who die under the guilt of it. He has melted your heart by the display of His love-that love which caused Him to send His only-begotten Son, to the end that you, believing in Him, might not perish, but have everlasting life. He has shewn you the vanity and uncertainty of the worldly things which you have made a pretext for neglecting Him; and the supreme importance, the inestimable value, of the heavenly things which He has provided for those who believe in His Son, and which He has earnestly and repeatedly pressed upon your acceptance. He still waits to be gracious to you. He says, "Why will ye die?" He still solicits you to give Him that heart, those affections and desires, which you are bestowing upon unworthy objects;-not because He needs or can be benefited by your love and service, but because, in the midst of your perverseness and rebellious opposition to His will, He loves you still, and knows that you cannot be happy but in the surrender of yourself to Him. Though you have often resisted and grieved His Holy Spirit, inclining you to repent and seek His grace, He has not ceased to strive with you, but would even now blot out all

your transgressions from His book of remembrance, and love you freely, as if you had never sinned. He still bids you look to Him whom your sins have pierced; to believe in Him, and be saved. He offers to give you repentance-to take away that heart of stone which has hitherto been proof against His forbearance and loving-kindness, and to give you a heart of flesh. He still sets before you His Son, as an almighty, all-gracious, all-sufficient Saviour, who suffered death upon the cross for your sins, and whom you have often grieved and crucified afresh, by continuing in sin. He promises, for His sake, still to receive you; and to enable you, by His Holy Spirit, to do that which He commands you to do-to give Him your heart. Shall this gracious command, this loving invitation from the Father of Mercies, still be addressed in vain to any of you-ye that have turned a deaf ear, for many, many years, to this gracious call? Will you still close your ears, and harden your hearts against it? "Turn ye, turn ye! why will ye die ?" "As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live *"

Ezek. xxxiii. 11.

Have you found peace and satisfaction in what you have preferred to God? Are you content to rest in that as your portion, and to leave to others the portion of the people of God?-O, Sirs! I envy not your portion, if it were a thousand times greater than it is, and if it would last thousands of thousands of years: whereas, it cannot last longer than for this life, which is but a vapour.. Far better would it be to love God with all your heart, than to be able to say, without fear of contradiction, "Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years," and health of mind and body, and learning and wisdom as the sand on the sea-shore, and reputation without slander or envy.'-These must come to an end. Without a heart devoted to God, they could not confer happiness—not even present happiness. But a heart devoted to God is itself a perpetual feast it is a spring of neverfailing joy and peace: it has the promise of the life which now is, and of that which is to come: it is the pledge and token of “an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away," of union and communion with God, the source and centre of all blessedness. O, my friends! let the

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time past suffice to have lived to yourselves. Henceforth yield yourselves unto God. Bring not upon yourselves the awful condemnation of those to whom it is written, "Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: for that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord: they would none of my counsel; they despised all my reproof: therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices*."-O my young friends! to you especially I would address this gracious call of your God and Father. I speak to you, and, earnestly desiring your happiness, I pray that you may be made willing to obey the call. Consider, that it is your Heavenly Father, your Creator, your Preserver, your Almighty Friend;

*Prov. i. 24-31.

He who has proved that His love to you far exceeds any love which others can bear towards you; He who would, and who alone can, make you happy in time and in eternity. He calls to you by His Minister; and says, "My Son, give me thine

heart!"

Does the Great God address you as His son. What wonderful grace and condescension ! Let the thought of being addressed in that way, excite in you the feelings and desires of one who would indeed be a CHILD of God, a member of Christ, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven. You were made such, outwardly, in Baptism; and had then a pledge given you, that God would receive you as such, when, hearing and understanding His gracious call, you should lend to it an obedient ear, and devote yourself to love and serve Him. And though you have, I fear, already belied the promises made to Him in your name, and broken your own vows and resolutions to perform those promises, still your Father calls to you; He has not cast you off; He is not ashamed to call you His Oh, pray!—pray that He would indeed

CHILD.