had now reason to fear the contrary, and, therefore, he muft again feel the fame pangs and agonies: he muft travail in birth again,

Until Chrift be formed in you;—that is, until they are made new creatures after the image of Chrift; until the facred foetus be formed in their hearts; until the heavenly embryo grow and ripen for birth, or until they be conformed to Jefus Chrift in heart and practice; till then he can never be eafy. Though they should retain the chriftian name, though they should make great proficiency in other attainments, though they should become as much attached to him as ever, yet he must still feel the pangs of birth for them, till Christ be really formed in them.

I defire to be prefent with you now-In his abfence they had been corrupted by the judaizing teachers; and he hoped his prefence might have fome happy influence to recover them. He was impatient of the restraints of a literary correfpondence, and longed to pour out all his heart to them in a free addrefs..

I defire to be prefent with you now, and to change my voice-When he left them, they were in a flourishing ftate, and therefore he took his leave of them in the warmeft language of affection, approbation and confidence. But now, fays he, I wish to be prefent with you, that I may alter my addrefs; that I may change my voice into more fevere and alarming strains; and inftead of congratulating you upon your happy state, warn you of your danger." Or his meaning may be, "I find myself obliged to ufe fevere language with you in this epiftle, which is by no means agreeable to me. I therefore defire to be prefent with you, that I may in perfon ufe means for your recovery, that thereupon I may change my voice, and fpeak to you in a foft, approving ftrain, which is always most pleasing to me, as it would be to you. It is quite contrary to my inclination to use fuch chiding language to my dear little children." Or perhaps he may mean," I defire to be present with you, that I may know the different characters

characters of your members, and that I may be able to change my voice, and address them accordingly; that I may warn, admonish, exhort, or comfort you, as your refpective cafes may require. I would willingly speak comfortably to you all promiscuously, but this I cannot now do."

For I ftand in doubt of you-When I parted with you laft I had great confidence in you, and hoped that you would perfevere; but now I ftand in doubt of you, and therefore must alter my voice to you if I were prefent with you. While I am thus doubtful of you, I cannot fpeak comfortably to you all promifcuously; but I must honeftly tell you my fufpicions of you, and, until there appear a change in you, I cannot change my voice into more pleasing strains.

My dear hearers, the charge is intrufted to me by the great Shepherd, for which I must give an account: you and I are too nearly concerned in this text to confider it merely as a piece of history, referring only to St. Paul and the Galatians 1700 years ago: I muft bring it nearer home in a particular application. God forbid fo vain and proud a thought fhould ever find place in my heart, as to fet myself upon the footing of equality with St. Paul, the chief of the apoftles. I will not tell you how much and how often I have been mortified, especially of late, at the thoughts of my vaft inferiority, not only to him, but to the ordinary ministers of Christ of a lower class. You feldom hear a fermon from me but what fills me with fhame and confufion in the review; and I almoft cease to wonder that the gofpel has fo little fuccefs among you, while managed by fo unfkilful a hand. Yet I hope I may truly profefs fo much fincere affection and concern for you, as to warrant me to borrow the words of the apostle, though in a much lower fenfe: My little children, of whom I travail in birth, till Chrift be formed in you, I defire to be prefent with you, and to change my voice, according to the variety of your cases; for I am in doubt of fome of you. And I hope you are difpofed to give me a

ferious

serious hearing, and a serious hearing is juftly expected from you; for, remember, the day of death and the day of judgment will come, and that you must die, you must be judged, you must be doomed to your everlasting state. I ftand in doubt of fome of you. I am jealous over you with a godly jealoufy. And if there be no ground for it, you will forgive me; for if it be an error, it is the error of love. Though I was an entire ftranger to you all I might juftly harbour this jealousy of fome of you, upon this general principle, that there never yet was fo pure a church met in one place, as not to have one infincere, hopocritical profeffor in it. Even the apoftles, the most select society that ever was form. ed, had a Judas among them. And can we expect more than apoftolic purity in fuch a large promifcuous crowd as generally frequents this houfe? In every church there are, alas! fome fufpicious characters; and my present defign is to defcribe fuch characters, and then leave it to yourselves to judge whether there be not fuch among you.

