of the Lord hath spoken it."-Because in wrath God remembers mercy; because he is slow to anger and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil; and says of his people who have sinned, "how shall I give thee up,"*-let no man think that he does not hate sin in those who are called by his name, or who have seemed to run well their Christian course, or have "tasted that the Lord is gracious." In proportion to their profession; in proportion to their light and knowledge; in proportion to their former progress through grace, and their experience of divine mercy, are the aggravations, and consequently the guilt, and baseness, and unthankfulness, and inexcuseableness of people's particular acts of sin; though with all their aggravations, upon repentance they may be forgiven for Christ's sake.

If then the Lord shall have "healed your backslidings," and restored unto you the joy of his salvation, and spoken peace to your souls again, after your goodness has passed away as the early dew; if he shall have recovered you from your falls, remember what that deportment is which can alone become you henceforth. Once you have " thought of yourselves more highly

*Hosea xi. 8.

than you should have thought:" now you have found your level. "Think henceforth SOberly."-As towards God, "remember and be confounded," and let your sin be ever before you;" and as towards man, begin at length with shame to take the lowest room."

"THE grace of God which bringeth salvation, hath appeared (saith St. Paul) unto all men. For (as saith another apostle) "God is love."t

This is the foundation stone of gospel truth. Hence, as from a fountain, spring all the "exceeding great and precious promises" of holy writ, and "every good gift and every perfect gift" to sinners; hence it came to pass, that God

gave his only begotten Son;" that "whosoever believeth in that Son of his shall not perish;"‡ that "mercy rejoiceth against judgment;" § that God is long-suffering towards the vilest; that "all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be for+1 John iv. 16. § James ii. 13.

* Titus ii. 11.
‡ John iii. 16.

given" to the penitent; that " by grace we are saved through faith;" and that "where sin hath abounded, "grace did abound much more." +

But, in St. Paul's time, there were persons who drew a most perverse and wicked inference from this. Not knowing, or not caring to consider, that the goodness of God should have led them to repentance,-"Let us continue in sin," they said. Assured, as we are, of the slowness of God to wrath, it cannot be very dangerous : indeed it will be for the fuller manifestation of his glory to rescue us at last. Nobody owns these sentiments; but thousands, it is to be feared, hold and act upon them still; and that not only among the more careless part of mankind, but even among those who make a more than ordinary profession of religion.

With reference to this awful error, I shall endeavour to set before you three things:

odw I. The fact, that men do very commonly abuse God's grace. stab Pe in

II. The great danger of so doing. quob of ba III. The inference which ought to be drawn from the abounding of grace., Dow I. And first, I say, it is a fact, that God's

grace is very commonly abused. Men sin with greater boldness than they otherwise would do, in consequence of their assurance that they have a most gracious God to deal with. Even the very "truth as it is in Jesus" partially viewed, becomes the minister of iniquity; and from the promises of the bible, the transgressor draws a consolation which supports him under the violation of its commandments. It may be imagined, perhaps, that a great part of the careless world know so little of what grace means, as hardly to be in a capacity for incurring this kind of guilt; but the case is otherwise: all wilful and habitual evil livers are implicated more or less. That iniquity abounds we all know too well. And the liar, and the thief, and the profane swearer, and the sabbath-breaker, and the drunkard, all sin against their consciences—are all condemned by their own hearts; and all, when they think, are apprehensive of the wrath of God. They do not disbelieve it that "the wages of sin is death;"* they are not prepared to deny that God will "judge the world in righteousness." As therefore there are times when sinners are constrained to think, something they need, (and seeing they will not amend their ways as yet,) something they will find, to † Acts xvii. 31.

* Rom. vi. 23.