But However Long You May Have Continued

It Will Never Do To Plead Sin As An Excuse For Sin, Or To Attempt To Justify Sinful Acts By Pleading That We Have An Evil Heart. This Instead Of Being A Valid Apology, Is The Very Ground Of Our Condemnation.

Virtue Consists In Doing Our Duty In The Several Relations We Sustain, In Respect To Ourselves, To Our Fellowmen, And To God, As Known From Reason, Conscience, And Revelation.

It Is As Natural And Reasonable For A Dependent Creature To Apply To Its Creator For What It Needs, As For A Child Thus To Solicit The Aid Of A Parent Who Is Believed To Have The Disposition And Ability To Bestow What It Needs.

It Is Commonly Said That Men Are Forward To Believe Whatever Is Connected With Their Own Interest. This In Common Cases Is True; But It Is Also True, That When Some Very Great And Unexpected Good News Is Brought To Us, We Find It Very Difficult To Credit It.

If You Were Not A Sinful, Polluted, Helpless, And Miserable Creature, This Savior Would Not Be Suited To You, And You Would Not Be Comprehended In His Gracious Invitations To The Children Of Men.