1. What a waste of mercy is the Lord continually bestowing upon heedless and ungrateful Man!

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It is not merely, that he has given us one Bible, as a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our paths." It is not merely, that he has once "sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him." It is not merely, that he has "set before us life and death, blessing and cursing," with liberty to choose for ourselves. Not satisfied with this, his Spirit comes unseen, by day and by night, to admonish us of our danger, and to press upon our acceptance the means of escape. And will there be no account required of these acts of goodness, if, through our " pride," they be finally disregarded?-God, my brethren, doeth nothing in vain His long-suffering earnestness, if it save you not, must be added to the burden of your debts, "the last farthing" of which will be exacted in the prison of hell.

2. How futile is the Infidel's hope, that, by burning his Bible, despising God's Ministers, and keeping aloof from the house of God, he can rid himself of the fears of an Eternity to come!

Can God himself be shaken off so easily? Will sinful pleasure altogether drown his voice? Do you never perceive its whisperings, in the chamber of sickness, in solitude, in adversity, in accidental encounter with those who fear God, and who will speak on his behalf? And what if your mental

not.

intoxication, through his righteous anger, should continue to the last day of life? That day, you well know, must arrive; and with it, the Voice which will make itself heard. Well,' you say, 'it will be time enough then to attend to it!' Perhaps "He that, being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy." God is "reproving" you at this moment-and you know it! Perhaps you laugh at it. But "can thine heart endure, and can thine hands be strong, in the day when he shall deal with thee" for this wilful contempt?

3. What cheering news does this subject bring to the desponding, the guilty, the contrite mourner over sins, of which the remembrance is grievous' to him, and the burden of them intolerable!'

Who told thee that thou wast a sinner? Who sent thee that "instruction" in his word, " opened thine ears" to receive it, and "sealed" it on thy heart by his Spirit? This Scripture gives the answer; and it tells thee, moreover, that He has been always far more ready to "speak," than thou to "perceive." And will he who speaks so kindly and so often, not hearken to thee in return? Try him, I beseech you, without delay. As he hath reminded you of his recorded threatenings, go and remind him of his recorded promises. See if you cannot "withdraw him from his purpose of anger, by pleading the Name of "Jesus Christ the

righteous." No one ever yet found him an unwilling listener to that plea. Nor shall you: "you shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble. It shall come to pass, that, before you call, he will answer, and while you are yet speaking, he will hear."

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SERMON XX.*

PSALM XXXIX. 12, 13.

Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were. Oh, spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more!

'HERE is a melancholy subject,' you will say; 'ill suited to the festivities by which we at this time welcome "the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." Be it so, my brethren; yet, let me tell you, it will be better for us to go to the house of such mourning, than to many a house of feasting. If I am not mistaken, we shall more surely meet with Jesus here, than in those scenes of boisterous revelry and carnal indulgence, by which men profess to honour Him who was "manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil." It seems, indeed, to be by the peculiar providence of God, that the very

* Preached on New Year's Day.

same season which tells of "life and immortality brought to light" by the Redeemer's advent, almost immediately reminds us that "the world is passing away, with the lusts thereof." While others, therefore, thoughtlessly hail the commencement of a new year, let me invite you, with these concluding verses of a funeral Psalm, to attend the obsequies of the year that is just expired; that we may there learn who is our best Friend for the time to come.

The words of David are a pathetic address to that Friend; in meditating upon which, you will do well to notice-1. The Manner of it; 2. The Occasion of it; and 3. The Object of it: that is, How he prays, why, and for what, he prays. Observe, first,

I. THE MANNER OF DAVID'S ADDRESS to his heavenly Father. "Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears."

1. Here is Faith in this prayer. David is evidently walking with an unseen God; and, though unseen, he addresses him with the full persuasion that he does not speak to the winds, but to One who can and will hear him. And this persuasion is essential to real supplication. David would never have entreated God to "hear" what he calls his prayer, had he been conscious that he was merely discharging a formal and customary