mourning for fin?) Has he never beautified your deformed foul, by letting you fee your own vilenefs and deformity, and that all your beauty, ftrength, righteousness, and ftore was only in himfelf; and made you to fee that all your excellency lay only in him, in whom all the feed of Ifrael are juftified, and fhall glory?-What know you of the love-tokens confequent to the marriage, and, perhaps, to your whorish departure from him?Did he ever fhame you for your unkindnefs by his furprizing returns, fo as you was confounded and afhamed when he was pacified toward you? Did ever the renewed fenfe of his love and grace, manifefted to a rebel and run-away like you, melt your heart, and lay you in the duft before him?-Try what love-tokens he has given you in the time of your extreme need; Behold, thy time was a time of love. I fhall now clofe with a fhort advice, to you who never met with a time of love, in point of power, engaging your heart to the love of Chrift. Though you have enjoyed a time of love, in gefpel-offers, and lovingcourtships, yet you have defpifed his loving-offers to this day. what art thou doing, finner, while defpifing the riches of divine love, goodness, forbearance,☛ and long-fuffering? The fcripture tells you what you are doing, Rom. vii. 5. "Thou art treasuring up wrath to thyfelf against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God," Oh! you that were never convinced of a time of need, nor affected with your dif mal ftate, as lying in your blood, nor concerned about a time of love, or a day of power, remember, that there is a time of wrath, and a day of death, and judgment a-coming; and if you remain defpifers of the grace and love of God, the wrath coming upon you, is both the wrath of God and of the Lamb; not only the wrath of an angry God, which is terrible vengeance, but the wrath of the flighted Lamb of God, which is double vengeance: How fhall you efcape, if ye neglect fo great a falvation?" Terrible wrath is coming upon gofpel-flighters in Scottand; upon gospel-defpifers in Dunfermline; do you hear hear of this wonderful love, and yet flight it? Then,. "Behold, ye defpifers, wonder, and perifh! He that believeth not fhall be damned; the wrath of God abideth upon him." Gave you never any entertainment to the news of grace and love, but to abufe it to lafcivioufnefs, and turn the grace of God into wantonnefs, and to encourage yourselves in fin and wickednefs? As fure as you have now a day of grace, the day of wrath is acoming; and perhaps this is the laft hour of the day of grace, and of the time of love, and what will you do with it? Will you let it pafs away, and be for ever lost? O finner! fince the time of wrath is not yet come, tho' it is at hand; fince the time of love is yet lafting, will you take and accept of divine grace and love, when he comes to give you now, perhaps, the laft offer? And he has fpared you out of hell till you get it; that either upon refufal, you may be for ever inexcufable; or upon acceptance, you may be for ever happy. Well then, you that have mifpent all the time of life, and the time of love till now; he that yet continues the time of love with you, the time of love-offers, is faying to you, "Behold me, behold me," in order to marriage with me. Come and take me, for a match to your foul, to make it up for ever. O Sirs, will you match with him that can pardon all your fins, and pay all your debt, fupply all your wants, and heal all your wounds: Can cover all your spots, and cleanfe all your filthiness, and loose all your bands, thefe bands of fin, hell and death, wherewith you have been bound all your days? Will you, that can do nothing, leave him that can do all things for you? Will you, to whom death and judgment feem to be terrible, in a little, will you have him that can make death fafe, and judgment fweet, and all trials by the way eafy to you, by giving either a merciful fupport under them, or merciful iffue to them? O will you, that are liable to an eternity of torments, have him that can give you an eternity of joy and happiness, in the vifion and fruition. of himself? Will you have him to make you holy and happy? If you have no will to this bargain, then furely, tho' you perifh eternally, God does you no wrong, VOL. VI. while + H while he gives you your will, and lets you alone, fay-' ing, "Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life." Nothing but his omnipotent power can make you willing; but fince this gofpel is the organ of his power, and that if his drawing power be let down effectually by any means in the world, it will be by these cords of love and grace that are hanging down among your hands; therefore, Come, finners. you To let down the cords as far as I can, by his warrant, be what thou wilt, "To you is the word of this falvation fent;" the grace and mercy of God is laid in your lap; if you fhake it not away from you, by unbelief and enmity, you fhall have it, be what you will: why? what are you, or what have been? Are you a drunkard, fwearer, Sabbath-breaker, whoremonger, adulterer, a filthy Magdalen, or bloody