Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give the first-born for my transgressions; the fruit of the body for the sins of the soul? Nothing of all this does God require. He needs no such sacrifices, and cannot be pleased with them, because they are not commanded.

It is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin. And, when Christ cometh into the world, he saith to the Father, "Sacrifices and offerings, and burnt-offerings for sin, thou wouldst not, neither hadst pleasure therein." Even all the sacrifices of the Jewish dispensation were valueless, though divinely appointed, except as types of the great atoning Sacrifice they faintly shadowed forth.

Preparation can be made to meet God in peace, only by accepting of Christ as our Saviour. This act of acceptance is called Faith. By faith are we justified, and have peace with God. Faith approves of the law which man has broken, and which Christ has magnified-as holy, just, and good--consents fully to the equity of the sentence passed on the transgressor--looks into the world of despair as the just desert of the sinner and asks no other way of escape, than Heaven has provided by the propitiation made for sin.

It is one thing, you will remark, to believe that Christ came into the world, and suffered for the redemption of man-and another to accept of him as our only Savior. It is one thing, to believe with the understanding, and another to believe with the heart. "The devils believe and tremble." It is one thing to confess the justice of God's claims, aud another to yield to those claims. Faith is more, far more, than an inteltellectual assent to one, or all the truths connected wtth Christ's mission, for such an assent may be given, while yet no transforming influence has passed on the soul, and no impression of God's image is made there.

Faith in Christ involves a thorough regeneration of all the moral powers. It involves the unreserved renunciation of personal righteousness→→ together with self-abhorrence, and the consecration of the whole soul to the service of God.

Faith constitutes a new and powerful principle of action. It elevates the affections from the creature to the Creator. It gives to every faculty a new direction-clears away a thousand obscurities from spiritual objects--and removes from the heart the host of prejudices that once rendered it hateful. The unbeliever lives only for himself, or the narrow circle around him; the believer lives for God and the universe. The unbeliever inquires, "who will show me any good?" The believer cries, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do!" The unbeliever has his eye always on the honors and pleasures of the world; the believer contenplates the glory of Christ and the wide extension of a hallowing influence over the hearts of men, as the only object worth living for. "Old things have passed away, and all things have become new."

Faith is the homage which the soul pays to Christ as the "first and the last," in the government of the world--as the Almighty Protector of the cause of righteousness-as sustaining the whole weight of that moral kingdom, in which centre all the hopes and happiness of creatures, and all the glories of the godhead-as maintaining the honor and securing the strength of that great law of love, which forms the only medium of happy intercourse between God and other beings.

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In this light are we required to contemplate Christ-and then, to cast ourselves at his feet, exclaiming, "Lord, save, or I perish." For on Him is our help laid; and "there is no other name given under heaven, whereby we can be saved." It will avail nothing, to "thank God that we are not as other men are ;"- -nor to carry back our talents, and say, Here, Lord, thou hast that is thine;"'-nor to plead, that we "verily thought we ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth;" nor to accuse him openly, as an austere man, reaping where he has not sown, and gathering where he has not strewed." In all this show of excuse and palliation there is no safety. Jesus our eyes must be fastened. To Jesus our homage must be paid. For Jesus we must live and die; Jesus must be our All in All-else the day of judgment will reveal an angry God, from whose wrath there is no escape, and whose lips will declare the sentence of our condemnation,-"Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.'

On

REFLECTIONS.

1. Our condition in the present world is a very solemn one. Who can reflect on the character of our final Judge-or the aversion of the natural heart to the only terms on which he will meet us in peace--and the consequences of meeting him as an enemy-without astonishment at the general levity of mankind!

The world is the field of preparation for death and judgment. Time, the only allotted period for the work. And can it be wise to whirl away life, in devotion to the pleasures of animal nature--or in the accumulation of riches and honors that death will annihilate? Where are the thoughts of men? What are their expectations? What their gains? Are they in pursuit of happiness? But happiness is found only in securing the end for which they are fitted in their original constitution-and that end is nothing else than serving and glorifying God. If they propose another end, disappointment awaits them, and they sink for ever beneath their efforts to resist the purpose of Heaven.

