THE CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE OF REWARDS.

SERMON VI.

[Preached at the Circus, Edinburgh, Oct. 13, 1799.]

GAL. VI. 7, 8.

Be not deceived, God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption: but he that soweth to the Spirit, shalt of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

COMMON Subjects, my brethren, are the most important, and need to be most inculcated. We are apt to think we have heard enough of them, and can expect but little, if any farther improvement from them. But such imaginations are founded in mistake. Though, generally speaking, we assent to the important truth which is here suggested, yet there are but few of us who feel its force, or properly act under its influence.

The solemn warning here given, is not unnecessary. Perhaps, there is nothing to which depraved creatures are more addicted, though nothing be more dangerous than self deception. It is from this predilection in favour of something that shall prophesy good concerning them, that the truth is disrelished, and those doctrines

and systems of religion which flatter their pride and cherish their security, are so eagerly imbibed. The human heart loves to be soothed. The pleasing sounds peace, peace though there be no peace, will be gratefully received. But let us not be our own enemies. To impose upon ourselves is all that we can do: God is not mocked. When all is said and done, whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

Some men venture to hope that there is no hereafter, no harvest to follow; or that, though they persist in sowing to the flesh, yet they shall not of the flesh reap corruption: but this is a most forlorn hope. Uhappy men! Every thing around you proves that there is a God; and something within you, in spite of all your efforts to stifle its remonstrances, tells you, that you are accountable to him, and must give an account before him. To you the words that I have read are particularly addressed: Be not deceived; God is not mocked: whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap!

Others, who admit a future state, yet hope to escape the just reward of their evil deeds, from an idea which they entertain of the general mercy of God. It is true, God is merciful; but his mercy is not connivance. He is merciful; but it is only through a mediator: while, therefore, you neglect his salvation, there is no mercy for you. You confess uot your iniquity upon the head of the substitute; therefore it will be found upon your own head. Your religion is no better than that of Cain, who brought an offering without a sacrifice: The Lord will not accept it. He is merciful; but it is to men of a broken and contrite spirit. he says, He that made them will not have mercy upon them; and he that formed them will show them no favour. O ye formalists! ye heathens under a Christian name! the passage that I have read looks hard at you: Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

Of others,

Others have derived a hope from the performance of certain superstitious rites, or from the bestowment of a portion of their wealth on some religious object. Much of this kind of delusion has been practised in Popish countries. Men who have lived a life of injustice, or debauchery, or both, have hoped to balance accounts.

with the Almighty by performing a journey to the tomb of some departed saint, by building a church, or by endowing an hospital. It were well if this kind of sulf-deception were confined to Popish countries: but, alas! it is natural to unrenewed minds, of all nations and religions, to substitute ceremony in the place of judgment, mercy, and the love of God; and to hope to escape the divine displeasure by the works of their own hands. Are there any of this description here? We shall have a collection, this evening, for the printing of the New Testament in the Bengalee language. If I only wished for your money, I might say, Give, whatever be your motive! No, I am not so concerned for the salvation of the Heathen, as to be regardless of that of my own countrymen! I ask not a penny from such a motive: and, moreover, I solemnly warn you, that if you give all your substance in this way, it will avail you nothing. Be not deceived: God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

Finally Others flatter themselves that their iniquity will not find them out, seeing Christ has died. And true it is, with regard to all who believe in him, and who sow to the Spirit, that they will not be dealt with according to their deserts, but according to the merits of him in whom they have believed. Of this we shall have occasion to speak more particularly, hereafter. At present, let it suffice to observe, that unbelievers, who continue to sow to the flesh, have no interest in this mercy. There might as well have been no Saviour, nay, better, so far as their future happiness is concerned, than a Saviour not believed in, loved, nor obeyed. Iniquity, unlamented, will inevitably be our ruin. It is as true as though Christ had never died, that whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

It is a very serious and impressive truth which is here held up,

THAT ALL WHICH IS DOne in this LIFE IS PREPARATORY TO ANOTHER: OR, THAT THE SORROWS AND JOYS OF A FUTURE WORLD BEAR A SIMILAR RELATION TO WHAT IS WROUGHT IN THIS, AS THE HARVEST BEARS TO THE SEED SOWN.

