The madness of impenitent sinners: they must be banishod to the pit, never to see the light.

The importance of imploring daily a penitential spirit : we sin daily, therefore beg always for mercy. Believe in the testimony of God, "I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins."

SERMON XXII.

THE SEARCHER OF HEARTS.

"All things are naked and opened to the eyes of him with whom we have to do."-HEBREWS iv. 13.

WHERE should a creature look, but to his Creator? and what being should engage so much of our attention, as the God that made us? O my soul, forget, forget thy trifling cares; relinquish thy foolish chase after the world and sin, thy eagerness for the things of time and sense, and look upward to the Being who ever looks on thee.

Think on his perfections, adore him for his greatness, and tell of the glorious majesty of his kingdom. He, my hearers, who is God over all, blessed for ever, requires us frequently to meditate on his ways; to consider in what relation we stand to him; to remember our own accountableness; and to think how holy and reverend is his name.

We will therefore now contemplate that divine and holy Being, who made us, preserves us, and before whose bar we shall all shortly stand; we will remember, that to him all hearts are open, all desires known; and that his power no creature is able to control; "neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight;" but, says but, says the pas

sage I have read for my text, "All things are naked and opened to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." Let us then,—

I. Take that interesting view of Jehovah, with which the text presents us: He is the God with whom we have to do.

II. Glance at his penetrating omniscience as connected with such a view of him, "All things are naked and open in his sight."

III. Deduce from the subject some suitable reflections.

1. Let us take that interesting view of Jehovah, which the text presents to us: as the God with whom we have to do. Here you perceive the great God described, not so much by what he is in himself, as by what he is to us: here you are allowed to indulge no idle speculation upon the nature of the Godhead, for you cannot by searching find him out, nor trace the Almighty to perfection; but you have the awful relation in which you stand to him, strikingly set before you. We might speak of God, indeed, as happy in himself, as independent and self-existent, but we wish to excite you to prayer; we want to urge you to adore and tremble; and therefore, instead of answering your fancies, pleasing your ears, or entertaining your imaginations by discussing those perfections of the Deity, or those parts of his works, with which we are not so immediately concerned; we shall rather lead you to view him as the God, "with whom we all have to do." Yes, with this God, "glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders," we shall have some solemn transactions, transactions that will never be forgotten. Here I may address every one of my hearers, whether a lost sinner, or an heir of God

d;

through Christ, and say, It is He with whom thou hast to do. O solemn thought! Ye careless sinners, ye artful hypocrites, ye deluded votaries of sensuality and uncleanness, ye unholy and profane, ye all have to do with God there is to be a commerce between your souls and the great Eternal. And ye blest saints that love him too, have communications to carry on with heaven, he is the God with whom you have to do, in the way of solemn dedication, habitual dependence, and lively hope that you shall be found accepted of him. He is indeed and in truth, the God with whom we all have to do, especially on these memorable occasions;-in the seasons of religious exercises,-at the day of death, and at the last judgment. In each of these times Jehovah is the God with whom we have to do. Let us look at our vast concerns with him

1. In religious exercises. And thus we shall be able to ascertain the importance, and discover the solemnity of our engagements at the throne of grace, and in the house of God. Be it known unto you, men and brethren, then, that when we pray and sing, and attend public ordinances, we are carrying on commerce with heaven; we have to do with God. How ought the thought of creatures to be altogether banished from our minds, when we profess to worship! for the place where we stand is holy ground. The worship in which we engage has Jehovah for its object, as well as its minute observer; it is intercourse with Heaven. It is having to do with "the high and the lofty One that inhabiteth eternity." It is bringing our powers and our services into his august and awful presence: it is dust and ashes speaking to the great Lord of the universe, and begging him not to be angry with us. Remember, ever remember, in all your acts of worship, the God with whom you

have to do. Careless worshippers do not, will not recollect. that they are dealing with God! but oh, will they not be destroyed by his anger, and consumed by his fury, since they are offering the Lord strange fire, which he commanded them not?

O that the great God we worship would himself convince us, and impress us with the truth, that we are, in every act of prayer and praise, dealing with "the King eternal, immortal, and invisible !"

2. We have to do with God in the hour of death. To that solemn hour, every pulse we tell brings us nearer. The youngest may say, Soon this hand will cease to move, this throbbing heart be still. And oh, as soon as we have drawn our last gasp, and uttered our last sigh, we shall have to do with God, in a way we never had before! "Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel :" thy God must be met and terrible indeed will he appear to thee in that dread moment, unless thou hadst before had dealings with him through Christ, as the God of salvation, the hearer and answerer of prayer! Yes, we shall have to do with him; for he is coming to stop the warm current of existence and call us to himself; we shall have to do with him; for yet a little while, and he will call our spirits to his bar, and take them kindly to himself, or assign them their lot with the wretched beings on whom his wrath is poured out for ever, without the least mixture of mercy. In the hour of death, let every soul solemnly recollect, he shall have to do with God; may it be to say, "Into thine hands I commit my spirit." "I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord." May the exchange be this: for me to give him a spirit redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, and renewed by the Spirit of God; and for him to give me heaven and himself