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that, for myself, I must plead guilty to my own indictment, and confess that I am a most unholy man, not worthy to stand in the room of my fathers; that I have not attained to the stature of my fathers in the faith of the holy doctrine, nor in the spirit of a holy life; in the gift of faithful preaching, nor in the duty of pastoral watchfulness. I trust every elder and deacon of this church, looking at the rule written in the holy Scriptures, and enlarged in our standards, is most willing to make the same tender of his confessions before the righteous throne of God, that as office-bearers in the church we are an unholy and an unworthy eldership. And I trust that the communicants of this church have seen their short-comings, and the baptized their negligence, and all men their sinfulness, and the sinfulness of the days in which we live. The Spirit is exceedingly weak in us, and we are ready to die. send us help out of his sanctuary of health and strength! I trust, moreover, dear brethren, that the painful task which I have performed hath enabled you to take a wider observation than the compass of our own community, and that your hearts have been exercised with the larger pity and compassion of the Gentile church in general, and of the church of these lands in particular. If it hath pleased God to bring into your souls any visitations of tender feeling, humbleness of mind, and intercessions of the Spirit, a good work is accomplished.

God

For it were nothing to see the state of the evil, unless we be grieved for the same. If these things be true, know that the last days and the perilous times are at hand, and that nothing can deliver us from their overwhelming temptations, but the firm belief of the Lord's advent to deliver and redeem us. For which I trust you are instant in prayer; and the more full of expectation and of inquiry, as you perceive by all these things that the time is at hand. I pray God to give us all grace to look upon these, the evil conditions of his church, with much and sore affliction; that we may be stirred up to witness and testify, and to intercede for our brethren, and for our children, and for the house of our fathers, and for the beloved church of Christ!

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SERMON VII.

WITHOUT NATURAL AFFECTION.

2 TIM. iii. 1, 3.

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come: for men shall be..........without natural affection.

IN following out these characteristics of the last times-or, as they may be called, forms and effects of the infidel spirit, which is at length to possess the church, after the spirit of superstition, which hath so long had the mastery, is thrown out-we now come to a class of offences which indicate a total corruption of the natural bonds and uniting principles of man to man; whereof the first, being the subject of our present discourse, is entitled, "Without natural affection." To discourse aright concerning this feature of the last times, it will be necessary, First, that we define, what is meant by the word which is translated "natural affection; Secondly, shew the place which it occupies in the creation of God; Thirdly, shew by what means it may be strengthened, and by what means impaired and destroyed; and, Lastly, that it hath sorely

declined in this age, from the time that the spirit of infidelity began to unfold itself.

1. We have therefore, according to this plan, First, to define the meaning of the word itself, and to shew to what part of our natural constitution it hath respect. The word in the original signifies, that instinctive love with which every creature is endued by God towards those of its own kind, and especially toward its young; and being applied to men, it doth represent that strongest of natural ties, which bindeth parents to children and children to parents; which uniteth families in one, and formeth the little communities of kindred and relationships of blood; and likewise, passing beyond this, its most strong and peculiar sphere of operation, it doth constitute that fund of kindness with which we regard our fellow-men, and are disposed to enter into society with them, to form contracts, and carry on the commerce of human life. Such is the word rendered "natural affection ;" and such is the thing of which our text declareth that the latter days shall be eminently deficient.

From this definition of the word, it manifestly hath reference to those affections which the hand of God hath implanted in the heart, in order to protect and provide for the helplessness of children, and the infirmities of age, and the diseases incident to our nature, the wants of solitude, the miseries of desertion, and whatever other calamities, from within and from without, would necessarily befal a soli

tary human creature, between the cradle and the grave. Were it not for this instinct of natural love and kindness, which attracteth man to man with certain degrees of strength according to the proximity of relationship, and which, according to its degrees of strength, doth constitute those closer and still closer relationships, we should be, as it were, so many separate beings; formed solitary, and having no predilection for society, except as interest or pleasure might draw us to one another. I place this rudimental and instinctive affection of man to man, anterior to, and independent of, all selfish interests, or personal advantages. It is even before the growth of knowledge and understanding; being strongest in the bosom of parents to their infant children, and of children towards one another. By and bye, indeed, according as the faculties of the mind shew themselves, and the various tastes and sentiments of the soul begin to seek for their favourite objects, there grows out of the root of natural affection a stately and magnificent tree, bearing all manner of social virtues, and religious duties, sentimental attachments, and peculiar loves; which yet do always acknowledge that root of natural affection and common kindness from which they spring: and if at any time they forget it, they grow into vices of selfishness, headlong passions, envies, jealousies, strifes, and wars; which grievances of man's soul and afflictions of human life, are but the corruption

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