care only that you found not upon this, the vain hope of a future converfion: We are not permitted to hope, till we have begun to labour. Begin, then, the grand work of your eternal falvation, for which, alone, the Almighty has placed you upon the earth; and on which you have never as yet bestowed even a thought. Efteem fo important a care; prefer it to all others; find your only pleasures in applying to it; examine the fureft and most proper means to fucceed, and fix upon them, whatever they coft, from the moment you have found them out.

Such is the prudence of the gospel, so often recommended by Jefus Chrift; beyond that, all is vanity and error: You may poffefs a fuperior mind, capable of every exertion; and rare and fhining talents; if you err with regard to your eternal falvation, you are a child. Solomon, fo efteemed in the east for his wisdom, is a madman, whose folly we can now with difficulty comprehend: All worldly reason is but a mockery, a dazzling of the senses, if it mistakes the decifive point of eternity: There is nothing important in life but this fingle object; all the reft is a dream, in which any mistake is of little confequence. Truft not yourselves, therefore, to the multitude, which is the party of those who err: Take not as guides, men who can never be your fureties; leave nothing to chance, or to the uncertainty of events; it is the height of folly where eternity is concerned; remember that there is an infinity of paths, which appear right to men, yet nevertheless conduct to death: That almost all who perish, do it in the belief that they are in the way of falvation; and that all reprobates, at the last day, when they fhall hear their fentence pronounced, will be furprised, fays the gospel,

at

at their condemnation; because they all expected the inheritance of the juft. It is thus, that after having waited for it in this life, according to the rules of faith, you will for ever enjoy it in heaven.

Now, to God, &c.

SERMON

SERMON II.

ON THE SMALL NUMBER OF THE SAVED.

LUKE iv. 27.

And many Lepers were in Ifrael in the time of Elifeus the Prophet: and none of them was cleanfed, faving Naaman the Syrian.

EVERY day, my brethren, you continue to demand of

us, if the road to heaven is really fo difficult, and the number of the faved is indeed fo fmall as we fay. To a queftion, so often proposed, and still oftener refolved, our Saviour answers you at present, that there were many widows in Ifrael afflicted with famine; but the widow of Sarepta was alone found worthy the fuccour of the Prophet Elias: That the number of lepers was great in Ifrael in the time of the Prophet Elifeus; and that Naaman was the only one cured by the man of God.

Were I here, my brethren, for the purpose of alarming, rather than inftructing you, I needed only to recapitulate what in the holy writings we find dreadful, with regard to this great truth; and running over the hiftory of the juft, from age to age, to fhew you, that in all times the number

of

of the faved has been very fmall. The family of Noah alone faved from the general flood: Abraham, chofen from amongst men, to be the fole depofitory of the covenant with God: Joshua and Caleb, the only two of fix hundred thoufand Hebrews, who faw the land of promife: Job the only upright man in the land of Uz: Lot, in Sodom. To reprefentations fo alarming, would have fucceeded the Tayings of the Prophets. In Ifaiah, you would fee the elect as rare as the grapes, which are found after the vintage, and have escaped the search of the gatherer; as rare as the blades which remain by chance in the field, and have efcaped the scythe of the mower. The Evangelift would fill have added new traits to the terrors of thefe immages. I might have fpoken to you of two roads; of which one is narrow, rugged, and the path of a very small number; the other broad, open, and ftrewed with flowers; and almoft the general path of men. That every where, in the holy writings, the multitude is always fpoken of, as forming the party of the reprobate; while the faved, compared with the reft of mankind; form only a small flock, fcarcely perceptible to the fight. I would have left you in fears with regard to your falvation; always cruel to those who have not renounced faith, and every hope of being amongst the faved. But what would it ferve, to limit the fruits of this instruction, to the fingle point of proving, how few perfons are faved? Alas! I would make the danger known, without inftructing you how to avoid it: I would fhew you, with the Prophet, the fword of the wrath of God, fufpended over your heads, without affifting you to escape the threatened blow: I would alarm the confcience, without inftructing the finner.

My intention is therefore to-day, in our morals and manner of life, to fearch for the caufe of this number being fo VOL. I.

fmall.

fmall. As every one flatters himfelf he will not be excluded, it is of importance to examine if his confidence be well founded. I wish not, in marking to you the causes which render falvation fo rare, to make you generally conclude, that few will be faved; but to bring you to ask of yourselves, if living as you live, you can hope to be so. Who am I? What is it I do for heaven; and what can be my hopes in eternity? I propofe no other order, in a matter of fuch importance. What are the causes which render falvation fo rare? I mean to point out three principal ones, which is the only arrangement of this difcourfe. Art and far-fought reasonings would here be ill-timed. O attend, therefore, be whom you may! No fubje&t can be more worthy your attention, fince it goes to inform you, what may be the hopes of your eternal destiny.

PART I. Few are faved; becaufe in that number we can only comprehend two descriptions of perfons; either those who have been fo happy as to preferve their innocence pure and undefiled; or thofe, who after having loft, have regained it by penitence:-First cause. There are only these two ways of falvation; and heaven is only open to the innocent or the penitent. Now of which party are you? Are you innocent? Are you penitent ?

Nothing unclean fhall enter the kingdom of God. We muft confequently carry there, either an innocence unfullied, or an innocence regained. Now, to die innocent, is a grace to which few fouls can aspire; and to live penitent, is a mercy, which the relaxed ftate of our morals renders equally rare. Who indeed will pretend to falvation, by the claim of innocence? Where are the pure fouls in whom fin

has