precipice you cannot. Step by step you are moving towards the brink. Your feet will soon press the crumbling margin. "O for some guardian angel high!" O for an arm then to cling to! The body sentenced and sealed, for death, cries to you; prepare. The soul reeking with guilt, shuddering at the thought of eternity-cries out, prepare. Conscience, filing already the vials of wrath, cries, prepare. Heaven with its glories, and Hell with all its horrors, cry out prepare; prepare to meet thy God!

SERMON CCCXCIX.

OBSTACLES TO CONVERSION.

"I pray thee have me excused."-LUKE xiv, 18.

There is some reason why every man who hears the gospel is not a Christian. To inquire and ascertain what is the true and exact reason is a matter of solemn importance to each individual. The time and the opportunity for doing this will soon have passed by for ever. "There are many persons who think that they wish to be Christians, and yet feel confident that they are not." Why are they not Christians? What is the obstacle which prevents so many from accepting those terms ef salvation, which God has offered.

1. Is it that God is unwilling to save them? No! No one dares say so, or even think so. God has removed all doubt upon that point, not only by his invitations and entreaties, but also by his unqualified declaration, "as my soul liveth, I have ho pleasure in the death of him that dieth, but that he turn from his way and live."

2. Is it that God has not made suitable provision for the return of all? The atonement, which the Saviour has offered is so ample, that he can say "whosoever cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." Provision is made for all. Salvation is offered to all. Whosoever will believe in the Saviour shall not perish, but have everlasting life.

3. Is it that there are no motives sufficiently powerful to influence to a Christian life? And what more powerful motives can be conceived of than those that are urged upon almost every page of the Bible. Eternal happiness is the reward of obedience-eternal wo, the consequence of continued sin.

4. Is it because the sinner is not elected, that he is not saved? The terms of salvation are offered equally to all. And whoever are willing to accept those terms, is elected to everlasting life. They who will not accept, and they only, will perish. Forgiveness is offered with the utmost sincerity to every one who will repent, and accept forgiveness for the Saviour's sake.

5. Is the sinner unable to repent? Who will venture to accuse God of requiring that of us, which we are unable to perform! Every man's judgment rises up at once and con demns him, if for a moment he tries to palliate continuancein sin, by such a thought. Every one knows not only that he can, but also that he ought to renounce sin, and give his heart to his Maker.

6. Is the duty of repentance neglected because there are no convictions of sin? Where is the heart which has not felt such convictions? Who has not at times felt the reproaches of conscience? Who in truth must not plead guilty to the charge of having often grieved the Spirit away. Oh how importunate has God been in his strivings with us by his Spirit. We have heard his warning voice in every fune ral bell which has tolled-in every dying scene we have witnessed, in every joy that has "crowned our days" and in every pain we have borne. But the voice of conscience we have stifled, and the warnings of the Spirit we have disregarded.

7. Is this world so full of happiness that we have no inducement to look to another world for joy? Every heart knoweth its own bitterness. It is not in poetry alone that this world is described as a "vale of tears." There is in every heart an aching void, which the joys of earth cannot fill. Oh, how constantly is our path through life strewed with disappointed hopes! How often is one almost persua ded to be a Christian.

Why then is it that so many continue unreconciled to God? What are the obstacles so powerful, that the entreaties of God, the sufferings of the Savior-the strivings of the Spirit do not remove them. What is it that can induce a man to neglect religion at the hazard of his soul? The things above enumerated, clearly do not stand in the way. Some of the prominent obstacles we will now mention.

1. An indistinct belief in universal salvation. Many indulge in a vague impression that all will be saved. This lulls them into security. They think of course that no espe cial effort is necessary for salvation. Some openly avow this belief. Others secretly cherish it. But whenever it has any hold upon the heart, it seems to deaden conscience, and to lead one to feel that a life of sin is not inconsistent with eternal happiness in heaven. How often does one ward off the arguments and appeals of the pulpit, by the soothing reply that, live as he may, he will eventually be drawn smoothly and pleasantly to blest abodes. While one cherishes this impression, be it ever so vague, ever so indistinct, it is the most effectual preventitive of contrition for sin and faith in Christ. With thousands it stands in the way of eternal re

demption. Thousands it entices through paths of sinful indulgence to a death-bed of despair and an eternity of wo. They will not enter the door which Christ has opened, because they hope to climb over some other way.

