city, a being of our race, destitute of all sense of obligation to Him who has redeemed his people by his most precious blood? Deceive not then thyself any longer, nor suffer thyself to be deceived. Take warning from the emphatic and express assertion of the compassionate Redeemer, and connect with it the spirit-stirring address of the meekest of men to the ancient people of Israel:-"Take heed, lest there should be among you man or woman, whose heart turneth away this day from the Lord our God; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood; and it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart."

THIRDLY, The mercy of God revealed in the gospel, is admirably calculated to bring sinners to Repentance.

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It is the representation of the enlightened Apostle of the Gentiles, that "the goodness of God leadeth to Repentance." Authority may require it; and justice may display, before the of the offender, the fearful consequences of refusal; but goodness has a power of affecting the heart, which seems to transcend, in its attractive force, the influence of every other attribute of Deity. Nor is this surprising. The evil, be it remembered, which is to be overcome, is

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disaffection of mind, and hardness of heart, and habitual insensibility towards the blessed God. What then has the most direct tendency to counteract and to subdue that evil, but the manifestation of love divine? "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."--When we were yet sinners, and enemies to God, Christ died for us." And I, if I be lifted up from the earth," said the Saviour, " will draw all men unto me; and this he said, signifying what death he should die." Oh, how great the power--the attractive power-of that cross on which the Redeemer bled and died! How many, once obdurate in heart, have looked, and wondered, and wept, and prayed, and repented, and believed! They have looked on him whom by their sins they had pierced, and felt the bitterness of that " godly sorrow which worketh repentance not to be repented of." A discovery of the love of Him who was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities, has melted their hearts into tender relentings, and produced unfeigned contrition of spirit. Instances of this entire and saving change have been presented, in the character of many who were previously among the most thoughtless, the most dissipated, and the most impious of our race. Such have been the triumphs of the gospel in our own

country, and in every other country, in which there has been faithfully and feelingly proclaimed the doctrine of Jesus Christ, and him crucified. Many are the regions recently illumined, in which specimens of repentant heathen, "turning from dumb idols to serve the living God," have augmented the blessedness of those benignant spirits who rejoice "over one sinner that repenteth." And shall not we rejoice in the thought, that very many are now the occasions, on which the tears of deep contrition roll down the swarthy or the sable cheeks of our brethren of far-distant tribes, till lately involved in darkness the most profound, and characterized by death-like apathy of soul ? May such instances, and such scenes, be witnessed to the very remotest extent of human habitations!

FOURTHLY, The most gracious reception, on the part of God, is ever given to the repenting and returning sinner.

“ Thus saith the high and lofty One, that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place; with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones."-" Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy on him; and to our God, for he will abundantly

pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." Can any intimations be more cheering to the contrite heart, than those which the merciful Redeemer himself conveyed in his most touching parable of the Prodigal? After a course of folly and profligacy, the abandoned youth at length came to himself; and some faint hope of forgiveness springing up in his heart, he resolved to cast himself, with penitential acknowledgments, at his father's feet, humbly asking the most servile station in his family. "And he arose and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.-And said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat and be merry : for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found." The picture is not overcharged, vivid as is the colouring. You see in it, the compassionate Friend of sinners-the Saviour of the lost-pourtrayed to the very life. Forget not, that the heart of love, which dictated that parable, retains, at this moment, all its tenderness.

What then is to be expected from his mercy, exalted as he is for the express purpose of granting "Repentance and remission of sins." Fear not; thou shalt not be rejected, O thou weeping, doubting, trembling suppliant at his throne. Do thy sins appear to thee too great to be forgiven? Does thy Repentance appear too slight to be accepted? Be of good courage. He extends to thee "the golden sceptre." Boldly then draw near. His language is, "Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.-Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out." In relying on his word of faithful promise, there is no hazard of disappointment. His heart echoes the invitations of his lips. He loves the unlovely, and gave himself for the unworthy, and laid down his life for the ungodly; and is now both able and willing "to save to the uttermost all that come to God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them."

FIFTHLY, With the exercise of true Repentance, salvation is invariably connected.

Let it not, for a moment, be imagined, that Repentance can be of the nature of an atonement for sin; or that there can be in it any intrinsic value, on which there may be established a plea for pardon. The supposition is perfectly incompatible with the character of Repentance, and