are now covered with pretended excuses, so when the books of that awful court shall be opened, it is certain, pretended excuses will appear in their true colours, and rising to view in their blackest forms, will be found to be real aggravations. Men must then give an account how they came to blame God for what they suffered, without thanking him for what they enjoyed. Happy were it for us, if we had the same view of sin now, that we shall certainly have then and surely nothing can be more rational; for what will appear true then, must really be so now; and therefore it is certainly an useful preparation for that day, to be active now in acquiring, through God's grace, that view and sense of sin, which will otherwise be forced upon us by his righteous vengeance.

But not to insist further on this: the principal evidence of this branch of the doctrine, that deserves to be carefully considered, is the ingratitude of men to God for his infinite mercy, in sending his Son to save them from their sins; and the more we consider it, the more we may be convinced, that their cold thoughts about divine mercy in the work of redemption, flow, in a great measure, from their false thoughts of his righteousness in the works of providence; that is, plainly, their hearts do not love him ardently for their deliverance, because they blame him secretly for their dan ger. This point deserves our particular attention, because gratitude for redeeming mercy being the soul and centre of Christianity, to which all religious meditations should be referred, the chief importance of the doctrine in the text, consists in its subserviency to that end. It is plain to any who considers the doctrine of redemption that it represents to us such infinite love, such incomparable tenderness and condescension, that as God's conduct towards us is an incomprehensible mystery of kindness, so our conduct towards him, is, if we may so speak, an incomprehensible mystery of ingratitude. There are indeed many mysteries in human nature, but they come all far short of this; for if we consider that human nature, corrupt and perverse as it is, is not yet wholly lost to all sense of gratitude

in other cases, but that frequently the hearts even of the worst of men are softened with a kindly sense of singular favours; especially that the coldest and hard est hearts are sometimes melted with undeserved favours; if we consider that, in other cases, our acknowledgments rise naturally in proportion to our obligations, and that, after all, the greatest temporal favours, when compared with eternal ones, are but trifles; and yet, as insignificant as they are, they beget sometimes a very high degree of gratitude, and swell men's hearts with such generous sentiments toward their benefactors, that they take pleasure in nothing in the world more than in serving them. If we consider all this, and compare it with the returns we make to our greatest (yea, in effect, our only) benefactor, for the greatest benefits he could give, or we receive, or imagine; if we compare these things together, it may be a question, whether we have more reason to be astonished at God's love, or at our own unthankfulness; or, which of them is the greatest wonder. To think that we should be so strongly affected with earthly favours; favours from worms like ourselves; favours of so little importance, of so short continuance ; favours, proceeding from such imperfect love, and oftentimes mixed with many injuries; that we should be so strongly affected with such favours as these, and so little with the love of God in Christ. That love which is so perfectly pure, and disinterested, in the grounds of it, so free as to its motives, that it is exercised towards objects, who had neither merit to deserve it, nor power to requite it, nor used importunity in seeking after it; a love that is so infinitely tender in its nature, so inestimably precious in its effects, so rich and abundant in its fruits, so constant, so lasting, yea everlasting, so glorious in all its manifestations; that this should be the only friendship to which most men make no returns, the only kindness, of which they have no grateful resentment, is such a miracle, or rather monster of stupidity, that it might seem incredible, if there were any arguing against experience.

The cause of it can never perhaps be perfectly

known, while we are not perfectly free from that deceitfulness of the heart, which the prophet Jeremiah affirms to be so mysterious, that God only knows it: yet some of the causes of it are unfolded to us in scripture; and the more we consider the text, the more we may be convinced, that it makes a very remarkable discovery this way; for it is plain, men are incapable of due gratitude to God, for sending Christ to redeem them from sin, while they barefacedly blame him for their temptations to sin. Men will not be thankful to a deliverer for rescuing them from danger, if they blame him for their falling into it. All which being duly considered, comparing men's unjust thoughts of providence, and their ingratitude for redemption, the former will be found to be a principal source of the latter ; and the latter discovers the former, as the effect shews the cause.

