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be feared, are the individuals who shall never know, till they are revealed by the trumpet of the archangel, the terrible results of their own inconsistency and faithlessness. Then it is that the horrible conviction will flash on our minds. Then will the servant, or child, or neighbour-betrayed by our negligence or neutrality, by our slowness to warn, to rebuke, to invite-cast his sins into the scale of our own, to sink us deeper in misery and perdition. Men and brethren, awake to this awful consideration! Christian ministers may do much, but they cannot do all. You, also, are to be "preachers of righteousness." Each man in his sphere is to act his part; and to pray and labour, that he may bring to God that portion of the family of the Redeemer which is consigned to his especial influence and example.

2. But, secondly, if you may humbly hope, that, with a due allowance for human infirmity, your own example is in itself calculated to be thus beneficial, I would next ask, whether this important influence is diligently and zealously employed. Is the voice of invitation frequently heard from your lips," Come thou with us, for we will do thee good?" Is your spirit social, enlarged, sympathizing, benevolent? Every other part of creation is fulfilling its destiny. The sun rises as a giant to run his course: the moon walks in her brightness: the stars roll on in unbroken harmony: the rivers pour their fertilizing streams over the earth. Are you also found at your post, alive to your duties, and offering your daily tribute of love, and gratitude, and obedience to God? Does your "sphere shine with your fair example?" Is your influence distinctly felt in your family and neighbourhood? Can your ministers lean upon your assistance; cast a portion of their burden upon you, rely upon your prayers, your sympathy, your co-operation?-Brethren, it is a glorious destiny to which you are called, to be "fellowworkers with God" in the great scheme of salvation.

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Shake yourselves from the dust of a dishonourable indolence and repose, and go forth, strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. The time is short, but the success of the faithful labourer is certain: " My word shall not return unto me void;" and that word has "spoken good" concerning the Israel of God. Live for God, and for the benefit of his creatures; and he shall fulfil his own gracious promise, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you."

SERMON XVI.

HOPELESSNESS OF IMPROVEMENT EXPOSED AND
CONDEMNED.

JER. xviii. 12.

There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart.

THERE are two kinds of despair, between which it is of importance to distinguish. In the first place, there is a despair of mercy; which, whatever be its source, whether unbelief, or the direct visitation of God for sin, or erroneous views of religion, or a depressed state of bodily health, is one of the severest trials to which human nature can be subjected. In other cases of suffering, the mind often assists us to sustain the calamities of the body; but, "a wounded spirit, who can bear?" In this case the mind is itself the tormentor; and the man, as it has been said, falls like the bird struck by an arrow feathered from its own wing. Happily, however, this species of despair is less common than some would pretend; and, in a large proportion of those cases in which it really exists, is a subject rather for the physician of the body than of the soul.

The species of despair, or rather of hopelessness, to which it is my wish on the present occasion to call your attention, is of far more frequent occurrence: it is the despair of improvement. With the high scriptural

model before us, in the character of our Lord and his Apostles, why is it that multitudes calmly, and without disquietude, acquiesce in the notion that their present low attainments in religion are all that is required of them? Some, doubtless, from other causes; but many from this, that they despair of the advancement which they profess to desire. Large is the number of persons who, dead in feeling, and inaccurate in practice, nevertheless consider themselves as having reached the highest point possible to themselves who seem to regard their present state as their unalterable destinyand who, therefore, sit down without any serious effort at improvement, or preparation for the inquisition and judgment of the great day. Such appears to have been the condition of the individuals described by the Prophet Malachi: "It is in vain to serve God: what profit is it that we have kept his ordinances, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of Hosts ?" -and such the state of the individuals described in the text, who said, "There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart.”

This frame of mind appears to me to be both sufficiently common and mischievous to merit a careful examination; and it is my intention, in dependence upon the Divine blessing, to consider, on the present occasion,

I. Some of the SOURCES OF THIS DESPAIR OF AMENDMENT.

II. Some of the MOTIVES FOR ENDEAVOURING TO ESCAPE FROM IT.

I. In the first place, then, we are to consider some of the chief SOURCES OF THIS DESPAIR OF AMEND

MENT.

1. The first and most common that I should name, is indolence.-It is the property of that quality of mind to be always seeking an apology for leaving things as

they are. Sometimes it imagines difficulties, and sometimes dangers, neither of which have any real existence: "The way of the slothful man," saith Solomon, "is as a hedge of thorns ;" and again, "The slothful man says, There is a lion without: I shall be slain in the streets." Few of us, my brethren, are sufficiently aware of the length and breadth of our own indisposition to toil and exertion. There is what may be termed a vis inertia, a power of indolence, in mind as well as in matter; and, perhaps, at the great day of account, it will be found, that where profligacy has slain its thousands, indolence has slain its ten thousands. Great indeed is the necessity of urging every human being, in the language of one Apostle, to "give diligence to make his calling and election sure;" and in that of another, to "work out" his "salvation with fear and trembling."

2. A second source of this species of hopelessness, is the secret love of sin.-If we love a particular indulgence, how easily do we persuade ourselves of its lawfulness! If we wish to be bad, how ready are we to believe that it is impossible to be better! In such a state of mind, unwillingness is confounded with inability; and we complain of wanting the means, when, in fact, all that we need is the disposition. How easy is it to see the truth of this statement, as it applies to the case of another! An individual assures us, that he finds it impossible to escape from a particular habit, to break with a particular society, to devote himself to a particular pursuit; and, having rebuked him for thus treating that as impossible in its nature which is in fact only distasteful to himself, we retire from him, perhaps to offend, and to shelter our offences under the very apology we have condemned in him. My Christian brethren, our own secret love of sin is the fruitful parent of a thousand transgressions which are charged upon the appointments of God, or the constitution of things, or even the direct temptations of the devil. "God

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