Advance thy pretensions thus high. And few of those, who indignantly disclaim the imputation of their depravity and guilt, can advance these bold pretensions.-They are conceded to thee. These things thou hast done. On these, thou dost rest thy claims to innocence and rectitude, to exemption from guilt. On these, thou dost found a proud claim to the favour of God. -O my soul! before thou dost thus presume to encounter the penetrating inspection of thy Almighty Judge, and to stand at his tribunal on the bold claims of thy own merit, let thy conscience answer for thee, the solemn enquiry. What hast thou left undone ?

It is not superficial, negative, partial virtue which will constitute the full perfection of thy nature, and satisfy the claims of thy maker and judge. Thy exemption from guilt, thy bold claims to innocence and uprightness, thy pretensions to the favour of God, must be founded on a sincere, supreme, universal obedience to the divine laws. This obedience is demanded by the obligations, by which reason will acknowledge thou art bound, to devote to the God that made thee, to the greatest and best of Beings, thy supreme and most ardent homage. By an original, a sublime, a powerful dictate, thou art urged to admire and esteem excellence and goodness... Humble and feeble degrees of excellence, in man, deservedly attract and receive, thy warm and generous esteem and regard. Oh! then, are

the sources of thy enjoyment. Disgrace, dishonour, misery and destruction are the certain fruits of thy sinful course. Here, there is not a motive to repentance which does not terminate on self, which does not draw all its force and ardour from a regard to thy own welfare and happiness. Ah! if indeed the consequences of sin involved only thy own purity and peace, motives drawn from these considerations would constitute the sole springs of thy repentance. But when thou dost consider, that thy transgressions have defied the authority, and have contemned the mercy and love of thy God and Saviour, thou wilt perceive that there are motives to contrition still more legitimate and noble,-motives, more worthy those ingenuous and disinterested emotions, with which, the penitent should commemorate, in the holy supper, the infinite love of his Redeemer.

Thy penitential sorrow therefore should be founded on a deep sense of the evil of sin, as a presumptuous contempt of the righteous authority of God. Consider, that as the infinite source of perfection, power, and goodness, he justly claims the homage of the universe. Consider, that his omnipotent hand sustains and governs all things; himself, the sovereign lord of nature. Consider, that the sacred object of that dominion which, with sovereign and resistless sway, he exercises over the world, is the advancement of the perfection, the purity,

and happiness of all the countless orders of intelligent creatures. Consider, that, as thy eternal Maker, thy omnipotent Lawgiver, thy just and holy Judge, he claims thy supreme, thy unreserved, thy uniform obedience. Ah! by transgression, thou hast impiously refused to render that homage, which universal nature offers to its omnipotent Maker and Lord-By transgression, thou hast proudly, spurned thy dependence on that Almighty arm which preserves thee in being, and which, in a moment, could crush thee into the dust from whence its inspiring power raised thee-By transgression, thou hast revolted against the righteous dominion of the Sovereign of the universe and sought to defeat the glorious and beneficent purposes of his righteous sway-By transgression, though hast presumptuously defied the infinite power of thy Maker, thou has impiously contemned the righteous mandates of thy supreme and holy Lawgiver, thou hast raised the arm of defiance against the omnipotent Judge of heaven and earth. Oh by what deep and profound contrition, must thou seek to avert the wrath which impends over thy presumptuous and criminal rebellion.

Until we are deeply impressed with the supreme claims of God to our homage and obedience; until we discern and acknowledge his power, his justice and his holiness, the awful presumption of sin, as a contempt of his authority, will not be displayed in

full force. The throne, on which God exercises the dominion of the universe, is founded on his inviolable holiness and justice. To resist his authority, to violate his laws, is therefore the most presumptuous contempt of these exalted attributes-arrogant rebellion against that righteous government the subversion of which would whelm, in dreary chaos, the purity, the splendor, and glory of the universe. The true penitent, therefore, will humbly acknowledge, that his guilt is aggravated, by the presumptuous contempt of the authority of God with which it is marked. Casting his eyes on the sacrifice of the altar, he will behold, in the awful sufferings and agonies of the almighty victim there immolated under affecting symbols, at once, the infinite price which, God exacted, as the vindication of his violated authority, and the enormity of that presumptuous guilt which rendered, an infinite sacrifice, necessary. At the altar, therefore, the devout communicant will, in profound abasement, adore the sovereignty of God, and pour forth his penitential sorrow for his presumptuous violations of the laws of the righteous Maker and Judge of the world.

The view of sin, which is calculated to awaken, in the penitent, the most lively conviction of its baseness and enormity, and to excite those generous and noble emotions, which enliven and increase the regrets of contrition, and awaken its most exalted and vigorous re

principle, which animated, which regulated, which enforced every duty, which prompted sincere obedience to all his commands? Ah! my soul! presumptuous self-love has veiled from thee thy real character. Thou hast been asserting thy innocence and rectitude on thy exemption from gross crimes, and on thy partial obedience to the divine commands, while thou hast been destitute of that spiritual and universal holiness which thy omniscient judge requires. Thou hast founded thy claims to merit on thy external. obedience to the laws of God, while thou hast been destitute of that supreme love to him which is thy highest duty, perfection and happiness, and which must animate even the most exalted acts of virtue, to render them acceptable in his sight.

Yes, my God, with deep humility, I acknowlege the presumption which proudly disclaimed my depravity and guilt. With deep humility, I acknowlege, that thy grace has enkindled every emotion to goodness which animates my disordered nature. Forgetful have I been of thee, when the most powerful obligations, when the most tender and affecting motives urged my supreme and ardent love. Thou canst justly claim the sincere, universal and holy services of a life devoted supremely to thee-imperfect, partial, and unhallowed has been my obedience. O God, when my omissions of duty thus involve me in the deepest guilt, what loud calls, for the inflicti-.