to justify insurrection? Why have you rebelled? And, seeing you may return, why do you refuse to return? What cause have you to distrust and oppose the government of God? Why are you displeased that he should display his power, and wisdom, and goodness, and justice, and mercy, in a plan of government known and approved from eternity? What difference does it make to you whether God chose from eternity how to govern, or chooses from day to day? Would infinite wisdom and goodness choose, at one time, what they would reject at another? Would not the daily counsels of God correspond exactly with his eternal purpose? What right have you to dictate to the Almighty, or to say to him, What doest thou? You know that he will glorify himself and bless his holy kingdom, and will render to you, even should he destroy you, perfect justice according to your deeds. Why, then, are you so restless in his hands? Why so jealous and fearful, that if a door of escape were opened, you would abandon forever his holy dominion? Did you ever hear that the Almighty erred in judgment? Do the angels of heaven alarm you with complainings? Can you adduce an instance in which God has done you injustice? Whence, then, this opposition? But you say, (I know what is in your heart,)

"I am afraid God has determined to send me to hell." And if he has, do you not think you will deserve to be sent thither? If he has, do you expect to avert the calamity by contending with your Maker? Would you turn back the arm of his power? Would you wrest the sceptre from his hand? Would you tarnish the glory of his name, and extinguish the joy of his kingdom, to rescue yourself from deserved punishment? But, is it my duty to be willing to be damned?" It is your duty to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and soul, and mind, and strength, and to confide in his govern

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ment, and to be willing that he should dispose of you, forever, just as he pleases. Do you think such submission synonymous with willingness to be damned? It is as different as heaven is from hell. It is the temper of heaven, and your present rebellious temper is the temper of those who are lost." But is it my duty to be willing to be a sinner, and go to hell, and be sinful and miserable to all eternity?" No; it is your willingness to be a sinner which is now preparing you for hell, and leading you, step by step, to destruction. And should you ever enter the abodes of darkness, it will be your voluntary wickedness which will perpetuate your misery. God does not compel nor command any of his creatures to sin, or to be willing to sin, either in this world or the world He forbids your choice of sin. He commands you to repent, and by Jesus Christ to return and live. He commands you to choose, not hell, but heaven; swearing by himself that he hath no pleasure in your death, and entreating, "Turn ye, turn ye, for why will you die?" But if, in the face of prohibitions, and threatenings, and entreaties, you will choose death, and treasure up wrath until you are fitted for destruction, you will then, if sent to hell, have no cause to complain of your allotment, nor any right to dissent from your sentence of condemnation; and your conscience, whatever your heart may say, never will dissent.

to come.

This day, then, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. Repent, immediately; return and worship, and bow down and kneel before the Lord your Maker. It is not tears, and feigned prayers, and heartless resolutions, that can appease your God. You are alienated from God, and you must be reconciled. It is hopeless to contend with God; you cannot conquer, you cannot escape, you cannot endure his displeasure, and yet you must submit or fall under it forever.

You are opposing that kingdom by which the glory of God is to be illustrated, and his creation blessed. If God were indifferent to his glory, or indifferent to the good of his kingdom, you might hope to profit from his neutrality. But God is not indifferent. His whole immense mind is awake to the subject, and glows with intense desire and unwavering determination to effect his purpose; and all the resources of his power, and wisdom, and knowledge, stand prepared to overturn his enemies. The government of God is, indeed, terrible to you, not because it is unjust, but because it is just, and you oppose it. It is rolled on by the hand of omnipotence, with all the ardor of infinite benevolence, and you have arisen up to stop its progress; and there is no alternative but to submit, and unite, and go on with God, or be crushed by his power, and consumed by the fierceness of his wrath. With such hearts of alienation, are you prepared to meet your God? Is death hasting to overtake you? Is the grave opening to receive you, and will it close forever upon your glory? Is the trump of God preparing to sound, and will it call you forth to the resurrection of damnation? Is there pardon, and will you not accept it? Are there boundless realms of light, and will you live in eternal exile? Is there a glorious God, and will you never love him? Is there but one prison in the universe, and will you make that your everlasting abode? Go, listen to the song of praise. Go forth, and look upon the miseries of the lost; hear their wailings, and behold the smoke of their torment. Is this the society which you choose instead of heaven, and these the employments in which you would spend the ages of eternity? Is there one of you who has laid aside the hope of heaven? one, who has resolved to wage eternal war with God? Why, then, do you continue the work of ruin? Have you not sins enough to answer for?

Have not your souls stood long enough in jeopardy? Every moment, you are multiplying provocations against Heaven. Every moment, you are despising the riches of the goodness of God. Every moment, Justice pleads, with louder importunity, "Cut them down;" and Mercy, with feebler voice, "Spare them a little longer."

The

The voice of Mercy will soon be heard no more. patience of God will not wait forever. His Spirit will not always strive. A hand's breadth only is between you and the grave. If you have any work to do, it must be done quickly, for death is at the door. This day perverted, may be the last you will ever see. This moment, your sun may be casting its last beams upon the mountains. Or, should you live, this day may close the period of divine influence. This discourse neglected, may be the last by which God will ever expostulate with you in mercy.

By all the joys, then, of immortality, and by all the sorrows of eternal death,- by all the mercies of God, and by all the terrors of his wrath,- I beseech you, be ye reconciled to God. Submit to him, and he will rule for his own glory; and you shall behold that glory, and rejoice in it forever. But rebel, and still he will reign, still he will bless his kingdom, but he will exclude you forever from its holy joys.

SERMON II.

THE REMEDY FOR DUELLING.

"And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter." ISAIAH 59: 14, 15.

THE people of Israel, when this passage was written, had become exceedingly corrupt, and were sinking under the pressure of fearful judgments.

But although they are hardened in sin, they are not insensible to misery; and though regardless of God as their benefactor, they murmur and tremble before him as the author of their calamities.

They admit, indeed, their sinfulness, but suppose that they have made already a sufficient atonement for it. It is not for sending judgments, therefore, that they impeach the Almighty, but for continuing them; not because he is just, but because he has no mercy. "Wherefore have we fasted (say they),

and thou seest not,

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takest no knowledge?"

have we afflicted our soul, and thou

The Majesty of Heaven condescends to reply. He declares their sin to be the cause of his judgments, and their hypocrisy and impenitence the ground of their continuance.

The sins which brought down the judgments of Heaven were, it appears, national sins. As individuals, they were guilty, and each had contributed to augment the national