has a fair and showy appearance, but it is exceedingly dangerous. Here are the proud and highminded, who boast of their good works, and dream of obtaining heaven by their own fancied merit. In the broad way are the crooked paths of deceit, full of traps and snares, and covered pit-falls. Here travel smooth-tongued dissemblers, and painted hypocrites. The path of covetousness is crowded with sordid worldlings, heaping up riches, and lading themselves with thick clay. Now all these paths lead to destruction. This is not an airy fancy, but a certain fact. The words of Christ will be found true, whether you believe them or not. Consider, reader, whether you are not yet in this broad way. It is a thing which may be known, and ought to be determined without any delay. Perhaps you have passed from one path to another, but are still rushing on in the downward and dangerous road. O stop, presumptuous sinner, in your mad career! With the deepest concern, and the tenderest affection, I would admonish and persuade you. If it were possible for me to save you by force, as the angel laid hold of Lot to lead him out of Sodom, I would gladly do it. But all I can do is to reason with you, and try the most likely arguments and motives to reach the understanding, and touch the heart. It is probable you have heard many a loud call, and felt many a sharp check, and yet you drive on with fury! Whither are you moving with such hasty strides? What will be the end of your present course? Ah! you are fast going, perhaps far gone, toward eternal perdition! There is but a step between you and death; and not a step between death and despair! The voice of Heaven calls you to turn to God, from whom you have so deeply revolted. "Except you be converted, and become as a little child, you can in no wise enter into the kingdom of God."

3. The impenitent are in a state of deep pollution.

There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet are not washed from their filthiness. It has been said, "Man is a polished mirror, with one slight speck, vanity, and that speck is wiped off by death." According to this fine flattering comparison, sin, it seems, must not be called a blot, nor even a stain, but a speck, a slight speck. Let us now examine what the word of God says concerning human nature, in its present state. He, who sees into the heart and will be the Judge of all in the last day, must be allowed to be capable of giving the most just account of man. Turn to Gen. vi. 5--12," And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." If it should be thought, this passage is a proof of the depravity of those only who lived before the flood, turn to Job xv. 14, 15, 16, "What is man, that he should be clean, or he that is born of a woman, that he should be righteous? Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints, yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight; how much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water ?" Our Lord, who perfectly knew what was in man, opens that fountain of corruption, that forge of iniquity-the carnal heart. Mark vii. 21, 22, 23. " For from within, out of the heart of man, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, mur

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ders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness all these evil things come from within, and defile the man." Nor can it be truly said, that some are free from depravity and sin. Every branch from the stock of Adam is corrupt, though every branch does not bring forth the same quantity of bad fruit. For proof of this, look into Rom. iii. 9-12, "What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise; for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin. As it is written, there is none righteous-no, not one; there is none that understandeth: there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way; there is none that doeth good, no, not one."

Examine with care the scriptures just repeated. Here is a painting of man, drawn by hands which could not err! It is not suited to flatter self-love and vanity. Sin does not appear as a slight speck; it is the dark colouring that overspreads the whole piece. Do not turn away with levity or scorn, as if it no way concerned you. I have purposely held up this picture to your view, that you may try if you cannot perceive your own likeness. Yes! you need only look attentively, and you will find every line and every feature, every blot and every blemish, in yourself. We may say of the scriptures, which I have been setting before you, No glass can represent the face More clearly than these words your case.

Chilo, one of the Greek wise men, when he was at the point of death, called his friends to him, and said, he could find nothing to repent of, in all his past life; not one fault, except in a single instance, leaning a little too favourably to a friend

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in judgment. How blind must that man be, who cannot see scarlet! Instead of saying, you see nothing amiss in your past life, while you examine the scriptures, have you not reason to express yourself in the words of Job, "Behold, I am zile!" Are you not fully convinced, that, unless you are washed in the fountain opened for sin and uncleanness, and created anew in the image of Christ, you cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven?

4. The impenitent are in a state of guilt and condemnation.

It is awful to see a man, who has broken the laws of his country, trembling in his chains, as he hears the sentence which declares him guilty. Condemned to die for his crimes, he feels a thousand horrors before the hour of execution comes. But the man is in a far more dreadful condition, whom the sentence of the divine law dooms to eternal misery. God, as a God of justice, will not suffer his authority to be trampled upon by the wicked, without calling them to an account for it. "Sin," says the apostle John, " is the transgression of the law." And God keeps a book of remembrance, in which every vicious deed, every idle word, and every sinful thought, is registered. Now consider that it is said, " Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them." And can you believe this without trembling? Is there nothing to alarm you in the wrath of the Almighty? Can you sleep undisturbed, in carnal ease, while the curse of the most high God hangs over your guilty head? But, perhaps, you think yourself clear of the charge brought against you. When the words of the law are repeated, you are ready to cry, "All these things have I kept from my youth up;" I have never committed theft, adultery, or murder. But is it not possible you may be too hasty in this matter? Take the trouble of weighing what Christ says of the law in Matt. v. 22-35. There you will find, that slightly uttering the name of God is profaneness; a wanton look is adultery; anger, without a just cause, is murder; a grasping eagerness after the world is covetousness and idolatry. By proceeding in this way, you will be convinced, that, although men's notions of duty and sin are very narrow, God's commandments are exceeding broad. If the scriptures are to be believed, it is an undeniable truth, that, by the deeds of the law, shall no man living be justified. Not the least room is left for self-righteous pretences and pleas. Every mouth is stopped, and the whole world is become guilty before God. There is no way of escaping the awful judgments of God, but by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Rom. viii. 1. If you remain still in impenitence and unbelief, you are yet under the curse. "He that believeth not is condemned already, and the wrath of God abideth on him." John iii. 18, 36.

5. The impenitent are in a state of bondage and misery.

How wretched was the condition of the Israelites in Egypt, when they were not only under the iron rod of Pharaoh, the great tyrant, but also under the smarting scourges of those petty tyrants, the task-masters! Well might they sigh and sicken over their hard labours and unpitied woes. But the state of unconverted men is far worse. They sell themselves to do the vilest