were opened to discern the state of wretchedness and guilt into which he had fallen; if, after this, he had returned to folly again, it would have been much more difficult to restore him by repentance. Let this then be your conduct; whenever you come to the knowledge of your sins, whenever you perceive any thing amiss in your lives, seize the favourable moment, as the proper time to reform.

What is it, I beseech you, that you do by delaying?You allow corruption time to strengthen and fortify itself; you give temptation double force, by yielding to it, not from surprise, but with deliberate consent; you weaken the power of conscience, that check which God appointed to you in your evil courses; and, with your own hand, you throw obstacles in the way of your conversion. You now see you are sinful and undone; you now resolve to repent and amend; you are now setting out in the path which leadeth to life: you are not far from the kingdom of God: but if you resolve and perform not; if, when you are once engaged, you draw back; you then fly off from the path of life to the way of destruction; you throw yourself farther from the kingdom of God than if you had never set out. At once, then, at once make your escape from the allurements of sin; break the chains by which you are held; cut off all the avenues and approaches to the sin that besets you give no time to the enemies of your soul to collect their strength; by faith and repentance now enter into the way that opens into the heavens; when you say, with sincere purpose of heart, "I will arise and go to my Father," in that moment arise and go to the Father; now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation.

II. By delaying, your conversion will become extremely difficult.

Thou sayest, O man! that thou wilt repent in some future period of time; but thou knowest not the danger of such a resolution. It is amazing to think with what ease we can impose upon ourselves. In spite of all his boasted wisdom, man is more simple than the beast of the field.— Do you consider, my friends, that delaying from day to day, and from year to year, that postponing the work of your salvation to some future period of time, is little better than a fixed determination that you will never begin it at all? Do you reflect, that the time to come, if it ever

comes, will be the same to you then, that the present time is to you now? There will occur the same difficulties to deter you, the same pleasures to allure you, the same dangers to terrify you. Objects will then be as present, and strike the senses as strongly, as ever; and the time of reformation will still be to-morrow. Nay, it will then be more difficult to be saved than it is now. You will have more sins to repent of, more bad habits to subdue, a more corrupted nature to put off. It is a remarkable fact, and deserves your most serious attention, that, among all the conversions recorded in Scripture, there is not one of a sinner who delayed his repentance. Among all the returning penitents there mentioned, there is not one in the situation of a Christian, who daily hears the Gospel without its having any effect upon his life. Zaccheus, upon hearing Jesus Christ proclaim the glad tidings of salvation, yielded to the influences of that grace to which he had hitherto been a stranger, and surrendered himself to a call which had never been made before. The apostles in the course of their ministry, converted Jews and Gentiles.They converted the Jews, by proposing to them an idea, which was new to them, the Lord of Glory, whom they with wicked hands had crucified and slain. They converted the Gentiles, by working miracles in proof of their divine commission, and by preaching the doctrines of salvation to them, which they had never heard before.

But what new methods can we attempt with you? Is there any motive to repentance which hath not already been urged upon you? Is there one avenue to the heart which has not already been tried, and which has not already been tried in vain? Shall we address ourselves to your conscience, to give you the alarm? But, alas, you have often heard its voice, you have often disregarded its voice, and, by efforts too successful, have lulled it into a profound sleep. Shall we address ourselves to your hopes, by describing to you the joys of heaven, the rivers of pleasures which are at God's right hand, the happiness of the blessed, the triumphs of eternity? All these have been already presented to your eyes, and to all these you have preferred the enjoyments of an hour. You have sold your birth-right to immortality for a sordid gratification, and you now only mind earthly things. Shall we endeavour to alarm your fears, by setting before you the horrors of hell, the worm that never dies, the fire that is never

quenched, everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power; these have been traced out to you an hundred times, and you have learned the fatal art of freeing yourselves from the fears of them. Shall we implore you by the grace of the Gospel, and by the tender mercies of the God of Peace? But alas! you have undervalued his mercy, you have turned his grace into wantonness: Shall we set before you the image of a Saviour dying on the cross for the redemption of the world? But alas a crucified Redeemer hath been often preached to you, the memorial of his sacrifics hath been renewed in your sight, and after all, you have counted his blood as a common thing: you have looked upon the Son of God suffering on the cross witli as much unconcern as the Jews. of old, when they cried out, "Away with him, away with him!"

