an incensed adversary? God is in this case peculiarly concerned to shew his displeasure. He designed this long-suffering to answer other purposes; and shall he be over-ruled and mocked? No; he will not lose the honour of his patience, though you may lose the advantage. If it be not glorified in your salvation, it will in your destruction. Wrath loses nothing by sleeping; it grows fresher by repose. The longer the stone be in descending, the heavier it falls. preparation indicates the more dreadful execution. Whoever may hope for audience in the day of visitation, you cannot expect it. "When your fear com"eth as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a "whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon

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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. There"fore shall they eat of their own ways and be filled "with their own devices."

Whoever may hope to come off with a lighter doom, you cannot expect it. Thy reckoning is increased by delay; thou "despisest the riches of his goodness and "forbearance and long-suffering: not knowing that "the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance; "but after thy hardness and impenitent heart, tre?s"urest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath, "and revelation of the righteous judgment of God." "But and if that servant say in his heart, my Lord de "layeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the men "servants and maidens, and to eat and drink and to

"be drunken; the Lord of that servant will come in "a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour "when he is not aware: and will cut him in sunder, "and will appoint him his portion with the unbe"lievers."

Whoever may hope to be apprized of his danger, surely you cannot expect it. "He that being often "reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be de"stroyed, and that without remedy." "For when "they shall say Peace and safety; then sudden de"struction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman "with child; and they shall not escape."

And do you promise yourself exemption always? Even the patience of the vine-dresser has an end; he only prayed for another year; and perhaps this was more than eleven months ago. Are you sure that he who waited to-day, will wait to-morrow also? Having stood so long knocking, will he never depart? May he not withdraw this very evening, saying, "O that "thou hadst known in this thy day the things which "belong to thy peace, but now they are hid from "thine eyes."

But at present this is not your case. Your harvest is not yet past, your summer is not yet ended. The lives of some of you are spared even to old age. Gray hairs are here and there upon you; and each of them proclaims the patience of God. You are in his House, and before his Throne, and capable of hearing his Word. He has seen all your sin, and abhorred all. He has had you completely in his power; he could have frowned you into perdition. He has guarded you from accidents, and raised you up from beds of

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languishing. How many, once your companions in folly and sin, have been removed! where are they now? O let this goodness encourage you, not to sin but to pray. Approach and kneel before him. "O "thou, who hast given me space, give me also grace "to repent. I am now sensible of my guilt, and of

thy goodness. I now know what misery I have de"served. and what a blessedness thy mercy is ready to "bestow. I am filled with sorrow and shame and "self-abhorrence, to think that I have so long trans"gressed thy Law, and despised thy Gospel; provo"ked thy justice, and contemned thy grace. If after "all thou wilt be favourable to such an ungrateful "wretch, and accept the remains of a sinful life, I "here devote all I am, and all I have to thee. Thee "I will love and obey. Adieu, my vain and foolish "desires; my degrading lusts, my unprofitable pur"suits-Pardon-Heaven-is even now attainable, and "I am following after it. O my God! enable me to "run and not be weary, and to walk and not faint." May God inspire you with these sentiments. To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever.

SERMON XVIII.

ASSURANCE.

1 JOHN iii. 10.

KIN THIS THE CHILDREN OF GOD ARE MANIFEST, AND the children OF THE DEVIL: WHOSOEVER DOETH NOT RIGHTEOUSNESS IS NOT OF GOD,

NEITHER HE THAT LOVETH NOT HIS BROTHER,

MY Brethren, 'When God would admonish and encourage Jeremiah in the discharge of his office, he said, "If thou take forth the precious "from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth." This address determines the duty of every Preacher, who would "make full proof of his ministry." It requires him to attend peculiarly to the states of his hearers; to delineate character; to bring forward frequently and boldly the difference between the righteous and the wicked; and to apply with confidence and wisdom the threatenings and promises of the Scripture, for the conviction of the sinner, and the consolation of the godly.

In this manner our Apostle studied to shew himself approved unto God, "a workman that needeth not to "be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."

"In this the children of God are manifest, and the "children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righ"teousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not "his brother."

Of the persons here mentioned we shall consider three things. I. The character by which they are described. II. The manner in which they are discovered. III. The marks by which they are distinguished.

Men and Brethren! While I am endeavouring to explain and improve a subject so important, let me entreat you to employ your minds, not in determining the condition of others, but in judging your own: "let every man prove his own work, and then shall "he have rejoicing in himself alone and not in anothfor every man shall bear his own burden."

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er:

I. The persons opposed are THE CHILDREN OF GOD, AND THE CHILDREN OF THE DEVIL. Το suppose that there are no such characters, would be a reflection upon the wisdom of the inspired writer in making the comparison. But let us consider the meaning and importance of the titles. "The children of God, and the children of the devil," mean good and bad men. It is common in the Scripture to call persons distinguished by any quality or acquisition, the children of those from whom it was originally derived, or by whom it was pre-eminently possessed. Thus we read in the Book of Genesis, that "Jabal was "the FATHER of such as dwell in tents, and of such "as have cattle: and that Jubal was the FATHER of "all such as handle the harp and the organ." And