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mourning Ephraim in this assembly? I may call you, as God did Adam, Ephraim, where art thou? Let the word of God find you out, and force a little encouragement upon you; your heavenly Father, whose angry hand you fear, is listening to your groans, and will measure you out a mercy for every groan, a blessing for every sigh, a drop, a draught of consolation, for every tear. His bowels are moving over you, and he addresses you in such language as this, "Is this my dear son? is this my pleasant child ?" &c.

And as to you, ye hardy impenitents, ye abandoned profligates, ye careless formalists, ye almost Christians, can you hear these things, and not begin now to relent? Do you not find your frozen hearts begin to thaw within you? Can you resist such alluring grace? Can you bear the thoughts of continuing enemies to so good, so forgiving a Father? Does not Ephraim's petition now rise to your hearts, Turn thou me, and I shall be turned? then I congratulate you upon this happy day; you are this day become God's dear sons, the children of his delights, &c.

Is there a wretch so senseless, so wicked, so abandoned, as to refuse to return? Where art thou, hardy rebel? Stand forth, and meet the terrors of thy doom. To thee I must change my voice, and, instead of representing the tender compassions of a father, must denounce the terrors of an angry judge. Thy doom is declared and fixed by the same lips that speak to penitents in such encouraging strains; by those gracious lips that never uttered a harsh censure. God is angry with thee every day. Ps. vii. 11. Except thou repentest, thou shalt surely perish. Luke xiii. 3. The example of Christ authorizes me to repeat it again; "Except thou repentest, thou shalt surely perish," ver. 5. "The God that made thee will destroy thee; and he that formed thee will show thee no favor." Isa. xxvi. 11. "Thou art treasuring up wrath in horrid affluence against the day of wrath." Rom. ii 5. "God is jealous, and revengeth; the Lord revengeth, and is furious; the Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries; and he reserveth wrath for his enemies. The mountains quake at him: the hills melt; the earth is burnt at his presence: yea, the world, and they that dwell therein. Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure in the fierceness of his

anger? His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him." Nahum i. 2-6. These flaming thunderbolts, sinners, are aimed at thy heart, and, if thou canst harden thyself against their terror, let me read thee thy doom before we part. You have it pronounced by God himself in Deuteronomy, the twentyninth chapter, at the nineteenth and following verses, "If it come to pass that when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of my heart-The Lord will not spare him: but then the anger of the Lord and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven; and the Lord shall separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law." And now, sinner, if thou canst return home careless and senseless with this heavy curse upon thee, expect not a word of comfort, expect no blessing till thou art made truly penitent; for "how shall I bless whom God has not blessed?" The ministerial blessing falls upon one on thy right hand, and one on thy left, but it lights not upon thee. The curse is thy lot, and this must thou have at the hand of God, if thou continuest hardened and insolent in sin. Thou must lie down in sorIsa. i. 11. Consider this, all ye that forget God, lest he tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver. Ps. i. 22.

row.

SERMON XIV.

CHRIST PRECIOUS TO ALL TRUE BELIEVERS.

1 PETER ii. 7.-Unto you therefore which believe, He is precious.*

YES; blessed be God; though a great part of the creation is disaffected to Jesus Christ; though fallen

• Or preciousness in the abstract, riμn.

spirits, both in flesh and without flesh, both upon earth and in hell, neglect him or profess themselves open enemies to him, yet he is precious; precious not only in himself, not only to his father, not only to the choirs of heaven, who behold his full glory without a veil, but precious to some even in our guilty world; precious to a sort of persons of our sinful race, who make no great figure in mortal eyes, who have no idea of their own goodness; who are mean, unworthy creatures, in their own view, and who are generally despicable in the view of others; I mean he is precious to all true believers. And though they are but few comparatively in our world; though there are, I am afraid, but few additions made to them from among us; yet, blessed be God, there are some believers even upon our guilty globe; and I doubt not but I am now speaking to some such.

