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that in fixing his affections on an object so contemptible and so base as the world, in preference to the infinite God, he is wholly voluntary; that the act is an act of choice. He knows, in other words, that his want of right feeling towards God, or what is the same thing, his hardness of heart, or aversion to duty, is wholly voluntary.

The correctness of this account of hardness of heart, as being voluntary, and consisting in aversion to duty, is illustrated and confirmed abundantly in the scriptures. In such aversion consisted the hardness of Pharaoh's heart. God commanded him to let his people go, and he would not. Five times he relented, and promised to obey God, but more than ten times he hardened his heart, and would not hearken. The Egyptians also who concurred with their king in his refusal, are said to have hardened their hearts. The hardness of Sihon's heart, consisted in his refusal to let the children of Israel pass through his borders. The provocation of the Israelites was hardness of heart, which, as explained, consisted in their refusing to obey God. "My people would not hearken to my voice, so I gave them up to the hardness of their hearts." The command, Deut. 15, is, thou shalt surely give (to thy poor brother,) and the refusal to give is spoken of as hardening the heart against him. "Thou shalt not harden thy heart, nor shut thy band from thy poor brother." The lords of the Philistines who advised to send back the ark of the Lord, which they had taken, said, “wherefore do ye harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts?" i. e. why should ye refuse to obey the will of Israel's God, indicated by his judgments, as Pharaoh and the Egyptians did.

The disobedience of the unbelieving Israelites who perished in the wilderness, is spoken of as consisting in hardness of heart. After an exhortation to obey God, the caution is subjoined; "harden not your hearts

as in the provocation in the wilder ness, when your fathers tempted me.” The meaning is, be not hard hearted in refusing to obey your God, as your fathers in the wilderness were hardhearted in refusing to obey him.

The rebuke of Stephen to the Jews, Acts vii. 51, is in these words; "Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost." To be hardhearted, or stiff-necked, is the same thing, and consists in that aversion of heart to duty which always resists the Holy Ghost.

The reprobate mind to which the heathen were given over, is the same as incorrigible hardness of heart, and consisted in a mind which did not like to retain God in its knowledge. The crime punished by strong delusion and abandonment to believe a lie, consisted in the fact that they had no pleasure in the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness;-consisted in a heart averse to truth and obedience.

The indications or effects of hardness of heart, are, inattention to the divine will, voluntary ignorance of duty, inattention to the evidence of truth, and insensibility to that evidence when perceived, insensibility to moral obligation and to unseen and eternal things, and habitual disobedi ence even where obligation and retribution are both realized.

The punishment of hardness of heart, inflicted in time, is the increase of the same hardness. For each refusal to let the people go, Pharaoh was punished with greater hardness of heart. The plagues multiplied in number and increased in severity. But the hardness of his heart kept pace with the increase of the motives to obedience, until his hardness of heart occasioned his destruction. In the same manner was Sihon punished to his destruction. The disobedient tribes also, as a punishment, were given up to the hardness of their hearts. This was the punishment inflicted upon the Jews, as recorded, John xii. 40. "He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart." The.

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same punishment fell on those who imprecated on theinselves and their children the blood of Christ. Rom. xi. 25. "I would not brethren ye should be ignorant that blindness (marginal reading, hardness.) in part is happened to Israel." This is the punishment which Isaiah was sent to inflict as recorded, Is. vi. 10. "Make the heart of this people fat (insensible) and make their ears heavy and shut their eyes." The class of crimes most usually punished in this manner, are virulent and long continued opposition to truth, habitual immoralities, and a long continued misimprove meut of the means of grace. Whoever perseveres in his opposition to the truth, however candidly, and honestly, and sincerely in his own estimation it may be done, has reason to expect, as a judgment from God, that he will be given up to strong delusions and the belief of a lie. He who practices habitually any kind of immorality, may expect as a judicial consequence, hardness of heart, and a conscience seared as with a hot iron; and those who have been long favored with the means of grace, of which they have made no saving improvement, will find, if they examine, that they have been punished already, with increasing stupidity and hardness of heart, and may anticipate that, continuing impenitent, the same fearful punishment will follow them until they are finally cast off.

As to the manner in which God hardens the heart of man it may be observed,

1. That this hardness must be supposed to be,in some way,a consequence of what God has done. An effect which is neither directly nor indirectly the consequence of a divine act, can in no sense be ascribed to God as the cause.

2. It is an end which God has perceived, and designed. The Most High never acts without design, or without perceiving the consequence of his action in every case; besides in whatever manner God hardens the hearts of sinners, it must be considered as done by design, because it is a calamity inflicted as a punishment.

