Footnote 29:
Sermons, page 231.
Footnote 30:
Sermons, page 231.
Footnote 31:
Sermons, pages 230, 231.
Footnote 32:
Letter to Doctor Shoemaker.
We are, indeed, placed in a state of probation, surrounded with
temptations and perplexed with dangers: we have before us the prospect
of a change into a never-ending state, and that state is promised to be
one of endless felicity to those who, with a sincere and humble heart,
seek the God of Israel for their portion. To such, and such alone, is
promised _the exceeding great reward_; and, though it is our duty to
acquiesce, without repining, in our station and allotment here,
temeracious indeed must that man be, who, with such a prize before him,
would, for the gratification which the honour of a victory over his own
evil propensities might afford, prefer the hazardous contest to that
state of innocence with which our first parents were blessed before the
fall; and confident indeed must he be in his own merits, if he rejects
the offer of an intercessor, and relies on them alone for a fund not
only to redeem his errors here, but to purchase the rich inheritance of
eternal happiness.
Such a state of mind alone could conceive the singular idea of opening
an account current with the Creator,[33] and call it religion; to ask a
record of our sins, and boldly claim our offsets; and to rely on the
accumulated balance of our own works: to gain the prize of everlasting
life from the justice and not from the mercy of the Almighty, and not to
pray with David, "have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving
kindness; according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies, _blot out
my transgressions_."
Footnote 33:
Sermons, page 44.
Such an account would indeed be a novelty: there is no difficulty in
filling the debtor side of the ledger: the melancholy list of man's
frailties and vices furnish ample materials; but, from whence the mighty
balance reserved for the great purchase should arise is not easily to be
conceived. Let us figure to ourselves a man not immured in sloth or sunk
in wickedness, but one whose march through life has been in the path of
propriety and virtue, arranging his account,