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the supplication is well uttered, he will answer; and whilst they are yet speaking, he will hear." No language can express the depth of the condescension which he will manifest to the poor suppliant, or the riches of that grace which he will impart to the believing penitent. Pardon, peace, holiness, glory, are not too great for him to bestow on the most unworthy of men, who call upon him with their whole hearts.]

But, that we may not miscarry in the exercise of this duty, the Apostle gives us,

II. A direction for the acceptable performance of it-Our repentance must be attended with,

1. A sincere renunciation of all evil

[Oh! "cleanse your hands, ye sinners;" and think not to find acceptance with God, whilst ye "hold fast iniquity" of any kind. Hear what God said to his people of old: "When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hands, to tread my courts?.... When ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. Wash ye; make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes: cease to do evil: learn to do well." In truth, "the very prayers of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord." Look, I pray you, to all the habits of your past life; your conduct in your respective trades and callings, no less than in your common intercourse with mankind: and, as God enjoins you to "shake your hands from holding of bribes," so I would say, Shake your hands from holding of unjust gains of any kind, and from retaining any evil which you have been wont to perpetrate".

Nor is this sufficient: you must put away evil from the heart, as well as in the act: for " if you regard iniquity in your heart, the Lord will not hear you." "Your heart must be right with God"," who demands the whole of it for himself, and will not accept 66 a divided hearty." "Purify your hearts. then, ye double-minded:" for " ye cannot serve God and mammon too"." You must "not love the world, nor any thing that is in it," if you would approve yourselves to Goda: the very desire to retain friendship with the world is constructive treason, and a decisive proof of enmity against God".

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See, then, that ye be "Israelites indeed, in whom is no allowed guile." Then, whether it be "under the fig-tree," or in any place whatever, God will behold you with complacency; and not only listen to your prayers, but exceed in his answers your largest petitions or desires.]

2. A deep contrition for all your past iniquities

[A forsaking of sin is not sufficient. There are many grounds on which some lust may be subdued: a change of age, or even of our circumstances in life, may operate to the abstaining from some sins, whilst yet the evil of them may never have been truly felt. Sin, of whatever kind, is hateful in the sight of God; and must become so in our eyes. "Be afflicted therefore, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into heaviness: humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, if ever ye would be lifted up." It is "the broken and contrite heart, which God will not despise" and all repentance that falls short of that, will only prove "a repentance that must itself be repented of." But, if ye come to God with a holy and ingenuous shame, even though you had been as wicked as Manasseh himself, you shall not be rejected: for "all manner of wickedness shall be forgiven unto men;" nor will God ever suffer any human being to "seek his face in vain." No, verily; if he see one prostrating himself before him in dust and ashes, he will "lift him up," just as the father in the parable did his prodigal son; testifying over him the joy with which he will restore him, not to his favour only, but to all the blessedness that he himself is able to impart. He that thus sows in tears, shall surely reap in joy:" and "he who thus humbles himself, shall surely be exalted1."]

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APPLICATION

1. It may be, that some amongst you doubt the necessity of such a repentance

But who amongst you is not "a sinner" before God? or, who amongst you has not been "double-minded," giving at least a portion of his heart to the creature, when the whole of it should have been fixed on God? -- - I accuse not any one amongst you of gross sin: but as corresponding with the character drawn in my text, I must accuse every child of man. I grant there is a great diversity in the guilt of different men: but there is no man so innocent as not to need repentance,

c John i. 47.

e Ps. li. 17.

h Isai. xlv. 19.

1 Luke xviii. 14.

d John i. 48-51. with Eph. iii. 20.

f 2 Cor. vii. 10, 11.

i Luke xv. 20-24.

8 Matt. xii. 31.

k Ps. cxxvi. 6.

and repentance too of the very kind that is here required. I pray you therefore, brethren, not to rest satisfied with a few faint acknowledgments of your guilt; but to abase yourselves before God, even as holy Job did, in dust and ashes — — —] 2. There may possibly be others, also, who doubt its efficacy

[You may perhaps have sought the Lord for some time, and not yet have obtained an answer of peace. But does this discourage you? Think, I pray you, how long God sought after you, and followed you with his invitations and entreaties to return unto him. Think, I say, of this; and then you will acknowledge, that, if you cried to him for a hundred years, and yet obtained an answer only at the last hour, you would have no reason to complain. But God has gracious designs in delaying the manifestations of his favour towards you. He desires to humble you the more deeply before him, and to prepare you more fully for the due reception of his favour. St. Peter says, "Humble yourselves under his mighty hand, and he will exalt you in due time." And who is the best judge what "the due time" is? Surely you may well leave this matter to Him who cannot err; and who, "having given you his dear Son, will surely with him also freely give you all things"." You yourselves do not give to your child a thing the instant that he cries for it, but judge of the fittest season wherein to give it. Wait, then, the Lord's leisure; assured, that "the vision, though delayed, shall not tarry" beyond the period which you yourselves, if you saw things as clearly as God does, would be the foremost to assign for it.]

m 1 Pet. v. 6.

n Rom. viii. 32.

o Hab. ii. 3.