Every thought, feeling, and action are sinful, which do not coincide with the great laws of our being. Whatever is done or attempted, whatever is suffered or enjoyed, in counteraction of these laws, adds to the sinner's guilt, and will aggravate his final misery. Whatever may be his efforts and whatever his hopes, unless they centre on the great end, of preparing to meet God by faith in Christ, he sows the wind, and will reap the whirlwind.

All who hear me are soon to appear before the Judge. You will stand or fall, for eternity, by the question,-Have you the faith that "overcomes the world?" If, serving God from day to day, in the spirit of Christ, you will come off more than conquerors over death and hell; but otherwise you are collecting fuel, by all your self-indulgence, for your own destruction in the great burning day.

O, who can calculate the value of man's short existence in the present world! Here the soul is fitted for heaven or for hell. Here the charac ter is formed, for the society of angels or the abode of fallen spirits. Hence we go to meet that God, whose eyes are like a flame of fire, and who has sworn that he will take vengeance on his enemies. And now we

stand as on the cliff of some mighty rock, from which we cannot recede. Below us the billows roar,--and they are the billows of death! Above us opens the bright expanse of heaven: thence a voice proceeds, "Come up hither." An arm of mercy too is stretched forth, and comes within our reach. Shall we not seize its proffered aid—and let the waves of destruction dash harmless at our feet? Or shall we reject it-and sink for ever into the abyss yawning beneath?

O sinner, behold your situation. The day of decision is at hand. The Judge standeth at the door. Are you prepared to meet him?

2. I wish to propose the inquiry, distinctly, to every individual before me,-Have you been driven by the terrors of the Lord, or led by the arm of his mercy, to renounce your own righteousness for ever, and lay hold on Christ, as your only Hope?

The plan of salvation revealed, is full. Its provisions are ample. The chief of sinners can ask no more. But have you accepted those provisions? Do you value them, according to the price paid for them—and the magnitude of the blessings in their train? They will not be thrown away on those who care not for them.

The king who spread the marriage feast, invited all to come-even those in the streets and lanes of the city. And provision, enough for all, and to spare, was made; but none was sent abroad to those that refused to come; and if any came without a wedding garment, they were sent away in disgrace.

So, however abundant the provisions of the gospel, there are limits to the participation of them, beyond which they profit nothing. If men will not come to the feast-or if they will come arrayed in their own righteousness, before them the table is spread in vain. Though Christ has died, they are not cleansed in his blood-and though he has said, "whosoever will, let him come"-the bread and the wine are not for them.

And now, I repeat the question, have you laid hold on Christ, as your only refuge from the impending storm? Have you found a place within that only ark of safety?

Or are you not thinking more lightly on the subject of preparation for the solemnities of judgment, than its importance demands? And are you not saying of Christ-" we cannot have him to reign over us ?"

But, I hear you say," ere death comes, we mean to begin the service of God;" "when debility and age are upon us-when sickness, and the king of terrors meet us-then the claims of religion shall not be overlooked, nor the great business of life neglected !"—And,

Are these your best purposes? And for these will God meet you as a friend? O sinner, is it so, that his yoke is grievous-that his commands are unreasonable, and incompatible with your happiness! Think again. You cannot be happy in obeying God! Cannot be happy in the imitation of angels and of Christ! What an insult on your Maker! What an insult on your blessed Savior! Think again. And remember, that you must soon meet this insulted God, this injured Savior, in the clouds of heaven!

THE AMERICAN

NATIONAL PREACHER.

No. 4. VOL. 8.] NEW-YORK, SEPT. 1833.

SERMON CLI.

[WHOLE No. 88,

BY REV. G. W. PERKINS,

MONTREAL, CANADA.

