to which, it is said in Scripture, "They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust." But does it not rather refer to that awful pit of destruction, mentioned in the 20th chapter of the Revelation, where Satan is bound, where sinners are lost?

"Behold," says a penitent, "for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption; for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back." Jesus, the Redeemer, then, delivers us from the wrath to come, saves from the power of death and hell; he prevents our souls from going into the pit, from whence there is no redemption. On us the second

death hath no power.

2. The Almighty raises him to the perpetual enjoyment of Divine illumination. "And his life shall see the light." This implies the dispersion of his melancholy, the introduction of happiness and peace to his soul: for, through the grace of the great Ransom, Jesus, "the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined." But further, this expression carries our thoughts to the period when we shall behold the light of heaven: for God intends to bring every believing penitent to that city of which it is written, that God and the Lamb are the light thereof. We, "who truly repent and unfeignedly believe his holy gospel," shall possess the inheritance of the saints in light, shall be forever illuminated and encircled by the rays of the Sun of Righteousness, and so shall we be ever with the Lord. The Lord shall be our light, our God shall be our glory, and the days of our mourn. ing shall be ended,

Learn from the subject,—

The richness of God's pardoning mercy, extending even to sins of perverseness.

The madness of impenitent sinners: they must be banished to the pit, never to see the light.

The importance of imploring daily a penitential spirit: we sin daily, therefore beg always for mercy. Believe in the testimony of God, "I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins."

DISCOURSE XXI.

GOD INSPECTS MORAL CHARACTER.

PREACHED JULY 21, 1811.*

"All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." HEBREWS IV. 13.

WHERE should a creature look, but to his Creator? and what being should engage so much of our attention, as the God that made us? O my soul, forget, forget thy trifling cares; relinquish thy foolish chase after the world and sin, thy eagerness for the things of time and sense, and look upward to the Being who ever looks on thee.

Think on his perfections, adore him for his greatness, and tell of the glorious majesty of his kingdom. He, my hearers, who is God over all, blessed forever, requires us frequently to meditate on his ways; to consider in what relation we stand to him; to remember our own accountableness; and to think how holy and reverend is his name.

We will therefore now contemplate that Divine and holy Being, who made us, preserves us, and before whose bar we shall all shortly stand: we will remember, that to him all hearts are open, all desires known; and that his power no creature is able to control ; "neither is there any creature

*Fifteen days before his death.

that is not manifest in his sight;" but, says the passage I have read for my text, "All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." Let us,

I. Take that interesting view of Jehovah, with which the text presents us: He is the God with whom we have to do.

II. Glance at his penetrating omniscience as connected with such a view of him, "All things are naked and open in his sight."

III. Deduce some reflections from the subject. I. Here you perceive the great God described, not so much by what he is in himself, as what he is to us here you are allowed to indulge no idle speculation upon the nature of the Godhead, for you cannot by searching find him out, nor trace the Almighty to perfection; but you have the awful relation in which you stand to him, strikingly set before you. We might speak of God, indeed, as happy in himself, as independent and self-existent, but we wish to excite you to prayer; we want to urge you to adore and tremble; and therefore, instead of answering your fancies, pleasing your ears, or entertaining your imaginations by discussing those perfections of the Deity, or those parts of his works, with which we are not so immediately concerned; we shall rather lead you to view him as the God" with whom we all have to do." Yes, with this God, "glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders," we shall have some solemn transactions, transactions that will never be forgotten. Here I may address every one of my hearers, whether a lost sinner, or an heir of God through Christ and say, It is He with whom thou hast to do. O solemn thought! Ye careless sinners, ye artful hypocrites, ye deluded votaries of

sensuality and uncleanness, ye unholy and profane, ye all have to do with God; there is to be a commerce between your souls and the great Eternal. And ye blest saints, that love him too, have communications to carry on with heaven; he is the God with whom you have to do, in the way of solemn dedication, habitual dependence, and lively hope that you shall be found accepted of him. He is, in deed and in truth, the God with whom we all have to do, especially on these memorable occasions-In the seasons of religious exercises-At the day of death-and, At the last judgment. In each of these times Jehovah is the God with whom we have to do. Let us look at our vast concerns with him

1. In religious exercises. And thus we shall be able to ascertain the importance, and discover the solemnity of our engagements at the throne of grace, and in the house of God. Be it known unto you, men and brethren, then, that when we pray and sing, and attend public ordinances, we are carrying on commerce with Heaven; we have to do with God. How ought the thought of creatures to be altogether banished from our minds, when we profess to worship! for the place where we stand is holy ground. The worship in which we engage has Jehovah for its object, as well as its minute observer; it is intercourse with Heaven. It is having to do with "the high and the lofty One that inhabiteth eternity." It is bringing our powers and our services into his august and awful presence it is dust and ashes speaking to the great Lord of the universe, and begging him not to be angry with us. Remember, ever remember, in all your acts of worship, the God with whom you have to do. Careless worshippers do not, will