Manasseh, that have hitherto contemned the grace of God, and the Son of God? Are you the worst that ever breathed on the face of the earth; no matter while this time of love lafts, grace is content to take you at your worst, and to make the worst time that ever you had, to be the best time that ever you faw. What are you, finner? Are you a monfler of fin? Are you a devil for fin? Be it fo, fince you are not yet a devil in hell, but a devil on earth, and a devil in flefh, that is not fuch a wonder as a God in flefh; and behold here is an incarnate God come to fave incarnate devils. To you that are yet out of hell, he is faying, "Look to me, and be faved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none elfe." To you that are in the flesh, and not yet damned fpirits, the word of God fays of this God in Chrift, "O thou that heareft prayer, to thee fhall all flefh come," Pfal. Ixv. 2. All that are yet human flesh, are welcome to come to him; whatever fort of flesh you be, be you never fuch filthy flesh, or devilish flesh; God has fent his own Son in the likeness of finful flefh, that all finful flefh may come to him, that he may form them into the likenefs of an holy God. If any trembling heart here be thinking, O is it poffible that this call is to me, that this offer is to me? Yes, to thee, man, woman; to thee, lafs, lad; to you you that are fareft off and neareft hand me; to every one of you within thefe walls, this offer of love and mercy comes in his naine, that has faid, Go, preach the gospel to every creature," to every rational creature under heaven. What fay you? I was never fo unfit to come, or fo unable; I am at the very wordt in fin and misery, at the very height of wickednefs and wo.--What? is it the time of the greatest need of grace, power, and pity? Well, God who waits to be gracious, perhaps has been waiting till this moment, and waiting for this moment, that your time of need may be his time of love, and your time of mifery his time of mercy: are you content it fhould be fo? Has this word taken hold of your heart, faying, Oh! "What fhall I do to be faved?" O! a thoufand worlds for Chrift. Indeed, an offer of him is worth a thoufand worlds, much more himfelf: do you fee it to be fo? and are you made willing to have him, that he may fave you from fin, as well as from hell? And to fave you prefently, that you may never be a flave to your fins any more, but a fervant to Jefus? Then we may fay, Bebold, bis time is a time of love, not only in point of offer, but a time of love in point of power. I intended to have addreffed myfelf to you whofe time, either now or formerly, has been a time of love: but time does not permit; and this will fall in as natively afterwards. SERMON EZEK. xvi. 8. XCII. Now, when I paffed by thee, and looked upon thee; bebold, thy time was a time of love. THE [The Second Sermon on this Text.] HE time of life is fhort and uncertain; and we cannot improve it ed with a time of love. aright, if we be not acquaintThe time of trouble is what we may all lay our account with; for, "Man is born to trouble;" and we cannot have true peace or reft therein, if we know not a time of love. The time of death is approaching; and what have we to fweeten the thoughts of death, if we know nothing of a time of love? It is therefore moft neceflary we know it. Having formerly improved this fubject in an ufe of admiration and examination, we fhall now, at this time, improve it in an ufe of information, by deducing two inferences. ift, Hence fee, that God in fovereignty, may disap. point his people, and make the time of feeming anger and of wrath-like difpenfations to be a time of love. As his thoughts are not our thoughts, nor his ways our ways; fo, his time is not our time: we may hope he will manifeft his love at fuch a time, and he may difappoint. our hopes; and we may fear he will display his anger at fuch a time, and he may difappoint our fears, by manifefting his love. He makes his time of feeming wrath toward his people to be his time of love. As this inference is fuitable to the text, context, and doctrine; fo, being fuitable to the circumstances of many here, under vifible evidences of God's anger in their families, I fhall infift a little upon this, by anfwering thefe four queftions. 1. What feening anger may be fhowing toward his people, whofe time is notwithstanding a time of love? 2. What love-defigns may be carrying on by thefe wrath-like difpenfations? 3. What love is there in thefe angry-like difpenfations? 4. What leffons may we learn from this inference? QUEST. I. In what refpect may he feem angry with thefe whose time, notwithstanding, is a time of love? ANSW. 1. It is moft angry-like when they fall into fin, when he fuffers them to fin, and leaves them to themfelves, as he did David, Peter, Hezekiah, 2 Chronicles xxxii. 25. 31.; and leave them to heart - hardness; "Wherefore haft thou hardened our hearts from thy fear?" Ifa. Ixiii. 17. At the time when this fermon was preached, most of the children in Dunfermline were feized with the Small-pox, and vaft numbers of them dying. 2. When |