which you have begun; be not weary in well-doing s grow in grace, as you advance in years; " abound "more and more in knowledge, and in all judgment; approve things that are excellent ;" and "be sin"cere and without offence till the day of Christ."

And what hinders any of you, my young friends, from joining yourselves to the Lord? Weigh the reasonings which you have heard. Suspend for a while the influence of your passions, and endeavour to feel the force of the motives which have been adduced. Deliberate or rather decide; for there is no time for hesitation" now is the accepted time, now is the day “of salvation.” The language of the Redeemer is "to-day ;" and will you say with Pharaoh, "to-mor "row?" Every delay will leave you more remote from the God you have to seek; every delay will place more barriers between you and heaven; every delay will increase your crimes, your passions, your aversions; every delay will diminish the efficacy of means, the period of divine patience, the time of your probation; while you hesitate, you die; while you promise yourselves years, perhaps you have not days; perhaps the shuttle has passed the loom that wove thy winding-sheet; perhaps in yonder shop lies rolled up, and ready to be severed off, the piece of cloth destined to be thy shroud; perhaps "the feet of them that "have buried thy" neighbour, are at the door carry thee out!"

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When Felix trembled, instead of cherishing his concern, he proposed a "more convenient season,' which never came. It was the unhappy state of Agrippa to "be almost" but not altogether persuaded "to

"be a christian." And there are young people, how shall I describe them? they had betimes convictions. and impressions; their early days were the time of their visitation; they asked for God their Maker; they often retired to pray; they loved the sabbath; they heard the gospel with sensibility; but alas! "their "goodness was as a morning cloud and early dew, "which passeth away." But "was it not better with

you than now?" Ah! had you still "hearkened to "his commandments, then had your peace been as a "river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea." Will this discourse revive your former feelings, and cause you to return? or will it only hold you up as a warning, to guard others against trifling with conscience, and falling away after the same example?

On some of you, I fear, the address has been more than useless. I could wish you had saved yourselves the mortification of hearing a discourse, in which there was nothing agreeable to your taste, and which you determined from the beginning to disregard; I could wish you had withdrawn yourselves from an assembly, which will one day furnish only witnesses against you, By an unsanctified use of the means of grace, you aggravate your sin, increase your misery, and render your conversion more difficult. In endeavouring to your friends, friends, your ministers become your enemies; in trying to save, they condemn; though ordained to be "the savour of life unto life," your corruption renders them "the savour of death unto death;" and those affectionate importunities and faithful warnings, which if they had been followed would have secured

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your happiness, will surround your minds when you come to die, and render your recollection painful, and your prospect intolerable; for you will "mourn at "the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed, "and say, How have I hated instruction, and my "heart despised reproof; and have not obeyed the "voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me! I was almost in all evil in the "midst of the congregation and assembly."

SERMON VI.

THE GOSPEL DEMANDS AND DESERVES

ATTENTION.

MARK. iv. 23.

IF ANY MAN HAVE EARS TO HEAR, LET HIM HEAR

THE sages of antiquity delivered much of their knowledge in comprehensive sentences. Each of the wise men of Greece was distinguished by some aphorism. All nations have had their peculiar proverbs. The generality of mankind are much more influenced by detached and striking phrases, than by long addresses, or laboured reasonings, which require more time and application than they are either willing or able to afford. "The words of the wise are as goads, "and as nails fastened by the master of assemblies," The good effects of preaching are commonly produced by particular expressions, which leave something for our own minds to develope or enlarge, which please the imagination, which are easily remembered, and which frequently recur. This method of instruction our Lord and Saviour adopted. We often read of "his sayings;" and there is no sentence, which He so frequently repeated, as the words which I have read. This alone should powerfully recommend them to

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our regard; but they have higher claims, and we shall view them, I. As implying the AUTHORITY OF THE SPEAKER. II. As suggesting THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT. III. As appealing to IMPARTIAL IV. As demanding PRACTICAL IMPROVEMENT. "HE THAT HATH EARS TO HEAR, LET "HIM HEAR."

CONSIDERATION.

I. Here is implied THE AUTHORITY OF THE SPEAKER. And who can advance claims on our attention equally numerous and powerful with His? "He entered "into the synagogue, and taught. And they were "astonished at his doctrine; for he taught them as "one that HAD AUTHORITY, and not as the scribes." He possessed every thing from which a teacher could derive influence.

He had all the authority which is derived from knowledge. Religion was the subject he came to teach; he knew the whole, and the whole perfectly. With all the case of intelligence, he speaks of things which would swallow us up; they were familiar to Him. He speaks of God without any embarrassment; "He was in the bosom of the Father." He speaks of heaven without any emotions of wonder; it was his Father's house. He mentions the treachery of Judas without any surprise; "he knew from the be"ginning who would betray him." Nothing in the behaviour of his enemies, or of his friends; nothing in the denial of Peter, or dispersion of his disciples, astonished him; "he knew what was in man." He was fully acquainted with the capacities and dispositions of his hearers. He knew how much they were