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fuffered to fleep on, till they fleep the fleep of death. But it frequently happens, that those who attend ordinances, even from no higher principle than curiofity, cuftom or form, find, that the word of God is a fire and hammer' that breaketh the rock in pieces; that it is quick and powerful, fharper than any two-edged fword, piercing, even to the dividing afunder of foul and spirit, joints and marrow, and is a 'difcerner of the thoughts and intents of the • heart.'

3. In the last place, let me befeech you often to feat yourselves in the immediate presence of God, or rather, frequently to recollect, that you can no where go from his Spirit, or fly from his prefence. There is, if I may fpeak fo, a light and glory in the prefence of God, that difcerns and difclofes the works of darknefs. We may

often excufe or palliate our conduct to men, and even hide its deformity from our own view, when we could not justify it to ourselves, if we reflected, that it is open and manifeft in the fight of

God.'-If, therefore, there is any thing in your practice; which you are inclined to palliate and apt to excufe,-suppose you were standing at the judgment-feat of Christ, where all of us fhall hortly be; and think, whether your excufes will then stand the teft of his impartial fearch.

If our hearts condemn us not, God is greater than our hearts, and knoweth all things. It is therefore the duty and interest of every finner,

to

to take fhame and confufion of face to himfelf, and apply to the blood of fprinkling 'which speaketh better things than the blood of 'Abel.'

SERMON

SERMON IV.

On the Purity of The Heart.

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PROVERBS XXX. 7. o. 9.

Two things have I required of thee, deny me them not before I die: Remove far from me vanity and lies; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me; left I be full and deny thee, and fay, who is the Lord? Or left I be poor and freal, and take the name of my God

in vain.

MY BRETHREN,

O

UR dependent condition as creatures, and

much more our dangerous condition as finners, expofed to daily temptation, renders prayer a duty of the most abfolute neceffity. You must all be fenfible, how frequent and preffing the exhortations to it are in the Holy Scriptures. And, indeed, there cannot be a better evidence

of

of a right temper of mind, than an habitual difpofition to the exercise of this duty.

But as prayer is a neceffary duty, we ought to give the greater attention to the manner in which it is performed. We ought to afk only for fucli things as are truly fafe and ufeful. We ought alfo to offer up our prayers with importunity, or referve, according to the nature and comparative importance of thofe bleffings we defire to obtain. All our wants are perfectly known to God; he is alfo the best judge of what is fit for us, and therefore, our petitions fhould be well weighed, and expreffed in fuch terms, as, at the fame time that they intimate our defires, leave much to himself, as to the measure and manner of fatisfying them.

We have an excellent example of this pious and prudent conduct, in the prayer of the prophet Agur, juft read in your hearing. All his requests are fummed up in two general heads. These he seems to infift upon, as abfolutely neceffary to afk, with that humble, holy confidence, which is founded on the divine promife, that if we ask any thing agreeable to his will, he heareth us. He feems alfo to afk them, as what would fully fatisfy him, and be fufficient for the comfort of the prefent life, and the happiness of the life to come. Two things,' fays he, have ⚫ I required of thee, deny me them not before,' or, as it ought rather to be tranflated, until C I die.'

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Thefe two requefts are conceived in the folLowing terms: Remove far from me vanity and lies, give me neither poverty nor riches.' The firft, viz. Remove far from me vanity and lies,' evidently relates to the temper of his mind, and the ftate of his foul. The fecond, viz. Give me neither poverty nor riches, reFates to his outward condition, or circumftances in the prefent life. There are two things in the general ftructure of this comprehenfive prayer, that merit your particular attention. First, The order of his requeft; beginning with what is of most importance, the temper of his mind, and his hope towards God; and then adding, as but deferving the fecond place, what related to his prefent accommodation.

Secondly, The connection of his requests The choice he makes as to his temporal condition, is in immediate and direct fubferviency to his fanctification. This is plain from the arguments with which he preffes, or the reasons which he affigns for his fecond petition. • Give me neither poverty nor riches, left I be full and deny thee, and fay, who is the Lord? Or left I be poor and steal, and take the name of God in vain.'

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My brethren, I am perfuaded that this fubject can hardly be, at any time, unfeafonable to a Chriftian affembly, as our mifplaced, exceffive, and unreafonable defires, are the greatest enemies to our progrefs in holiness, as well as to

our

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