3. It may be supposed therefore, that God hardens the heart providentially. He has given a nature to every thing that exists;—to matter and to mind their respective natures. The properties of different objects which constitute their nature are known, and their influence in given circumstances are certain. It is the effect of inhaling water to stop the breath, of fire to destroy by its action the flesh of man when exposed to it, and such is the constitution of the mind, that sinning promotes sinning, and hardness of heart begets hardness of heart; and this as really in accordance with a law of nature, as is the action of water in producing suffocation, or of fire in the destruction of animal bodies. God hardens the heart of the sinner then, in the same manner as he sustains life by sustaining the atmosphere; or drowns the suicide who plunges into the water, by upholding the properties of that element; or burns the body of the self-devoted victim by continuing to fire its own properties. He hardens the heart of the heretic, the profligate, and the abuser of the means of grace, by the operation of a known law of our moral nature, as really as he drowns or burns those who plunge into the element of fire or water, by an operation of a known law of the natural world. The attraction of gravity is not more certain in its operation, than habitual transgression of any kind is, in its effect of hardening the heart.

To harden the heart of a free agent then, who has begun to sin, and whose heart is fully set in him to do evil, nothing is necessary but for God to let him alone and leave him to a regular operation of the laws of intellectual and moral nature in such circumstances. He may withhold that divine restraint to keep back the sinner from presumptuous sins, which he before had bestowed as a matter of grace, and not of obligation. He may permit also, a course of providential events, which, though in themselves wise, and just, and good, and even merciful, may, through the perverseness of the sinner's heart, become a

savour of death. His table may be come a suare; the light may produce blindness; warnings and admonitions, deafness; and the reiterated application of motives, hardness of heart.

The hearts of men are by nature fully set to do evil. If no hindrance is presented, and no restraint imposed, they will voluntarily, but certainly, become more and more hardened in sin. God, however, does ordinarily interpose by his providence, and by his Spirit, to restrain the depravity of man; but when accumulating guilt has determined him to punish, he removes providential hindrances, lets in suspended temptation, and withdraws the restraining influence of his Holy Spirit. He gives them up to their own heart's lust. In this case, however, the hardness of the heart is increased, as in the preceding, by the operation of those general laws by which sinning begets increased inclination to sin. The occasion is the withdrawment of restraint; but the cause is the momentum of an evil heart in its departure from God, increased by its release from restraint, and the impulse of new temptations.

The view we have taken of this subject, provides an answer to the question so often urged, how can sinners be to blame when God hardens their hearts? The answer is, if they were not to blame God would not harden their hearts; and when he does do it, it is accomplished not by any positive efficiency of his, but by the efficiency of the sinner's own capacity of moral action, voluntarily perverted, and left of God to its own operation. God hardens the sinner's heart indirectly, by ceasing to restrain him. The sinner hardens his own heart directly,by refusing to do his duty. God adds iniquity to his iniquity, by upholding in him all the properties of accountable agency; and the sinner adds iniquity to his iniquity, by a voluntary continuance in evil. As well may it be demanded, if it be God who terminates the life of man, how the suicide can be to blame, when the et is that God destroys his life only

by the continued operation of those laws of his animal nature, and those properties of poison, which occasion dissolution, while the suicide himselt has done the deed of violence which caused his death. The restraint which God withholds is not essential to free agency; the absence of it does not cancel moral obligation, or render sinning unavoidable, or obedience impossible. The Spirit is withdrawn also, in consequence of long continued resistance and reiterated abuse. In reality, the question is, how can a free agent, so determined upon sinning that all means to stop him fail, be to blame when he knows that God has so constituted him and things around him, as that sinning will as inevitably harden his heart, as plunging his hand into the fire will burn it,-how he can be to blame because he sins, while God indirectly, and himself directly, hardens his heart.

Does a man's blame cease when he has become so desperately wicked that all means have become ineffectual to restrain him? Does guilt decline with the increase of aversion to duty; is it extinguished by the decision of the Judge, dooming the criminal to punishment, or by the infliction of the penalty, especially when the punishment itself consists in giving up the culprit to the regular operation and consequences of a perverted free agency? But perhaps it will be contended that God hardens the heart by a positive efficiency, that he hardens the heart by direct efficiency, increases by his own power, irresistibly, the sinners aversion to his duty. To this we must reply, that we do not feel authorized to speak in this manner concerning God. The tendency of such language is at least to perplex the mind, and to diminish a sense of accountability. Nor is it seen that any good purpose is auswered by this mode of explaining the subject, which is not as entirely answered by the preceding mode of exposition. The great object is to secure to God that universal government of the world, natural and moral, which the scrip

tures ascribe to him, and to man that accountability which renders him a subject of praise or blame, reward or punishment. But the government of God is as universal, as minute, and as efficient in the administration of reward and punishment, upon the supposition that he hardens the heart indirectly, as is possible it should be upon the other supposition; while the consistency of such an administration with accountability, is more accommodated to common sense, and the dictates of conscience.

