, and give an unjust decifion from our relation to the pannel. ings of the carnal mind. Sufpect them, dread them, fhut your cars against them. What reafon is there to fit down in filence, and humbly acquiefce in the account given us of our character, and ftate, by a God of infinite holinefs? There is no error to blind his judgment, no intereft to bias his inclination, and there is no equal who may contend or enter into judgment with him.

Down then with the reafon

2dly, You may fee that the excufes for fin, are not only infufficient, but deeply criminal. In the form they affume, they may appear plaufible; but, when they are stripped of their disguise, they will appear to be horrible. The immediate pretence may ap pear to have nothing very atrocious in it; but when they are traced to their fource, they will be found to take their rife from the moft malignant infidelity or atheism in the heart. You fee, from what has been faid, that many excufes for fin, at laft, land in laying the blame upon God himself. All the encouragement we take in fin, from the divine patience, all our a buse or perversion of the gifts of nature, or the courfe of providence, lands ultimately here. Let us therefore pray, that it may please God to open our eyes on the wonders of his law, on the riches of his grace, and the greatnefs of his power. Let us confefs, that to us belongeth fhame and confufion of 'face; but to our God belongeth mercy.' Let us adopt the words of the Pfalmift, Pfal. xix. 12. ' Whe

can understand his errors? Cleanfe thou me from fecret faults.'

3. I proceed, now, to the third and laft branch of the deceitfulness of fin, viz. Its infinuating nature, by which it leads men on, in an infenfible manner, from one degree of wickednefs to a higher, and, after the voluntary commiffion of fome fins, lays them under a fort of neceffity of committing more. I think it is probable that the Apostle had this particularly in his view in the text, where he fays, Exhort one another daily, while it is called, to-day; left any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of fin. And certain it is, my brethren, that wicked men do not fee the whole courfe they are to run at one view, but are drawn in by little and little. Take the most a bandoned finner in this guilty world, and there was a time of his life when he would have trembled to think of the crimes which he afterwards committed. Thus Hazael, King of Syria, when he was told by the prophet Elisha, of the unnatural barbarity and cruelty he would be guilty of among the children of Ifrael, he could not believe fo ill of himself, but anfwered, with a kind of aborrence, What, is thy

fervant a dog, that he should do this great thing!' But fuch is the nature of fin, that it carries men away, if they yield to it, infinitely farther than they themselves intended. We find this taken notice of by moral writers in every age and country. Many of the antients used to reprefent it by a very expreffive fimilitude, viz. that the way of vice lies down hill; fo that if you take but a few steps, the motion

is foon accelerated, and becomes fo violent and impetuous, that it is impoffible for you to refift it.

This is certainly a circumftance, with refpect to the nature of fin, which lies at the foundation of practical religion, and to which, I would particularly intreat the attention of the younger part of my audience. Neither is it unfuitable to perfons of any character, as it will contribute to enforce, upon their minds, a fenfe of the neceffity of conftant vigilance, and of conftant prayer. In order to represent the matter to you in the ftronger light, I fhall endeavour to lay before you fome of the chief steps and gradations by which a finner is brought into a hardened Aate; and show how naturally, and in a manner neeeffarily, they lead him forward from one to another.

(1.). Men enter and initiate themselves in a vitious practice by fmaller fins. Though every fin hath that malignity in it that it deferves God's wrath and curfe both in this life and that which is to come; yet there are fome fins, which, in themselves, as well as from feveral circumstances which attend them, are far more heinous in the fight of God than others. Thefe are too alarming to the confcience of a young finner; and, therefore, he only ventures upon fuch as are fmaller at first. I hope you will not think it too minute or trifling, if I mention that every particuJar kind of vice creeps in in this gradual manner. Many have begun to fteal, with taking away things without their parents knowledge, from their own houfe, thinking there could be little fault in this; and then picked up fmall things, perhaps, from peo