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thus, "He hath faid in his heart, Thou "wilt not require it." One of the most eminent faints under the old difpenfation, (as we learn from the 73d Pfalm), was almost carried off his feet, upon obferving the prosperity of the wicked, infomuch that he put the question, How doth God "know, and is there knowledge in the Most

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High?"-Nay, he came the length to say, "Verily I have cleanfed my heart in vain, " and washed my hands in innocence.' And if holy men, whofe minds have been enlightened by the Spirit of God, are thus apt, for a feafon, to fufpect the wisdom and righteousness of his administration, furely it is not to be wondered at, that wicked men," whofe hearts are hardened through

the deceitfulness of fin," fhould be fo far deluded by temporal profperity, as to dream that justice fhall never awaken, and that fin fhall always pass unpunished.

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By a progrefs of this kind do finners arrive at the dreadful pitch of wickedness fpoken of in my text. When they observe, that fentence against an evil work is not fpeedily executed, they draw fuch falfe conclu

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fions from it as thofe I have mentioned, till at length every band that fhould restrain them is broken afunder, and their hearts become fully fet in them to do evil.

From this account of the matter, you will be able to judge for yourselves, how far you are advanced in the road to a total, I had almoft called it an irrecoverable, degeneracy. If you have made a fhift to filence confcience, or even to render it more unfeeling than formerly it hath been, you have taken one very wide and dangerous step. But as you love your own fouls, oh! take not another. Beware of liftening to any objections against the omnifcience, the holiness, or the justice of God: for if you do, in your prefent ftate of fpiritual deadnefs, your cafe is more hazardous than I am able to describe; you are not far from the defperate fituation of thofe whofe heart is fully fet in them to do evil.

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AND now, my dear friends, as it is an undeniable truth, that this abufe of the divine patience is too frequent in our day,

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let me beg your attention for a little, till I have fet before you the folly and bafeness of fuch conduct, and the fatal confequences with which it must neceffarily be attended. Confider, then,

Ift, That to grow bolder in fin, because you are not speedily punished, is most foolifh for unless you have affurance of a full indemnity, and that fentence against your evil works fhall never be executed, your conduct is obviously abfurd and irrational. You have long efcaped through the patience and forbearance of God: but if you have the remotest fufpicion that judgement may one day overtake you; nay, if you are not abfolutely certain, that it never thall; upon what principle of found reason can you be eafy for one moment? You do not know, but that already you have committed the last act of wickednefs that God is to tolerate, and that the next tranfgreffion will bring down the fatal stroke, and plunge you into remedilefs ruin. You live by a mere act of grace; your fate depends upon a reprieve, which the Sovereign may protract or shorten at his pleasure; and

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how mad is it to prefume upon fo precari ous a tenure?—Or if you have conceived any hope of efcape, allow me to ask you, upon what ground is your hope built? It would need to be a strong foundation indeed, that is to carry all the weight you are difpofed to lay upon it. Have you any promife or declaration on the part of God, or any dictate of unprejudiced reafon, that faith you fhall be fafe? Produce your fecurity that we may know it. If you have nothing more to fay, than that you hope to escape, because you with it, alas! this is nothing to the purpose: for we read of fome fools who fay or wifh in their heart, there were no God; and yet a God there is, who will prove a confuming fire to them. You dare not fay, that fin never was punished; for all hiftory, both facred and profane, would contradict you; and it were easy to quote many examples of finners who have efcaped as long, perhaps longer, than you, and yet have been punished at last: fo that, unless you have fomething altogether peculiar to yourselves, fome fpecial indulgence which the world hath never yet heard of,

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your conduct betrays the height of madness, a degree of phrenzy, which no term of reproach can fully exprefs.

2dly, It is no lefs base than foolish. Ingratitude is univerfally condemned, and branded with infamy. We reckon it the mark of a base difingenuous fpirit, to forget favours received, or even to neglect making a proper return, when the obliged party hath it in his power to do it: but if one shall injure his benefactor, and render evil for good, fuch a perfon must become an object of universal contempt and detestation, and none will be found so hardy as to plead in his defence. And yet the abuse of divine patience, to which my text refers, is a fpecies of bafeness that exceeds ingratitude; and indeed no word is to be found in any language I know, that is of fufficient force to exprefs its malignity, or to convey an adequate idea of its abominable nature. No man ever injured his benefactor because he was his benefactor: interfering interests, or felfifh views, may caufe unequal returns for benefits conferred; but in the cafe before us, there is fomething entirely

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