think that delay will ensure oblivion, or that any respite will disarm the power of final justice? Because we live in apparent security, are we therefore really secure? How was it in the ancient world? They eat and they drank until the very day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came and took them all away. So shall also the coming of the Son of Man be." So it was with Jerusalem of old, so will it be also with ourselves. This is, indeed, one of the great dangers of sin, that it at once hardens the heart, and infatuates the judgment. We cannot see the danger, though it is even at our very doors. This is the punishment that awaiteth every one to whom the Almighty hath given "a space to repent, but he repenteth not."

Let it also be remembered that the longer the time which the long suffering of the Lord affords us, the heavier will be the account of the impenitent, and the severer their condemnation. It is not only for a series of single sins, but it is for a mass of ingratitude, of obstinacy, and of neglect that such a man will have to answer. This is the "hardness and the impenitence" which, in the pregnant language of the Apostle,

treasures up to a man wrath against the day of wrath." And, let that day of wrath come when it may, how bitter a pang will the sinner

feel, when he remembers the opportunities which he has neglected, the warnings which he has despised, the times when Christ would have taken him under his wings, and he would not! How to such a man must his soul "be left unto him desolate!" Let him, who is now living in this fearful state consider also, that time and chance make no difference with God as they do with man, nor will any thing finally disappoint his Almighty purpose. "Beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." No distance of time, therefore, can save a man from punishment; the Almighty is slow in his anger, but he is sure in his judgment. When then we consider the dangers which attend the abuse of God's long suffering, we shall be yet more anxious to account it for salvation. Let the words of the wise man sink into our hearts, "Say not, I have sinned, and what harm has happened unto me? for though the Lord is long suffering, he will in no wise let thee go." Distance will not abate the severity, nor will time diminish the certainty of our punishment.

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God," says the Psalmist, " is a righteous judge, strong and patient, and God is provoked every day, but, if a man will not turn, he will whet his sword, he hath bent his bow, and made it ready."

In whatever impunity, therefore, a man has hitherto lived, let him not think that it will long continue. The judgments of Heaven, even in this world, are very fearful, and much more so will they be in the next. The time will come, and soon come, when the opportunities of repentance which he has neglected will be withdrawn, when the offers of pardon which he has despised, will be no more repeated. There is a time when the Spirit of God will no longer strive with man.

The longer, therefore, we have continued in this fancied security, the nearer is the danger; the more we have provoked the patience and long suffering of God the more severe will be our condemnation. Not a moment is to be lost in turning the mercy of God to account, in accepting these various offers of redemption. By his patience and by his long suffering, the Almighty declares himself a tender and affectionate Father, who, by these continuing acts of mercy, would win us to salvation. To pass them over in carelessness and neglect, to refuse the covenant of the Gospel so long kept open for us, is to tempt God and Christ. Whether in our own case the long suffering may be further continued, none of us can tell: to-day, therefore, let us account it salvation; to-day is the offer of pardon and reconciliation made. To-day, therefore,

"if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." To-morrow the spirit of grace may no longer strive with the hardened and impenitent sinner; to-morrow, instead of being called to repentance, we may be summoned to judg

ment.

Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

Few men know the privileges to which as Christians they are entitled. They little think what God has already done, or what he still offers to do for their souls. Day after day, year after year, is spent in obstinate and increasing ignorance, and then they wonder that in the Gospel they have no interest, and in its prospects no comfort.

We read in the Acts of the Apostles, that "Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus, and finding certain disciples, he said unto them, have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, we have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost." And now let us turn from the disciples to ourselves. How many are there in the Christian world, who, without the