My heart was set upon certain things, and I seemed almost to have gained them, when unexpectedly I was seized with this heavy affliction. And now all my plans are broken; I seem likely to die disappointed; and what is worse, I have thought nothing, or next to nothing, of an hereafter.'

'I have lived,' says another, a thoughtless and careless life, putting the evil day far from me. I began by entertaining. a dislike to the worship of God, and so forsook it, and turned the Sabbath into a day of sports. I kept bad company, and soon began to doubt the truth of the Bible. I drank, swore, and when in company laughed at religion; though a secret persuasion that it would prove true sometimes made me very unhappy when alone. I laid my account with living as long as my neighbours; but I am afraid now I shall not recover, and that my soul is lost. Oh, how little did I think a few weeks ago that I should be so soon arrested in my course! What have I done? What can I do?'

'I have lived a sober life,' says a third, and have not been used to doubt but that through the merits of Christ, this would answer every purpose: but since I have been laid aside, I have been thinking, in case I should die, whether this ground will bear me; and the more I think of it, the more it seems to sink under me. I am a sinner, and know not how my sins are to be forgiven.'

I con

I have been brought up in a Christian family,' says a fourth, ' and have heard the gospel from my childhood; yet my conscience tells me that I am not a Christian. I heard the truth, but never received it in the love of it, that I might be saved. formed to family worship, but my heart was never in it. So much was it against the grain of my inclination, that I longed to get from under the yoke. At length my father died, and I had what I wished for, my liberty. Since then I have been very wicked. And now I am brought down to death's door. I know what will be the end. The Lord have mercy upon me!'

If any of these cases be yours, or nearly so, allow me to remind you that a time of affliction is a time when God calls you to a serious inquiry into the state of your soul. In the day of adversity consider. It is the only time, it may be, in which the voice of religion and conscience can be heard. You may have been as the wild ass used to the wilderness, neither to be turned nor restrained;

all those who have sought to reclaim you have but wearied themselves but as in her month she was to be found, so are you in yours. Consider then that God has laid his hand upon you, that he may cause you to feel what he could do, and induce you to hearken while he reasons with you. He has awakened you also to some sense of your danger, that you may feel your need of the salvation of Christ, ere it is for ever hid from your eyes. I dare not comfort you on the consideration of your distress of mind, as though it were a hopeful sign of salvation. If it lead you to the Saviour, you will be saved; but if not, it may be to you but the beginning of sorrows. Your sins are much more numerous and heinous than you are aware of; it is an evil and bitter thing to have departed from the living God, and to have spent so large a part of the life he gave you without his fear being in you. God might justly cut you off, and cast you into perdition.

But consider the faithful saying, Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, even the chief of sinners. You have doubtless heard of this, but perhaps have never considered its import. If Jesus came into the world on such an errand, he must be the Messiah foretold by the prophets, the Son of God, and the Saviour of men. If he came into the world to save sinners, the world must have been in a lost and hopeless condition. If any thing could have been done by man towards saving himself, it would doubtless have been left to him: God would not unnecessarily have interfered, especially to send his Son to be made a sacrifice for us. It does not comport with the wisdom of God to send his Son to suffer and die, to accomplish that which might have been accomplished without him. Moreover, if Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, he must have come with a design, which is what no mere creature ever did. Whatever design there may be concerning our coming into the world, we are not the subjects of it: but Christ was the subject of design. He took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; and this from a state of mind that we are called upon to imitate, Phil. ii. 7. His coming into the world was nothing less than the Word being made flesh and dwelling among men ; or, that eternal life that was with the Father being manifested to us. But if all this be true, sin must be

indeed an evil and bitter thing, and salvation from it a matter of the greatest importance. And shall we so pursue our farms and merchandise as to make light of it? Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. It is sufficient to warrant our coming to him, that such are we. Finally, if he came to save the chief of sinners, whatever our sins have been, they can furnish no reason for despair. Even the sin against the Holy Ghost is not unpardonable, as being too great for the mercy of God, or for the atonement of Christ; but as precluding that which is necessary to an interest in both-repentane Heb. vi. 6. If therefore our sins be lamented, and we have faith in Christ, however numerous or heinous they have been, we shall find mercy. If a ship founders at sea, and while her company are some floating on pieces of wreck, and others swimming for their lives, a friendly vessel bears down and throws out a rope to every one of them, would it be. for any one to hesitate as to his taking hold of it?

