and far more in order to attract his regards than those of divine mercy? Once more, what do I know? Perhaps views still more criminal, and of which we cannot speak without degrading the dignity of our ministry. No motive of salvation leads you here; no view of faith prepares you, no sentiment of piety accompanies you to this place; in short, your coming to listen to the holy word is no work of religion.
First cause of the inutility of our ministry. For, how is it possible that a proceeding altogether profane send a disposition to grace; and that, in this multitude of believers, assembled in this holy place, the goodness of God distinguished you from among the crowd, to open your heart to the word of life; you who have brought hither only those dispositions which are most calculated to keep at a distance that mercy? My brethren, as religion hath nothing grander, in one sense, than the charge of the doctrine and of truth; so piety likewise knows nothing so important, and which requires more religious precautions, than a proper attention to, and the being well instructed in them.
The second disposition which ought to accompany you to this holy place, is, a disposition of grief and shame, founded on the little fruit you have hitherto reaped from so many truths already heard. You ought to reflect upon all those feelings of compunction, which the Lord, through the ministry of the word, hath operated in your hearts, yet which have never been attended with any success toward your salvation; so many pious resolutions, inspired in this place, which seemed to promise a change of life, yet which have all vanished on the first temptation. For, what in this ought most to alarm you, is, that all those truths which have made only such momentary impressions on you, are so many witnesses, who shall one day depose against you before the tribunal of Jesus Christ: in proportion to the times that the word of the Gospel hath failed to touch you even to repentance, so many times hath it rendered you more unworthy of obtaining the grace of repentance. Faith, on this point, admits of no medium; and, if you depart unchanged, you depart, in some respect, more culpable than before, because, to all your other crimes, you have added that of contempt of the holy word.
Behold the reflections which ought to occupy your faith; and, when you enter the assembly of believers, you ought, while trembling over the past, to demand of yourself, — am I going to hear a word which shall judge me, or truths which shall deliver me? Am I going to offer up to the compassion of God a docile and willing heart, or to his justice fresh motives of condemnation against myself? It is now so long since truths have been announced to me, the force of which my utmost deference to the passions cannot weaken in my mind; for, in spite of myself, they make me inwardly acknowledge the error of my ways: yet, have I taken a single step toward quitting them? I have so long been warned, that the body of a Christian is the temple of God; have T, in consequence, become more temperate and chaste? I have so long heard it said, that, "if thine eye be evil, pluck it out, and cast it far from thee;"
