repentance will be accepted. Let us try this question, then, upon the principle recognised in my text.

In what condition does the gospel assume mankind to be? Undeniably, in a state of condemnation and alienation from GOD, by the operation of sin. What is the declared purpose of the gospel? Plainly and expressly, the recovery of mankind to GOD, by the defeat of sin, both in its love and in its practice, and by regaining the purity and holiness of a new nature. What directions and means does the gospel prescribe for the attainment of this end? Indispensably, repentance towards GoD and faith in the LORD JESUS CHRIST, as the conditions on which the HOLY SPIRIT is promised, in order to the sanctification of the sinner. What period is allowed, within which those conditions must be performed? None, not a moment is allowed for men to continue in sin, after they are warned of it and furnished with the remedy against it.

Now, my dear friends, what fear of GoD or regard for his word is manifested by the person who knows this, as all under the gospel must or may know it, and yet puts off his repentance to a more convenient season? What part of the purpose of the gospel is answered by the man who puts off the very first requisition of the gospel to the last act of his life? What change of heart or of habit is wrought in him who, through the whole of his accountable life, has walked according to the course of this world, unknown to any Christian denomination as a member of their communion-who has never professed his faith in the LORD JESUS CHRIST by an open confession of his name before men, or acknowledged the efficacy of his death in the salvation of sinners, by partaking of the appointed sacrament of his body and blood? Is there, in all or any of this, a single mark given us in the Scriptures, of the person who is entitled to the hope of the gospel? Is there a single lineament or feature of the new man, the new creature in CHRIST JESUS, to be discerned in such a person? If not, what is the hope he entertains worth, according to the plain principles, and, I will say, the only principles accessible to us, by which we are directed to try it? Why, then, even of yourselves, judge ye not what is right, and cast away from you for ever this cruel delusion, which turns

the grace of our GOD into lasciviousness, makes CHRIST the minister of sin by a wilfully delayed repentance, and the revealed mercy of GoD in him the snare and the destruction of the souls he died to save. Alas! my hearers, are there not many among you in this dangerous condition, many who have nothing more of the Christian than birth and baptism, and are thereby accountable in a higher degree? And will you smother this appeal to your consciences, and go away and forget to try your hope by the standard of divine truth? May God forbid. But it is a strong delusion-let us, therefore, try the question under another form.

Suppose an impenitent sinner, who nevertheless comforts himself with the hope that GOD will accept him on the day of judgment, is arrested by a sudden death, and passed into eternity in this condition; what judgment does the word of God teach us to form of the worth of such a hope? But let us again suppose, that this same person, instead of being snatched to his doom, is warned by the preaching of the word, and, for a number of years afterwards, continues still impenitent; at length, however, he is seized with his last sickness, and, in a few days or weeks, surrenders his soul, entertaining the same kind of hope, and professing then to be penitent; is his condition hereby altered in any shape for the better? Is the unfruitful hope of a sick bed more efficacious than the equally unfruitful hope of health and opportunity? Is the intention to repent at some future time, in which his day of grace was wasted, fulfilled and perfected by the forced and suspicious repentance of a dying bed? My dear friends, consider, GOD is not mocked, and, even of yourselves, judge what is right.

But further yet; what is repentance? Is it the mere lipservice of sorrow or regret expressed for wrong done, with the naked intention to forsake sin and repair the evil of its commission, at some future time? Will this satisfy the gracious purpose of this indispensable qualification for the exercise of mercy on the part of Almighty, GoD towards sinners? Would it be counted of any worth, as a ground of forgiveness and reconciliation, in a matter of offence among men? If not, why, even of yourselves, judge ye not what is right? for true repentance is

a godly sorrow for sin, manifested by an instant and continued abandonment of its practice, by every possible reparation for its commission, by renewed obedience to the commands of GOD, and by a hearty application to the blood of CHRIST for pardon and grace. Any thing short of this is but the sorrow of the world, which worketh death, by supposing that God will be satisfied with words instead of things, with professions and intentions instead of fruits meet for repentance, and that the great work of preparing a sinful creature for heavenly glory, by the attainment and exhibition of a new nature in the present life, may be accomplished under the feebleness of decay and the distractions of dissolution.

