God. O the folly, the consummate folly of the man who trifles with eternal punishment -who rejects the Saviour of sinners-who refuses to come to God by him, that he may be pardoned, sanctified, and saved! Grace teaches good works. The pardoned soldier became a changed man. Mercy did what punishment could not, for it thoroughly reformed him. So, if we believe the love that God has to us, if we receive the message of his mercy, the promise of his grace, and come to him for pardon and ob tain it, we shall find that the grace of God, that bringeth salvation to us, will teach us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present evil world. Nothing softens the heart like kindness, and therefore in the gos pel, the kindness of God our Saviour is set before us. Nothing inspires the soul with gratitude like love, nor will anything make us desire so to walk as to please God like gratitude and therefore the gospel minister cries, "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and gave his Son to be a propitiation for our sins." If the grace that presents a free, full, and everlasting pardon of all sin, will not melt our hard hearts, and reform our vicious lives, nothing will. The law, with its rigid requirements and terrible threatenings, only hardens the sinner's heart, and renders him obdurate and sullen; but the gospel with its sweet invita

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tions, gracious provision, and glorious promises, melts, humbles, and remodels every heart that believes and receives it; and as it melts, humbles, and remodels the heart, it consequently reforms, regulates, and consecrates the life to God's glory and praise.

Once more, reader, that gospel speaks to you. Once more, by the gospel, the God of

all grace addresses you. After living so long

in sin, after hardening yourself against him so often, after treating him with such criminal contempt, he says, "Come now, and let us reason together, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." That is, they shall all be blotted out, they shall be all forgiven, and you shall be white as the driven snow, and clean as the well-washed wool. And even if my reader be a desperate sinner, one of the foulest transgressers, one of the basest of Adam's race-yea, if you are the vilest that ever breathed God's air, or blasphemed God's holy name, or injured your fellow-men-if you deserve the lowest, hottest hell, yet to you, to you at this moment, to you, after all that you have done, God speaks,-speaks, not in a voice of thunder-speaks, not in wrath, but in mercy-speaks, as if he were not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance, and what think you are his words? Wonder, O heavens! Be astonished, O earth! God, the

infinitely holy! God, the inflexibly righ teous! God says to the vilest out of hell, "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: let the wicked," the desperately wicked, "forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts," the man of no character, the most depraved; "and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy," yes, he will have mercy, for he delights to do so," he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." Abundantly pardon! Yes, he will pardon like a God. Pardon all sin. Pardon all sin completely, Pardon with his whole heart, and with his whole soul. Pardon so as to cover sin, so as to annihilate the charge of sin, so as to free from all the penal consequences of sin, and free from the consequences of sin for ever. He will forgive all, not only forgive, but forget. Hear his own precious words, "I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." O blessed assurance, that God will not only blot out our sins out of his book, but out of his memory, so that they shall be remembered against us no more.

Well, sinner, what say you, will you confess your sins, plead guilty before God, and apply to him in the name of Jesus for a pardon? If you do, you will find him faithful to his word, and just to the merits of his Son, to forgive you your sins, and to cleanse

you from all unrighteousness. O the blessedness of a pardoned state! No condemnation, no curse, no hell, no penal evil, and this blessedness may be yours. What say you, shall it be? Shall it be yours to-day? O what a change, if you rose this morning dead in your sins, and should now be quickened together with Christ, God having forgiven you all trespasses. Believer, what say you, are you not happy? Do you not feel laid under the deepest obligation to your forgiving God? What are a few trials and troubles if your sins are pardoned? What are a few pains and sorrows on earth, with heaven and all its glories in prospect? Be thankful, be thankful! Be joyful, be joyful! Be grateful, be grateful! And, out of pure gratitude to your kind and forgiving_ Lord, do what you can to make his mercy known to your fellow-sinners. Tell all around you, as if you had no idea that they had ever heard it before, tell them that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, just such sinners as they are. Tell them that God delights in mercy, is ready to pardon, waits to be gracious, and wishes them to apply to him that they may be pardoned and made happy now, and be prepared for a heaven of holiness, happiness, and glory after death. Tell, O tell to all around you, that with the Lord there is mercy, pardoning mercy, and with him is plenteous redemp

THE MOTIONS OF THE SPIRIT.

WHAT extraordinary characters God has raised up for the accomplishment of his pur poses, and in answer to the prayers of his people. Most plainly has he shown us, that he can never be at a loss for an instrument to do his work, nor be dependent on any creature for the performance of his word. I have been thinking of Samson, than whom, perhaps God never raised up a more extraordinary person. But I am not going to write about Samson, in general, only to consider for a few moments one statement respecting him, "The Spirit of the Lord began to move him at times." Judges viii. 25. The words present three things to our notice,

A YOUNG MAN. Samson was at this time a young man, and tenderly beloved of his parents, he was honourably distinguished from his fellows, intended for great usefulness, exposed to many temptations, and compassed with lamentable infirmities. In looking around me, I can see young men, in these respects, very much like Samson. tenderly beloved of their parents, upon them as their hope and joy.

They are who look

For them

their prayers ascend, and around them their