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How have these obligations been fulfilHow far has our manner of life hitherto corresponded with our professions? How faithfully have we kept the good resolutions which can scarcely be supposed not to have acompanied some, at least, of our external acts of homage? In how many instances may it have been justly made a charge against us, as it is against the disobedient son in the parable, that, after having said "I go, sir," we "went not"? Let each of us, my friends, in the spirit of seriousness and humility, and under a just sense of the obligations under which he is placed, propose this question to himself; and with a view of obtaining a full and satisfactory answer to it, an answer which may serve as a ground-work for the regulation of his future conduct, let memory be instructed to throw her most earnest and penetrating glance over the years, and days, and hours, that have been already traversed. How humiliating, alas, is the retrospect! What a multitude of unsightly objects meet the eye, and deform the beauty of the landscape! What are we, that we might have been! How many opportunities of improvement have been in great part, if not wholly wasted! How frequently have we wounded the feelings of those whom we were bound to love most tenderly! How little have

we done towards relieving the wants and promoting the happiness of our fellow-creatures, compared with the means intrusted to us! How much of our time and property has been wasted, and worse than wasted, in excesses calculated at the same time to injure our health and to debase our moral character! How frequently have we suffered mere indolence to serve as an apology for the neglect of our duty! How often have we dared, in the hour of impious pride or inconsiderate levity, to break through an express commandment of our God! Must not every one of us acknowledge that, in some of these respects, he has been too often guilty? Must we not all be sensible how inconsistent our conduct has frequently been with our professions? Let us not shut our eyes to the fact, that we are answerable for this inconsistency, but let us proceed to inquire into the cause of it, and to seek for some means of removing, or at least diminishing, it in future.

A general resolution to obey the will of God, and act as becomes Christians, can be of little service to us, if it be not followed, upon reflection, by a number of particular resolutions to reform what we perceive to be amiss in every part of our conduct. The immediate effect of such a resolution extends no farther than the

production of diligent and impartial self-examination. By this means we may be made acquainted with our deficiencies, and led to perceive the necessity of commencing in good earnest the work of reformation. It is probable that there are few professing Christians by whom this part of the process, at least, has not been gone through. If we be sincere, however, in our desire of improvement, we shall not rest here. We shall fix our attention more closely upon some particular part of our conduct which seems most to require alteration. We shall resolve to eradicate some vicious habits, to tame some ungovernable passion, or, perhaps, to make some change in our daily habits, favourable to virtue or usefulness. And here the difficulty begins. Now comes the contest, formerly referred to, between the animal and intellectual parts of our nature. No sooner has conscience, roused at length from her inactivity by the united importunities of reason and religion, ventured to raise her voice, and to assume an uncompromising tone, than a general clamour ensues. Appetite cannot consent to relinquish his accustomed gratifications. Passion spurns at the idea of restraint. The apprehension of disappointment serves but to whet the eagerness of Desire; and even Indolence herself starts from her accustomed slumber to enter her

feeble protest against so pernicious an innovation. In the midst of a tumult so loud and general, it is perhaps a matter rather of regret than surprise, if the voice of conscience is too frequently drowned, and the good resolutions which we have formed prove abortive. But, my friends, if our foes be formidable, the arms with which religion furnishes us to maintain the conflict are not less so. They are arms which, if we will only use them vigorously and skilfully, are amply sufficient to ensure success. Having had our minds once deeply and permanently impressed with a sense of our own responsibility, and animated with a sincere desire of improvement, without which no subsequent exertions are likely to prove either vigorous or successful, let us pitch upon some particular part of our conduct or character, which seems much in need of reformation, and resolve to amend it. Let us not make this resolution lightly or without carefully considering beforehand both the danger and inveteracy of the disease, and the pain and trouble which the cure may cost us. Let us examine the wound by the light of religion, and probe it thoroughly, before we commence an operation. Let us look the consequences fairly in the face, that we may be prepared to abide them. And having made our resolution deliberately, let us also make it so

lemnly. Let it be made in the attitude of prayer, and embodied in an immediate address to the Deity. Let the Majesty of Heaven be summoned to witness it, and his assistance and blessing implored in carrying it into execution. And let our resolution not only be made under these solemn circumstances, but frequently repeated. Let the prayer for success never cease to be offered up, until it shall have given place to the thanksgiving for victory. Let watchfulness attend upon the resolution, and when it fails, let penitence sanctify even the failure, and, finally, let perseverance, a rational and steady perseverance, the offspring of religion, conduct it in triumph to its accomplishment.

These means, my Christian friends and brethren, we can employ. As worshippers of God, and disciples of Jesus, we are bound by the most solemn obligations not to neglect them. If we will imitate the disobedient son in the parable, we must be prepared to abide the consequences.