III. By long delaying, your conversion may become altogether impossible.

Habit, says the proverb, is a second nature; and indeed it is stronger than the first. At first, we easily take the bend, and are moulded by the hands of the master; but this nature of our own making is proof against alteration. The Ethiopian may as soon change his skin, and the leopard' his spots; the tormented in hell may as soon revisit the earth; as those who have been long accustomed to do evil, may learn to do well. Such is the wise appointment of Heaven to deter sinners from delaying their repentance. When the evil principle hath corrupted the whole capacity of the mind; when sin, by its frequency and its duration, is woven into the very essence of the soul, and is become part of ourselves; when the sense of moral good and evil is almost totally extinct; when conscience is seared as with a hot iron; when the heart is so bard that the arrows of the Almighty cannot pierce it; and when, by a long course of crimes, we have become what the Scripture most emphatically calls, "vessels of wrath fitted for destruction ;"then we have filled up the measure of our sins; then Almighty God swears in his wrath that we shall not enter into his rest; then there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin, but a fearful looking for wrath, and indignation which shall devour the adversary. Almighty God, weary of bearing with the sins of men, delivers them over to a reprobate mind, when, like Pharoah, they survive only as monuments of vrath; when, like Esau, they

cannot find a place for repentance, although they seek it carefully with tears; when, like the foolish virgins, they come knocking, but the door of mercy is for ever shut.

Further, let me remind you, my brethren, that if you repent not now, perhaps you shall not have another op→ portunity. You say you will repent in some future period of time; but are you sure of arriving at that period of time? Have you one hour in your band? Have you one minute at your disposal? Boast not thyself of to-morrow. Thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. Before to-morrow multitudes shall be in another world. Art thou sure that thou art not of the number? Man knoweth not his time. As the fishes that are taken in an evil net, as the birds that are caught in the snare, so are the sons of men snared in an evil hour. Can you recal to mind none of your companions, none of the partners of your follies and your sins, cut off in an unconverted state, cut off perhaps in the midst of an unfinished debauch, and hurried, with all their transgressions on their head, to give in their account to God the Judge of all? Could I show you the state in which they are now in; could an angel from heaven unbar the gates of the everlasting prison; could you discern the late companions of your wanton hours overwhelmed with torment and despair; could you hear the cry of their torment which ascendeth for ever and ever; could you hear them upbraiding you as the partners of their crimes, and accusing you as in some measure the cause of their damnation Great God! how would your hair stand on end! how would your heart die within you! how would conscience fix all her stings, and remorse, awaking a new hell within you, torment you before the time! Had a like untimely fate snatched you away then, where had you been now? And is this the improvement which you make of that longer day of grace with which Heaven has been pleased to favour you!Is this the return you make to the Divine goodness for prolonging your lives, and indulging you with a longer day of repentance? Have you in good earnest determined within yourself that you will weary out the long-suffering of God, and force destruction from his reluctant hand?

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I beseech, I implore you, my brethren, in the bonds of friendship, and in the bowels of the Lord; by the tender mercies of the God of Peace: by the dying love of a cruY

cified Redeemer'; by the precious promises and awful threatenings of the Gospel; by all your hopes of heaven and fears of hell; by the worth of your immortal souls, and by all that is dear to men; I conjure you to accept of the offers of mercy, and fly from the wrath to come."Behold now is the accepted time, behold now is the day of salvation." All the treasures of heaven are now opening to you; the blood of Christ is now speaking for the remission of your sins; the church on earth stretches out its arms to receive you; the spirits of just men made perfect are eager to enrol you amongst the number of the blessed; the angels and archangels are waiting to break out into new alleluias of joy on your return; the whole Trinity is now employed in your behalf; God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, at this instant, call upon you, weary and heavy laden, to come unto them that ye may have rest unto your souls!

SERMON XIX.

THE

LUKE XV. 18.

I will arise and go to my Father.

HE parable of the prodigal son is one of the most beautiful and affecting pieces of composition which is anywhere to be found. The occasion on which it was spoken, and the persons to whom it was addressed, are well known to you. Dropping, therefore, what was peculiar at the first narration, I shall consider it as representing in general the return of sinners to God by true repentance.

Such a return is not a single act in the Christian life; it is the habitual duty of every man who is subject to infirmities and defects. For such is the weakness of human nature in this imperfect state, such is the strength of temptation in this evil world, that frail man is often led astray before he is aware. Alas! in our best estate we are but re

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