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that head. The danger is great. Thousands have been deluded and thousands probably will be deluded in this particular. And perhaps as many have been and will be deluded by one as by the other of the kinds of false faith just mentioned.

If people have something more than a mere speculative faith, and together with their faith, have emotions of love; lead them to inquire of what kind their love is; whether it be selfish or benevolent and disinterested.

Together with this faith, preach those doctrines and those duties which are immediately connected with it; such as the new birth, conversion, repentance unto life, supreme love to God, real and direct benevolence to mankind, the divine efficacious grace and the sovereignty of it, the saints' perseverance, and endless rewards and punishments. Preach the dependence of man on God for faith as well as for grace in general; yet preach the duty of faith, even the duty of all men to whom the gospel is preached, to repent and believe the gospel, and that no man hath a right to procrastinate this duty at all. Preach also the fruits of faith, the external conduct naturally flowing from it, and the external marks of its genuineness.

Thus you will preach experimentally, practically, usefully, and with the divine blessing successfully. Thus having this faith in your own soul, and thus preaching it to others, you will comply with our text and "hold faith and a good conscience." Thus you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up by the words of faith and of sound doctrine."

II. I shall in very few words address myself to the church and society in this town.

MEN, BRETHREN, AND FATHERS,-You also have heard what has been said concerning the distinguishing nature of saving faith. And if it be the duty of your pastor to preach this faith; it is your duty to exercise it, and to receive the truth, not only with a speculative assent, but with a cordial consent. Faith is a duty equally incumbent on you, as repentance, love to God, love to men, or any moral virtue. Therefore while any of you continue in unbelief you continue in sin; and you are to expect that your pastor acting faithfully will reprove you for this, as well as for any other sin of which you may be guilty; that he will do what in him lies to convince you of it; and that by a clear exhibition of the necessity of faith, of the reasonableness of it, of the requisition of it by God, of the awful consequences of unbelief, and of the blessed consequences of true faith, he will urge you to a compliance with the calls in the gospel, to the exercise of faith and that immediately without any further delay.

Labor to get right ideas of saving faith. Examine those which you may have hitherto entertained; examine whether they imply any more than a speculative assent; or at most an appropriation. As your pastor shall make these distinctions, apply them to yourselves in close examination. Take heed that you amuse not yourselves with a false faith and false hope.

Just ideas of the true faith of Jesus Christ, and a careful examination of yourselves with respect to it, will happily, not only tend to preserve you from fatal delusion; but will tend to your growth in grace. The clear knowledge of the truth is the great means appointed by God of growth in grace. And the knowledge of the truth in such a capital article as that of the christian faith, is nearly connected with the knowledge of almost every important evangelical truth. It implies a knowledge of the gospel in general, and particularly a knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; and therefore most directly tends to general christian edification.

We sincerely congratulate you on the events of this day; that with so much peace and unanimity you have obtained the resettlement of the gospel ministry among you.

Cultivate purity and peace among yourselves. "The wisdom which is from above is first pure, then peaceable." And may there ever subsist the most cordial peace between you and your pastor. Such large societies as you are, are more apt to fall out by the way, than those which are smaller; and perhaps they are more apt to deviate from purity. Let me therefore beseech you to be on your guard in both these respects. Your pastor is young and comparatively inexperienced; therefore you are not to expect so much from him on that account. It will be your duty, in the arduous work to which he is called, to assist him by your prayers, by your kind advice, by your influence, and by all the ways in your power. Thus while he is laboring for your spiritual good, you will be laboring for the same important object.

Thus may you be long happy together, fellow-laborers, though in different capacities in the same common cause. And having happily and successfully united your labors here, may you in due time be received unitedly to partake of the blessed fruits of your respective labors, in the kingdom of perfect peace and glory, where you shall respectively "rest from your labors and your works shall follow you."

SERMON IX.

DEPRAVITY THE SOURCE OF INFIDELITY.*

JOHN 7: 17.-If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.

OUR Lord "taught as one having authority, and not as the scribes." Even his enemies were compelled to admire his abilities and his doctrine. See the context: "Now about the midst of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and taught. And the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?" It was marvellous to them, that a man who had had no advantages of education, who was a carpenter's son, and was himself a carpenter, and of course could not have had much advantage of conversation with men of learning, even after he had arrived at mature age, should be able to teach so excellently, and to exhibit a system of morals and theology superior to all that had been taught, not only by the Scribes and Pharisees, but even by Moses and the prophets.

