it is the relenting of the prodigal son, when his injured father runs forth to meet him; it is the tear of gratitude, which bursts from the condemned criminal, when a pardon from his offended sovereign is put into his hands. It appears, in the

3d place, from this passage, That the soul's conversion to God is the great introductory blessing which renders all other blessings valuable. This is evident from the order in which God arrangeth his promises to his captive people. He first engageth himself to take away the provoking cause of his anger, and then to put away his indignation, to receive them graciously, and to love them freely. The disease began within, and the cure must begin there likewise. Their captivity by men was the fruit of their voluntary captivity to sin, and therefore deliverance from sin must precede their deliverance from the hands of men. This God undertakes to perform by the powerful agency of his Holy Spirit. "A new heart," saith he, "will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh; and I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them,” verses 26, 27. After which he gives the promise of temporal deliverance in the verses immediately preceding my text. And to shew that this was no accidental

arrangement, he declares with great solemnity, at the 33d verse, that in this very order he had meditated to dispense his mercy. "Thus saith the Lord God, in the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities, I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be builded."

These are the instructions which we may derive from this passage with regard to the nature of true repentance; and it is only to be added, although not expressly contained in the text, that as this great and valuable blessing cometh down from the Father of lights, who is the author of every good and perfect gift, it is therefore to be sought by our humble supplications and prayers: "For thus saith the Lord God," at the 37th verse of this chapter, "I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them." God indeed is often found of those who seek him not. His powerful grace sometimes arrests the sinner in his mad career, while he is equally unmindful of God and of himself. But let none despise the use of means, because He who is almighty at times acts without them. It is our part to place ourselves in the way of his mercy, and to wait patiently at the pool until the angel trouble the waters, and communicate to them a healing virtue. It is our part to seek the Lord while he may be found, and to call upon him while he is near, having the certain assurance that he never

said to any of the seed of Jacob, seek ye my face in vain. And this leads me to the

II. Thing proposed, which was to recommend the example of these penitents described in the text to your imitation. In the

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1st place, then, Let me call upon you to remember your ways. The neglect of serious consideration is the ruin of almost every soul that perisheth eternally. Hence it is that we continue in our sins, and that we relapse after having forsaken them; that we decline from our religious attainments, and being again entangled in the pollutions of the world, that our last state becomes worse than our first. All these evils flow from a thoughtless unreflecting life. great part of mankind pass their days in a course of perpetual dissipation, without once reflecting on their actions, until the near view of an eternal world awakens them from this fatal security. Then, indeed, the case is extremely alteredthen the remembrance of his ways forceth itself upon the sinner-then he sees his error, and laments his folly, and prays for mercy, and even asks the prayers of those whom once he derided as precise and fanatical. He would not reflect upon the great truths of religion while he might have done it to good purpose. Now he reflects, and reflects at leisure; but it is a cruel leisure, for the fruits of it are perplexity and dismay.

God is represented, by the prophet Jeremiah, as putting this question, "Why is the people of Jerusalem slidden back with a perpetual backsliding? They hold fast deceit, they refuse to return," Jer. viii. 5. The answer is given in the following verse, "I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright; no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done?" The consequence of which was, " Every one turned to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle." Whereas, did we seriously ask ourselves that important question, What have we done? we would soon discover so much guilt in our doings, as to be compelled to ask ourselves another question, What shall I do to be saved?

Let me then prevail with you seriously and impartially to examine your past conduct. Consider what hath been the prevailing course of your life; and rest not satisfied with a general conviction that it hath been wrong, but labour to recollect as many passages of it as you can. Review all its different periods since you came to the years of understanding. Consider the various relations in which you have been placed, the special duties which arose from those relations, and the manner in which you have performed them. This will be a task displeasing indeed to the flesh, and mortifying to the natural pride of your hearts. But you must not hearken to these pernicious counsellors. The more they cry out, Forbear,

the more resolutely must you persist. Charge your consciences with it as a religious duty, and implore the Holy Spirit of God to assist your endeavours. When by such means you have discovered your own evil ways, then proceed to consider attentively the nature and degree of that evil which is in them. Let it not suffice to know that you have been sinners, without pondering the dreadful malignity and demerit of sin. View it in its natural turpitude and deformity, as the plague and leprosy of the soul, which renders you loathsome and abominable in the sight of your Maker. View it as a daring act of rebellion against the most righteous authority, as the transgression of a law which is in all respects holy, just, and good; the precepts of which are not only reasonable in themselves, but also most kind and salutary to us. View it as the basest ingratitude towards your best and most unwearied benefactor. View it, above all, in the severity of the punishment which it deserves, exemplified in those mysterious and inconceivable sufferings which the Son of God underwent to expiate its guilt.

See here, O sinner, the awful demerit of thy transgressions. Thou wast doomed to the wrath of God, and to everlasting banishment from his presence; and thou wast not only incapable to deliver thyself by any works or sufferings of thy own, but all the angels in heaven could not have