die, as many do in a fit of intoxication, what would become of your soul? you know it must be lost for ever. It might easily be proved that sin is a hard service, and that godliness has great rewards in this present life; that the mind, body, and estate are greatly improved by it; and that in short it is the one thing needful to happiness.

That you may be encouraged, my brethren, to make the experiment, as I have shewn you there is no room for despair, so in the second place I shall state to you, also in few words, that there is solid ground of hope for you the Gospel.

in

Why did John preach repentance? Could it be only to call men's sins to remembrance, and to give them pain? Assuredly not: but in order that their sins might be forgiven. It is expressly said, he preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, and to the end that all men might see the salvation of God. And to direct men to the true fountain of forgiveness, he testified of Christ, "Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world."

He is able to take away your sins and mine their power over us, and their impending punishment: "He is exalted a prince and a Saviour,

Saviour, to give repentance and remission of sins." If you believe and embrace his gospel, or joyfully accept this good news, casting your souls upon the truth of it, you will find it to be to you the power of God unto salvation. It will enable or teach you both to will and to do whatever is good and acceptable in his sight. The power of his word will give you victory over your most inveterate habits; it will purify your hearts, reform and regulate your lives, giving you a peace which will make you happy indeed. That these assurances are not from vain imaginations, but are grounded on real facts, can be proved from the effects which the Gospel of Christ hath in every age produced. Among those, who the Apostle Paul saith cannot inherit the kingdom, being unrepentant, he reckons, 1 Cor. vi. 10, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, extortioners. He then adds these remarkable words; "And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."

You will find instances in Scripture of many who obtained mercy, and of a penitent thief, who even at his dying hour received the promise of an entrance into Paradise.

The

The goodness of God herein manifested, is not intended to encourage the presumptuous, but to promote our repentance; and to shew us that in no case, in no situation, is it an impossible work. Would to God that some of you who hear me this day, would set about it; and when you go from this place would be seriously thinking, "What must I do to be saved!" This reflection, duly entered into, might redeem you from many bitter sorrows in this present life, as well as from perdition in the world to come. What pleasure would it afford to every minister of Christ, and to the Church of God, to hear you were thus made wise unto salvation! Nay more, the inhabitants of heaven, the angels of God, would rejoice over you, for

"Pleasure and praise run through God's host,

To see a sinner turn:

Then Satan hath a captive lost,

And Christ a subject born."

Amen.

SERMON X.

Preached at the Presidency Church, Calcutta, 1799, TO THE SOLDIERS OF FORT WILLIAM.

ACTS xvi. 25 to 34. And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed. And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors. open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled. But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here. Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas; And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. And they spake unto him the word

word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway. And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God, with all his house.

OU learn, my brethren, from this history,

YOU

the fate of some of the first ministers of Christ; they were thrown into jail, for preaching the Gospel. But their cause was good, and that comforted them with support and encouragement; therefore, loaded as they were with chains, they sang praises aloud to God.

This may shew you, that happiness does not

depend on a man's outward condition. False accusations, stripes, fetters, and prisons, those dreadful calamities in the eyes of most persons, could not deprive these two good men, Paul and Silas, of their peace and joy.

We find then, that it is possible to secure such a happy state of mind as nothing can destroy: Poverty, pain, oppression, cannot hurt him who has hope in God.

This must be a blessed privilege, and it may be yours: but it is to be particularly observed that these persons took good care by God's

grace,