MMCCCLXXII.

THE FOLLY OF UNDUE SECURITY.

Jam. iv. 13, 14. Go to now, ye that say, To-day or to-morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

RELIGION has ever a tendency to decline. Sin has pre-occupied the ground: and though religion expels it for a time, it is ever watching, as it were, for an opportunity to return, and to regain its former ascendant over the soul. Even in the Apostolic age

manifold declensions were found, not only in individuals, but in whole Churches and St. James, with the utmost fidelity and earnestness, set himself to counteract the fatal evil. Amongst the various evils which he had to reprove, was that of undue security, or of presuming on the success of our plans for future advancement, without any becoming reference to the shortness and uncertainty of life: and there being still but too much reason to complain of this habit in the Christian world, I shall distinctly mark, I. The habit which is here censured

The Apostle does not intend to condemn all forethought and contrivance; for then we should all be as weak and foolish as children: nor, indeed, if prospective plans were unlawful, would any one branch of agriculture or commerce, or even of liberal education, be carried forward. It is the proud reliance on our own wisdom, and the confident expectation of time to come, that is here condemned; and this is,

1. A great evil—

[What is it but an entire forgetfulness of our dependence upon God? For who is it that can give success to any plans, but God himself? And, if we could command success, who can tell whether that which we seek as a blessing, may not prove to us the greatest curse? Even an unqualified desire of the things themselves, without a reference to the wisdom of God to choose for us, and his will to bestow them on us, is highly sinful. It contravenes that express command, "Thou shalt not covet," and is, in fact, an usurpation of God's prerogative to direct and govern the affairs of men. Besides, such a confident expectation of life is of itself most offensive to God for it is "he who holdeth our souls in life:" "in him we live, and move, and have our being:" and the contemplation of life, irrespective of his agency, is no other than practical atheism.]

2. A common evil

[We imbibe these atheistical sentiments from our earliest infancy. Scarcely any other ever meet our ears. Our very parents are constantly speaking to us of what is to be gained. by us in future years in consequence of our own care and industry. As we grow up, we buoy up ourselves with the

same unqualified hopes and expectations: from youth to manhood, and from manhood to old age, we still continue to speak of future events as depending on ourselves, rather than on God; and seldom, if ever, have any direct reference in our minds to the superintending and all-directing providence of God. Indeed, it is from hence that our exertions principally arise: and so gratifying to our minds is this corrupt habit, that our chief happiness in life arises from it: for it is a well-known fact, that the fond dreams of hope almost invariably exceed the pleasures of actual enjoyment.]

Such is the evil which the Apostle censured in the words before us: which, however, lead us yet further to consider,

II. The folly of it

There is nothing in reality at our command, or under our controul. We cannot by any means

secure,

1. The success of our labours

["We cannot tell what shall be on the morrow :" we cannot tell how soon circumstances may arise to make us view that as an evil, which we just before coveted as a good. The fact is, that there is scarcely a man living, who has not as much reason to bless God for the dispensations by which his desires have been thwarted, as for those by which they have been gratified. How foolish then is it to take the disposal of events out of God's hands, instead of committing it to him, whose wisdom cannot err, and whose power cannot be counteracted! We may, like Israel, cause him "in wrath to give us" the object of our inordinate desires, and constrain him to inflict upon us the judgment denounced against his disobedient people; "I will curse their blessings."]

2. The continuance of our lives

["What is our life? it is a vapour that appeareth but a little time, and then vanisheth away." This is a truth which all acknowledge; and which, if duly considered, would abate the ardour of our earthly pursuits, and moderate our too sanguine expectations. Who has not seen persons in the bloom of youth, when promising themselves years of prosperity and joy, cut off suddenly, even as the flower of the grass, which in the morning looks gay and flourishing, and in the evening is cut down, dried up, and withered? Yes, a light, airy, unsubstantial vapour is but too just an image of life, which in its best estate is vanity, and in the twinkling of an eye may pass away for ever. Is it wise then to be either looking forward to

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