Secondly, I shall inquire, with as much tenderness as regard to truth will permit, how the case stands with respect to the time and place in which our lot is caft; and if it shall appear that ill-boding symptoms of approaching danger are to be found among us in a very high degree, I shall endeavour, in the

Third place, To lay before you a few of the genuine symptoms and proper effects of the gracious temper I mean to recommend; -and then conclude the subject with some practical improvement.

First, If it shall be asked, When, or upon what occafions, the exercise of godly forrow for fin is in a peculiar manner seasonable? I anfwer,

When tranfgreffors are very numerous; when the body of a people is corrupted, fo that, in the language of the Prophet Ifaiah, "the whole head is fick, and the whole heart " is faint," then all who fear God are loudly called upon to figh and to cry for the abominations that are done in the midst of the land. If one Achan troubled the whole camp of Ifrael, Israel, what must a multitude of finners do ? If the difciples of our Lord were exceeding forrowful when their Master told them that there was one traitor in their company, how afflicting must it be to a true lover of God, to behold the wicked so multiplied, that in comparison of them, the godly are only a small remnant, a very " little flock," that can scarcely be difcerned ?

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The call becomes still more preffing, when tranfgreffors are not only numerous, but likewise bold and impudent; finning, as Abfalom did, before all Ifrael, and in the " fight of the sun." This is a fatal presage of approaching vengeance; for God will not always tolerate such infolent contempt of his authority. Judgement may be fufpended, while vice skulks in darkness, as afhamed of the light; but when it appears in broad day, when finners proclaim their fins as Sodom, and hide them not, then they may be faid to strengthen themselves againft " the Almighty, and to run upon the thick " boffes of his bucklers:" and it is not to be supposed that fuch infolent defiance can long escape without fome open and awful

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rebuke, At such a time, then, mourning must be peculiarly seasonable.

Especially when sinners are not only numerous and impudent, but likewife guilty of those groffer abominations which in former ages have been followed with the most tremendous judgements. It is true, indeed, that " the wrath of God is revealed from " heaven against all unrighteousness and " ungodliness of men;" nevertheless there are some particular instances of ungodliness and unrighteousness, which God hath marked out, and diftinguished from others, as the objects of his greatest abhorrence; and with respect to which he hath faid more explicitly, both in his word and by his providence, that he will not fuffer them to pafs unpunished. I cannot pretend to give you a minute detail of these. Only, if you read the Scriptures, you will find, that profane swearing, perjury, contempt of the Sabbath, theft, murder, and adultery, are all of this kind. The Prophet Zechariah beheld flying roll of curses, twenty cubits in length, and ten in breadth, which had a commiffion to enter into the house of the thief, and

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into the house of him that sweareth falfely by the name of God, there to remain till it had utterly confumed it, with the timber thereof, and the stones thereof. "By swear"ing, and lying, and killing," faith the Prophet Hofea, " by stealing and commit

ting adultery, they break out, and blood "toucheth blood. Therefore shall the land " mourn, and every one that dwelleth there" in shall languish, with the beasts of the " field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, "the fishes of the sea also shall be taken

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away." And how highly God refents the profanation of his Sabbath, appears from the reproof and expoftulation of good Nehemiah, which is recorded, Neh. xiii. 17, 18. "Then I contended with the nobles of

Judah, and faid unto them, What evil "thing is this that ye do, and profane the "Sabbath-day? Did not your fathers thus, " and did not God bring all this evil upon

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us, and upon this city? yet ye bring more wrath upon Ifrael by profaning the "Sabbath." When therefore the fame fins are frequent and open among any people, that

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that must surely be a season for grief and lamentation. And still more,

When the perfons that commit them are refolute and incorrigible. " He that being " often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall fuddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy."-" Because I have purged thee," faith God by the Prophet Ezekiel, " and "thou wast not purged, thou shalt not be " purged from thy filthiness any more, till " I have caused my fury to rest upon thee. " I the Lord hath spoken it, it shall come to " pass, and I will do it; I will not go back, " neither will I spare, neither will I repent; "according to thy ways, and according to

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thy doings, shall they judge thee, faith "the Lord God." When the wicked are forewarned of their fin and danger; when, by the preaching of the word, their duty is plainly and faithfully set before them; when they are exhorted by others, and rebuked by their own confciences; when they are smitten with such rods as bear the most legible fignature of their crimes; or when, in milder way, they are admonished and warned by the punishments inflicted upon

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