ture to represent it; and surely if the heart of man be susceptible of any im pression upon any subject, it will be apprehensive and in fear when it hears of the "worm that is never to die, and the fire that is never to be quenched."

For those who are living without God in the world, impenitent, unfaithful and unholy, who have silenced the warnings of their condemning consciences, who have never suffered the knowledge that they must die to stimulate them to the work of preparing to meet their God; who know that they are in a state of spiritual death, and are yet contented to remain in it, heedless of their condition in eternity;for such, my brethren, where shall the preacher find the voice of hope?—it is not in God's word. There it is written"The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God."t "There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked."‡ "The Son of Man shall

* Isaiah lxvi. 24. † Psalm ix. 17. ‡ Isaiah lxxvii. 21.

send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth."*

Thus then, do we see that the sin of our first parent has brought the curse of a threefold death into the world; and let me ask you, my brethren, in conclusion, with the Scriptural knowledge of this truth. before our eyes-shall we contentedly continue to be the servants of sin, in the prospect of receiving such wages as sin will give? "It is appointed unto all men once to die ;f and this penalty of trans gression none can evade; but the other and more fearful consequences of sinthe spiritual and eternal death which we have been considering, will be the lot only of those who refuse the proffered mercy and grace of their Lord, and obstinately go on still in their trespasses." The

* Matt. xiii. 41,
42.
† Hebrews ix. 27.
f Psalm lxviii. 21.

sinner who is truly humble and contrite, will ever find grace to help him in the hour of his need;-" The bruised reed God will not break, the smoking flax he will not quench;"* but will rejoice to succeed in wakening any from their spiritual slumber,-in rescuing any from their eternal destruction. If they wait patiently upon the Lord, gladly will he "bring them up out of the horrible pit, and set their feet upon a rock, and establish their goings." And as the gracious Father of a rebellious offspring, when he sees them returning to the paths of duty and obedience, he will welcome them as children "who were dead, but are alive again; who were lost, and are found."

Isaiah xlii. 3. + Vide Ps. xl.

+ Luke xv.

32.

43

SERMON III.

THE GIFT OF GOD.

ROMANS vi. 23.

"THE WAGES OF SIN 18 DEATH, BUT THE GIFT OF GOD IS ETERNAL LIFE, THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD."

IN endeavouring to unfold to you the full meaning of this comprehensive passage of Scripture, our attention has hitherto been confined to the first clause, "The wages of sin is death." In our meditation upon these words we have been carried back to the scene of Adam's fall, and have been led to consider separately the threefold nature of that death which entered into the world as the wages of Adam's sin. As yet our thoughts have been dwelling only on the gloomy side of the picture

presented to us by the text, on the darkening cloud of condemnation which encircles us here from the cradle to the grave; but we come now to think of that Sun of Righteousness, who alone can brighten the aspect of man's life, or dissipate the shadows of our impending doom,—we come now to the contemplation of "grace, mercy and peace from God our Father,"* as evinced to us in the cheering declaration of the Apostle, that "the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." May God vouchsafe us the heavenly benediction of his Spirit while this high and holy subject engages our attention, that we may be led to form a right judgment, and be guided into all truth,—that we may be enabled to see where our real treasure is, and have grace and power there to fix our hearts!

In the words of the text, the service of God and the service of sin are most truly and forcibly opposed to each other, and 1 Timothy i. 2.