Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jea fus, by à new and living way which be bath. consecrated for us, through the vail, that is to say, bis flesh; and having an high-priest over the house of God: let us draw near with a true beart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts Sprinkled from an evil con- science, and our bodies washed with pure For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son : much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life, . . 217 Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any For this purpose the Son of God was ma- Only let your conversation be as it ber cometh the gospel of Christ, - 295 Only let your conversation be as it be- cometh the gospel of Christ,-A con- tinuation of the preceding fermon, 323 Whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: Whether we live therefore or . Casting all your care upon him, for be Casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you, -A continuation of SERMON I. EZEKIEL ix. 4. And the Lord said unto him, Go through the micist of the city, through the midst of Jerufalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads. of the men that figh, and that cry, for all the abominations that be done in the midf thereof. H E Apostle Paul, having recited to the Christians at Corinth some of I those awful judgements which God had inflicted upon his ancient church for their rebellion and obstinacy, fubjoins these memorable words, i Cor. X. 11. “ Now all these things happened “ unto them for ensamples, (or types, as the “ word is rendered in the margin); and “ they are written for our admonition, upon “ whom the ends of the world are come.” The Bible, though it records the actions of men, yet, properly speaking, is the hisVOL. II. tory tory of God, and contains an account of his proceedings with his creatures in a great variety of instances ; that from those acts of government, compared with what he positively declares concerning himself, we may be enabled to form the clearest and juitest conceptions of his nature and will; and may learn, with undoubted certainty, what we have either to fear or to hope from him. God is always the fame; “ with him “ there is no variableness, neither shadow “ of turning :” and therefore in his past procedure, we see the plan of his present and future administration; which brings the passage I have been reading home to ourselves, and interests us deeply in the matter it contains. In the preceding chapter, the prophet had got a full view of the abominations that were done in the midst of Jerusalem; and here he gets a visionary representation of their punishment. He beholds fix men approaching the city, each of them armed with a destroying weapon, who are expressly commanded to pay the inhabitants, both old and and young, beginning at the sanctuary. But before they proceed to execution, one distinguished by his garb, being clothed with linen, and having a writer's inkborn by his fide, receives the gracious commission recorded in my text, to separate the precious from the vile, by setting a mark upon their foreheads, that they might not be involved in the ruin of their fellow-citizens. Whether any sentence of wrath hath already gone forth against these sinful lands to which we belong, must be to us an impenetrable secret : “ The heart of a king is “ unsearchable,” said Solomon; much more is the heart of the King of kings. But surely it can never be 'unseasonable to lead your attention to a passage of Scripture, where God's mercy to the penitent, and his peculiar concern for their safety, are seż before us in so just and striking a light. Godly forrow for abounding iniquity, is at all times a dutiful and becoming exercise; nevertheless there are certain seasons when the call to it may be considered as more loud and pressing. Some of these I shall mention in the first place. B 2 Secondly, |