doubt, that the society of the miserable shall increase their pain. O sinner, what dost thou say? Art thou willing to hazard the issue, be it what it may? Art thou willing to lie down in everlasting sorrow, vainly hoping that the society of lost souls will make thy case tolerable? O consider the rich man. How anxious was he that one should be sent to his father's house to warn his brethren, lest they should also come to that place of torment? What pleasure can it be to a lost soul, to be surrounded by those who can by no means contribute, in the smallest degree, to his happiness?

My brethren, the smallest attention must convince you that these subterfuges, which we have mentioned, are unsafe. They are not the hiding-place of the Gospel: and when the fire shall try every man's work, of what sort it is, these refuges of lies shall be consumed. Which leads to the second thing to be considered; namely,

II. How the righteous judgments of God shall confound the expectation of the wicked.

My brethren, this is a state of discipline and probation. This is not the place designed by the allwise God for virtue to meet with its full reward, or for vice to receive its full punishment. In this world, wheat and tares grow in the same field: wheat and chaff lie on the same floor. Vice walks abroad with an unblushing face, while virtue is abandoned to detraction, and almost perpetual tears. The Almighty seems to have distributed his talents, and to have taken his journey into a far country. But he has

given every necessary assurance that the righteous shall not always be forgotten, nor the wicked always prosper: for he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness;" and then the tares shall be gathered in bundles to be burned, and the wheat shall be gathered into his barn; but the chaff shall be blown away into unquenchable fire.

The standard of right has met with such violent thrusts as to become reclined; indeed, Judgment has fallen in the street. But the Almighty in that day will plant the standard of equity, and with the linè and plummet, will cause it to stand erect. And though the sinner may think the Almighty such an one as himself, unjust and unholy, yet God will reprove him, and set his sins in order before him. In this world men put on faces of deception, but thèn every man shall appear in his real character. Then we shall be judged, not according to the opinions of men, but by the standard of eternal truth. Not the actions of men only shall be judged in that day, but God will judge the secrets of men's hearts by Christ Jesus. I imagine that I hear the Judge say to the unholy, Give an account of thy stewardship. The trembling sinner begins:-Lord, I was disposed to live in sin, and I trusted to thy mercy. I did hope to be saved in my sins, notwithstanding thy word declared, that without holiness none should see thy face. As thou hast thus dishonoured me, by disbe lieving my truth; I also will dishonour thee, by loading thee with everlasting chains of darkness. Stand on my left. Another says, Lord, I endeavoured to persuade myself that I had faith. But did not I tell

thee, that faith without works was dead, and could not save a sinner? Hasten to the left, for thine hypocrisy and self-deception. Lord, says a third, I did nobody any harm, and I was in thy church, and I thought this would do. But did I not tell thee, replies the Judge, that I must be worshipped in spirit and in truth? Hasten to the left, and feel, for ever feel, the guilt and baseness of thy conduct. Lord, says a fourth, I thought continually that I would repent, but I put it off to a more convenient season. Did I not often tell thee, This is the accepted time, and this is the day of salvation? What hast thou done to trifle with the calls of my grace? Turn to the left; for I have stretched out my hand, and you have not regarded; I also will now laugh at your calamity and fear. I thought, Lord, that I was as good as the rest of the world, says a fifth, and that if I was lost, I should have company enough. As thou hast lowered the standard of holiness, and hast disbelieved my truth, turn aside, and see what thy despairing companions can do for thee.

Then I hear him say to them in mass, (this is not a figure of a heated imagination) "Go, ye cursed, into everlasting fire :"-and in a moment ten thousand thunders burst forth upon them, and billows of wo for ever overwhelm their souls. This must be the lot of all those who forsake the fountain of living water, and turn aside to lying vanities.

III. My brethren, my dear brethren, let me beseech you, while you may, to provide more firm support, or you must sink for ever. Let us not expect too

128 HARRIS'S SERMONS ON IMPORTANT SUBJECTS.

much from the mercy of God, or in other words, let us not expect to get to heaven, without holiness of heart. Let us never think that a dead faith, which does not produce good works, will save us. Let us not think that being in the church will do us any good, unless we are watered and fed by its ordinances. For surely our condemnation will be greater, because of our hypocrisy and deception. And let us also think of the fire that shall be kindled in God's wrath, that shall burn to the lowest hell, and consume the wicked. And let us repent and turn to Christ, the true hiding-place of the Gospel.

SERMON XII.

There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary be at rest. Job iii. 17.

SHOULD one who had followed the gilded pleasures of this poor world long enough to learn the genuine character of their insignificancy, light on such a passage as this in any writing entitled to credit, he would doubtless pause, and fix his eyes upon it with peculiar attention; and we might reasonably expect he would utter a soliloquy not unlike the following: Formed by nature for the enjoyment of social intercourse with my fellow-creatures, when young I shot the shuttle of my hope through the web of fashionable manners and intimate connexions, in order to weave the spotted garment of happiness. Destitute of malignant design myself, I suspected none in others. But, alas! I have paid the tribute of inexperience, and learned at length, by sad experience, that every brother will utterly supplant; and, where I least expected it, I have confirmed the prophecy of our Lord, "a man's enemies shall be those of his own household." When young, the streamers of honour, embellished with the stars of happiness, painted with all the fervour of youthful imagination,