deception, which strews the cavern over MED. with rushes, and then imagines that the way is plain. "The greatest misfor"tune does not consist in a man's

"being a sinner, but in his not know

66

ing the danger and remedy of sin.”

All you, who meditate with me on this eventful subject, recollect that, unless you adopt a corresponding exertion to rescue yourselves from the fetters of iniquity, (fetters more galling, more oppressive, than any you may now wear) this very opportunity of instruction will be thrown into the scale against you; and if I, who now dictate these lines of consolation and advice, prevaricate in my reproof, lessen the burthen of sin in your eyes, and misstate the condition of the sinner; or if I do not join with you in acknowledging myself a sinner from the very bottom of my heart, that judgment which begins at the house of God will fall upon me also, and we shall be united in the

II.

MED. dreadful consequences of concealed or dissembled iniquity!

II,

May the word of God dwell in us richly in all wisdom; may it be unto us a word of power, converting the soul, and making wise the simple! May God, whose eye is ever wakeful for us, and whose tenderness is equal to his care, give us hearing ears and understanding hearts, that we may believe and be saved! Teach us thy ways, O Lord, and we will walk in thy truth ; unite our hearts to fear thy name. Shew us the way that we shall walk in ; for we lift up our souls unto Thee. Teach us to do Thy will, for Thou art our God let Thy good Spirit lead us inte the land of uprightness!

MEDITATION III.

JAMES II. 9.

Ye commit Sin, and are convinced of the Law as Transgressors,

As the man who ascends a mountain MED, must not imagine himself to have at- III. tained the summit when he has passed the first ridge, so neither must he suppose himself in a state of religious security, who has only accomplished his first foot-step towards the kingdom of heaven. Both, doubtless, have done something in their respective pursuits. But let not him who girdeth on his "harness, boast like him that putteth

MED. " it off *.” "He that endureth unto "the end shall be saved t."

III.

It is necessary, at the entrance of the subject of these Meditations, to warn those who are interested in them, (and who is not interested in pursuing the journey of salvation?) that final perseverance is the object which they ought to have in view. I do not mean that a time will ever arrive, when we may not fall from grace. I would not be thought to inculcate so erroneous an opinion. But be assured, that, if ever we attempt to win the prize, we must run the race. We must so run that we may obtain. We must not set forward in a vain and desultory manner; we must neither depend upon the swiftness of the feet, or the judgment of the head; we must observe carefully the order of the course, and the laws of the race; and even then, "it is not of him that willeth, nor of

1 Kings xx. 11.

+ Matt. x. 29.

"him that runneth, but of God that MED.

It will be allowed, that we must acknowledge sin in our own hearts, and be satisfied that our sin deserves punishment, before we can take one step in the great business of our salvation. This acknowledgment must not be of that slight superficial nature which we every day behold, and indeed which we every day practise; it must be a radical conception of guilt, a belief that we are such as we represent ourselves to be, and that without a removal of the power of sin, we shall be called upon to pay its penalty.

The penitent and the prisoner rest upon one point under such reflections as these. A threatening Judge, that knows every avenue of the heart of man, stands over them, and pronounces sentence. Apprehension of a punishment fully adequate to the offence,

Rom. ix. 16.

III.