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and gracious invitations. He now exclaims, as he once did, on the last day of the feast of tabernacles: If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. But this will not be his language to those who shall hereafter be found impenitent. Exhortations and offers will be wholly at an end. Christ will then appear to judge those by law, who have rejected mercy: Then shall they call upon him, but he will not answer; they shall seek him earnestly, but shall not find him; for they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord; they would none of his counsel, but despised all his reproof; therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own ways, and be filled with their own devices. He shall say: As for these mine enemies, who would not that I should reign over them, bring them hither and slay them before me.

What expedient will still remain to the sinner? Is there any other being from whom he can seek relief? Doubtless there is, even God the Father: but what prospect of success can there be, in this application? God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten and dearly beloved Son, that whosoever believeth on him, might not perish; but he did not send his Son to save those who should reject him. When the owner of the vineyard sent his son to the husbandmen to receive the fruits, he said: They will reverence my son, when they see him. But, when the son was refused and ill treated, the father was highly and justly incensed. So will the God and Father of our Lord Jesus be indignant towards all who slight the offers of grace, which his Son has made. Can it be conceived, that the great Jehovah should devise such measures for the salvation of apostate creatures,-that he should commission the blessed Messiah for this purpose, and yet save such as reject the Messiah? Should recourse be had to the Father at the day of judgment, will he not remind the sinner, of seasons, means and privileges, that are past? Will he not say, "You once had life given you for the very purpose of forming a friendship with your Maker? You knew, that the day of final decision was approaching. Though your sins were many, you had the tender of salvation.

A full atonement was made by him, who offered up his life for sinners. My word was in your hands, plainly setting forth the dreadful consequences of final impenitence, and urging you, in the most persuasive and gracious manner, to turn and live. My Spirit was sent to persuade you to make the same wise and happy choice. The language of both was: Turn ye, turn ye, for why will ye die? I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth. Return unto your strong holds, ye prisoners of hope. The Spirit and the bride say, Come, and let him that heareth say, Come, and let him who is athirst come, and take the waters of life freely. Awakening providences, such as imminent dangers and wonderful deliverances, were sent with the same gracious design. But all these, will God say to the impenitent, were in vain; your neck was an iron sinew, and your brow brass. You habitually resisted the Spirit of God; you would not have the Messiah to reign over you. You still persevered in sin, and never came to a hearty compliance with the conditions of the Gospel. And now the time of decision is come; your doom is irreversible. You must forever exist without comfort or hope, and feel that misery from which you refused to escape. You must depart into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.

Thus have we endeavored to show, that the sinner will be able to make no answer, when God riseth; that he will be able to do nothing, when God riseth up.

Perhaps, my hearers, you view this subject as too gloomy to be treated of. It is gloomy indeed. But if the thought of such a condition be distressing, should it not be our concern to avoid the condition itself? And that we may feel a due concern to avoid it, should we not consider what it is? Which of the circumstances which we have mentioned, ought to be suppressed? What improbability is there in the suppositions we have made? Is it impossible that you will ever appear before God in judgment? Does the state of religion among us forbid the belief, that many, very many are in an unpardoned state, without any well grounded hope, and without God's fa

vor? And will not such persons, should they die without alteration of heart and character, be absolutely without excuse and without resource, at the day of judgment?

There is a very great difference between the present state of sinners, and their condition at the last day. It will then be desperate; it is now hopeful: God is willing to receive you into the covenant of grace, on the terms of godly sorrow and hearty submission. Life and death, the blessing and the curse are now proposed. The offers of eternal life are made with perfect sincerity, on the part of God. But, from the subject, it appears, that they will not be made forever. The impenitent sinner will soon be in a state, in which he can find no relief,no rest,—but be obliged to sink down in sorrow.

How exceedingly different will then appear the condition of those, who are found in the righteousness of Christ! To such there will be no condemnation. Having embraced the evangelical scheme of salvation, their sins are frankly forgiven. They have indeed no legal claim to salvation, on the score of their good deserving, but they have a sure claim founded on the atonement of Christ. They have the unalterable friendship of their Judge, having fled for refuge, to lay hold on the hope set before them. They will doubtless have, at the great day, a deep sense of their obligations to divine grace. They will know, that without God's free mercy in Christ, they themselves could have nothing to answer,-no resource to which they could possibly repair? In the present life, the children of God may be viewed with contempt. Haughty and elevated sinners may treat them disdainfully. But hereafter, they and they only, of all the human race, will be honored.

If the condition of sinners will soon be desperate ;-if the condition of God's children will soon be unspeakably glorious, how ought this consideration to affect us, who are now in our state of trial? What anxiety ;-what concern can be disproportionate to such an object? What can justify our stupidity? What reason can be assigned, why creatures just entering on eternity, and soon to be made unalterably happy or miserable,

should shrink from inquiring into their own spiritual concerns, -and shut their eyes against the object which it would be reasonable to suppose, would be always in their view? Will nothing but death convince us that we are mortal? Will nothing but the beginning of eternity convince us, that we are designed for eternity? Will nothing but the terrors of the last day convince us, that we must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ? It is not the religious,—it is not those who are deeply engaged in religion, who act the irrational part; but it is such as walk in the way of their heart, and in the sight of their eyes, forgetful that for all these things, God will bring them into judgment; those who quietly pass down the stream of iniquity, not considering, that this stream falls into the boundless ocean of despair. Such will be constrained, when too late, to say: We fools counted his life madness, and his end to be without honor Now is he numbered among the children of God, and his lot is among the saints!

SERMON IV.

IMPORTANCE OF ASCERTAINING THE TRUTHS OF

THE GOSPEL.

Acrs 25: 17, 18, 19.—Therefore, when they had come hither, without any delay on the morrow, I sat on the judgment seat, and I commanded the man to be brought forth. Against whom, when the accusers stood up, they brought none accusation of such things as I supposed; but had certain questions against him of their own superstition, and of one Jesus, who was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive.

In such terms spake Festus to king Agrippa concerning Faul, and concerning the religion, which he taught. In his view, nothing could be less important, than the contention maintained with so much zeal by Paul and his Jewish persecutors. The question whether one Jesus were dead or alive, appeared to him to deserve the attention of a sensible man as little, as the crime alleged against the prisoner, deserved judicial cognizance, yet on this fact rests the truth of the Christian religion; and with it is connected not only that immense change, which this religion has produced in the civil world, but all the happy and glorious consequences, which have resulted to millions of those who in different ages and countries, "have known Christ and the power of his resurrection." Could this question have been determined in the negative, darkness had till this day covered the earth, and gross darkness the people; pagan superstition and crimes had been continued; and multitudes had died in their sins, who now join in the song of Moses and the Lamb.

In Festus's apprehension, it is probable, the Christian story carried great improbability on the face of it. But whether true or false, the affair appeared to him as wholly unimportant.

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