And

My believing brethren, (if I may venture to claim kindred with you,) I am now entering upon a design, which I know you have much at heart: and that is, to make the blessed Jesus more precious to you, and if possible, to recommend him to the affections of the crowd that neglect him. You know, alas! you love him but little; but very little, compared to his infinite excellency and your obligations to him; and you know that multitudes love him not at all. Whatever they profess, their practice shows that their carnal minds are enmity against him. This you often see, and the sight affects your hearts. It deeply affects you to think so much excellency should be neglected and despised, and so much love meet with such base returns of ingratitude. you cannot but pity your poor fellow sinners, that they are so blind to the brightest glory and their own highest interest, and that they should perish, through wilful neglect of their deliverer; perish, as it were, within reach of the hand stretched out to save them. This is indeed a very affecting, very lamentable, and alas! a very common sight. And will you not then bid me God speed this day in my attempt to recommend this precious, though neglected, Jesus? Will you not contribute your share towards my success in so pious and benevolent a design by your earnest prayers? Now, shall not the interceding sigh rise to heaven from every heart, and every soul be cast into a praying posture? I shall hope

to discharge my duty with more comfort and advantage, if you afford me this assistance. And surely such of you cannot deny me this aid, who desire that Jesus may become still more precious to your own hearts, and that he may be the object of universal love from all the sons of men, who are now disaffected to him.

To you that believe, he is precious-He ?-Who? Is it mammon, the god of the world? Is it pleasure, or honor? No; none of these is the darling of the believing heart. But it is he who is the uppermost in every pious heart; he, who is first in the thoughts and affections; he whom every friend of his must know, even without a name; if it be but said of him, he is precious, this is enough to distinguish him from all others. "If it be he the apostle means, may every believer say, who is most precious to my soul, then I can easily point him out, though without a name. It must be Jesus, for O! it is he that is most precious to me." The connection also of the text directs us to the same person. It is he the apostle means, whom he had just described as a living stone, chosen of God, and precious; the chief corner-stone, the great foundation of the church, that spiritual temple of God, so stately and glorious, and reaching from earth to heaven; it is this precious stone, this heavenly jewel, that is precious to believers.

"To you that believe, he is precious," i. e. he is highly valued by you. You esteem him one of infinite worth, and he has the highest place in your affections. He is dearer to your hearts than all other persons and things. The word un requires a still stronger translation: "To you that believe, he is preciousness," preciousness in the abstract; all preciousness, and nothing but preciousness; a precious stone without one blemish. Or it may be translated with a little variation, "To you that believe, he is honor." It confers the highest honor upon you to be related to him; and you esteem it your highest honor to sustain that relation. Though Jesus and his cross are names of reproach in the unbelieving world, you glory in them, and they reflect a real glory upon Or, "To you that believe, there is honor." Honor is now conferred upon you in your being built as

you.

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The pronoun he, is not in the original; but the passage reads thus: To you who believe, honor.

living stones in the temple of God upon this precious foundation; and honor is reserved for you in heaven, where the crown of righteousness awaits you.

"To you which believe, he is precious;" that is to say, the value of this precious stone is, alas! unknown to the crowd. It is so far from being precious, that it is a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence; a stone disallowed of men, (v. 4,) rejected even by the builders, (v. 7,) but you believers, ye happy few, have another estimate of it. Faith enables you to see the glories of the blessed Jesus; and, when you know him through this medium, you cannot but love him. The blind world neglect the Lord of glory, because they know him not: but you believers know him, and therefore to you he is precious. Faith presents him to your view in a just light, and directs you to form a proper estimate of him. It is truly lamentable that such real excellency should be despised; but so it will be with the world till they believe. The mere speculative recommendation of their reason, the prepossessions of education in his favor, and the best human means, are not sufficient to render Jesus precious to them. Nothing but saving faith can effect this.

To you therefore which believe he is precious. The illative particle, therefore, shows this passage is an inference from what went before; and the reasoning seems to be this: "This stone is precious to God, therefore it is precious to you that believe. You have the same estimate of Jesus Christ which God the Father has; and for that very reason he is precious to you, because he is precious to him." That this is the connection will appear, if you look back to the 4th and 6th verses; where you find Jesus described as “a chief corner-stone, laid in Zion, elect or chosen, and precious; disallowed, indeed, of men, but chosen of God, and precious." * Men wickedly disapprove this stone, and even many of the professed builders of his church reject him. This, says the apostle, must be granted. But this is no objection to his real worth. He is precious to God, who knows him best, and who is a perfect judge of real excellency; and

• The word used in ver. 4 and 6 is a compound, rendered "precious" in the text. And this is an intimation that the text is an inference from the above verses.

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