A SERIOUS ADDRESS. &c. &c. LEAVING the thoughtless and the gay, who too often regard an appeal to their reason as little as they do the warnings of conscience, let me address myself to thee, serious and well- disposed Reader, and endeavour to show thee the way to the kingdom of heaven, by testifying to thee repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Thou art happily weary of feeding upon the husks of earthly vanities. I have a right therefore, as a steward of the mysteries of God, to bring out of the divine treasury the pearls of evangelical truth : and I gladly cast them before thee, persuaded, that far from awakening thy anger, they will excite thy desires, and animate thy languid hopes. Instead of ridiculing or dreading a heart -felt convic- tion of thy lost estate, thou now seest it is a desireable privilege, an invaluable blessing. Ready to mourn because thou canst not mourn, thou complainest, that thou hast only a confused view of thy total depravity. Thou wantest the feelings of the royal penitent, when he said, ' Because, I was shapen in iniquity,' &c.-- I acknowledge my transgression, and my sin is ever before me ;' but conscious thou canst not raise them in thy heart by natural powers, thou desirest some scriptural directions suitable to thy case. Give me leave to introduce them by a few. I. PRELIMINARY REFLECTIONS on the Nature and Depth of penitential Sorrow. Thou knowest that except thou truly repentent, thou shalt surely perish, and that there is no true repentance, where there is not true sorrow for sin. 'I rejoice (says St. Paul to the Corinthians) that ye were made sorry after a godly manner : for godly sorrow worketh repentance to sal- vation not to be repented of; but the sorrow of the
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