On the contrary, however presumptuous and careless persons may deceive themselves with numberless vain imaginations, expecting to "reap where they have not sown, and to gather where they have not strawed;" yet as certainly as the nature of things is unvaried, and the perfections of God unchangeable, the final issue of things in the future state will be universally what Job observes it to be sometimes even in the present state: "I have seen that they who plough iniquity and sow wickedness, reap the same: by the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils they are consumed." Job iv. 8.

This therefore is the first particular observable in the text. The apostle here lays it down, as the general and fundamental doctrine of true religion, that every man shall finally receive of God according to what he has done : "Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap."

II. The fact here intimated; viz., that every opinion or practice that subverts this great and fundamental doctrine, is in reality a mocking of God.

1. Because it is confounding the necessary reasons, proportions, and consequences of things. Indeed, what is it else but men's taking upon themselves to be wiser than God, and presuming that the consequences of things ought not to be what they are, or what he has declared they shall be?

2. Because it is entertaining very dishonourable and very injurious apprehensions of the perfections and attributes of God himself.

3. Because it is perverting the whole revelation of Christ, and attempting to overthrow the whole design of his religion; Matt. xvi. 27; Rev. xxii. 12; 2 Cor. v. 10. Whosoever attempts to elude these plain declarations, by imagining any other rule whereby men shall be judged, does in reality make a mockery of religion; or, as the apostle expresses it in the text, mocks God and deceives himself.

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III. The caution here given : "Be not deceived."

There are many deceitful considerations which, without due care, will be apt to draw men into the destruction which the apostle here admonishes us to avoid.

1. Some deceive themselves by a general carelessness and inattention. They pursue the ends of ambition and covetousness, they labour continually to gratify their passions and appetites, and consider not at all that "for all these things God will bring them to judgment."

2. Some content themselves with a loose and general expectation that they shall fare as well as others, disregarding the voice which declares, "Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not go unpunished."

3. Some trust to the rightness of their opinions, and are wise in their own eyes, though not washed from their filthiness; but the language of the apostle, 2 Cor. xiii. 1, 2, shows that such persons deceive their own souls.

Several other considerations are mentioned, under the influence of which men put away the fear of future consequences, and mock the threatenings of God; but enough has been quoted for our present purpose. I have only to add, in this place, that in lecturing to your people you may employ this Topic in various ways with effect. Every thing that is reprehensible may be shown to be attended with evil consequences; every thing that is good may also be referred to consequences, for "godliness is profitable for all things." The consequences of yielding to temptation, and of relaxing in the ways of God, it will often be necessary to point out; and also those that will certainly follow upon a patient continuance in well-doing: Hos. vi. 3; Rom. ii, 7—11. You may remind them of the fact that God's ancient people, the Jews, evidently fell or rose, enjoyed prosperity or suffered adversity, as consequences of their respective conduct; and that the primitive churches fared well while they preserved the simplicity of the faith, but fell into utter ruin upon their declension. You may

appeal to their own experience: what good consequences always followed their conduct when regulated by the revealed will of God, and how easily most of the evils of which they complain may be traced to some causes in a part of their history which cannot be forgotten, because it lives in the sorrows which it occasioned. You You may also remind them of the divine goodness in averting many deserved evils, and of the divine faithfulness in fulfilling the word of grace upon which he first caused them to hope. Joshua took up this Topic with great effect in his dying exhortation to all Israel, Josh. xxiii., xxiv.

Besides the broad and general view of our Topic which has been considered in the foregoing pages, there is also another mode in which it will demand your attention, viz., as it includes the inferences derived from any truth, or the considerations which by natural consequence follow from any doctrine, &c.;* and it is certainly of great importance in subjects of controversy, and such as are more particularly liable to abuse. We must so speak and write as to leave no just ground for the objections of our adversaries; and if they charge our opinions with bad consequences, we must not only refute such charges, but also set in array the good consequences that must follow upon the reception of them. We may also point out the evil consequences which the notions of our opponents seem to us to involve; but this must be done with fairness and candour, otherwise you will probably establish what you intended to refute, or at least subject yourselves to the charge of substituting railing accusations for temperate and scriptural reasoning. On this view of the subject you may likewise refer to the twenty-first Topic, "Suppose things."

Instead of pursuing the Topic further in its original character, I shall now turn aside to establish some counsels upon it, which I hope will not be without their use, even as * See Lecture on Propositions.

exemplifications of the Topic; and if, in the prosecution of your future labours, the following remarks should be the means of guarding you against failure by a timely consideration of consequences, my end will be obtained, and you will escape many a rock on which others have fallen, some of whom have sunk to rise no more.

There are two things in particular to which I entreat your attention in the first place, remember that an attention to the consequences which your conduct involves should regulate you in all your engagements and pursuits; and secondly, never suffer the consideration of present consequences to deter you from the faithful discharge of known duty, or induce you in any degree to compromise your principles.

First, an attention to consequences is necessary in all your engagements and pursuits. This consideration of consequences is termed wisdom, prudence, foresight. Hence Solomon says, "The prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself, but the simple pass on and are punished." If you wish for a more full definition, read the book of Proverbs throughout; for here, as Dr. Watts has observed, you will find maxims of prudence more in number and greater in value than in all the sages of antiquity put together.

Permit me here to remind you that the whole of human life is but one concatenation of causes and effects; every action and every imagination of man has its consequences, many of which extend to eternity. These necessarily follow the act to which they respectively belong; nothing need awaken surprise; nothing here occurs too early or too late; nothing comes without being sent for, or brings a wrong tale when it comes. This is true as to the natural course of things; but still reservation is to be made for the controlling acts of a superintending Providence. God often mercifully averts evil, or turns thoughts and actions from their direct ends, and makes them bend to his

own purposes: this is so manifest from Scripture, and from common observation, that we may leave the thought to its own protection. But, I say, generally, every act and every thought has its natural and direct consequence, in evil or in good. And is not this the hinge upon which free agency and moral accountability turn? Have we not here an avenue to honour or infamy? Hence it was said so early as the first age, "If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest ill, sin lieth at the door." It is as silly as it is wicked to say, "Let us do evil that good may come;" and it is unscriptural and anti-evangelical to say that the gospel relieves us from these responsibilities. The apostle Paul either observed or anticipated this disposition to error, and says, "Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. He that soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." The purest principles of free grace do not interrupt this order of things, but run exactly parallel with it; otherwise we might conceive, as the Stoics did, that God and fate were the same thing, so that, happen what would, there was no one to hear our prayers, or to occupy a "throne of grace;" nay, upon that principle, responsibility might be ingulfed, as well as all hope lost. But the free-grace actions of a Christian accord perfectly with moral responsibility. Grace in the heart disposes but does not force to that which is good; and the happy consequences which follow, even with regard to the believer in Christ, bear some proportion to his obedience as the fruit of faith; while his sins are constantly attended with painful consequences, which remain a dreadful mortgage upon his spiritual inheritance, though his estate shall not be forfeited. Our Christian philosophy strenuously maintains this point; and thus by the gospel and its free-grace principles, moral responsibility is honoured and confirmed.