This is the subject to which I wish to and surely I may presume that such

call your serious attention
an attention will not be withheld.

I. Let us begin on the subject of SOWING TO THe flesh, and observe the relation which the future punishment of the wicked I will bear to it.

The fruit which arises from sowing to the flesh is termed corruption. It does not consist in the destruction of being, but of well-being in the blasting of peace, joy, and hope; and consequently, in the enduring of tribulation, anguish, and everlasting despair.

This dreadful harvest will all originate in the sin which has been committed in the present life. Even here we see enough to convince us of its destructive tendency. We see intemperance followed with disease, idleness with rags, pride with scorn, and indifference to evangelical truth with the belief of a lie. We see nations desolated by wars, neighbourhoods and families rendered miserable by contentions, and the minds of individuals sinking under the various loads of guilt, remorse, and despair. Great is the misery of man upon him. Yet this is but the blade proceeding from this deadly seed; or, at most, the ear: the full corn in the ear is reserved for another state.

The scriptural representations of the wrath to come convey the idea, not of torture inflicted by mere power, nor of punishment without respect to desert; but of bitter weepings and wailings, in reflecting on the deeds done in the body. The punishment of the adulterer is described as a bed, a bed of devouring fire; the deceiver will find himself deceived; he that loved cursing, it shall come upon him, as oil into his bones; and they who continued to say unto God, Depart from us, we desire not the knowledge of thy ways, God will say unto them, Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity: I never knew you.

Future misery will greatly consist in reflection. Abraham said to the rich man, Son, remember! If the memory could be obliterated, there is reason to think hell would be extinguished: but it must remain.

There are four things, in particular, pertaining to sin, which will continue to be the objects of reflection, and which, therefore, must prove the seeds of future misery.

1. The character of the Being against whom it has been committed. If God had been wanting in justice or goodness; if his law had been what some have profanely said of it-a taskmaster, requiring brick without straw; if compliance with his will had been inconsistent with real happiness; if his invitations had been insincere; or if his promises had, in any instance, been broken; if his threatenings had borne no proportion to the evil of the offence; or if, in condemning the sinner, he had availed himself of his being stronger than he; his wrath might possibly have been endured. We can hear an unjust punishment, better than a just one. The displeasure of a malignant being, however it may injure us, does not bereave us of inward peace: it is the frown of goodness that is intolerable. To have incurred the displeasure of a God whose nature is LOVE, must furnish reflections which cannot be endured.

2. The folly of it. There are few things, in the present state, which sting the mind with keener sensations than the recollection that we have ruined ourselves by our own foolishness.

If we see a man eager in pursuing trifles, while he neglects things of the greatest importance; anxious to shun imaginary evils, and heedlessly plunging himself into real ones; all attention to present indulgences, but regardless of his future interests; averse from what is his duty, and busying himself in things for which he is utterly incompetent, and which, therefore, he should commit to another; in fine, studying to displease his best friend, and to gratify his worst enemy; we should, without hesitation, pronounce him a foolish man, and foretel his ruin. Yet all this is the constant practice of every unconverted sinner; and, if he persist in his folly, the recollection of it in a future state, must overwhelm him with shame and everlasting contempt.

3. The aggravating circumstances which attend it. The same actions committed in different circumstances possess very different degrees of guilt. The Heathens, in pursuing their immoralities, are without excuse; but those who are guilty of the same things amidst the blaze of gospel light, are much more so. The profligate conduct of those young people whose parents have set them the example, is heinous : but what is it in comparison of that which is against example, and in spite of all the tears, prayers, and re