possession of those principles which would support you in all the changes of life, and make your dying pillow comfortable. Are you unwilling to be happy? Or can you be happy too soon? Many persons are now looking upon you, who once were as you are now. And I doubt not, they are praying that you may be as they now are. Try to pray for yourself; our God is assuredly in the midst of us. His gracious ear is attentive to every supplicant. Seek him while he is to be found. Jesus died for sinners, and he has said, "Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out."* He is likewise the author of that faith, by which alone you can come rightly to him. If you ask it of him, he will give it you; if you seek it, in the means of his appointment, you shall assuredly find. If you refuse this, there remaineth no other sacrifice for sin. If you are not saved by faith in his blood, you are lost for ever. "Oh! kiss the Son lest he be angry, and you perish from the way, if his wrath be kindled, yea, but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him!"§ * John, vi. 37. + Matth. vii. 7. Heb. x. 26, 27. Psalm ii. 12. MOTIVES TO HUMILIATION AND PRAISE. a Sermon, PREACHED IN THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST. MARY WOOLNOTH, ON DECEMBER 19, 1797, THE DAY OF GENERAL THANKSGIVING TO ALMIGHTY GOD FOR OUR LATE NAVAL VICTORIES. Rejoice with trembling.-PSALM ii. 11. And after all that is come upon us, for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass; seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such a deliverance as this: should we again break thy commandments?-EZRA, ix. 13. ADVERTISEMENT. No other apology is offered for this publication, than the importance of the subject. Nor is it an exact copy of what was delivered from the pulpit. Had the preacher previously designed to print his sermon, he would have written it; but the method and leading sentiments in both are the same. A few periods have probably escaped recollection, and some of the topics may be a little more amplified. It was not till after the thanksgiving-day, that the preacher, considering himself as standing upon the verge of an eternal state, thought it might not be improper to avail himself of the occasion, to attempt at least, in a more public manner, to rouse the careless to a serious consideration of the awful state of the times; and to offer some hints for the consolation and encouragement of those whose eyes affect their hearts,* and who are continually supplicating mercy for themselves and their fellow-sinners. May our great God and Saviour make every reader of this feeble testimony wise unto salvation! Amen. Coleman-street Buildings, Jan. 8, 1798. JOHN NEWTON. * Lam. iii. 51. MOTIVES TO HUMILIATION AND PRAISE, HOSEA, xi. 8, 9. How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? How shall I deliver thee, Israel? How shall I make thee as Admah? How shall I set thee as Zeboim? Mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together. I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim; for I am God, and not man, the Holy one in the midst of thee. THE Most High God, in the revelation of his will to men, adapts his language to the weakness of our conceptions. Heavenly truths are represented by images taken from earthly things.* The metaphors of eyes and hands are used in the Scriptures, to raise our thought to some due apprehension of his infinite knowledge, his omnipresence, and his Almighty power. He is likewise spoken of, as deliberating, repenting, rejoicing, and grieving; yet we are sure that passions like those of which we are conscious in ourselves, cannot, in strict propriety, be ascribed to the holy and blessed God. No attentive and serious mind can be misled by this figurative analogy. We learn from the same Scriptures of truth that God is sovereign; that with him there is no variableness, nor shadow of turning; that his counsel shall stand, and he will do all his pleasure; and that all his works are perfectly known to him from the beginning of the world. The more familiar modes of expression are designed to teach us, not what he is in himself, but how it becomes us sinful creatures to be affected towards him. Thus, though the purpose of God concerning Israel was fixed and unalterable, yet to impress us with a sense of his inflexible displeasure against sin, and at the same time to leave open a door of hope and encouragement for penitent sinners, we read of a debate, as it were, between his justice and his mercy. Justice demanded that Israel should be given up, delivered up to vengeance, to such a destruction as that by which God overthrew the cities in the plain of Jericho, Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim. But mercy interposed, pleaded for a respite, and prevailed. O Ephraim, O Israel, justice calls aloud for vengeance, but how * John, iii. 12. 1 Pet. ii. 12. Psalm lxxxix. 13, James, i. 17. Isa. xlvi. 10. Acts, xv. 18. shall I, how can I, give thee up? No; I cannot, I will not; my heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled. Two reasons are assigned, in this pathetic expostulation, why he would still exercise long suffering towards those who so justly deserved to perish. "First, "I am God, and not man ;" the paman;" tience of man, or of any mere creature, would have been overcome long ago by the perverseness of Israel; but he who made them, and he only, was able to bear with them still. Secondly, "I am the Holy One in the midst of thee." In that dark and degenerate day, when the bulk of the nation was in a state of revolt and rebellion, there were a hidden remnant who feared and worshipped the Lord, and who mourned for the abominations which they could not prevent.* Of these the Lord was mindful, and for the sake of these, deserved judgments were suspended from falling upon the rest. The people of Israel were for a time in a state of hard bondage, and were severely oppressed in Egypt. The Lord brought them out from thence with a mighty hand and a stretched-out arm. He afterwards drowned Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea ; but he led Israel safely through the deep as upon dry land. In the barren wilderness he fed them with manna, and brought them water out of the rock. In the pathless wilderness he guided them, by a cloud in the day, and by a fire in the night. He fought their battles, subdued their enemies, and put them in possession of the land he had promised to their forefathers. They were a people whom the Most High selected for himself, as his peculiar treasure. He was their God and their King. They were the only people who were at that time favoured with the knowledge of the true God, and how to worship him acceptably. He gave them his laws and ordinances. He resided among them, and honoured them with a visible token of his presence in the tabernacle, and afterwards in the temple. They were likewise under an especial care of his providence. The fruitfulness of their land did not depend upon the climate, but the early and the latter rain returned regularly at the stated seasons, by his appointment; and when, in obedience to his commands, all their males, from the most distant parts, went up three times in a year to Jerusalem, and left their borders destitute of human defence, God so impressed the surrounding nations with awe, that, though hostile in their dispositions, they never availed themselves of that seemingly favourable opportunity for invading them. Under the reign of Solomon, they enjoyed peace, plenty, prosperity, and wealth, in a degree till then unknown among the nations of the earth. * Ezek. ix, 4. 6. +Psalm cxxxv. 4. Exod. xxxiv. 24. |