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"I know that in me, that is,

unregenerate state), cannot please God."
in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing." And it stands to reason, that re-
pentance, in the case of the sinner, must go before all acceptable obedi-
ence, and that all good in him must be the fruit and consequence of
repentance. In the case of the rebelling subject or child, after the first
act of rebellion and disobedience, it is all rebellion and disobedience up
to the moment he repents and makes his submission. So it is with all
who rebel against God.

Well then, it appears you have done wrong, and nothing but wrong. You have done a great deal, and it has all been evil. All the entries under your name, in the book of God's remembrance, are on one side. The other side is a blank. You will never have anything of your own to be entered there; and the obedience of the great Surety is not entered to your account, because you have not believed on him, and with all your heart confided in him as your Surety. So the case stands. This is what you have done. And now,

Consider to whom you have done it,-to God, the great, blessed, You have and benevolent God, your creator, preserver, and benefactor. broken his law, which is holy, just, and good; have transgressed his commandments, which are not grievous; and have refused to render to him that which is your reasonable service!

Consider under what circumstances you have done it; circumstances of light and love; in despite of exhortation and command, admonition and entreaty, promise and threatening, judgment and mercy; with and hell uncovered to alarm you, and the cross you, heaven open to allure of the Son of God in full view before you; you have acted wrong, with every inducement to act right.

Consider also the evils involved in such doings, under such circumstances; the presumption and rebellion; the impiety and injustice; the folly and madness; the baseness and daring; but above all the ingratitude, of having, under such circumstances, acted as you have acted towards God!

The ingratitude! There never was such a case of ingratitude before, God never so loved and I suppose there never could be another like it. any other world as to give his only-begotten Son to die for its inhabitants. Such goodness does not exist to lead other sinners to repentance. They have no such love to despise. They have no blood of atonement to The intervention of tread under foot. They cannot be so ungrateful. the Son of God to save rebel man, renders his case peculiar, and will render his condition hereafter peculiar. He will rise to the highest in heaven, or sink to the lowest in hell. He is the only sinner that ever God never before sought to woo received a call to repent and return. But for you, O man, He has bowed his back a wandering soul to him. And what heavens and come down. He has sent his Son after you. have you done? How have you requited God's gift of his Son? How have you met the mercies of redemption? How have you treated Christ? Has his story interested you? Has his cross attracted you?

Have you stopped and gone near to see and 'sympathize in those unparalleled sorrows, of which you were equally the author as the object? -For he, who died for you, died also by you.-Have you ever looked on him whom you pierced, and mourned? Have you given to him your heart? and are you living now to him who died for you? Alas! has he not been despised and rejected of you? Have you not passed him by, even if you have done no more?

But some, to all else they have done, are adding this, the last and worst they can do, the resisting and grieving of the Holy Ghost.-Art thou one of them?--They counterwork the Divine Spirit, who strive with them. God comes on a visit of mercy to them, and whispers in the ear of the soul, of pardon and heaven; but they say, "Depart from us : we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. Who is the Lord that we should obey him?"—And he departs perhaps; for he says, "Be instructed O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee. My spirit shall not always strive with man." What then?-What is their history after that? I know not, but this I know, a dark death and a deep and desperate damnation are the subjects of the last chapter.

Sinner, there is one piece of advice, that as a friend I would give you. It is, that whatever you do, "quench not the Spirit." You may do any thing but that, and your case not be desperate. But if you quench the spirit, there remains no hope, there is no refuge left-there is no fourth person in the Godhead, to undertake the case of the sinner who has wilfully put away from him the light and fire of the Divine Spirit. Art thou grieving him? Beware!-Another hour-another moment-and he may depart for ever!