Forgive me, if I fuppofe fome of you live in the greatest neglect of family-religion. You lie down and rife up, perhaps, for weeks, months and years, and yet never call your families together morning and evening to worship the great God who has placed you in families. If this be the character of any of you, then I must plainly tell you, I ftand in doubt of you. I really doubt you have no relish for the worship of God; for if you had, how could you, as it were, excommunicate yourselves from the precious privilege of drawing near to God with your dear families, and devoting yourselves and them to him? I really doubt you have no deep affecting concern for the falvation of your domeftics, nor confequently for your own, otherwife how could you neglect a duty that has fo direct, a natural tendency to make religious impreffions upon their minds? Can any thing more naturally tend to make them fenfible of their obligations, their fins, their wants and mercies, than to hear you folemnly

mention

mention these things every day, in the prefence of the great God? Your character in this is oppofite to that of good men in all ages. You will find in the hiftory of the patriarchs, particularly of Abraham, Ifaac and Jacob, That wherever they had a dwelling for themselves, they had an altar for God. You find David returning from the folemnities of public worfhip to bless his house, 2 Sam. vi. 20. and faying, Evening, morning, and at noon, will I pray. Pfalm lv. 17. You find Daniel praying, as he was wont, three times a day, even when the penalty was not only the lofs of his place at court, but his being thrown as a prey to hungry lions. You find St. Paul faluting fome of the primitive chriftians, with the church that was in their house. Rom. xvi. 5. 1 Cor. xvi. 19. Coloff. iv. 15. Philemon 2. which is a ftrong intimation that they made their families little churches by celebrating the worfhip of God in them; for a church, without the worfhip of God, would be an abfurd society indeed. I had almost forgotten the example of Jofhua, who bravely refolved, That whatever others should do, he and his houfe would ferve the Lord. Jofhua xxiv. 15. You fee then, your character in this important inftance is opposite to that of the faints in all ages. And have I not reafon to ftand in doubt of you, especially as you cannot now plead ignorance; fince you have been fo often inftructed in your duty on this head? You may plead your incapacity or hurry of business, or that your neighbours would point at you as oftentatious Pharifees. But this is fo far from clearing you, that it renders you still more fufpicious. If these be the reasons of your neglect, I greatly doubt you love your reputation and the world more than the honour of God, more than his fervice, and more than the immortal intereft of your children and fervants. How would it fhock you if God fhould authoritatively lay that reftraint upon you which you voluntarily put upon yourselves? Suppofe he should fay, "I will allow all the families around you to worship me every day, but

I lay your family under an interdict; from them I will receive no worship :" how would this fhock you? And will you of your own accord take this curfe upon yourselves? O! think of it, and this very evening confecrate your houfes to God.

Again, I will fuppose some of you generally obferve the outward duties of religion: you pray in fecret and in your families; you attend upon public worship; you receive the facraments, and you fometimes fast: but generally this is but a dull round of lifelefs formalities. Even a judicious chriftian may fufpect that your whole hearts are not engaged, that the vigour of your fpirits is not exerted, and that there is no fpiritual life in your devotions. This man may fufpect; and He who fearches the heart may see it is so in fact. Now if this be your character, I must tell you, I ftand in doubt of you. If you are really luke-warm Laodiceans, the cafe is quite plain: it is not a matter of doubt but of fure belief, that you are the most odious creatures upon earth to Jefus Chrift. He could wish you were cold or hot, or any thing rather than what you are. And where the appearances of fuch formality are found, where there is a dull uniformity in all your devotions, without any figns of thofe divine changes which the gracious prefence of God produces, your cafe looks very fufpicious, even to men. I really ftand in doubt of you; and you have great need to look to yourselves, left the fufpicion fhould be well grounded.

Some of you perhaps think you can eafily clear yourfelves from the fufpicion of formality, for you have often had your hearts melted, your paffions raised, and you find a great change in your difpofitions in devotion: fometimes you are cold and dull, and at other times all zeal and ecftafy: but notwithstanding this, there may be great reason to doubt concerning fome of you. I doubt these are only warm flights of the paffions, under the influence of a heated imagination, and not fuch rational emotions of the heart às proceed from a well-enlightened mind, that fees the nature, importance,