that God has sent to perishing sinners, has brought a call to repentance. Every instance of the careless and profane cut off by death, is a loud call to the living. Every affliction in your own person, is a call from God to repentance.

Think of the value and duration of the soul. Luther declares this life to be but a little piece of life everlasting. When you have passed over your narrow span of time, you must immediately enter upon a boundless eternity. As you sow in this world, you must reap in that which is to come. While, therefore, I set before you the nature and necessity of repentance, I shall use great plainness of speech. I would keep back nothing that may be profitable to you, but faithfully declare the whole counsel of God. If I make use of strong and pointed language, it is because I most ardently wish to arouse you to a true sense of your danger, and lead you into the way of salvation. Look into the scriptures of the Old Testament, and see with what earnestness and solemnity the prophets exhorted the thoughtless, the worldly-minded, and the wicked, to forsake their sins, and cast themselves upon the mercy of a pardoning God. Look into the New Testament, and see with what plainness, with what melting compassion, with what burning zeal, Christ and his apostles warned the guilty to flee

from the wrath to come, and lay hold on eternal life.

We read in Luke xiii. 1-5. There were present at that season some that told him of the Gali-. leans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering, said unto them, suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you nay: but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above them that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you nay: but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

Here we see how ready men are to put away the weighty concerns of religion from themselves, and think or speak only of other persons. They are willing that blame should be laid any where, rather than at their own doors. They shun the light, and labour to shake off those convictions which begin to trouble the conscience. In this scripture, our Lord directs his piercing words to every heart. He also teaches us the use we ought to make of any remarkable events of providence which take place in the world, and especially in our own neighbourhood. In no part of the Bible is the absolute necessity of repentance more forcibly insisted on than in this

passage. As, however, a man must see his danger before he will inquire for a refuge, and his disease, before he will seek for a remedy, I shall proceed to,

I. Shew the state of the impenitent.

To fix a deeper impression on the mind, the scriptures represent the unconverted by various comparisons. Thus we find, the impenitent described as in a state of spiritual darkness, of distance from God, of deep pollution, of guilt and condemnation, of bondage and misery.

1. The impenitent are in a state of spiritual darkness.

It is said, This is life eternal to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent. But sin is a dark cloud upon the mind, a thick vail drawn over the heart, which excludes the precious light of divine truth. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 1 Cor. ii. 14. To one who is in this state, the clearest displays of the power, wisdom, justice, and goodness of God; and the fullest manifestations of the love, compassion, faithfulness, and glory of Christ, are only as the beauties of a fine prospect to a blind man. While the understanding, which is the window of the mind, remains

shut, all within must be dreary darkness. When there is no motion of love and gratitude in the heart, no breathing of fervent prayer from the lips towards God, the soul is dead in trespasses and sins. How strong, and yet how just is the language of the prophet: Darkness hath covered the earth, and gross darkness the people. What can more truly describe the ignorance and stupidity of the carnal mind, than these words?

And is this, reader, your unhappy state? Be not offended at this serious question, but examine whether it be so or not. It is possible you may be proud of your knowledge, and yet in spiritual matters, continue as blind as the mole that grovels in the earth. The footsteps of God are printed on the works of creation, and yet you do not see those footsteps and admire. The hand of God is stretched out, guiding all the affairs of providence, giving you daily bread and hourly protection, and yet you do not see that hand and thankfully adore. The face of God, the reconciled countenance of the Father, shines as in a glass, in the gospel, and yet you do not see it and heartily rejoice. The unsearchable riches of Christ, and the everlasting glories of heaven, are opened by the promises, and still you neither see their value, nor seek them. Are not these proofs that the understanding is darkened ? Seneca, in a

letter to a friend, says, "My wife keeps a poor silly girl, who all of a sudden lost her sight; and (which may seem incredible, but is very true) she does not know that she is blind; but is every now and then asking her governess to lead her abroad, saying the house is dark. Now what we laugh at in this poor creature, we may observe happens to us all. No man knows that he is covetous or insatiable. Yet with this difference, the blind seek somebody to lead them, but we are content to wander without a guide."

If you behold a man walking unconcerned near the edge of a deep whirlpool, would you not think him blind or mad? Would you not fly to snatch him back from destruction? And what can be a more full proof of spiritual blindness, than a total indifference to the dangers that threaten the soul? If fire comes so near your house or goods, that you have reason to fear they will be consumed, you use every means to secure them. But though the fire of God's wrath is kindling to destroy the soul, you neither dread nor see the danger. If the mind were not grossly darkened, how could you thoughtlessly dance and sport on the borders of the bottomless pit? It is true, light is come into the world, you live amidst the full blaze of gospel day, and yet you love darkness rather than light. O that you knew even in this