ing towards a similar fall? What better prospect has he, who, in a season of the outpouring of the Spirit, or upon a sick bed, mourns over the sins of his past life, lifts his warning voice to his companions in iniquity, and calls for the Christians whom he once despised, to instruct him and pray for him; but when the season of general stupidity returns, or health is restored, is ashamed of what he calls his weakness, pronounces it a delusion, joins with his old companions in making a moek of the warnings he gave them, shuns the Chrirtians who remind him of his prayers and promises, and at length settles down into a state worse than the first?

REMARKS.

From the view which has been taken of this subject, it follows very obviously, that to be almost a Christian will not save the soul. There are many who rest contented with making some approach toward the Christian character, and feel a degree of complacency, in being not far from the kingdom of heaven. But no promise of salvation is made to such. Christ has not pronounced them blessed. Into the region in which they dwell, though ever so near his kingdom, there shines no cheering light from his countenance—no beam of hope from the Sun of Righteousness.

By none of the remarks that have been made on the subject of indecision, have I intended to intimate that they who thus hesitate, are standing on neutral ground, where they are neither the friends nor the enemies of God, and where they have as little to fear from his wrath as to hope from his favor. The Bible acknowledges no such neutrality of state and character. From its whole tenor, and its explicit declarations, it is as clear as any truth that ever came from heaven, that he who is not with Christ is against him, and must take his eternal portion with all that are against him. The contending principles and emotions in the man we have been contemplating the conflicts between his conscience and heart-his fluctuations between duty and inclination-between God and the world, life and death, are only aggravations of his guilt. And beneath them there is a strong current, like one of those beneath the tumultuous waves of the ocean:-a current that is bearing him along in no uncertain direction, and to no uncertain end. And toward that fearful end, his course is no less rapid than direct.

It is vain for men to think of keeping destruction at a distance, and keeping the uplifted arm of vengeance long suspended, by wavering, and hesitating, and deferring the time of decision:vain indeed to think of delaying the hour of their doom, by delaying that of their promised repentance. While they stand doubting as to their choice between life and death, the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that come upon them make haste. They may linger, but their "judgment lingereth not;" they may slumber, but their "damnation slumbereth not." And will it not be dreadful to perish, after having been almost a Christian ?-dreadful to go down to the world of darkness by that path

which lies nearest the regions of light? Think you, that to have been almost a Christian on earth will take from the lost sinner, the bitterness of misery? Will not this nearness to salvation tend rather to enhance the awfulness of final ruin? To enjoy so much divine illumination, as clearly to see the path of life, and readily to acknowledge the obligation to walk in it, and to feel so strongly the numerous motives inviting and impelling towards it, and the influences of the Spirit pressing these motives—to feel these so strongly as to make a near approach to heaven's gate; and then after all to turn back, or to stand there till it be closed for ever-ah! this must prepare the soul for aggravated misery. Το go, as it were, to the top of Calvary, ponder upon its divine wonders, contemplate the Lamb of God in his dying agonies, and feel the mind overawed at the sight, and the heart almost melted into penitence, and almost kindled into love,—and still to hesitate, and to reject the great salvation-ah! this is trampling under foot the blood of atonement, and incurring that sorer punishment due to such guilt. And if, in the dark world of wo, any forlorn wretch will be stung to the heart with a keener feeling of anguish than all others, will it not be the man, who on earth came nearest to the kingdom of heaven-and then lost it, for want of one decisive step? As he calls to mind the unnumbered mercies here enjoyed -the oft repeated proffers of salvation here slighted; and as he lifts his weeping eye to that world of glory above,-O, with what bitterness of spirit-with what sinking and dying of the heart within him, will he exclaim, "Time was when I bid fair for a seat in yonder region-when I was well nigh an heir to that incorruptible inheritance; I did but just miss the path to those realms of light and life everlasting,-just fail of being one in that happy company around the throne of God; I had my hand almost upon a crown like one of theirs; a little more, and now, instead of wailing here among the lost, I had been singing there among the redeemed!" O, that little more !-it will bite like a serpent, and sting like an adder. Surely, to be sinking for ever in the bottomless pit, must be damnation enough without the everlasting recollection of having plunged from the threshold of heaven!

It is time then, my hearers, to have done for ever with merely supposing religion to be important, and coldly wishing that its spirit and its blessings were ours, and almost resolving to obtain them. It is no time to hesitate, when all is at stake; no time to delay our choice between life and death, when that day may come unawares which will take this question out of our hands, and decide it for us, and decide that we are undone for eternity. Let us then rise at once to the high and holy resolution, of being, not only almost, but altogether Christians, and devoting ourselves, with our whole heart, to the service of our divine Lord and Redeemer. This life is so short and uncertain-the life to come is so long and so sure-the work assigned to this transient state is so momentous-so great is the hazard of delay-the consequence of failure is so woful-and so glorious the reward of successthat the wise man will tremble at one wasted hour. He will give

himself no rest, till the great question of life and death is settled, as he would wish to have it settled for ever. Every wise man will make this his first business; and he that is wise, is wise for himself, while he that scorneth, he alone must bear it. Yes,-he must bear it, and bear it alone for ever.

