ous groan within themselves waiting for full salvation.

4. IT is matter of holy mourning to the saints, that they see such multitudes rushing to everlasting ruin, seeking death, in the error of their way. These are still crucifying the Lord of glory, and putting him to open shame. By the unholy lives of such as profess christianity; the cross of Christ becomes a stumbling block, and his name is reproached among the heathen. Therefore one, who looks to Jesus feels pain; he beholds transgressors and is grieved. He sees the honour of God is struck at, and likewise the interests of the ever blessed Redeemer: his agony and bloody sweat, his cross and passion, his precious death and burial, his glorious resurrection and ascension; his intercession and coming to judgement are all turned into fables; made quite light of, or rather despised and hated; so that he may call out to poor careless souls, Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there were ever sorrow. like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me. (a) Moreover the mischief which is done in the world, by poor unthinking mortals, is matter of great lamentation; for truly one sinner does much harm. Like a person who has the plague, they carry infection and disease with them, wherever they

(a) Lam. i. 12.

go, and all combine to make war age the lamb; labouring to tear his w open again, and as it were to crucif hu a fresh. O sinner, remember this; lay it to heart; lest he speak unto thee in his wrath, and vex thee in his sore displeasure; yea, lest he swear in his wrath, thou shalt not enter into his rest.

MORE or less their time on earth will be a time of mourning to the saints. But the days of their mourning shall have an end; when the Lord God shall wipe away the tears from their eyes; appoint unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they may be called trees of righteousness the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified in them. (a)

Now redemption, long expected,

See in solemn pomp appear;
All his people, once despised,
Now shall meet him in the air.

Happy mourners, happy mourners,
Lo, on clouds, he comes, he comes.

Glorious time! blessed season. May we all be prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

5. See, my dear brethren, what sin has done? The misery and ruin which it hath brought upon the human race; the various diseases which have fixed their residence in

(a) Isa. Ixi. 3.

H

these bodies of sin and death, and which, like the leprosy under the law, in the house, and no cure is found for it; but the house must be demolished, and its very foundation must be erased. (a) How does the whole creation groan, and travail in pain, panting for deliverance? Poor little infants, which have not sinned, like Adam; even the brute creation feel the dire effects of the fall. How many of these are groaning under the merciless hands of sinful men. Even the inanimate part of the creation partakes of the fall; and hence we see corruption and death have invaded all vegetation. The most fragrant flowers, the most verdant branches, the most stately trees, are all subject to decay and death. The most awful calamities of war, famine, plague, earthquakes and desolations are all the fruit of that forbidden tree, namely, sin. The moral evils which are in the world are its foul offspring, such as Adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evils come from within and defile the man. (b) Could we look into hell, and see the writhing, and gnashing of teeth, and hear the horrible shrieks of the damned; they would explain its malignant nature.

BUT let all the miseries in earth or hell

(a) Lev. xiv. 45.・ (b) Mark vii. 21, 22, 23.

be brought forward, with all their horrid effects; and yet, they do not describe the monster in so awful a manner as the suffering lamb of God, who stood in the sinner's place, and upon whom the vials of divine indignation were poured without mixture, or mitigation, upon the head and heart of our suffering Saviour.

6. WE see how awful, yea how dreadful the divine attributes are without the atonement. The justice of God is figured out unto us in the most terrible images. Tremendous thunder, the rage of fire, the stormy seas, destructive earthquakes; yea, every thing that is terrifying to the whole animal creation, to the brutes as well as the human race, are all calculated to shew that with God is terrible majesty. Moreover, all the calamities which we have heard or read of; the general deluge; the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah; the earth, expanding her rapacious jaws, and swallowing Korah and his rebellious company, or the other multitudes who fell in the wilderness; or had we seen the destruction of Jerusalem either by the Chaldeans or by the Romans, all of which were dreadfully awful, and asked what was the cause of all those dreadful calamities; we must answer, it is sin.

HAD we seen the ravages of the plague in London, in the year 1665, when grass grew in the streets; or the terrible fire in

1666, and asked what might be the cause? We must still answer, it is sin. Nay, could we discern all the bloody battles which have been fought, and the millions that have been slain, and the cruelties, the studied barbarities which have been inflicted upon martyrs and captives, we might see and judge of the nature and mischief of sin. Could we uncover the mouth of the bottomless pit, and see the writhing, and hear the doleful howlings of the damned, it would terrify, it would overwhelm and almost disanimate us; but put all together, and the bitter cry from the cross, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me, sounds more dreadful than they all.

What havock hast thou made, foul monster sin ?
Greatest and first of ills.-The fruitful parent
Of woes of all dimensions! But for thee
Sorrow had never been."

WHAT say you, my dear hearers? Can you still indulge the hellish hag? you plead its dreadful cause ?

Will Which of

them will you hold fast? Is it your pleasing sin? you must pay dearly for it in a very little time: eternal pain must be the penalty. Does it avail the rich man now, that, above eighteen hundred years ago he fared sumptuously every day? Does the idea, or remembrance mitigate his eternal misery? Ah! no; quite the reverse. Then, my dear fellow sinner, resolve upon the