cetious in their recreations, you see but a partial view of their character, when God and futurity are absent from the mind. Be assured, they are as far from real happiness as yourselves. See them when their wishes are frustrated, when their pride is mortified, and you hear them blaspheming one another with a fury like demons; or see them pursuing their lusts, to the utter ruin of unprotected innocence, and say, whether they can be happy who make others miserable? Look at their end, when vice has superinduced disease, and rendered them incapable of pleasure. Their families conceal them in their chambers, lest the alarming situation of their minds should transpire, and lest any one should speak to them concerning religion. A wretch in this situation is abandoned by all his voluptuous companions; or should a few have the hardness to see the termination of a sinful life, it is but to increase his wretchedness by false and delusive hopes. "Have a good heart," say they; "keep up your spirits, you will soon recover." And when they are re

"alas! poor man, If this man take a scenes he once en

tired from his chamber, they say, he is not long for this world!" view of the gay and pleasurable joyed, they do but increase his misery, for he cannot enjoy them now; and if he look forward to futurity, the very thought is insupportable. He sinks between these precipices, like a man in an earthquake, and the rocks falling on both sides, complete his destruction. From this inundation of vice and misery there is no retreat, but to the ark of Jesus Christ; for all shall perish who are not encircled with his arms.

Be not discouraged, nor say, as many do, that you cannot resist the force of temptation, and refrain from sin, for that were to charge your folly upon your maker. Honor and politeness do, on a thousand occasions, restrain men from sin, which proves that God hath not forsaken them, and that by watchfulness and prover they might refrain on all occasions. That the

depravity might be no excuse for sin, the Lord

restored the freedom of the will, and exalted

fallen man again by the grace of the new covenant, to a state of probation. His Spirit strives with man, and convinces him of sin. One, two, or five talents are delivered to all his servants; and the gospel is sent to every creature. The grace of God, that bringeth salvation to all men, hath appeared, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly desires, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. If our nature incline us to sensuality, anger, and pride, the motions of his grace incline us to meekness, purity, and love. If the example of bad men prompts us to vice, the example of good men prompts us to virtue. If evil angels tempt and seduce us to sin, good angels are ever ready to warn us, and retrieve us from it. Were it not in consideration of this moral liberty, it would be absurd to call the blind to see, the deaf to hear, and the dead to awake. And, that this grace is given in sufficient proportion for the restoration of holiness, is manifest from universal experience. Jews, heathens, and Christians, have served God in the most perilous times and profligate courts hence, if we do perish, our ruin is not to be attributed to any imaginary decrees, to the fall of Adam, or the force of temptation; it is because we reject the counsel of God against ourselves. Freewill, through grace, and universal redemption, are taught by common consent among the fathers. They know nothing of fate and necessity, or of absolute predestination, doctrines which chill the soul of active virtue, and are shameful libels on the moral and gracious economy of providence.

The human nature being so for ennobled, as fo be raised again to a state of probation, and infinity of happiness or misery have their centre in every man's bosom; and he is now called upon to make his choice, whether he will have Christ and his cross here, and glory hereafter; or whether he will remain the dupe of sin and delusive happiness, till he falls under the

weight of folly and vice, and under the frowns of Almighty God. To hesitate is a crime, and finally to reject the gospel is the consummation of guilt. If these truths have met your thoughts, and moved your heart; if they have revived or added to your former good impressions, beware of losing them as heretofore. Let the tear flow; let the heart relieve itself in the sweetness of contrition, and by earnest supplication to God. Retire to your closet, and there, on your bended knees, enter into covenant with your maker. Yes, by a noble effort of the soul, which angels shall admire, and heaven applaud, resolve at once to disengage yourself from all the ensnarements of vice, and to dedicate all your future life to God, according to the doctrine and example of his Son Jesus Christ. Some who are disposed to a holy life suffer much perplexity for want of proper ideas concerning the nature and necessity of the new birth, which is the gate of life, and the only way to the kingdom. Many, in reading the scriptures, in a manner overlook it; and propose, by abstaining from sin, and living righteously, to obtain the divine favor. This is depending on our own good endeavors for justification; or at least, it is associating them with the merits of Christ, which is highly improper. All that a sinner can do, is to use the grace he has received of the Lord; for who can bring a clean thing cut of an unclean! or how can the defiled prepare themselves for the bosom of the Just and Holy One? We must therefore receive the Holy Spirit, to be in us a principle of regeneration, that we may be made partakers of the divine nature, and renewed after the image of Christ in righteousness and true holiness. By grace we are saved through faith; and that not of ourselves, it is of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. Thus, except a man be born of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

