sons out of their own mouths, and will say to them, "You were like your neighbours in their wickedness; you shall now be like them in their punishment. You followed them, while on earth, in their evil ways: follow them now to their place of torment."

The two great lessons then to be learnt from such histories are, the extent of God's most fearful judgements, and their certainty. His judgements fall not on a few, but on all. Those who are with Noah in the ark live: all the rest perish. Those who come forth with just Lot live: all the rest perish. So will it be in the last day. Those who are with the blessed Jesus, those who have taken refuge in the saving ark of his spiritual Church, those who have given heed to his righteous word, and have come forth with him from the sins of an ungodly world, shall be delivered; but they only all the rest must perish everlastingly. For as the word of God's mercy is sure, so is the word of his wrath. It may not overtake us to-day, nor yet to-morrow: but in the end what he has spoken will surely come to pass. God is a righteous judge, strong and patient, although he is provoked every day. But if men will not turn to him for all his patience and forbearance, then he whets his sword, he bends his bow, he makes ready the weapons of death, he pours down the arrows of

his wrath, and lets loose the servants of his vengeance. Many were the days and years during which he bore with the wickedness of the old world but at last their cup was full; and the Flood came and swept them away. Many too were the days and years during which he bore with the inhabitants of Sodom: but at length their cup was full; and the fire came down and destroyed them. So shall it be in the day of judgement with every impenitent sinner, that is, with every one who has not sought the Lord while yet he may be found, and has not turned to him when he is near. Year after year has God spared them, in the hope of bringing them to repentance. The doors of mercy have been thrown open to them: they have been called, they have been entreated to come in. If they will not, if they obstinately reject God's gracious offers of forgiveness, if they stubbornly refuse to forsake their evil ways, and to return to their heavenly Father with all their hearts, what can they expect, but that sure and certain vengeance, which will one day overtake the wicked? Let them not deceive themselves with false hopes of escaping. Let them not give ear to the lying serpent, when he whispers to them, "Ye shall not die." Rather let every sinner say within himself, "The longer the storm is gathering, the heavier it is sure to fall. If the weight of God's judgements

do not crush me in this world, it is only because a worse thing is prepared for me: it is only because the righteous Lord has reserved me for the day of judgement, to be punished according to my sins. O terrible voice of most just judgement! when it shall be said to me, Go, thou cursed, into everlasting fire."

And who are these cursed? All who are living in any known sin; all who are living in forgetfulness of God; all who are not Christ's people; all who are not shewing forth the blessed fruits of the Spirit in their daily lives. Many think it is enough, if they are not openly disgracing and opposing Christ but they are mistaken. To be safe, they must be with Christ; they must be with him in the ark of his Church. Many trust they shall do well, if they keep from the grosser works of the flesh. They are mistaken: they must go much further: they must crucify, they must kill the flesh, with its affections and lusts: that is, they must wage war against every wrong feeling and every evil desire in their hearts, and must try to destroy them all, and to root them all out. They must take God's will for their law, God's words for their guide, God's blessed Son for their trust and hope. If ye do this, ye shall live: for then you will come under the covenant of the New Testament, the covenant of grace and love; and God will to you

be a God of mercy. But unless ye do this, ye have no part in Christ, no part in the covenant of grace: and so you are still exposed to all the wrath and all the fearful curses of the law. Your God is still the God of the Old Testament, the God who swept away an offending world, the God who rained fire and brimstone upon the cities of the plain, the God who has declared that he will reserve the unjust unto the day of judgement to be punished. Brethren, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of such a God. Take warning therefore, I pray you, in time. As yet the door of escape is open to you. But no one knows how soon it may shut: and when shut who can re-open it?

once

Some may perhaps be saying within themselves, "This is the old story, which we have heard so many times before." Is it indeed an old story to you? have you heard it so very often, and yet not heeded it? Then indeed have you double cause to tremble, for having slighted the Gospel so often and so long. If a man were lying on a bed of sickness, and a physician came to him, and told him to take this medicine and that, and the man were to answer, "These are the very medicines which have been given me for these days past,"-would not this be a bad sign? Would not the physician say to him, "If you have taken all these me

dicines, and they have done you no good, your case is desperate indeed. I have no better medicines to give you. Try them once more. If they do you no good this time, there is no help for you; you must die." If a man has been called to repentance, without regarding it,-if the terrors of the Lord have been set before him, and he has not been moved by them,—if the promises of the Gospel have been held out to him, and all to no purpose,-what more can God's ministers do for such a man, except pray for him, and exhort him to pray earnestly for himself, that it may please God by some visitation, by some sickness, by some startling affliction, to rouse him out of his lethargy, and bring him to a better mind, so that he may escape the punishment reserved against the day of judgement for all who will not turn from their evil ways to God?

But there are many who are not thus hardened. To them I say, as the angel said to Lot, Escape for your life: escape to the mountain : fly to the only shelter from the coming storm: betake yourselves to Christ, that ye be not consumed among the wicked. Be not like Lot's sons-in-law, when they heard the message. They, when Lot went to warn them of the evil at hand, thought he was telling them an idle tale and yet it was a message from God. In