The solution which our Lord gave to their question, is, that he received his doctrine from God. He answered them, and said, "My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me." This being the fact, it was no wonder his doctrine was so excellent, and that he exhibited it in such an extraordinary manner. At the same time that our Lord thus professed to be a teacher sent from God, he informed them how they might know whether he were right in this pretension, viz. by a willingness to obey God. "If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God," as I say; "or whether I speak of myself," as you imagine.

And doubtless what our Lord said on this head to the Jews, is equally true concerning us or any other men in these days. If any man be willing to do the will of God, if he be sincerely disposed to obedience, or to piety toward God and to true virtue toward men, he shall know whether the gospel be a revelation from God, or a mere human invention; and no man will be an

Originally published in the 4th Vol. of the American Preacher, 1793.

infidel, unless he be of a depraved heart. This is manifestly the doctrine of our text; and to illustrate it I purpose,

I. To consider more particularly the import of these words, "If any man will do his will."

II. To consider the evidence of the consequence thence drawn, That if any man be sincerely disposed to piety and virtue, he shall know whether the gospel be indeed a revelation from God. I. I am to consider the import of these words, "If any man will do his will.”

It is manifest by the preceding verse, that the will of God is intended. The words immediately preceding are, "My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me." Then follow the words of the text: "If any man will do his will," etc. that is, the will of the eternal Father, who sent Christ. Now to do his will is to be really and sincerely obedient to him, in the various duties of piety and true virtue. I say sincerely obedient; for no other obedience than that which is sincere, is worthy the name of obedience, or is considered as any obedience at all by him who looketh on the heart, and thus determines the actions and characters of men; and not as we do, by the mere outward appearance or verbal profession. That real and cordial sincerity of obedience is here intended, is evident, not only by the very nature of the case, as no other is any obedience at all; but by the form of expression in the original: eάv tis dihy, If any man be willing to do his will. So that our Lord plainly meant a sincere and willing obedience, in which the will and heart are engaged, and not that which is external and visible only.

The parts of this obedience are two; the first respecting God, the second our fellow creatures. The first is piety or godliness, the other is morality. Godliness is compliance with the first and chief command of the divine law, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind;" and from this supreme love to God, to attend on all ordinances of his worship. Therefore this attendance must not be rendered reluctantly, as if it were a burden, a task necessary indeed to be performed, but disagreeable and wearisome; but it must be rendered cheerfully and willingly, with satisfaction and delight. Indeed it will be rendered in this manner, if, according to the text, we be willing to do his will; or if we comply with the first and chief command before recited.

The other branch of obedience respects our fellow creatures, and includes all the duties of morality; as benevolence, justice, truth, faithfulness and beneficence. The foundation of all these duties is that cordial love or benevolence required in the follow

ing divine command, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself;" which our Lord tells us is the second, and like unto the first. All the forementioned duties of morality must be performed from the same willing mind, as the duties of piety. It is by no means enough, that they are performed externally from the motives of fear of human laws, judgments, and executions; or of shame, and regard to our reputation. They may be thus performed, and yet by no means be performed willingly, as our text requires; but with great reluctance, with no pleasure in the duties themselves, but with real disgust at them. Then only shall we perform them willingly, when we perform them from that love to our neighbor, which is correspondent to the love which we bear to ourselves. Then only shall we have a taste or relish for those virtues, or for the real beauty of them.

Thus we see what it is to be willing to do the will of God. It is to have a heart to the practice of sincere piety and true virtue; or in other words, to love God supremely, and mankind sincerely, or with direct and proper benevolence.

II. I proceed to show, that he' who is of this character, shall know whether the gospel be indeed a revelation from God.

This I conceive to be evident by both scripture and reason. 1. By scripture. Our text seems to be very clear and pertinent to the present purpose. The question between our Savior and the Jews was, whether he were a teacher sent from God. He affirmed it; they denied it. And in the text he asserts, that if they had a heart to obey God, they would know whether his pretension were well founded, or whether his doctrine, which is the gospel, were really from God. This text alone, therefore, if there were no other text in the bible in favor of our doctrine, is a full proof of the truth of it. One divine assertion of any doctrine is a sufficient proof. If one be not sufficient, neither is any greater number.

But this is by no means the only text which supports this doctrine. The general current of scripture implies, and many particular texts expressly assert, that the blindness, darkness and unbelief of mankind are wholly of the moral kind, voluntary, and the result of depravity of heart. I shall mention some of them. John 5: 40, "Ye will not come unto me, that ye might have life.' Ye will not; the original is more explicit and determinate, ou Dehere, ye are not willing to come to me. But this unwillingness is assigned by our Lord as the reason of the unbelief of the Jews. And are we not to believe that unbelief in modern times proceeds from the same cause from which it proceeded anciently? 2 Thess. 2: 10, "Them that perish, because they re

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