The speculations of

a matter of indifference. one man are by no means the beacon-light adequate to guide the steps of another man. But to implore another to examine the decisions of God; to invite a fellow creature to the scrutiny of the revealed records; to beseech him not to fling away his soul, or to play as in sport with the fearful realities of eternity; to beg him to pause before the sorrows of Christ, and to scrutinize the import of the agonies of Gethsemane, and of the contumely and the death-pangs of the cross; to beseech him to lay down his levity and his formality, and his semblance of devotion; and to grapple honestly and seriously with all the approaching solemnities of a future existence; to do this is not to proselyte to opinions; to do this is rather to follow the highest suggestions of reason, benevolence, and compassion; to do this is to remember the momentous injunction of the apostle-" My brethren, if any do err from the truth, and one convert him, let him know that he which converteth a sinner from the error of his way, shall save a soul from death, and hide a multitude of sins."

II. Let me then, in the next place, entreat those who are disposed to cry down as fanatical the solemn declarations of the gospel, to examine whether their indignation be not, in fact, levelled against the truth itself, and not against

the interpretation put upon that truth by any particular person. Allow me to ask, have you ever acted seriously upon the concerns of religion? Have you felt an honest anxiety to know God's will, and has the mediation of the Son of God ever presented itself to your minds as a theme of wonder and of generosity, calculated to produce a strong impression upon the human heart? Have you ever fenced off from the din and strife of life a solemn hour, in which to realize your connection with eternity? Have you ever meditated upon the shortness of time, and upon the certainty and the results of death? Have you ever considered the righteous severity of God's law, and the extent to which you are involved in reference to its violation? Have you contemplated the spiritual nature and character of God, and the amount of that first and great commandment, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy strength?" Have you ever yielded a serious and heartfelt reflection to the amazing love of Christ, in dying for the ungodly? Have you considered the meaning of those confessions which you have so often read-" There is no health in us:" "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world?" If you have not done this, with what shadow of common sense or reason can you with such rapidity separate the chaff

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from the wheat," and pronounce the urgent appeals of the minister of God to be the hurtful dreams of the enthusiast? With what shadow of candour can you proceed thus to judge, when you reject the knowledge necessary to enable you to form a right estimate of truth and error? Oh beware, lest you wrap your souls in the delusions by which so many have been destroyed; lest, while you think all to be well with you, you are nevertheless exposed to the fatal charge, 66 ye will not come unto me, that you might have life."

It is an easy matter to decry the truth it is an easy matter to float along the stream of habit and of education, and to set up the traditions of man in the place of the revelation of God. But, my fellow-creatures, it is a fearful thing to set aside the decisions of God; it is a fearful thing to act upon one's own conceits in things belonging to God. Pride and sensuality are the strong-holds of this conceit. Our blessed Saviour threw light upon the unwillingness of those around him to come unto him for life, when he remarked, on a similar occasion, "How can ye believe, who seek honour one of another, and seek not that honour which cometh from God only?" Is not this love of human applause the great secret of your ingratitude and/ rebellion? Do you not prefer the good opinion of those with whom you live to the approbation

of God? Beside the disgust and indignation of your own hearts, which the truths of the gospel, fairly unfolded, excite, is it not a serious barrier to the reception of these truths, that the prudent, and the social, and the benevolent of your friends and associates, often unite to condemn them as injurious and absurd? But I implore you to contemplate the future, and to consider the ultimate result of the pursuit of the good opinion of mankind.

When you shall lie stretched upon the bed of death; when the last sigh shall have left the cold tenement of clay; when your souls shall stand stripped of every disguise, and in the very blaze of truth, before the everlasting throne; when the sunlight of eternity shall reveal at once the character of God, and the nature of the gospel which you have rejected; oh! at such a moment, will not the smile and the frown of man have become utterly contemptible in your eyes? And will you not regret, in bitterness of heart, that you had not honestly examined the Bible; that you had not listened to the voice of candour and of mercy; that you had not confessed and deplored your guilt; that you had not received the great atonement; that you had not believed the gospel; that you had not hid alike your sins and your sorrows in the bosom of God your Saviour; that you had not gone to him, "that

you might have life!" But the time will then be past, the hour of trial will have elapsed, the sands in the glass will have run their last, and time itself will be no more! Under the anticipation of this result, Oh, avoid its realization, and awake now at the bidding of almighty love! "Let now the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, and he will abundantly pardon!" That life, which you have hitherto neglected, is more precious than the merchandise of silver and of gold; is more to be coveted than the collective treasures of this world's poor ambition. That life is nothing less than the quickening influence of Christ. It is " fellowship with the Father

and with his Son Jesus Christ." It is the calming of every inward storm, the voice of adoption in the heart, the witness of the Spirit in the breast of him that believeth. It is a flight into the arms of reconciliation and love. It is security from every ultimate evil, and the possession of every ultimate good. It is the joy and perfection of your nature. It is the foretaste of heavenly felicity. It is Christ formed in the soul, the hope of glory. Did you but believe the Lord, which testifies of its reality; did you but once "taste that the Lord is gracious;" did but a ray from the everlasting

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