its precepts? do they obey its laws? How many, who call themselves Christians, rest satisfied with the name, without ever considering how unworthy they are of bearing it. They pass this short life in a profound slumber, or a visionary dream: but the time will come when they shall be aroused indeed! they shall awaken on a dreadful day, when eternity will at once appear before them; and the light of Jesus, so long contemned, shall shine around them, but shall shine only to strike and dazzle their astonished eyes. The world, that world in which alone they trusted, shall vanish from them like smoke; all its pomps and vanities shall crumble away like dust, from those who placed in them their foolish confidence; all its splendours shall be laid low; its power shall be broken, and its pride crushed, beneath the feet of the insulted Majesty and Supreme Power of the eternal God, who will then manifest himself in awful wrath and terrible glory, to those

who have rejected him. How dreadful will this day be to you, if you now shut your eyes to that Light, which is offered for your safe conduct through this life! Seck not to deceive yourself; as surely as night follows day in this life, so surely a day of retribution and of judgment will follow death. The votaries of the world, and of its sinful pleasures, will then call on it in vain; in vain will they cry to those objects in which alone they trusted: alas! they shall not find even a trace of them left behind. This world, which now seems so secure to them, will then have passed away (as the shadows of night flee before the rising sun) and the place thereof shall know it no more. Oh world! so weak, so vain, what art, thou but a dream! and shall I put my trust in thee; when I feel that even the enjoyment of thy most tempting pleasures leaves nothing but emptiness and vanity behind? Art thou not ashamed, O world! to deck with magnificent

and splendid titles, the miseries with which thou leadest us astray? Alas! at the moment thou appearest to us most lovely, thou lurest us to destruction. In one hand is thy sparkling cup, in the other thy poisoned dagger.-Away from me, vain world! I will put my trust in my God, and walk in the light of my Redeemer Jesus Christ.

Oh thou great and glorious Almighty and incomprehensible Being! give me grace to lift my feeble and erring thoughts to Thee. How can I presume to under stand Thee, when this world, and all its wonders, are but the smallest part of thy works? Creator Infinite! Thou hast made my heart; let it be always devoted to thy service; and as it is from Thee that every good thought proceeds, fill my soul, O God! with thy grace, and let me ever love and serve Thee. Amen.

6. Oh, strange perversion of human reason that, instead of humbling our

selves at the throne of our offended Creator, and thankfully acknowledging the unspeakable love and pity of our Saviour, we should dare madly to doubt the revelation of his Word, and scornfully to reject the offered terms of salvation! Let the unbelieving sinner awake, before the justice of God cut him off in the midst of his offences. Then it will be too late to call upon the glorious Redeemer, whom he has despised; and his portion shall be fixed to all eternity, in that dreadful place, where the fire shall not be quenched, and where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

7. What must we then do to be saved? We must renounce ourselves, our passions, our worldly interests, as far as they are at variance with the laws of God. We must devote our lives to his service, and have no will, no wish, no hope, but in his love and approbation: in that alone is our rest in this life; and

that alone can enable us to look with hope and confidence to the life to come.

8. But, O Lord God! how shall a vile sinner dare to know his Creator? How shall a creature of the dust, the work of thy hands, presume to look up to the Maker of the universe? How shall he hope for pardon from an all-perfect Being, who cannot behold sin without abhorrence? Where shall the wretched sons of mortality find hope, but in the mediation and all-sufficient merits of their Redeemer?-Yes; in Jesus Christ we may securely hope. There is no sin which does not leave to us the privilege of repentance; and from repentance our blessed Saviour will never turn away. His place is at the right-hand of God, where he ever liveth to make intercession for us.

9. God created the first man pure, and free from sin; free to have continued so;