things I ever heard in my life. Open and explain to me these doctrines at large. There is no time to be lost. If there is a judgment to come, how shall I give up my account? How can I be pardoned and accepted? Unhappy Felix! instead of taking this method, he said, Go thy way for this time, and when I have a more convenient season I will send for thee. "Many," says an old divine, "are glad to get rid of the shaking ague, though it should leave them in a deep decline." While Paul was relating his own conversion, Agrippa cried, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. O beware you do not act over again the foolish part of Felix, and the timid, halting part of Agrippa. If you flee from the avenger of blood, and stop short, though but a few steps from the Refuge, you will be assuredly apprehended and punished. O do not trifle with eternal things, or labour to smother those convictions which sometimes seize the conscience. Do not throw down the book which makes you uneasy, or shun the face of a faithful reprover. It is to avoid present pain, that many rush into eternal punishment. To imagine you can gain ease by mixing with the giddy multitude, is quite as absurd as to think of healing a wound by laying on a plaster before the thorn is removed.

4. Do not rest contented with what the world calls morality.

This is too often put in the place of repentance. Many build up a wall, and daub it with untempered mortar, and because it looks well, conclude all is safe. Ezek. xiii. 10, 11. But as the materials are bad, and the foundation sandy, however it may be plastered and adorned, when

the sapping rains descend and the violent winds blow, it will fall, and bury the foolish builders under its ruins. If you seem troubled about your sins, and the prospect of future misery, false teachers will tell you to live a good life, and make yourself quite easy. But the apostles always directed sensible, inquiring sinners at once to Christ. You have no hope left you, but what is centred in Christ. You must renounce your own, to trust in his righteousness. You must determine to know nothing, save Jesus Christ and him crucified. All, who are forgiven, are forgiven for Christ's sake. All, who are accepted, are accepted in the Beloved. "As God spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, he will with him freely give us all things." Rom. viii. 32. But without Christ, he will bestow nothing. Do not think God will sell you eternal blessings for your poor maimed moral duties. "By grace are ye saved." Eph. ii. 8. Neither think that you can make yourself fit to come to Christ. If you come at all you must come as you are. Suppose, as a good writer observes, a man to be lame and wounded, would it not be absurd to recommend him to enter the service of some great prince, to run his errands, and do his work? Ought he not first to be led to a skilful surgeon, to have his wounds cleansed and healed? Thus a sinner must be brought to repentance, before he can be trained to obedience. A moral life can only flow from a renewed heart. Elijah, says Boston, would have done the inhabitants of Jericho but little good, had he purified the bad water contained in all the vessels of their eity, if he had not cast his salt into the spring, Let your constant cry be, "Lord, save me, or I perish." Plead for the forgiveness of sins, through the atonement of Christ, and seek an inheritance among the saints. Pray to be justified freely, and sanctified wholly, by the rich grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Do not begin to make excuses. Now hath God granted to the Gentiles repentance unto life. May you rejoice in this grant, and live the rest of your time to him who died for you.

CHAP. III.

ON THE NECESSITY OF REPENTANCE.

It was necessary I should first tell you wherein true repentance consists. As a mistake on this point is dangerous, you ought to have right ideas of it; the most forcible addresses will otherwise be like arrows shot at random. If you are convinced, that repentance is a thorough change of mind, let me entreat you to consider how necessary it is. When I attempt to reason with you, every page of scripture will furnish me with arguments. When I make a solemn appeal, I hope conscience will rise up as a witness within, and declare the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. When I try to persuade you, surely your own best interests should lead you to lend a willing ear to one, who has no end to answer but the promotion of your own welfare. The cause which I plead is of infinite importance. I shew you the necessity of that repentance, to which the gospel calls you. You may not give up all thoughts of it, but yet determine to look to worldly things for the present. "And what is it that thou dost count necessary? Is thy bread necessary? Is thy breath necessary? Then thy conversion is much more necessary. Indeed this is the one thing needful. Thine estate is not necessary; thou mayest sell all for the pearl of great price, and yet be a gainer by the purchase, Matt. xiii. 46. Thy life is not necessary; thou mayest part with it for Christ to infinite advantage. Thy reputation is not necessary; thou mayest be reproached for the name of Christ, and yet be happy; yea, much happier in reproach than in repute. 1 Peter iv. 14. Matt. v. 10. But thy conversion is necessary." - See Alleine's Alarm.

I would therefore address you as Moses did Israel, "Set thine heart to all the words that I testify unto thee this day, for it is not a vain thing, it is thy life."

I. I shall endeavour to prove, that repentance is absolutely, universally, and immediately necessary. 1. Repentance is absolutely necessary. Without it heaven cannot be obtained, nor hell avoided. If these can be made to appear undeniable points, other arguments can scarcely be needed for this part of the subject.

Without repentance, it is impossible to obtain heaven. Heaven is a place of pure and perfect happiness, for which there must be a suitable preparation. The apostle speaks of " being made meet to become partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light." But to suppose there can be a fitness for heaven while you remain in a state of impenitence, is as absurd as to think a building can be finished before the first foundation stone is laid. Every creature is suited to its own element. A fish cannot live in the air, nor a bird in the water. Take a carnal man into the company of the pious, and he is miserable, because out of his own element. Accustomed to foolish and filthy talking, he has no ear for wisdom and instruction. Blinded with the glitter of vanity, he cannot discern the beauty of holiness. Feeding on the dry husks and dregs of the world, he has no taste for what is pure and spiritual. He has taught his tongue to speak lies and oaths, but