THE SINNER'S ABILITY TO OBEY GOD, IF HE WILL. ISAIAH XXX. 10.-Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things.

THIS was the language of the Israelites to the faithful preacher of God's word. When boldly reproved for their sins, and threatened with the vengeance of God unless they repented, they were impatient, and clamorously demanded, " Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things."

Men are equally unwilling now to be faithfully told of their faults and of their danger: determined to go on as long as they can in their beloved sins, they will not endure any disturbance in their gratification; they close their ears, and utterly refuse to hear the faithful preacher; they take refuge in excuses which enable them to turn off the arrows of conviction; and then again they cry out, "Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things."

Among the doctrines of which men complain as hard, and instead of which they ask for something smoother, is that of the eternal punishment of the finally impenitent. They see plainly, that if the doctrine be true, their present course is one of perfect madness, and yet they are so fully de. termined to keep on in that course, that all thought of the doctrine fills them with anger and self-condemnation. If the thought of it comes up even in the busy hours of the day, or in the gayest, brightest circles of pleasure, it is absolutely intolerable: it is like an intrusion from the demon of the pit.

Hence, to keep themselves easy, they demand some smoother doctrine. They say, and insist that others shall preach to them, "that God will VOL. VIII.

not punish his creatures for ever;" some punishment they deserve, and will receive, but all will finally come off well, and be eternally happy. Thus they can rest easy; they will live as they list; endure the punishment which is prepared for them, and then enter into heaven!

This smooth and easy doctrine rests upon another. They argue thus: -Men cannot deserve eternal punishment. God sent them into the world with sinful dispositions, which they cannot remove. He gave them a law which it is utterly impossible for them to obey: men cannot come up to the full requirements of the law. Sins and frailties man has, to be sure, and for them he will receive some punishment; but it is out of the question that God will condemn us to eternal punishment, for not obeying the law, when he knows that we cannot obey. Thus it is that the smooth and easy doctrine that there is no eternal punishment, rests on the other smooth doctrine that man is unable to do his duty, and therefore cannot deserve eternal punishment. And to my own mind this objection appears perfectly unanswerable, if you allow it to be true that men cannot obey God. If indeed they cannot obey, it is certain they do not and cannot deserve eternal punishment for not doing it.

But believing that the doctrine of the future and eternal punishment of the finally impenitent is a doctrine of the Bible, I wish to do away with one of the strongest objections to it. In order then to meet the objection, I lay down this proposition: viz.

That man is able to obey God, if he will; and therefore does deserve the penalty God has threatened against transgression.

I enter upon this subject the more willingly, because the error in question is one of the strongest obstacles to the effect of religious truth on the mind. The difficulty is not, that men do not see and acknowledge the reasonableness, desirableness, and obligations of religion. I seldom meet with the man who pretends to have even a doubt on these subjects. But in urging home these obligations, we are constantly met with the appalling objection, I cannot :—I know I have sinned; I acknowledge religion to be important but I could not obey the law of God; and I cannot repent.' Here we are brought to a full stand. It is utterly in vain to try to press obligation any farther. For how can you make a man feel guilty for not doing that which he is unable to do? What possible reason can you offer why a man should repent, if he really cannot do it? What kind of argument would you use with a man to induce him to fly, when he has no wings, and cannot fly?

To prevent misapprehension, in meeting the sinner's excuses, it is necessary to keep clearly in view the fact, that the terms can and cannot, able and unable, are used in two senses, entirely diverse from one another, and yet a candid mind need not fall into any confusion on that account. These two senses may be illustrated thus:-I come to a sick man, and ask him to rise and take a walk with me: he says, 'I cannot.' I then perhaps come to you, indolently reposing on your couch, and ask you to rise and walk with me; but you also reply, I cannot.' Now in these two cases, the reply, in words, is the same: each says, I cannot. But I know, without the least doubt whatever, that the meaning is entirely different.