"While God invites, how blessed the day!
How sweet the gospel's charming sound!
Come, sinners, haste, Oh, haste away,
While yet a pardoning God he's found.

"Soon, borne on time's most rapid wing,
Shall death command you to the grave;
Before his bar your spirits bring,
And none be found to hear, or save.

"In that lone land of deep despair,
No Sabbath's heavenly light shall rise;
No God regard your bitter prayer,
Nor Savior call you to the skies.

"No wonders to the dead are shown,
The wonders of Redeeming love;

No voice his glorious truth makes known,
Nor sings the bliss of climes above."

PROVERBS, XXVII. 19.—As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of

man to man.

THIS text has received various interpretations; but there is among them one, more generally approved by the friends of truth than any other; and which it would seem to me, is its plain and obvious meaning :—As a man looking into the water, (used anciently as a mirror,) sees there an exact transcript of his own countenance, so every heart has by nature precisely the same moral character with every other unsanctified heart. However men may differ, as to the circumstances of their being as to their age, country, habits, and education-still every child of Adam, till renewed by divine grace, has, in the view of Omniscience, the same moral aspect.

Many, who still wish to be considered believers in divine revelation, have asserted, that the parts of Scripture, which give unregenerate men a deformed and polluted character, are not applicable to men of the present day. When Paul says of the unregenerate world, and quotes the saying from another inspired author, “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; they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one; their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips; whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known; there is no fear of God before their eyes" ;-when he says all this, it is roundly denied that in civilized lands-lands enlightened and polished--there can be found beings of so barbarous a character. It may possibly suit the Turk, the Arab, and the Tartar; and may be adapted to some few outcasts in more favoured lands; but as a general description of unregenerate men, it is rejected with proud disdain.

In this style the Bible has of late been rudely mangled, till many feel themselves quite at liberty to deny the application to themselves of any text that would go to neutralize their creed, or wound their high sense of the dignity of human nature. It is hence considered important to show,

That men, in all countries and ages, and under every variety of customs and manners, have had, and continue still to have, naturally, the same moral character.

This doctrine it will be my object to illustrate. But I shall first notice some of the circumstances which have contributed to make men differ in their conduct, who have by nature the same moral character.

In the first place, grace has made a wide difference in men who were by nature alike. This has been the case in most countries, and in all ages, since God first set up his church in the family of Adam.

In the second place, the difference in the instinctive passions and affections has made men to differ in their conduct.

In the third place, some have not the talents for doing mischief that others have. This one cause may operate, when there is no other, to produce the greatest difference of conduct, where there is the same temper of heart.

In the fourth place, some have not the opportunity to do mischief that others have. There may be the disposition, and the talents for gigantic iniquity, but opportunity may be wanting. Nero and Julian had the opportunity, while many a wretch during their reign, possessing perhaps equal talents, obtained no celebrity in the service of their infernal master. There are men base enough to burn a world, who will die after having done but little mischief.

I remark, finally, that one man may achieve less mischief than another, because more restrained. One man is held back from iniquity by his conscience. In another, pride prevents him from descending to the deeds of sin which he would love to do. In another, interest is the restraining principle. Hence the most decent among all the ungodly, may have a heart that will compare in its every feature, with that of the thief, the robber, and the assassin; though restrained from their deeds of death.

Having thus noticed some of the circumstances which have made men to differ in their conduct and appearance, who have by nature the same character of heart, I proceed to illustrate the doctrine, That men, in all ages, and under every variety of customs and manners, have had, and still continue to have, naturally, the same moral character.

1. We might infer the truth of this doctrine, prior to any argument, from the similarity of origin, aspect, and general habits, that belong to all ages and all nations of men. All men sprang from the same first parents; in their veins flows the same blood; they have the same general spirit; feed on the same food; and have all naturally the same general habits; and prior to any extraneous applications, have, as we analogically infer, the same temper of heart. For the same reason that we expect to find the lamb and the dove harmless, and the lion and tiger ferocious, through all their generations, and in all countries where they are found; we expect man to be, in the temper of his heart, the same in all ages and in all nations. When we have settled the point that the human family are all of one species, analogy so far decides the truth of our doctrine, as to cast the burden of proof on those who venture to deny it. But there is on this subject more direct and positive testimony. I would then remark,

2. That we can hardly fix our eye on any individual or community of antiquity, but we can find its exact resemblance, in some individual or community with whose character we are familiar. I shall make my selections chiefly