also shall the wicked, and the worldly, and the carnal man, obtain a foretaste of the horror of hell,-and of the cup that he is to drain. If, instead of a faith, that throws him upon the Lord Jesus Christ, he has a trust in himself, and in his worldly possessions, for happiness; if, instead of a hope that raises his eye to heaven, his thoughts go downward to the dust upon which he treads, and his heart is the abode of carnal, and worldly, and malignant passions and desires,—this man can form some conception of the fearful region of misery. He can conceive the opposite of that love which constitutes the happiness of the blessed spirits above: he can conceive a scene of everlasting selfishness and suspicion; of multitudes of evil beings, without one link of affection to unite them; but the everlasting scowl of hatred is upon their brows, and the curse upon their lips. This may be a faint anticipation of those terrible scenes.

We are here, then, in a state of education for heaven; and we may now form some conception of the desperate infatuation of those men who leave this mighty work for the listlessness of old age, or the agonies of a dying

bed! It should be nothing less than the business of an education,—an education that begins with a faith, that can only rise from a deep sense of our own unworthiness and danger, and that our sins need the blood of the Son of God; that proceeds to a hope, which raises the eye and the heart from earth to heaven, and changes all our views; and then proceeds to charity, which stamps upon us the image of the pure and holy God.

SERMON XIII.

ECCLESIASTES, viii. 11.

Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.

If we had seen one of our neighbours struck dead by a flash of lightning, just after he had been committing one of our favourite sins, it is to be supposed it would make a serious impression upon our minds. If we afterwards beheld two or three more of our acquaintances blotted out of life in the same way, and for the same reason, we should probably begin to bring the case a little more home to ourselves. If there were afterwards another, and another, and another; and we were in the habit of seeing God's wrath executed every day, the moment it was provoked, it is surprising what a change we should presently observe among all the careless and bold-faced sinners of society: drunkards shrinking from the flowing bowl, as

if it were filled with poison; fornicators and adulterers rushing from the threshold of the house of sin and debauchery, as they would from the flames of hell; liars, swearers, and blasphemers setting their finger upon their lips, lest they should perish before the evil word was fully pronounced; thieves, misers, and extortioners, flinging away their darling profits, lest they should be struck dead as they touched them.

Then too, when men should see sentence executed speedily against evil works, they could not think of the sin without thinking of the punishment along with it. How cautious should we find them of venturing too near sin, even in their tempers and conversation: we should see a man turn pale whenever an evil thought or an evil wish came into his mind, for how could he tell but that the thunderbolt would fall at that moment, if he ventured to indulge it? Then should we see men watching and praying, that they might not fall into temptation, who never knew what it was to pray before; and, it is probable, that those who were witnessing the wrath of God coming down every day upon the heads of sinners, in fire and brim

stone, would be so sensible of their danger and their weakness, that they would renounce all trust in their own powers and their own righteousness, and seek for his glorious strength, who is able to shelter us from the storm and the tempest, and to give us the victory over sin, through our Lord Jesus Christ, and to make us "more than conquerors, through him who "loved us, and gave himself for us."

It seems to be very plain, that something like this would be the case if God were to interfere every day to execute sentence upon evil works. Now mark the difference: only observe with what perfect ease men can bring themselves to indulge in sin, as a matter of common and ordinary occurrence, as naturally as they partake of their sleep or their meals: and they go into the way of temptation, and approach the brink and the borders of sin, and say, there is no danger!

Now what can be the reason of this astonishing difference? For every man seems to think that he would refrain from sin if he knew that at that instant he should stand the consequences. What can be the reason of this difference? Is it that men have calmly made up their minds,