a secret and invisible kind, known only to the party by whom they are felt. There is a court constantly sitting within, from whose jurisdiction the criminal can plead no exemption, and from whose presence he cannot fly there is evidence produced against him which he can neither disprove nor evade; and there a just sentence is not only passed, but forthwith executed upon him, by the infliction of torments severe and poignant as the strokes of whips or scorpions: torments, exquisite in proportion to the sensibility of the part affected; torments, of which he sees the beginning, but is never likely to see the end. Trust not to appearances. Men are not what they seem. In the brilliant scenes of splendour and magnificence, of luxury and dissipation, surrounded by the companions of his pleasures and the flatterers of his vices, amidst the flashes of wit and merriment, when all wears the face of gaiety and festivity, the profligate often reads his doom, written by the hand whose characters are indelible. Should he turn away his eyes from beholding it, and succeed in the great work during the course of his revels, yet the time will come, when from scenes like these he must retire, and be alone and then, as Dr. South states the question, in a manner not to be answered, "What is "all that a man can enjoy in this way for a week, a month, or a year, compared with what he feels for one hour, when his conscience shall take him aside, "and rate him by himself?"

There is likewise another hour which will come, and that soon-the hour when life must end; when the accumulated wealth of the East and the West,

with all the assistance it is able to procure, will not be competent to obtain the respite of a moment; when the impenitent sinner will be called-and must obey the call to leave every thing, and give up his accounts to his Maker, of the manner in which he has spent his time and employed his talents.-Of what is said by such at that hour, we know not much. Care is generally taken that we never should. Of what is thought, we know nothing.-O merciful God, grant that we never may !

It will still be alleged, perhaps, that instances are not wanting of the worst of men, in principle and practice, going out of life with no less composure than the best. I believe these instances to be very rare indeed. But admit the allegation, that there are some; what do they prove? What can they prove? Why, certainly, unless all that has been conceived and uttered by the wise and good of every age concerning God and religion, right and wrong, virtue and vice, truth and falsehood-unless all this be a mere dream, they can prove only that such persons die in a state of ignorance, stupidity, or judicial blindness, with hardened hearts and seared consciences. When the drunkard ceases to feel in the morning the usual pains and penalties of his last night's debauch, he fancies the strength of his constitution has triumph. ed over the mischief of intemperance, and that the bitterness of death is past. Alas, poor man! the fact is, that his constitution, by his ill treatment of it, has lost the sense of natural good and evil, implanted in it for its preservation; he has no longer that motive left to reformation, and is therefore seal

VOL. III.

R

ed up to perdition, which is coming upon him, fierce, speedy, and irresistible, like an armed man.

But however, by habits either of sensuality or infidelity, the conscience may be drugged and laid asleep in this world, let it not be forgotten, that (whether some men believe so much or not) there is another world beyond this, in which it must awake and sleep no more. And if in this world some sins are punished, as we have assurance they are, while others of far greater magnitude and more atrocious guilt are permitted to go unpunished, it will follow, by a consequence which the wit of man cannot gainsay should he study for a thousand years to do it, that such sins, not being punished here, will most inevitably be punished there. Else were God unrighteous indeed!-As touching the nature of those after-punishments, I shall only say (the misgivings and forebodings of him who has deserved them will speak the rest), that they are such as will be inflicted, after the expiration of the day of mercy, by inexorable justice and almighty power.

We have taken a view of the evil to be avoided by repentance. It consists in the temporal judgements of God, the terrors of a guilty conscience, and the pains of eternal death.

1. The good to be obtained needeth only to be mentioned in very few words. It must have offered itself to your thoughts as we passed along, branching into these opposite particulars

The light of heaven shining upon our tabernacle, the divine favour attending us and ours through every stage of our existence, sanctifying pro

sperity, which by the displeasure of God may be rendered a curse, and turning adversity itself into a blessing, while it becomes an instrument to rectify the disorders of our minds, to soften the few hard places remaining in our hearts, to smooth and lay even the little roughnesses in our tempers; thus gradually and gently preparing us for our departure hence, and fitting us for the company, to which we are going, of "the spirits of just inen made perfect."

-The answer of a good conscience, diffusing peace and serenity over all the powers and faculties of the soul, refreshing like the dew falling on the top of Hermon, exhilarating as the fragrance of the holy oil descending from the head of Aaron; sweetening the converse of society and the charities of active life, and affording, in retirement and solitude, pleasures concealed from the world around us, joys in which "a stranger intermeddleth not;" enlivening the morning, brightening the noon, and gilding the evening of our days; effecting what is so difficult to be effected, and what nothing else can effect, at once making life pleasant, and death desirable, as leading to something still superior to all we feel here below.

-The reward in heaven, the glory that shall be revealed, to be known only when it shall be revealed; the bliss without alloy and without end, which he cannot conceive who has not experienced, and which he who has experienced can find no human language able to express.

Such evil is to be avoided, and such good to be obtained by repentance, that plank remaining to a shipwrecked world, on which alone we can escape to

the haven of rest. All have sinned, and therefore, in order to be saved, all must repent. It is surely the least they can do; and to those who do this, through faith in the blood of Christ purifying the conscience from sins past, and the power of the Spirit of Christ supporting and carrying them on for the time to come, exceeding great and precious promises, comprehending and confirming all that has been advanced, are made in every part of Scripture, which before this audience there is no occasion to recite.

III. Some short rules shall be laid down for the conduct of our repentance through the several parts of which, under the first head of this discourse, we have shown it to be composed; that so it may be made to answer the character already given of its power and efficacy under the second.

1. Stifle not convictions. The world, through all its vicissitudes, natural, political, and moral, the casualties of youth, and the increasing infirmities of age, is full of warnings and admonitions. Day unto day showeth this speech, night unto night uttereth this knowledge. We hear, but resolve to forget. Many of the employments and most of the amusements of life are engaged in, that man may fly from himself and from his own thoughts. Attend to every suggestion of this salutary kind, from what quarter soever it may proceed; attend, and slight it not. It is the voice of God calling you to repentance. Listen and obey.

2. Be serious. The subject will cause any man to become so who considers it as he ought to do; who reflects what sin is in the sight of God, what sorrows it occasioned to the Son of God, what destruction it