2. Thoughtlessness is another most formidable and most ruinous obstacle. There are thousands in Christian lands, and with intelligent minds, who will never allow themselves time for serious reflection, They enter the church upon the Sabbath, that the sound of the gospel may fall upon the ear, but make no mental effort that its truths may be conveyed to their hearts. They hear the funeral bell, but will not think that they must die. They look upon the cold corps, but will not by reflection make the case their own. They hear of eternity, but will not send the mind in serious thoughto explore its limitless duration, its overwhelming scenes. Most studiously, and most wickedly do they exclude reflect tion, and are borne as bubbles on the deceitful surface of life's gliding stream. O how strange it is that any mind can refrain from reflection, when placed in the scenes which now surround us. Death is certain. The grave is the termination of all our earthly hopes. The trump of the Archangel will soon burst upon the ear. The resurrection morn will soon gleam upon the eye. The eternal glories of heaven will soon fill the heart with rapture, or the glooms of hell, pervade it with undying despair. And yet men will not think! How strange! How incomprehensible! They will not think, and therefore by thousands they are perishing to be eternal outcasts from heaven.

3. A wrong view of the mercy of God is another source of ruin not uncommon in the world. It is not very unusual for persons to think that God is so merciful that he will not be strict in his requirements. But can God receive to heaven those who will not repent of sin, and who will acquire no taste for heaven's purity and heaven's joy. Can those who here never will bow the knee to Jesus; never will speak his praise, be admitted to those blest abodes where he reigns supreme, where every knee bows at the mention of his name and every heart thrills at the remembrance of his love. "I cast myself upon the mercy of God for salvation," said a hardened and impenitent and dying sinner. Oh what infatuation. The goodness of God should lead to repentance; if it does not, it never can be manifested in our salvation. The only way to be saved is the way which God has pointed out. 4. Another obstacle far from uncommon is a desire to obtain a new heart in a different way from that in which alone the Bible assures us a new heart can be obtained. Such persons will wish they were Christians. They will try to feel interested in serious things. They will attend church; go

to funerals, and place themselves under the influence of all the means of grace. They will read the Bible, and occasionally try the efficacy of prayer. And thus they are hoping that they shall eventually obtain a new heart. They will do anything but just that very thing which God tells them to do-" cease to do evil; learn to do well." They will do anything but repent of sin, seek forgiveness in the name of Jesus, and at once commence a life of prayer and of active effort. Thousands thus go on through life. While in this state of mind they know it is sinful, and conscience reproaches them. every day. This is not a state of innocent ignorance. They know that the path to heaven is plain and strait; that we are to make no compromise with sin; that at once we must enter upon all the duties of the Christian life, with prayer for strength to persevere to the end.

5. The unwillingness to give up a worldly spirit is another obstacle which ruins thousands. Every man's common sense teaches him, that supreme attachment to anything of an earthly nature is inconsistent with the requirements of the gospel. Every man in heart knows that if he would be a Christian, he must make it the one great object of life to prepare for heaven and to reclaim a guilty world to God. And in almost every bosom there is a struggle, arduous, though it be hidden, between the claims of religion and the allurements of the world. How often will the ambitious, and the worldly, and the gay, confess the emptiness of their pursuits, and express regret that they are not walking in the Christian's path. Ah, this is the confession, which conscience, that faithful monitor, will at times extort from the tortured bosom. And yet will the infatuated votary of the world glide along, through empty and heartless joys, till the lamenta tions is upon his lips, "the harvest is past, the summer is ended, and I am not saved."

6. Pride, or an unwillingness to confess being in the wrong, is another obstacle which ruins thousands. Nothing is harder for the unsubdued heart, than the sincere open confession of having lived in sin, and of needing forgiveness. The attitude which the sinner assumes practically and really is, that God must confess that he has been wrong in his requirements, and yield to the stubborness of the sinner's heart. But few have the hardihood to say this in words, while thousands have the effrontery to exhibit it in their lives. Every man who does not cry for mercy is exhibiting this feeling to God. It is impossible to deceive our own hearts by denying this, for we must either admit that we have done wrong, or accuse God of injustice in requiring contrition and confession. This pride of heart must be subdu ed, even to the lowly spirit of a little child, or there can be no admission to God's court above.