Christ addresses to sinners, not to fill them with unnecessary terrors, not to destroy their comfort and their happiness, but to awaken them to attend to the things which belong to their peace, before they are for ever hidden from their eyes-to arouse them to seek the Lord while he may be found, to call upon him while he is near. Jesus Christ, ever prosecuting his purposes of mercy, seeks, by these threatenings, to excite those whom promises and invitations cannot allure, to give him admission into their souls.

Not only by the instructions, the promises, and the threatenings of his word, but by the checks and warnings of conscience and his Holy Spirit, does he seek to induce us to open our hearts to him, to yield him homage and obedience. Every reflection which arises in our minds on the guilt and danger of our evil ways; every apprehension of future wrath; every emotion of sensibility to the exercises and joys of religion; every desire after the favour of God; every sentiment of sorrow for having offended him; every resolution to return to that God and Saviour whom, by our sins, we have so greatly offended; all these are the gracious applications to us, by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, to open our hearts to him, our Lord and Master, our compassionate Saviour, our best Friend.

By the ministrations, and by the sacraments of his church, does this benevolent Redeemer, never weary in his work of mercy, seek to accomplish the same gracious purpose.

In the sanctuary, his gracious voice is heard, beseeching us to turn from our evil ways, and to be reconciled unto God. In the preaching of the word, we are presented with a view of the guilt, the

misery, the corrupting bondage of sin, contrasted with the exalted purity and joy of a conscience cleansed from guilt by the mercy, and redeemed from sin by the grace of Christ, we behold displayed the glory of the Saviour's character, his tenderness, his compassion, his long-suffering, his numberless and unparalleled acts of love to us, his willingness and his power to save. Through every avenue the Saviour has sought to gain admission into our hearts.

Hear him addressing us in those services of the sanctuary, by which, confessing our sins, supplicating his grace and mercy, and proclaiming his praise, we may obtain his favour. Hear him calling us, in . the sacrament of baptism, to forsake a world which lieth in wickedness and is obnoxious to the wrath of God, and to enter into the fold of salvation, that holy church where forgiveness of sins is extended to the penitent, and mercy and grace dispensed to the believing and obedient. He calls us in this holy sacrament to forsake a state of sin and death, and to make our abode in that Zion which is none other than the house of God and the gate of heaven, and which prepares its faithful members for exchanging the imperfect praises of an earthly sanctuary for the pure, and full, and endless songs of the blest in the temple above, the celestial Zion. Thus born of water and of the Holy Ghost in baptism, made members of Christ, children of God, and heirs of the kingdom of heaven, he provides for our renewing by the Holy Ghost, for our effectual and continual death unto sin, and new birth unto righteousnes. In the apostolic ordinance of confirmation, the laying on of hands, he calls us to assume our baptismal engagements, to die to sin

and to rise again to righteousness, that thus our souls, established in holiness, may be made meet for him to dwell in, and prepared for the glories of our heavenly inheritance. And here, by the chief minister of his church, he assures the humble and the faithful of his favour and goodness to them, and renewedly pledges to them the strengthening influences of the Holy Ghost the Comforter. In the sacrament of the supper, showing him forth as the Lamb of God slain for us, he beseeches us, by his agony and bloody sweat, by his cross and passion, by his precious death, by his glorious resurrection, to open our souls to him, that he may wash them from sin, that he may nourish and strengthen them to everlasting life. Blessed Jesus! innumerable are the ways by which thou dost display thy forbearance and compassion towards us, by which thou dost sue for admittance into our guilty souls. Thou dost stand at the door of our hearts and knock, not as a stern and rigorous sovereign demanding admittance, but as a tender and compassionate friend, whose importunate solicitations increase even with the increase of our insensibility and provocations. Thy gracious voice is heard in the blessings and in the chastisements of thy providence, in the instructions, the promises, and the threatenings of thy word, in the checks of conscience, in the strivings of thy Holy Spirit, in the ministry, and the sacraments, and the ordinances of thy church. In all these we hear thee suing ust to admit thee, who art the only life of our souls, our only defender from the terrors of divine justice, our only guide, through death and the grave, to the glories of immortality.

And what reception, brethren, should this blessed

Redeemer receive from us? what effect should invitations so tender and affecting produce upon us? If every emotion of sensibility be not chilled in our bosoms, if we are not wholly insensible to our dearest interests, it is impossible that these inquiries can appear uninteresting.

When Jesus Christ sues for admittance into our hearts, we should hear his voice and open unto him -we should hear his voice with the emotions of penitence.

When we contemplate the infinite dignity, the exalted excellence of his character; when we reflect on the numerous and tender invitations by which he seeks to gain admission into our hearts, we should be impressed with his forbearance and love towards us; and with a deep conviction of our own insensibility and ingratitude in having so long and so often slighted a Friend and Saviour so condescending and tender, we should no longer turn a deaf ear to the invitations of the Redeemer, who has so long supplicated us to grant him a place in our bosoms; we should become suppliants, and prostrate at the feet of our compassionate and long insulted Saviour; we should implore him- Enter in, Lord, and take possession of the souls which thou hast redeemed, but which have been too long estranged from thee, too long slighted thy grace and contemned thy mercy-enter in, Lord, and dwell in them as their Saviour and their Lord.'

By faith also we must hear the voice of the Saviour, and open our hearts to him.

It is by faith indeed that we realize the divine glory of his character, and receive him in all his VOL. III.

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gracious offices; as our Prophet, to instruct us in divine truths; as our Priest, to atone for our sins; and our King, to rule over us. It is by faith that we realize the fulness of his love for us, the allsufficiency of his power, and his infinite willingness to save us. It is by faith that we embrace all his precious promises, trusting in those merits which are our only defence from the demands of incensed justice, and confiding in that grace which, made perfect in our weakness, enables us to overcome the enemies of our salvation, and purifying us from sin, makes our souls a fit habitation for the Lord of glory. "Lord, I hear thy voice," is the language of the believing soul; "I acknowledge thee to be the only-begotten Son of the Father, the only Mediator between God and man. Enter in and dwell in my soul, for thy blood only can cleanse it from guilt, thy grace only redeem it from sin. Thou alone art my refuge from the condemning accusations of conscience, from the terrors of divine justice; thou only art my deliverer from the prison of the tomb; thou only art my guide to the glories of immortality; and thou wilt be the fulness of my joy through the ages of eternity."

And lastly, my brethren, we hear the voice of the Saviour and open our hearts to him, by yielding, through his Spirit exciting and aiding, sincere obedience to all his commands-imbibing that meek, that tender, that forgiving spirit which distinguished him-following the holy example which he left us -like him, ever intent on doing the will of our Father in heaven-striving to adorn his doctrine in all things-walking in all his commandments and ordinances blameless-instant in prayer, not sloth