And what is hope, a good hope, the hope of the gospel? Is it the mental delusion of visionary desire, of unfounded expectations, of an end without the means? No, my hearers, this is the hope of the hypocrite, which shall perish. The hope of the gospel is a branch of faith, a saving grace wrought in the heart by the HOLY GHOST, and grounded on the promises of God to the penitent, through the merits and death of his only begotten Son. And as faith worketh by love unto obedience, so doth hope work by desire unto purity. Every one, says the apostle, that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, after the example of CHRIST. How, then, does this agree with the hope of the delaying sinner? O let your consciences rouse your reason to act upon this delusion, and, even of yourselves, judge what is right. Why will you build on the sand, when the sure foundation which God hath laid is set before you? Why will you add to the anxieties, and fears, and sufferings of your dying hours, by putting off your repentance, and leaving your peace with God unmade until the feebleness of disease shall unfit you for so serious and solemn a duty; and why will you waste your day of grace in treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of GOD.

But this perversion of the moral faculties, which alone render men capable of religion, stops not at this; the very disabilities which it is the purpose of divine grace to supply, are made accessaries to unbelief. The delusion of an unfounded hope may be exposed, and the understanding awakened to detect its

fallacy-the danger of delayed repentance may be exhibited, and the conscience awakened to distrust its security. But the carnal mind has yet its refuges of lies, under which to hide its enmity against GOD.

My reason may be convinced, says the impenitent sinner, I may own the obligations of God's revealed will, but I cannot repent, I cannot supply the requisites to a spiritual renewal of myself I can do nothing. Indeed! And ought not this, at the very outset, mightily to confirm thy faith in the divine word? Is not this exactly the description of persons for whom the blessings of redemption and grace, of instruction and hope, are provided by the love of GOD in CHRIST JESUS? Are not such the very lost and undone creatures whom he came to seek and to save, whom he hath restored to the moral competency of accountable beings, and whom he invites to come to him, that they may have life? Come, see a man which told me all things that ever I did! was the exclamation of the woman of Samaria, when the secrets of her life were discovered to her by our LORD. And shall the secrets of your heart, that world of sin and misery within you, be laid bare in the divine word, and be confirmed by your own personal experience and observation, without a similar impression of its truth, and confidence in its efficacy? Is not this the CHRIST, said the woman; and is not this the book of GOD, should the sinner say, did he, even of himself, judge what is right.

But you cannot repent.-Now how do you know this? Have you ever made the attempt? If not, do you judge what is right? Do the Scriptures give any countenance to a disability of this kind? What is the very first word of God's message of mercy to the world by his only begotten Son? Is it not, repent and believe the gospel? Is it right, then, that you should charge God with a mockery of his creatures, in requiring of them a condition which they cannot perform?

Have you considered what the repentance is which is required of you? If not, do you judge what is right in assuming that you cannot perform it? GoD requires of you to break off your sins by repentance, and your iniquities by righteousness-to cease from your violations of his holy law, as the first and indispensa

ble step in a return to his favour? And do you say that you cannot do this? that you cannot refrain from idolatry, blasphemy, Sabbath-breaking, parricide, murder, adultery, theft, perjury, and lust? God requires you also to view sin as evil in itselfas hateful to him, and ruinous to the souls and bodies of men; and, therefore, as a moral being restored to religious capacity, he commands you to consider the heinousness of its nature, its malignant opposition to all his perfections, its utter inconsistency with the peace and happiness of the world, and as such to learn to hate it, to feel grieved for having yielded to its commission, to acknowledge the guilt thereby incurred, to implore forgiveness for the past, and to resolve against it for the future. And do you say that you cannot do this? That, as redeemed to God and called to the knowledge of this grace by the gospel, you cannot apply the reason of your own mind, the experience of your own life, and the authority of God's holy word to judge what is right, and to set yourself to follow it? And do you not herein greatly err, not knowing the Scriptures, and the power of GOD? For the question is not of a repentance concluded and perfected, in those spiritual attainments to which it surely leads if sincerely followed out; but it is of a repentance commenced on the authority and in the fear of God, in order to this attainment nor is it a question of your inclination or will to hate and abandon sin, but of your duty as a moral being, the subject of God's government, and the object of his mercy, to obey his commands. And will you say that you cannot repent? What! hath not the grace of GOD which bringeth salvation appeared unto all men, teaching us, that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for another and a better, according to his promise? Say no more, then, neither give any entrance to the thought, that you cannot repent in the sense of breaking off from your sins with sorrow; that you have, by them, offended GOD, and incurred a guilt which you cannot expiate; for such is the condition only of devils: but rather bear in mind, that except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish, and thence, even of yourselves, judge what is right.

You cannot supply the requisites to a spiritual renewal. True,