nourishment, wine for refreshment, clothes for comfort and ornament, "to as many as thus received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God." A bare persuasion that the paschal lamb was sacrificed did not avail for the defence of the Israelites; it was the blood of the sacrifice sprinkled upon their door posts which sheathed the sword of the destroying angel.-Thus the blood of the cross must be sprinkled upon the conscience for redeeming from hell; the righteousness of the adorable Jesus must be imputed of God, must be appropriated by a living faith for entitling to the glories of his kingdom.

2. "Many are unable to enter in," because they do not seek in a proper, scriptural manner. They expect acceptance with God partly by works and partly by grace; partly by their own righteousness, and partly by the righteousness of the surety, and therefore fail of salvation at last. Such, we have reason to apprehend, is the condition of many who sustain the christian name, and disappointment, without a change, must be their inevitable doom. They rest satisfied with their own excellencies, their honesty, their civility, their moral, virtuous behaviour; they imagine themselves better than many around them, than some who probably make a noisy profession; they are not extortioners, they are not adulterers, they are not swearers, they are not sabbath-breakers, they impart of their substance for the

support of ordinances, they abound in deeds of charity to the poor; they resolve to do all they can, and hope that a merciful God, for Christ's sake, will overlook what is wanting. "Such may seek to enter in, but shall not be able." Salvation on these terms is utterly impossible. There is no acconmodation between works and grace; there is no composition of our attainments, and the merit of Jesus in our reconciliation with the Father. We must either be justified wholly by divine grace, to the exclusion of human works, or wholly by human works to the exclusion of divine grace. Jesus Jehovah is jealous of his mediatorial honors, and will not divide them with the sinner.-He will either possess the whole glory of our salvation or receive no glory at all. We must approach as wholly destitute, as mere beggars, would we become interested in the "riches, the unsearchable riches" of our covenant head.-We must present ourselves as naked, stripped altogether of our personal excellencies, would we be adorned with the immaculate" robe of his righteousness. We must offer ourselves as wholly and desperately diseased, would we expect healing from this infinite Physician: We must approach as lost irrecoverably in guilt, as undeserving, as hell-deserving, would we desire remission of sin through his divinely precious, divinely meritorious blood. In short, free, sovereign grace, to the utter exclusion of created excellence, is the only

door to the region of immortality. We must either be pardoned freely, justified freely, adopted freely, sanctified freely, and glorified freely, or have "neither part nor lot" in the redemption of the Son of God. "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us-that being justified by his grace, we might be made heirs according to the hopes of eternal life."-Let none therefore deceive themselves with unscriptural confidences at the peril of everlasting disappointment and confusion. Are they resting in whole or in part upon attainments of their own; are they courting peace to their awakened consciences, by any other remedy than the blood of the Lamb, "they may seek to enter in, but shall not be able."Their building rests not on the rock of ages, but the sand of earth, which the lightnings of divine wrath will cleave to its foundation.

3. Many who seek salvation are finally disappointed, because they are too late in their application. They waste in the vanities of time their golden opportunities of mercy; they are busily occupied in their respective employments, some in amusements, others in sensual gratifications, others in the pursuit of worldly gain; while they find little leisure, and feel less inclination to regard their eternal concerns. During all this hurry of worldly employments, or this delusion of worldly pleasure their opportu

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nities of salvation pass speedily away, until their season of grace is ended, and the door of hope everlastingly closed. To such the Divine Redeemer obviously alludes in the passage before us, and therefore adds the following verse. When once the master of the house is risen, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us, and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are."-How common, mournfully common is this delusion, this madness among us? What multitudes neglect from year to year, from one period of their life to another period, the weighty interests of eternity? They invert the order established by the Holy Ghost, and instead of "seeking first" they seek "last the kingdom of God," and consequently seek too late for admission-They postpone the work of their salvation from health to affliction, when the body and the mind, through the rage of disease, are equally unfit for reflection; from manhood to old age, when the spirits are broken by bodily infirmities, or to their dying moments hoping that they will then have time for repentance. When seized by the agonies of death they are instantly alarmed; they begin like the "foolish virgins to knock, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us:" they call for the elders of the church for the ministers of the gospel, and eagerly solicit an interest in their prayers: they groan out a cry for mercy, and

resolve immediate amendment if the Lord spare them, but all their prayers, all their resolutions are unavailing. "Their harvest is past, their summer is ended," the door of mercy is shut to open no more, the ears of an offended God are deaf to their most fervent entreaties. Justice, worn out with their delays, utters her last thunders, and with the lightnings of her vengeance cleaves the "cumberer" to the lowest hell. "He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy." Thus seeking to "enter in, they are not able."

Have we not reason from this doctrine to apprehend that disappointment will be the end of many who are considered as good christians in the world? "The one thing needful" is almost the only thing neglected, the only object not sought with an earnestness becoming its vast, its inconceivable, its everlasting importance. View men in any pursuit, which concerns the present life; consider the sons of pleasure who are bent on self-gratification; the man of ambition who aspires after the preferiments and honors of the world; or the covetous who supremely court its wealth. How eager, and unwearied are they in pursuing their different objects! No labor is considered too painful to be endured, no dangers too awful to be encountered, no reproach from their fellow mortals too degrading to be borne, no methods too mean to be embraced. Consider,