the way that they came there is no return for them, so they think they may as well remain, for the present, where they are, until something shall occur to raise them up again. Lower indeed they are than they were, and they know it; but since they cannot at once step back again, they try to reconcile themselves to their new position. "The fault is past and gone," they say, "and cannot be undone; now let us alone that we may take our fill of such pleasures as our present condition affords us."

I do not say that all such persons put their thoughts into this shape. I do not say that they even know why they act as they do; but I am quite sure that some such feelings as those I have expressed keep many men quiet and settled in an indifferent, careless, and worldly course of life. And I am almost sure that some of you to whom I speak are either knowingly or unknowingly kept where you are by such feelings. It seems to you a matter of course to do wrong; you fancy it will not make much difference whether you add a few more unlawful pleasures to those you have tasted already. You do not feel as if you were responsible for what you do, as you would have been if you had not already sinned.

Re

Take care, my brethren, what you think. Take care how you act upon such thoughts as these, lest you be finally lost before you are aware of it. Do not sin again because you have sinned once. member that for every sin you will have to answerfor the second as well as for the first; for the tenth; for the ten thousandth; and the more you have to

account for, the worse it will be for you. Do not for a moment imagine it will be no worse for you to do wrong again, because you have done wrong often. As well might a man suppose that a dose of poison would do him no harm, because he had already injured his health by taking what was unwholesome. As well might a drowning man put weights upon his feet, as a sinner add sins to sins because he has sinned already. The last sin which a man commits will be that which will sink him finally into the bottomless pit. Do not imagine then that you are free to do as you will, because you are not religious as you ought to be. Suffer not Satan so miserably to blind you. For, first of all, further sin will not profit you. If you seek for pleasure in that way, you will get nothing but vanity. The oftener you sin, the less pleasure you will find in sinning. If the rewards of iniquity were pleasant to you at first, they will be less so every day; they will pall upon you and weary Restlessness and dissatisfaction will urge you onward in the path of sin; and your whole life will be as that of one always seeking satisfaction, but never finding it. The appetite for sin will become as a gnawing hunger never satisfied-a burning thirst never quenched. Then sickness will come, and then, perhaps, old age, and then death, and after death, judgment. The vain pleasures of sinful indulgences can never profit you; and why? Because you were made for something better. You are responsible yet, and you must continue to be responsible; you cannot act as if it mattered not-" if ye do wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both ye and your king." You are

you.

exposed to further and severer punishment by going on in sin. That further punishment may be the shutting of the door of repentance against you finally, so that you never can again find peace with God. Try, then, and realize your accountableness. Listen to your conscience, which still tells you that you cannot do wrong without suffering for it; and then this feeling of responsibility may give you a hope about yourself, more true, and stable, and heartwarming than that vague groundless hope of something better turning up, with which the devil keeps men comfortable in a state of condemnation—a hope which may encourage you to take some pains about your salvation. For we may all trust that God has designs of mercy for those whom He still holds responsible. The very fear we have of further punishment leads us to hope that we may yet have happiness. Our conscience tells us that we are yet under God's government; and while we feel that His governing hand is over us, we may be sure, that by doing ill we make our condition worse, and by doing well we make it better. If a person were sure of dying to-morrow with all the unrepented sins of a whole life upon him, it would surely be better for him that he should sin no more; it would surely be his wisest plan to do what good he could in the little while that remained for him. And indeed so men feel when death comes upon them. You will find that the wickedest men, even murderers, when they come to die, are for the most part anxious to do the best they can before they die. They confess, and make restitution, and ask pardon of their fellow

creatures, and give good wishes to those around them, besides praying immediately for the forgiveness of their sins. How much more, then, ought we (who perhaps, by God's mercy, have many years of life before us), to make the best use of the time that remains. "Ye have done all this great wickedness, yet turn not aside from following the Lord; but serve the Lord with all your hearts, and turn ye not aside."

Hitherto I have spoken chiefly to those who, having sinned, have not made it the one great work of their lives to repent of their sins, and regain, if it may be, their standing before God.

I observe, in conclusion, that this history affords warning and encouragement to those who have repented, and are trying to live a life meet for repentance. I fear, dear brethren, there are few of us who are not occupying a far lower station in the kingdom of God, than we might have occupied, if we had not sinned away many of the privileges of our baptism. We are like the children of Israel, who, having sinned in asking for a king, in punishment for their sin obtained their request. We have sought the knowledge, by experience, of good and evil, and, alas! obtained it; we have tasted that bitter fruit which worketh death. We have felt within ourselves what it is to sin against God, and we cannot forget itour memory and conscience are defiled. There are those among us who have deliberately and wilfully sinned, and they can never be as if they had not made the evil choice. We have all sinned more or less, and are not as we were when Christ first washed

us. Unless we have been advancing steadily and without wavering from the first, we are not so blessed as we might have been. But, God be thanked, we may continue to serve Him still; if not on that high ground on which He placed us when we were baptized unto Christ, yet on that lower ground to which we have brought ourselves. We are not cast out of His kingdom, though we must, it may be, occupy a lowlier station than was designed for us. We were His children; we are His children; for as such He receives us when we return to Him. "For the Lord

will not forsake His people for His great name's sake : because it hath pleased the Lord to make you His people." And though we have degraded ourselves in His kingdom, we need not remain where we are; we may rise up again: we may again ascend the steps of that ladder whose top is in heaven. If we cannot attain to that exact place from which we have fallen, yet we may arise and occupy another: if we cannot by repentance make ourselves not to have sinned, yet the guilt of our sins may be so completely removed that they shall be no more remembered against us, and the stain so wiped out of our souls that hereafter we may stand perfect and complete in Him, who is "The Lord our righteousness." a

There is, however, but one way to perfectionthe way of watchful obedience: and that our obedience be not fitful and inconstant, let us ever remember that we are at all times accountable: that all our actions are of importance, and that nothing we have done, or shall do, can render them indifferent. 3 Jer. xxiii. 6.