advance made by the grace of God for their recovery, and every effort exerted by his ministers, to rouse them from their state of insensibility, and to convert them to Christ;-as for such poor deluded Christians, (if Christians they can be called), whilst we pray that, before their eyes are closed in death, and judgment stares them in the face, the cloud that overshadowed their darkened mind may be dispelled, that the force of truth may bring them to faith in Christ;— whilst we offer up our secret and fervent prayer that an angry God will thus have mercy upon them; it is yet our bounden duty, as faithful watchmen, and not as "dumb dogs that cannot bark '," to warn them against persisting in such a desperate course; and to bid them remember, that it is only through the mercy of heaven, that they are not immediately cut off in their sins; that death may come upon them "suddenly as a thief in the night," and that then, nothing will remain for them, but eternal misery in that dark and dismal lake, where "their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched."

My fellow Christians, be persuaded, I conjure

Isaiah lvi. 10.

10%, to set to the fictits of reason and the suggestions of eccscience in a matter of such rast, such infinite moment, as the question, whether, after this short le is ended. you are to enjoy an endless state of happiness, such as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, better bath it entered into the heart of man" to conceive: or to be sentenced to endure the torments of the damned, through an endless eternity? You shall not have it in your power, when, at the last awful day, you are arraigned before the tribunal of Christ, and sentence is about to be passed upon you, to urge the plea of ignorance of your duty as a Christian, or inability to perform it, in extenuation of your guilt. No, you have Moses and the Prophets ;” you have the heavenly teaching of the Son of God himself; you have the advice and exhortations of his apostles, and of us, the guardians of your souls; and above all, you have the powerful aid of the Holy Spirit, to direct you on your journey, and to lead you to happiness and glory.

Flee then, I beseech you, the past errors of your life. Flee every thing that has ever caused you to sin against God, and which may again lead you to guilt. Go to Christ your Redeemer. Remember his love, which he shewed for your

G

souls, and refuse, if you can, to accept the freedom purchased with his blood. With the apostle Paul, “count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord';" and thus "forgetting those things that are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, press" earnestly, manfully, and unceasingly "toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus "."

1

1 Philip. iii. 8.

2 Ibid. iii. 13, 14.

SERMON VI.

THE HARDENING OF PHARAOH'S HEART.

46

EXODUS iv. 21.

And the Lord said unto Moses, when thou goest to return to Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go.”

We learn, from the first chapter of the book of Exodus, that after the death of Joseph and of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, under whose reign the Israelites appear to have lived in a state of peace and happiness, “there arose up a new king over Egypt which knew not Joseph';" who, roused to jealousy at seeing how they multiplied and prospered, was induced to treat them with the utmost

1 Exod. i. 8.

rigour and severity; imposing on them the most irksome and laborious employments, "making their lives bitter with hard bondage in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of services in the field1." But" it came to pass, in process of time, that the king of Egypt died." Still, however, the burdens of the Israelites were not lightened; and they" sighed by reason of their bondage, and their cry came up to God by reason of their bondage"."

The great God of the universe, by whose providence the whole world is governed and preserved; who abounds in mercy and compassion for all his creatures, " remembering his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob," vouchsafes to listen to the complaints of his people, and resolves on freeing them from the cruel yoke under which they groaned. In pursuance, therefore, of this merciful design, he was pleased to appear in a miraculous manner to Moses; and under the very peculiar circumstances, recorded by the Spirit of Truth, appointed him to fill the momentous office of deliverer to the oppressed Israelites. He, to whose stupendous

1 Exod. i. 14.

2

Exod. ii. 23.