Come, then, with a humiliating sense of your sinand misery, and of a total inability to help

Take a view of the Lord Jesus Christ as

willing and able to save you to the uttermost, and cast your soul on his merits in some such words as these: for "the point of importance is, the inward disposition of the mind; where the dependence for pardon and holiness is really placed; not what the language is in which men express themselves."*

[An act of faith, or confidential prayer.]

O most gracious, adorable, and glorious Redeemer! thy poor fallen creature, unable to hold out any longer against thy truth and grace, presumes to come and prostrate at thy door! Have compassion upon me according to the bowels of thy mercy, and abundant loving kindness. I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight! sinned times without number against thy light and love, and have no refuge but thine open arms. If thou cast me off, I am lost and undone for ever! If thou hide thy face, darkness is my dwelling, and anguish my abode. But, O most compassionate High Priest! who art touched with the feeling of all my infirmities, remember, I beseech thee, all thy grief and pain, and anguish and death for me; and all thy train of mercies towards a sinner long sought, and long pursued. Emboldened by these, I come and fall at thy feet. Look on thine agony, and give me peace; on thy sorrows, and wipe away my tears; on thy wounds, and heal my broken heart. Let not Satan exult in taking the prey from the hand of the mighty; nor let the corruption of my nature be stronger than the power of thy grace. O Lord, in defiance of my unbelief, I acknowledge thy willingness to save a sinful worm. The shedding of thy blood demonstrates thy willingness to wash away my sins; the laying down of thy life, convinces me how willing thou art I should live; and the extending of thy arms, proves thy readiness to receive me to the bosom of thy everlasting love. Thy promises and invitations are for the weary and heavy laden, for the poor and wretched, for the halt and the blind. They

*Wilberfoce's Practical View, &c.

all identify my state, and ensure to me the blessing O most compassionate High Priest! I here come in thine own appointed way: I come guilty to receive a pardon; miserable, to obtain mercy; and wretched, to be made happy. I come a poor captive to be liberated; helpless and empty, to be filled with thy power and grace; and loaded with sin, to embrace thy justifying favor. Here I fall at thy feet, and would prostrate with greater humility; I would grieve with a deeper compunction; but let the cloud of thy merits cover mine infirmities, and the delays of justice yield to the entreaties of thy mercy. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all my transgressions; and for the glory of thy great rame, "let it be unto me according to thy word."

While the secrets of your heart are disclosed in this manner, at the throne of grace, it will not-it cannot be long before your soul is brought into liberty. The Father of mercies cannot behold your distress from the highest heavens, aud forget his compassion. The Saviour cannot see your sorrows, and hear your groans, and forget his agony in the garden, and all his sufferings on the cross. He suspends the blessing only till your heart is prepared to receive it: and whenever that is the case, the love of God shall be shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Ghost. Then you are born of God, and made a partaker of that holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. But should the blessing be delayed, let not your hopes fail. Wait for it in the frame already described; wait with earnest expectation, and with a grateful patience, that your state is not worse; and as the sun breaks forth on a dark and cloudy day, so will the Lord surprise you with a visit of his love, and lift upon you the light of his countenance. Or should you be weak in faith, and favored only with the drawings of the Spirit, and with intervals of lucid hope; or at most, "o more than the momentary glows of God's not dispirited, for you may yet attain to the of the fulness of Christ. You are not to hide