soon have reached a condition out of which it will be impossible to save him. Although this is a generally acknowledged truth, it is not so generally agreed upon, when the case of the impenitent becomes hopeless. Some think that it is not till the close of life. Far be it from me to limit the mercy of God; if a hoary headed sinner of a hundred years would return to God, he would be received graciously, and loved freely; but the question is not so much may he return, as will he? Among the considerations which to me make it appear certain, that he who is finally lost, has his doom sealed in the present life, is this, that God is so merciful, that he will never damn a sinner, while there is any chance of saving him. God gives to the sinner every kind of opportunity, before he seals his final doom.

The Scriptures assign two reasons as concurring to make the salvation of the sinner impossible after a certain point; one reason is taken from the condition of the sinner himself, "why should ye be stricken any more, ye will revolt more and more." When the Gospel, accompanied by the agency of the Holy Spirit, is first brought to bear on the mind of the sinner, its influence is much greater than after it has been successively exhibited for a number of years. Every individual who hears the gospel in early life is more easily moved and wrought upon than he is at an advanced period. Each individual in this congregation can recall periods in which he was powerfully awakened by the truths of the gospel, although the same truths now produce no effect upon him. The process which has been going on in the mind, has been of a hardening character, and the same process will continue until you come to a point at which you will be unmoved under the most powerful strivings of the Holy Spirit. Now is it at all likely that having successfully resisted the Spirit while your hearts were comparatively tender, you will be brought to yield when they are hardened by a long course of sin and of resistance to the Spirit? No, up to a certain point there is hope for you, although that hope is lessening every day; but after that point there is no hope, for you never will turn; I do not say that you never can, but that you never will.

Another mode of accounting for the truth now under review is, that at a certain point, God's character binds him to inflict condemnation. Thus we read of being given up

to the heart's lust; of being left under "blindness;" of being reserved for the vengeance of eternal fire. Oh! let all the unconverted around me begin at once to seek for mercy, for if you do not, and should become one of the characters we have been describing, the most fearful judgments await you.

In order to impress our minds more deeply, let us attend, I. TO THE THRILLING INQUIRY OF THE TEXT.

"Who can stand before his indignation?"

Notice it,

1. In its import.

God, in order to impress our minds with his great and solemn purpose of punishing final impenitence, has employed the most terrific and fearful imagery. The terms employed usually denote those penal visitations which await those who have resisted the gospel. "Indignation" is inflamed wrath. The Scriptures frequently speak of God's wrath and indignation, but we are not to suppose because such terms are employed that there is anything like human passion in God. All passion supposes a degree of imperfection. But this is the only way in which God can convey to our minds the knowledge of that attribute of his character, and that principle of his government, by which it is impossible for him to let sin go unpunished. God, in condescension to man, and in the absence of anything more appropriate, represents these by reference to human passions and proceedings. Now if there be nothing like human passion in God, the reality must be greatly more terrible than even these terms imply. For all imagery, however appropriate; all description, however graphic; all illustration, however well adapted; must fall short of the reality of that intended. For instance, in the text there is reference to the " anger" of God. This term, as applied to Him, does not describe the same state of mind as it would applied to us; yet it does describe a feature in God's character, an attribute of his nature, or a principle of his government, which could not be so well described in any other way. There is this remarkable difference betwixt anger in man and this attribute of God the anger of man is fluctuating, uncertain, not always excited by the same cause, more easily roused at one time than another; but this attribute of God is certain, always the same, without fluctuation, and in continual operation;

it is unchangeable, like himself. If you ask why the sinner is suffered to go on so long with impunity? We answer, because he has not arrived at that period of his history in which it will be felt; but let him once come within the range of its operation, and he will feel that "our God is a consuming fire!"

2. Its period.

The language of the text may imply that there is a fixed period when all the treasures of wrath will be poured out on the impenitent. Such language as this may have a special reference to the day of general doom. But at what period in the sinner's history does the sinner come under the influence of this indignation? We think that there is a sense in which it is applicable to the present life. When the sinner reaches the state of final impenitency, the sentence then passes the lips of the Eternal, though the execution of it may be delayed to a future time.