Will it be objected by the sinner, in extenuation of his guilt, that the scriptures teach that God hardens the hearts of men, by a direct efilciency, and that the volition and its quality are an effect of omnipotence which he cannot prevent, and did not bring into being. So far as I have been able to learn, the uniform testimony of scripture is that God, in certain cases, hardens the hearts of men, that this hardness is a consequence of his determination, and an effect of his displeasure. But they go no further. In vain have I sought for a single passage in which the scriptures declare that God hardens the heart by direct efficiency. The appearance in all cases is, as if the effect were produced by means, or by simple dereliction. God gave them up to their heart's lust. He sent strong delusions. He made their table a snare; and his gospel perverted, is a savour of death unto death. The only evidence I have been able to find on this subject, is the supposed philosophy of mind. How, it is said, can it be otherwise; how can the mind act in any case, without the efficiency of God as the immediate producing cause? And hence it is inferred that the declararation that God hardens the heart, must be understood in accordance with this dictate of philosophy. But the position, that mind cannot act without the direct efficiency of God preceding each volition, is not admit ted as evident, or capable of proof. Indeed, the supposition that it cannot

act without, goes in its consequences
to the annihilation of all created exist-
ence. Existence which does not possess
properties separate from God's nature
is nothing; and the properties of exis-
tence, which being upheld by God,
are incapable of any causation or ef-
fect, are strictly speaking, no proper-
ties; for the existence of properties
or attributes can be known only by
their effects, and that which possesses
in itself no adaptation to causation of
any kind, wants both the evidence
and reality of existence. If then mat-
ter has a real existence, it has proper-
ties; and these so long as matter is
upheld, are properties of matter, and
are in themselves, without any effi-
ciency of God, beside that which up-
holds matter, capable of that causa-
tion or efficacy which is in accordance
with their nature. When the hand,
for example, is smitten violently with
a hammer upon the anvil, it does not
require a special efficiency of God to
give to the hammer and the anvil the
power of crushing it. In like man-
ner, mind, if it be a real existence,
possesses properties which, while up-
held, are capable of such effects as
are consonant to their nature; and in
the production of these effects, the
natural results of the properties of
mind, no efficiency of God is requi-
red, more than in producing the phe-
nomena of matter.

It may as well be alleged that matter, whose nature it is to rest until moved, cannot lie still without the positive efficiency of God, superadded to its nature, as to say that mind, whose nature it is to act if not hindered, cannot act without the constant excitement of divine efficiency. It may as philosophically be insisted that fire cannot burn by any properties of its nature independently of a divine causation given to them, as that mind cannot exercise volition independently of the immediate efficiency of God in producing that volition.

It will follow from such philosophy, that there is no difference between matter and mind, the law of both being equally not to move unti!

entereth into that within the vail; whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an High Priest forever.

moved; that both are subjects of the same vis inertiæ; the mind by its nature merely, being no more qualified to think and choose, than matter is to move; and that causing the mind to will, and matter to move, is acTo give a forcible exhibition of complished in each case, and equally, the character of the christian dispenby physical efficiency, overcoming re- sation was the grand design of the sistance. But as rest by the suppo- epistle to the Hebrews. The superisition is not a property of matter, but ority of the personal dignity of Christ is the effect of divine power hold- to that of the angels in heaven is first ing it still, motion also must be con- unfolded, and established by a train sidered only as the excess of power of reasoning, which, while it forces which God exerts with one hand, to conviction upon the understanding, counteract the efforts of the other. kindles the evangelical affections of Indeed, deny to matter and mind the the heart. The relation between the existence of properties, which being Old and New Testaments is, next, upheld, possess an efficiency inde- stated: the prominent features of pendent of any other aid, and you each are exhibited: and the characdeny the existence both of matter and ters of Christ and the Jewish Legisla mind; for in what do those proper- tor are contrasted. A parallel is, ties of matter and mind consist, whose then, drawn between the priesthood efficiency is not in themselves, but in of the Levites, and that of Him, who the act of God, which attends them. being both priest and sacrifice, once What sort of existence must that be, offered up himself for all. The whole whose properties possess no adapta- of this discussion is however intertion to any causation or effect, and by spersed with frequent and cogent what evidence of their own, can their practical exhortations. The unbe existence be announced and proved. liever is urged to turn from his evil I conclude, then, according to the de- ways; while those who have already cisions of the bible and of sound phi-"fled for refuge to lay hold upon the losophy, that rational, accountable beings, possess in the nature of that mind which God has given and upholds, the capacity of perception, thought, and volition, without any other aid than that which sustains the mind; that it is as really the nature of mind to act in the presence of motives, as it is of matter to rest where no impulse is applied, and that instead of an act of divine efficiency required to produce accountable exercises; an act of divine efficiency, a miracle even, would be required to prevent accountable exercises whenever a demand is made upon the mind for moral action.

A SERMON.

D. D.

Hebrews, vi. 19, 20.-Which hope we have as an anchor to the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which

hope set before them," are incited to continue in their good course. It is in one of these portions of the epistle that we find the words which are now to occupy our attention: "Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the vail, whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an High Priest forever."

We shall consider the foundation of Christian Hope; its object; its properties; its influence.

I. The foundation of this hope. It rests upon the sacrifice and intercession of Christ. The christian has felt what is implied in the requirement of obedience to the law of God. He knows that under a legal dispensation, perfect and universal obedience alone will be accepted: this be has not rendered; and has therefore, in his own view, not only lost his hope of accept

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