Divinity." This ought ye to have done, and not left the other undone." Ye ought, doubtless, to be charitable, but ye ought first to be just.

There are others who consider God as a judge still more easily reconciled to crimes; and therefore perform their acts of atonement after death, and destine their estates to charity, when they can serve the end of luxury or vanity no longer. But whoever he be that has loaded his soul with the spoils of the unhappy, and riots in affluence by cruelty and injustice, let him not be deceived! God is not mocked. Restitution must be made to those who have been wronged, and whatever he withholds from them, he withholds at the hazard of eternal happiness.

An amendment of life is the chief and essential part of repentance. He that has performed that great work needs not disturb his conscience with subtle scruples, or nice distinctions; he needs not recollect, whether he was awakened from the lethargy of sin by the love of God, or the fear of punishment. The Scripture applies to all our passions; and eternal punishments had been threatened to no purpose, if these menaces were not intended to promote virtue.

But as this reformation is not to be accomplished by our own natural power, unassisted by God, we must, when we form our first resolutions of a new life, apply ourselves, with fervour and constancy, to those means which God has prescribed for obtaining his assistance. We must implore a blessing by frequent prayer, and confirm our faith by the Holy Sacrament. We must use all those institutions that contribute to the increase of piety, and

omit nothing that may either promote our progress in virtue, or prevent a lapse into vice. It may be inquired, whether a repentance begun in sickness, and prevented by death from exerting its influence upon the conduct, will avail in the sight of God. To this question it may be answered in general, that as all reformation is begun by a change of the temper and inclinations, which, when altered to a certain degree, necessarily produce an alteration in the life and manners; if God, who sees the heart, sees it rectified in such a manner as would consequently produce a good life, he will accept that repentance.

But it is of the highest importance to those who have so long delayed to secure their salvation, that they lose none of the moments which yet remain ; that they omit no act of justice or mercy now in their power; that they summon all their diligence to improve the remains of life, and exert every virtue which they have opportunities to practise: and when they have done all that can possibly be done by them, they cannot yet be certain of acceptance, because they cannot know whether a repentance, proceeding wholly from the fear of death, would not languish and cease to operate, if that fear was taken away.

Since, therefore, such is the hazard and uncertain efficacy of repentance long delayed, let us seriously reflect,

Secondly, upon the obligations to an early repentance.

He is esteemed by the prudent and the diligent to be no good regulator of his private affairs, who

defers till to-morrow what is necessary to be done, and what it is in his power to do, to-day. The obligation would still be stronger, if we suppose that the present is the only day in which he knows it will be in his power. This is the case of every man, who delays to reform his life, and lulls himself in the supineness of iniquity. He knows not that the opportunities he now rejects will ever be again offered him, or that they will not be denied him because he has rejected them. This he certainly knows, that life is continually stealing from him, and that every day cuts off some part of that time which is already perhaps almost at an end.

But the time not only grows every day shorter, but the work to be performed in it more difficult; every hour, in which repentance is delayed, produces something new to be repented of. Habits grow stronger by long continuance, and passions more violent by indulgence. Vice, by repeated acts, becomes almost natural, and pleasures, by frequent enjoyment, captivate the mind almost beyond resistance.

If avarice has been the predominant passion, and wealth has been accumulated by extortion and rapacity, repentance is not to be postponed. Acquisitions, long enjoyed, are with great difficulty quitted; with so great difficulty, that we seldom, very seldom, meet with true repentance in those whom the desire of riches has betrayed to wickedness. Men, who could willingly resign the luxuries and sensual pleasures of a large fortune, cannot consent to live without the grandeur and the homage; and they who would leave all, cannot bear the reproach

which they apprehend from such an acknowledgment of wrong.

Thus are men withheld from repentance, and consequently debarred from eternal felicity; but these reasons, being founded in temporal interest, acquire every day greater strength to mislead us, though not greater efficacy to justify us. A man may, by fondly indulging a false notion, voluntarily forget that it is false, but can never make it true. We must banish every false argument, every known delusion from our minds, before our passions can operate in its favour; and forsake what we know must be forsaken, before we have endeared it to ourselves by long possession. Repentance is al

ways difficult, and the difficulty grows still greater by delay. But let those who have hitherto neglected this great duty, remember, that it is yet in their power, and that they cannot perish everlastingly but by their own choice! Let them, therefore, endeavour to redeem the time lost, and repair their negligence by vigilance and ardour! "Let 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, for he will abundantly pardon."

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SERMON III.

PROVERBS, CHAP. XXVIII. VERSE 14.

Happy is the man that feareth alway: but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief.

THE great purpose of revealed religion is to afford man a clear representation of his dependence on the Supreme Being, by teaching him to consider God as his Creator and Governor, his Father and his Judge. Those to whom Providence has granted the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures have no need to perplex themselves with difficult speculations, to deduce their duty from remote principles, or to enforce it by doubtful motives. The Bible tells us, in plain and authoritative terms, that there is a way to life, and a way to death; that there are acts which God will reward, and acts that he will punish: that with soberness, righteousness, and godliness, God will be pleased; and that with intemperance, iniquity, and impiety, God will be offended; and that, of those who are careful to please him, the reward will be such as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard; and of those who, having offended him, die without repentance, the punishment will be inconceivably severe and dreadful.

In consequence of this general doctrine, the