Many in the day of adversity have, like the prodigal, been brought to a right mind; but many are not so. Some are unaffected, and even hardened under their afflictions. Nothing is heard but murmurings and complainings; and nothing seen but sullen discontent, depression, and despondency. Others, being deeply intrenched in the persuasion that they ha e lived a good life, all that is said to them respecting the gospel makes no impression on their minds. Others are secure in consequence of having imbibed some false scheme of religion; and others, who are tender at the time, and appear to believe the g el are no sooner restored to health, than they lose their impressions, and return to their former courses.

Let us review these cases. If affliction has been the means of humbling you, and bringing you to a right mind, you have reason, not only to be reconciled to it, but to consider it among your greatest mercies. It has en good for you to bear the yoke of adversity; and this should teach you o be resigned to the will of God as to your future lot. It was by affliction,' said a good man,

⚫ that I was first brought into the way, and by affliction that I have been kept in it.' Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I have learned thy word.

But if the visitations of God have tended only to harden you, and to provoke you to sullenness and discontent, you have reason to fear lest you should be given up to such a state of mind. Why should ye be stricken any more? Ye will revolt more and more.— Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone!

If you be full of self-righteous confidence, flattering yourself that your life has been good, and that you have nothing to fear, consider whether you be not in the very condition of those whom our Saviour describes as whole, and so needing no physician. You appear to have no wants; and therefore none of the blessings of the gospel are interesting to you. A very interesting narrative was published a few years since of such a case as this. A worthy minister, on visiting a dying man, was told by him with great self⚫ complacency, that he had never been guilty of any particular sins, and was not therefore uneasy on that score.' "To every thing I said," (says the minister,)" he gave that unlimited assent, which, when coming from an unenlightened person, has always appeared to me peculiarly embarrassing. To every truth I stated, his monotonous reply was, Yes, sir,'- To be sure, sir,'-' Certainly, sir,' and the like. I now felt (as I have often done under similar circumstances) discouraged, perplexed, and grieved; and could not but deeply lament the mental darkness under which the poor man appeared to be enveloped. After a short pause, I frankly confessed that I knew not what to say to him; observing that he appeared to have no wants-that the blessings of the gospel were for the poor, the wretched, and the lost-that if he were lamenting his sins, crying for mercy, and inquiring the way of salvation, I thought I should know how to address him; but that with his present views, the gospel must necessarily appear to him of very little value." This faithful remonstrance, together with a charge of having neglected his own salvation for the sake of worldly advantage, which charge the minister was enabled to bring home have been the means of awakening

to his conscience, appears to him to a sense of his danger.

Is all lost? Is my poor soul abandoned? Have I lived in the neglect of all these things? And is it come to this? O what, what shall I do? O my sins! O my poor soul! O my God,

my God! Shall I he cast off for ever? What must I do to be saved? Is there no way open for me? O what, what must I do to be saved "The way of salvation being pointed out to him, he appeared with great sincerity to embrace it, and died very happily. But many have died in the very spirit of the Jews, seeking after acceptance with God, without attaining it. And wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law for they stumbled at that stumbling-stone.

But your security may be in consequence of your having imbibed some false species of religion, which influences your mind like an opiate, divesting you of all painful reflection, and filling you with dreams of future happiness. A confidence of this sort is more difficult to be shaken than self-righteous hope itself. Those who have not made much pretence to religion have not so great sacrifices to make in embracing the gospel as those who have. You account your darkness light: but if the light which is IN us be darkness, how great is that darkness! There is an intoxicating quality in false religion, and in the false joys excited by it: like strong drink, it produces a kind of happiness at the time, and a vehement desire of repeating the delicious draught; but its end is bitter. Prov. xxiii. 29-35. We have no mind to dispute with you, but wish to declare unto you the gospel of God, and leave it. If the faithful saying above referred to, be received, it will issue in your salvation; if not, we can only deliver our own souls!

Finally Though your mind may have undergone a change during your affliction, yet, recollect that sick-bed repentances are often, though not always, like what is said of the goodness of Ephraim: As a morning cloud, and as the early dew, it goeth away. If you abound in vows and promises as to your future life, it is rather a sign that you know but little of yourself, than of a real change for the better. An immediate apprehension of death is capable of producing great effects, which are often mistaken for a change of heart. Be confident of the truth of Christ's doctrine and promises; but be diffident of yourself. To doubt his word is unbelief; but to be jealous of yourself is one of the fruits of faith. If God should restore you to health, and you prove by your Chris