pectations of " the power and coming of Christ ?" Are you looking forward to the time when, "at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow?" Are you waiting for the arrival of that hour, in which the long-expected cry shall be heard, "Behold the bridegroom cometh?" Oh! remember, you have heard again and again, that the coming of the Lord draweth nigh, and you have been warned to escape from the wrath which is to come. might it not be said of many, that hitherto the announcement of these things, has appeared to them as an idle tale? Have not the ministers of God still cause to ask-Who hath believed our report?

But

We know that men would be slow to deny the truth of the Gospel. They are not so far gone as to say in just so many words, that what the Bible makes known to them is a fable: but yet all the while they may be insensible of its truth. It is not so much with direct and open infidelity that we have to contend, as it is with lukewarmness, self-righteousness, and formality. We have to speak to those who account themselves Christians. We address them in a house which is consecrated to God, and our words are listened to with that attention and respect which might seem to intimate that they would not be spoken in vain. indeed it is here where the danger lies. Men say,

But

"Lord, Lord," but do not according to his will. They assent to the truth and neglect it. They fancy all is well, and so they feel no fear. They do not deny the truth, and so they think that they believe it. But surely it is one thing not to deny the truth, and another to receive it in an honest and good heart. It is not enough that we do not disbelieve the Bible; we may not with safety doubt it. It is not enough that we hear the word of God; if you would not perish, you must do it. It is by hesitation and indecision that the soul of man is most endangered. The delusion which deceives men is this;-because they really do not regard the Gospel as a fable, therefore they fancy they are receiving it as truth. And this keeps their consciences at peace. Were they asked to throw off all respect for religion, from such a proposition they would indignantly recoil. But as they seem to be believers in the truth, they are contented with this mere semblance of belief. Within a little while, however, it will not do to seem to be religious; we must be religious indeed if we hope that it may be well with us. When the secrets of men's hearts shall be made known; when the hidden things of darkness shall be brought to light: then the hollow pretence and the unacknowledged scepticism will be made manifest: then will it be seen who have really believed

the word of God, and who have only professed to believe it! Oh! would that men could but be persuaded to enquire with all diligence and humility, whether they may indeed safely rely upon what they read in the Bible! would that they could be induced to pursue the enquiry until their doubts and hesitation were removed! This only would I say, if the Bible is indeed a fable, let us all agree to expose the awful imposition: but if it be true, let us all be equally agreed, to hearken what the Lord God hath said concerning us. Is it safe to steer a middle course? Is it safe, while we dare not reject it, and will not receive it, to continue undecided? Oh! no. Let us convince ourselves of its falsity, or else let us confess its truth. Let us renounce the name of Christians, or let us live as the disciples of Christ. If we gather not with Christ, we are scattering: if we are not with Him we are against Him. Indifference and indecision is enough to be the ruin of our souls. Not to do the will of our Father which is in heaven, is the sure way to perish everlastingly! See then which you will choose. See whether you are prepared to deny the Lord who bought See whether you are fully persuaded, that it is a foolish thing to believe what the Bible reveals, and to live as the Bible directs: see whether you can without hesitation-without fear-look

you.

upon

that which it makes known to us, as a cunningly devised fable. Can you, for instance, bring yourselves to believe that there never lived such a being as Jesus of Nazareth? or can you persuade yourselves into the conviction, that He lived only to mislead, and died but to carry on the deception? Are we here assembled to worship God; have we been offering up to Him our prayers and praise in the name of Christ-and is all this a vain oblation? Are we the weak and deluded and too credulous believers in one whom we vainly look upon as our Saviour-and are expecting to behold as our Judge? To our own hearts let us appeal, and let us ask, is there one of us, who would refuse to confess that he is a believer in Christ?

Then let us follow out our principles. If we believe but this, that Christ died and rose again, see to what consequences this leads: see how deeply we are ourselves interested in them. For what we are speaking of is not only true, but unspeakably important. There is nothing in the world which it so much concerns us to know, as the truth or falsity of the religion of Jesus. Even if it were false, it were well we should know this: how much more then if it be true. If it be true that Christ will soon appear; and if it be true that at his appearing "we must all receive according

to the deeds done in the body," then what can it so much concern us to know as this? What is there that we should so constantly consider? There is to be one moment to every one of us, after which we must be partakers of endless joy or doomed to endless sorrow: and can it be that we should be forgetful of a time, on which our state throughout eternity will depend? Oh! what is the whole world, and what is all that it contains, compared with the blessedness of being at peace with God? What but tribulation and anguish is that man treasuring up to himself, who has time and inclination to attend to all things else, but none to bestow upon the one thing needful? Let us but once admit the truth of Scripture-but once acknowledge that it is no cunningly devised fable-but the word of the living God; and at once this world's pleasures must lose their charms-this world's business must cease to engross, and this world's cares will lose their power to annoy. To the believer in Christ, a new world arises. He is a citizen of a better country-his conversation is in heaven; and himself lifted up far above the petty cares and the noisy pleasures of this world of sin and strife; he looks down with pity on the poor, though selfsatisfied, lovers of the world, and sees, in their eager running to and fro for pleasure, or for pro