I have told you what you have done. Let me now urge you to consider the consequences of having done so; the great guilt you have incurred, the deep and virulent depravity you have contracted, the tremendous wrath you have treasured up for yourself, and the utter ruin you have entailed on soul and body, for time and for eternity. In doing what you have done, you have destroyed yourself. You have forfeited the divine favor, and lost the divine likeness. You are no longer a child and heir of God. That privilege and dignity are gone from you, and peace is gone, and purity is gone, and freedom and honor, and all but just one only hope is gone, and that is going, and unless you lay hold of it will soon be gone, never to return. You have blasted your prospects for eternity. You have caused a blight to come over the beauty and fruitfulness of the soul. You have lost all that was worth having, and have got in exchange nothing but what it is as much your interest as your duty to give up!

You have done what to undo, constituted a problem that baffled all created minds! You have done what to undo, required a special interposition from the adorable Trinity, and from the Son of God exacted suffering the deepest and most dreadful.

In fine, you have done, O sinner, so much that it is necessary you should do something more. And do you ask me what it is? Dost thou,

in view of what thou hast done, ask what thou must do? I am glad to hear that question-it indicates returning reason. I will briefly answer

it. And

First, You must do something-you must act-you will never be saved without your own agency. When the jailer asked this question, did Paul and Silas say, "Do nothing-wait-wait God's time?" A time, by the way, which cannot be waited for, because it has come already. It is now.

Secondly,-What you do, you must do quickly. The command of God urges you to immediate action. The difficulty of the work urges you. The uncertainty of life urges you. The ever-increasing hardness of the unregenerate heart, affords another argument for doing immediately what you find to do. "Behold now is the accepted time--behold now is the day of salvation."

Thirdly, You cannot be saved by doing any thing which you may choose to do, aside from what God commands you to do. No amount of unauthorized effort will avail you any thing.

Fourthly, You may do many things which the word of God approves, and even enjoins, and yet never be saved; for no one of them may be that specific thing to which the promise of salvation is made.

Fifthly,―There is only one thing that you can do to secure your salvation. You will be disappointed if you expect to be saved by doing many things. One act, one single exercise, is the indispensible requisite to salvation. What is it?

Sixthly, That which you do in order to be saved, is not to make an atonement for sin, nor is it to acquire yourself a title to heaven: it is not any act whereby you may make yourself better, or recommend yourself to God. There is nothing expiatory, meritorious, or commendatory in what you are required to do. The object of the act is not to make atonement, but to receive an atonement already made. It is not to do something for yourself, but to avail yourself of what another has done for you.

Seventhly,—It is no external act or movement that is required. It is an act of the soul, a single, confiding act of the soul, the object of the confidence being Christ Jesus. There are two things presupposed as necessary to this act; viz. a sense of your need of him, and an apprehension of his suitableness and sufficiency for you. These existing, you have nothing to do that you may be saved, but heartily to trust in him. "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." Exercise a confiding faith in him, and all is done. Cease to do any thing for yourself, except cordially to trust Christ to do every thing for you.

This is what you must do. Now do it. It is reasonable that you should. Christ is altogether worthy of your confidence. He is able to save, and he is willing. He offers himself to you-He presses himself upon you. Receive him and you are saved. Do not be confounded by the very simplicity of the requirement. Do not say, "Can this be all?" I assure you it is all. And there is nothing to be done in preparation for doing this. If you know that you are a sinner, and believe that

Christ is a Savior, then as a sinner trust in that Savior. And you can do it now, as well as at any other time; yea, better. The duty will never be different from what it now is-never easier. Will you do it now? Now, while God waits to be gracious; and Jesus stands with arms extended, and with open heart to receive you; and the blessed Spirit striveth with you; now, when all things are ready, and all circumstances favor; now, in the strength of God, will you do it? What is your decision? It is known in heaven. It is recorded there.

"My former hopes are fled,
My terror now begins;
I feel, alas! that I am dead
In trespasses and sins.

Ah, whither shall I fly?

I hear the thunder roar;
The law proclaims destruction nigh,
And vengeance at the door.

When I review my ways,

I dread impending doom;

But sure, a friendly whisper says,
Flee from the wrath to come.'

I see, or think I see,

A glimm'ring from afar;

A beam of day that shines for me,

To save me from despair."