3. Its severity and certainty.

There are two things in the context from which these points are inferred.

(1.) From the goodness of God.

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The Lord is slow to anger." The Lord is good.' This is the description of God which obtains in the sacred volume, and it is this fact respecting God which makes his wrath the more fearful, for it is certain that it must be great provocation which could arouse it. It seems to be that which is contrary to his nature. It is unlike his usual proceedings. Look at his goodness, consider his mercy, think of his love; and how great, how fearful, how certain must be his anger; thus in the Revelations we have this idea presented to us under the aspect of "the wrath of the Lamb." (2.) From the power of God.

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The verses surrounding the text abound with graphic description and sublime imagery, setting forth the power of God: The Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm." "The mountains quake at him, the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, who can stand before his indignation ?"

II. LET US ATTEMPT TO IMPROVE THIS SUBJECT. "Who can stand before his indignation?

in the fierceness of his anger?"

Who can abide

1. Can the impenitent?

You have had repeated invitations to accept his mercy, he has bent over you in the attitude of beseeching tenderness, he has called you, warned you, beseeched you, implored you, wept over you, shed his blood for you, given his Spirit to you-but all in vain; you have rejected his every entreaty, successfully stood out against every overture of mercy, despised the riches of his goodness, and treated with contemptuous indifference the manifestations of his love. Can you stand before his indignation? You have refused to avail yourself of offered mercy, you have neglected the great atonement, how will you stand before God without a Saviour? How can you encounter the wrath of the Lamb whose sacrifice you have slighted, and whose love and mercy you have scorned?

2. Can the formalist?

He who, like Cain, has been content with offering a mere formal acknowledgment of the supremacy of the great God, without having regard to the provisions of the great scheme of mediation. He who has thought it sufficient to present the mere service of the lip, without the devotion of the heart? 3. Can the backslider?

Poor man! the remembrance of your former spiritual enjoyments, will add to the wretchedness of your future condition. Some backsliders are sceptical as to the reality of their former experiences; but will it be so then, oh no! the memory, now so treacherous, will faithfully portray all the past. Now you forget the past, because you have so much to do with the present; but then, as the undying worm, it will be continually employed in bringing the past visibly before you.

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Oh let me press on every one of you to seize the present moment as the moment given for your salvation. Why will you die?" God has no pleasure in your death, he wills your salvation now; O come to him, and be saved.

XXIX.

NATURE AND NECESSITY OF REVIVALS OF

RELIGION.

HABAKKUK iii. 2.-"O Lord, revive thy work."

No subject is invested with so much interest to the christian as that which relates to the success of Christ's cause in the world, and the mode of extending it. He who feels no interest in this theme ought to question his right to the character of Bible christian. The progress of Christ's kingdom amongst men, is the one purpose aimed at in the establishment and continuance of the christian church, and in the appointment of the christian ministry. "No man liveth to himself;" he who does so, he who does not spend his energies, employ his talents, and seize hold of all opportunities to save souls, is in that condition which renders it imperative to seek his own salvation. Every one that is saved, is anxious for the salvation of others, and he who has no such anxiety, an anxiety exhibited in corresponding exertion, is not himself saved; and if he think that he is, then the most charitable judgment that we can form of him is, that he is deceived.

The non-progress of the cause of Christ in any place, is owing, then, to the want of real Christianity amongst its professors. Hence the necessity of urging on the few who are saved, to join ardently in offering the prayer of the prophet, in the text, 66 O Lord, revive thy work.'

Let us look at this prayer,

I. IN ITS MEANING.

Notice,

1. The subject of the prayer.

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Thy work."

The work to which the prophet refers, is that which is carried on in the hearts of men by the Holy Spirit; especially those operations which precede and accompany the conversion of a sinner from the error of his way. That such

a change as that intimated by the term conversion does take place under the preaching of the gospel, is matter of fact un