before the season of repentance, is exposed to the vengeance of an angry God.

Whoever has been deluded by this infatuation, and has hitherto neglected those duties which he intends some time to perform, is admonished, by all the principles of prudence, and all the course of nature, to consider, how much he ventures, and with how little probability in his favour. The continnance of life, though, like all other things, adjusted by Providence, may be properly considered by us casual; and wisdom always directs us, not to leave that to chance which may be made certain, and not to venture any thing upon chance which it will much hurt us to lose.

He who, accused by his conscience of habitual disobedience, defers his reformation, apparently leaves his soul in the power of chance. We are in full possession of the present moment : let the present moment be improved; let that which must necessarily be done some time be no longer neglected. Let us remember, that if our lot should fall otherwise than we suppose; if we are of the number of them to whom length of life is not granted; we lose what can never be recovered, and what will never be recompensed, the mercy of God and the joys of futurity.

That long life is not commonly granted, is sufficiently apparent; for life is called long, not as being, at its greatest length, of much duration, but as being longer than common. Since, therefore, the common condition of man is not to live long, we have no reason to conclude that what happens to few will happen to us.

But to abate our confidence in our own resolutions, it is to be remembered, that though we should arrive at the great year destined for the change of life, it is by no means certain that we shall effect what we have purposed. Age is shackled with infirmity and diseases. Immediate pain and present vexation will then do what amusement and gaiety did before; will enchain the attention, and occupy the thoughts, and leave little vacancy for the past or future. Whoever suffers great pain, has no other care than to obtain ease; and if ease is for a time obtained, he values it too much, to lessen it by painful reflection.

come;

Neither is an efficacious repentance so easy a work, as that we may be sure of performing it at the time appointed by ourselves. The longer habits have been indulged, the more imperious they beit is not by bidding them to be gone, that we can at once dismiss them: they may be suppressed and lie dormant for a time, and resume their force, at an unexpected moment, by some sudden temptation; they can be subdued only by continued caution and repeated conflicts.

The longer sin has been indulged, the more irksome will be the retrospect of life. So much uneasiness will be suffered, at the review of years spent in vicious enjoyment, that there is reason to fear, lest that delay, which began in the love of pleasure, will be continued for fear of pain.

Neither is it certain, that the grace, without which no man can correct his own corruption, when it has been offered and refused, will be offered again; or that he who stopped his ears against the

first call, will be vouchsafed a second. He cannot expect to be received among the servants of God, who will obey him only at his own time; for such presumption is, in some degree, a mockery of God; and we are to consider,

Secondly, How certain it is, that "God is not mocked."

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God is not mocked in any sense. He will not be mocked with counterfeit piety, he will not be mocked with idle resolutions; but the sense in which the text declares that God is not mocked, seems to be, that God will not suffer his decrees to be invalidated; he will not leave his promises unfulfilled, nor his threats unexecuted. And this will easily appear, if we consider, that promises and threats can only become ineffectual by change of mind, or want of power. God cannot change his will; is not a man that he should repent;" what he has spoken will surely come to pass. Neither can he want power to execute his purposes: he who spoke, and the world was made, can speak again, and it will perish. God's "arm is not shortened, that he cannot save;" neither is it shortened, that he cannot punish; and that he will do to every man according to his works, will be shown, when we have considered,

Thirdly, In what sense it is to be understood, that "whatsoever a man sows, that shall he reap.”

To sow and to reap are figurative terms. To sow, signifies to act; and to reap, is to receive the product of our actions. As no man can sow one sort of grain, and reap another, in the ordinary pro

cess of nature; as no man gathers grapes of thorns or figs of thistles; or, when he scatters tares in the furrows, gathers wheat into his garners; so, in the final dispensations of Providence, the same correspondence shall be found in the moral system; every action shall at last be followed by its due consequences; we shall be treated according to our obedience or transgressions; the good shall not miss their reward, nor the wicked escape their punishment; but when men shall give account of their own works, they that have done good shall pass into everlasting life, and they that have done evil into everlasting fire.

Let us, therefore, at this and at all times, most heartily and fervently beseech Almighty God to give us faithful and sincere repentance, to pardon and forgive us all our sins, to endow us with the grace of his Holy Spirit, and to amend our lives according to his holy will and commandments.

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SERMON XI.

1 PETER, CHAP. III. VERSE 8.

Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous.

THE apostle, directing this epistle to the new converts scattered over the provinces of Asia, having laid before them the great advantage of the religion which they had embraced, no less than the salvation of their souls, and the high price for which they were redeemed, the precious blood of Christ; proceeds to explain to them what is required by their new profession. He reminds them, that they live among the heathen, of whom it must necessarily be supposed, that every one watched their conduct with suspicious vigilance; and that it is their duty to recommend right belief by virtuous practice; that their example, as well as their arguments, may propagate the truth.

In this course of instruction, he first mentions the civil relation of governors and subjects; and enjoins them to honour the supreme magistrate, and to respect all subordinate authority, which is established for the preservation of order, and the administration of justice. He then descends to domestic connexions, and recommends to servants obedience and patience, and to husbands and wives their relative and respective duties; to husbands