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"glory and ftrength. Give unto the Lord the "glory due unto his name; bring an offering, ❝come into his courts. O worship the Lord in "the beauty of holiness; fear before him all the "earth *." See alfo thefe elevated ftrains of praife, which, whether they are meant as the exercise of the church militant on earth, or the church triumphant in heaven, are equally proper here. "And the four beafts had each of them "fix wings about him, and they were full of

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eyes within; and they reft not day and night,

faying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God al"mighty, which was, and is, and is to come. "And when those beafts give glory, and ho66 nour, and thanks to him that fat on the throne, "who liveth for ever and ever; the four and 66 twenty elders fall down before him that fat on "the throne, and worship him that liveth for

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ever and ever, and caft their crowns before

the throne, faying, Thou art worthy, O Lord,

to receive glory, and honour, and power; for "thou haft created all things, and for thy plea

fure they are, and were created †." And to the fame purpose, " And I beheld, and I heard "the voice of many angels round about the "throne, and the beafts, and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times Pfal. xcvi. 6, 7, 8, 9. † Rev. iv, 8, 9, 10, 11. K 2

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"ten thousand, and thousands of thoufands "faying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb "that was flain, to receive power, and riches,

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and wisdom, and ftrength, and honour, and "glory, and bleffing. And every creature which " is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the "earth, and fuch as are in the fea, and all that "are in them, heard I, faying, Bleffing, and "honour, and glory, and power be unto him "that fitteth upon the throne, and unto the "Lamb for ever and ever Nay, a true penitent begins to fee the beauty even of the divine sovereignty, that all things belong to God, and therefore it is moft fit that all things should be fubject to him, according to that ftrong and beautiful paffage : "And the four and twenty "elders which fat before God on their feats, fell "upon their faces, and worshipped God, fay"ing, We give thee thanks, O Lord God al

mighty, which art, and waft, and art to come, "because thou haft taken to thee thy great "power, and haft reigned +."

The other obfervation I am to make is, that a true penitent always acquires the deepeft abhorrence of that atrocious, tho' prevailing fin, of profaning the name of God in common ́difcourfe. There are many perfons, not otherwise † Rev. xi. 16, 17.

* Rev. v. 11, 12, 13.

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the most abandoned, who have no juft fenfe of the heinoufnefs of this fin: and as it is not directly levelled against the temporal intereft of our neighbours, it is far from being generally fo fcandalous and difhonourable as it ought to be. Such religion or virtue as is founded on worldly principles and views, may eafily confift with its continuance; but he who is convinced of the evil of all fin, as rebellion against, and disobedience to God, will fee the horrible guilt and impiety that attends this abominable practice. That religion which is the work of God's holy Spirit, and confifts in the recovery of his loft image, will never be able to bear fo direct a violation of his facred authority, fo unprovoked an infult upon his honour and glory.

A fear of punishment then we have feen, without a fenfe of the evil of fin in itself, is not fufficient. Let me now add, that this difcovery of the evil of fin in itfelf, muft increase our fear of punishment, by fhewing it to be just. A fear of punishment while alone, always tempts the finner to fearch about on all hands for arguments against that fuffering, the juftice of which he cannot perceive. Hence infidelity of heart and fecret fuggeftions, that furely it cannot be that God will punish as he hath faid. Hence blafphemous

impatience. Hence rifing thoughts and rebellion

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against God, even while under his rod; fuch as are described by the prophet Hofea: "And they "have not cried unto me with their heart when

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they howled upon their beds *." Nay, hence fometimes the bittereft profeffed infidels among thofe, who have been brought up in the knowledge of the truths of the gospel, while they have never seen their beauty, or felt their power. But fo foon as there is a difcovery of the glory of God, and the univerfal and perfect obedience due from all to him, this throws a new light on the tokens of a divine displeasure against sin, in the works of creation and providence. This carries home, with irrefiftible force, all the threatnings of the wrath of God against finners in his word. Their juftice is then deeply and inwardly felt, and the finner begins to wonder at the patience of a longfuffering God, that has not long ere now made him a monument of vengeance.

The fame view it is that not only begins, but carries on and compleats genuine convictions of fin, that filences all objections, and refutes the reafonings of the carnal mind. Every fincere convert will have, in a greater or leffer degree, the evidence in himfelf, that his change is of fovereign grace. He will probably be able to recollect in how many inftances his mind fet itself to oppose, and was at pains as it were to collec Hofea vii. 14.

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and muster up every objection against the obligation and fanction of the law of God. The objections are raised, firft, against the neceffity or benefit of obedience, and then against suffering for disobedience, till all are borne down by the fame almighty power which spake and it was done, and which can lead captivity captive." I cannot propose to enumerate all the objections, or rather, all the forms, in which objections may arife in the finner's mind, when struggling against conviction; but I fhall mention a few of them, and show what it is that must put them to filence.

1. Perhaps the finner will fay, alas! why should the law be fo extremely rigorous, as to infift upon abfolute and finlefs obedience? Hard indeed, that it will admit not of any tranfgreffion, any omiffion, the least flip, or failing or frailty, but pronounceth fo fevere a fentence, "Curfed "is every one that continueth not in all things

which are written in the book of the law to do them." But confider, I pray you, what is the law, and who is the author of the law. The fum of all the commandments of the law is,

To love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your foul, with all your mind, "and with all your ftrength." Is this unreafonable? or, is it too much? Is he not infinite

* Gal, iii. 10. K 4

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