By this means it is, that men forego that inestimable blessing of love and joy in believing, that joy which is unspeakable, and full of glory. No doubt indeed, with many the cause of ingratitude for redemption, is their disbelief of it; but it is hard to charge all that are guilty of ingratitude, with downright infidelity; rather as the tares in the parable mixed with the wheat, so the belief of the doctrine of redemption is sadly clouded, and its influence marred by a wretched mixture of mean and unworthy thoughts of God, at least suspicions and suggestions, which indeed men are liable to in different degrees, but which all men, less or more, have need to guard, and wrestle against. If it were not for these inward prejudices, the doctrine of redemption, if it appeared in its native beauty, has such light and brightness, such glory in it, that it is hard to conceive how it should not have an irresistible influence, in ravishing every heart, that sincerely believes, with a love stronger than death, and with such transports of joy and admiration, as would make up the happiest state of mind in the world. But while such dismal prejudices are entertained, no wonder though the minds of men are so darkened, and their hearts so disordered and confused, that that amiable doctrine of

the crucified Jesus appears mean and low in their eyes; so that many have no relish of it, nothing is almost so distasteful to them; they look on it as a doctrine that importunes them for more gratitude than they think they see cause for: to them, Jesus Christ has no form, nor comeliness, nor beauty, why they should thank him.

2. These considerations make it too evident, that the unworthy thoughts of God, which the text rebukes, are both very ordinary, and very hurtful. It should not therefore be looked upon merely as an amusement, or matter of curious speculation, but as a meditation of the greatest importance, to take a view of the clearest evidences, that serve to refute these thoughts, and to shew, that they are as false and unreasonable in themselves, as they are disparaging to God. But before we proceed to this, it will not be improper to observe, that, when men, instead of rejecting such thoughts, cherish and entertain them, they deal far more unjustly with God, than they do with some men in the like cases. For example, when a good man has once attained an established character of holiness and virtue, if it happens that a known impostor brings a great many plausible accusations against him, they that know that good man, though they should not be able perfectly to answer all the accusations laid against him, yet they

ill not believe them; especially if the affair be dark and intricate; and if they are certain that the virtuous person could not propose to himself any profit or pleasure by the unbecoming action laid to his charge. To set this matter in a clearer light, we may observe, that appearances and probabilities may be sometimes on the side of error and falsehood, otherwise there would be no difference between probability and certainty; and in some singular cases it has happened, that there has been such a strange complication of presumptions and probabilities of guilt laid against an innocent person, that strangers to his character have indeed believed him guilty, while they that were acquainted with it, found it impossible to doubt of his innocency. Now, to apply all this to the present case with regard

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to God, (and it is a sad thing if God alone should have no friends to vindicate him) had men either due res pect to him, or were they heartily inclined to do him justice, all the reasons that restrain them from rash censures of the most virtuous creatures in the world would have unspeakably more force against rash-censures, and mean thoughts of the Creator. Thus we should reflect in the first place, that the devil and our own corrupt hearts are such notorious impostors, that the experiences we have of their deceitfulness, are innumerable; and so also are the evidences we have of God's holiness and goodness. If there are some intri. cacies and difficulties about the divine actions, that have a relation to our actions (from which our hearts would take occasion to blame the former for the latter;) yet all the rest of God's innumerable actions, (if we distinguish, as certainly we should, his actions from those of his creatures,) the whole history of his providence, the whole tenor of his works and ways, do so plainly and evidently represent to us an uniform character (so to speak) of the most spotless holiness, the most amiable goodness, the most untainted righte ness, that the imputation which the corrupt hearts of men asperse him with, is as absolutely inconsistent with the rest of his character (which is unquestionable) as night is with day, and darkness with light. To this we should add, that God's providence, especially concerning the actions of his rational creatures, is very dark and intricate; nor is this just matter of wonder, if we consider, that all his works and ways are united and linked together by such numberless reciprocal relations and dependencies, that none can perfectly know one part of them unless he knows the whole: we are but lately sprung from nothing, lately entered into God's world; we see but a very small part of his works, and that part itself very darkly: that we therefore should not know the reasons of all his actions, is so far from being just matter of wonder, that indeed it would be an incomprehensible wonder, if it were otherwise. Lastly, To complete the parallel, we should reflect, that infinite happiness being incapable of