godly sort. Just when he, like another of his time, was almost persuaded to be a Christian, he flung aside his newly excited terrors, and, to the ruin of his soul, exclaimed, "Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee." And when did that season come? When does it ever come to such a man as Felix? Never. The impression of newly awakened remorse rapidly fades away; the hasty resolution of amendment, if any such has been formed, becomes dissipated with the returning light; and the convenient season, the willing acceptance of saving truth, is never heard of more. This, my dear brethren, is the alarming condition of every one who, when he hears of righteousness, and of temperance, concerning which his conscience tells him he has but too much cause to tremble, puts away the thought of it for a season, however short, and flatters himself some future one will be more convenient, more suited to the occasion than that is. Like Felix, he may be surprised into a trembling alarm at the idea of the consequences which seem to be impending over his head, and menacing him with the punishment of his crimes; but, like Felix, he also indulges in the fatal delusion that his terrors

result less from his own wicked courses than from the obtrusive officiousness of those who, in mercy, warn him; and, as a necessary consequence, he concludes that an escape from admonition is the readiest means of escaping from his fears. Alas how great is his mistake: his terrors, his harrowing apprehensions, may be lulled to sleep for a time; but at an hour when further escape will be impossible, they will arise with tenfold fury to condemn him utterly. Felix could put off the admonitory warnings of St. Paul; he could say, 'At a convenient season I will call for thee;' but when his last and lingering agony was upon him, when a greater than Paul chilled his soul with the assurance of judgment to come, he could not put off these: he could not talk to the angel of death of a convenient season; nor could he steel his heart to the conviction, that righteousness despised, and temperance abused, had rendered his soul obnoxious to the pains of eternal death.

Such is ever the course of the wicked: their evil passions, unrestrained in due season, lead them to folly and apostacy from God; they follow the bent of their corrupt desires, first in some smaller offences, and then, little by little, in the

greatest. The friendly voice of admonition is felt to be a reproach to them; even the reasonings of an apostle himself would be offensive to their pride; and if they dare not silence reproof at once, they seek the earliest occasion to avoid it. They are ever pretending to seek a convenient season for reformation, and in this miserable condition of hypocrisy and sin, they pass from earth to judgment.

And for whose instruction is all this written, my brethren? For whose warning, before it be too late, is it recorded, that when Felix trembled at the thought of judgment to come, he hid his face from the painful recognition of his sin, he averted his eyes from the truth, at length laid nakedly before him, dismissed from his presence the minister of peace, and shut out mercy from his soul? Is it not for ours, who still enjoy the hearing of the apostle's words, and behold the continual mercy of the Lord, and receive the continual offer of salvation? And if, like Felix, we look ever, or rather, propose ever to be looking for a convenient season to extract the honey of spiritual profit from this record of man's folly, shall we escape? shall we, more than the sinful Roman governor, be made wise unto salvation?

Who can rest in such a hollow flattery, such a deceitful hope, as this? Rather let him listen to the word of the prophet, and learn to form a more just conception of the holiness, and the truth of the Most High: "Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me," -"therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid."* In vain, therefore, will it be, to oppose to the reception of the truth of God's word the crafty dissimulation, or the skilful putting off: that word may be successfully resisted for a season, and the preacher of righteousness may be put aside for the time; but when the fulness of the measure of investigation shall have been perfected; when obstinate persistance in sin shall have left no room for repentance; when the icy hand of death is about to withdraw the veil, and to show things as they really are; then will the "convenient season" be heard of no more for ever. The season of proba* Isaiah, xxix. 13, 14.

tion will itself have passed away; and righteousness despised, and temperance contemned, will pave the way, too surely, to a dreadful judgment

to come. they are more than an idle phantasy, or an empty dream; if the whole course of an evil life has its inevitable conclusion in a judgment of wrath, and if this ushers in a final condemnation to eternal woe; who, my brethren, would not desire to lay these things to heart? Who would be a Felix here, to put away the admonition which might be blessed to save; when after this little here has passed and is gone, a terrible futurity lies plain before him? Who would talk of convenience, or wait for a season of convenience, when the very first step from life, (a step we know not how soon we may have to take,) carries us through the dark valley of the grave, and terminates our probation in eternity? Viewed in this light, how does the Roman governor seem to speak to every one of us, and to admonish us that we trifle not as he did! How does he stand before us in all the terrors of an evil example, and warn us that mercy abused in time, becomes darkened into judgment in eternity! He solemnly assures the sinner that God will not for ever allow his word,

And if these things are really so; if