becomes green with life, and glorious with increase.

Providence has provided a source of repentance, in those events which warn us of the vanity of the world, and admonish us to prepare for that kingdom which is near at hand :-to watch over the gradual waste of life; to minister to the last sickness; to mourn over friends that perish, and children that are snatched away;-these things teach us all to repent; they are lessons to which every ear is open, and by which all hearts are impressed. We remember how probable it is that every succeeding year will be marked by some fresh loss-that parent, and husband, and child, and friend, may all perish away, and leave us a wreck of time in the feeble solitude of age. Then it is that the views we take of human life are serious and solemn; then, we feel that godliness is the one thing stable, and unshaken by time and chance; then, we listen to the warning voice, which cries,—Repent ye, for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand.

In truth, the warnings to repentance

are not few; such are the adverse blows of fortune, sudden poverty, disappointed ambition, any circumstance which, by weakening our dependance upon outward objects,. and by driving us to seek for comfort, and support, from our inward feelings, teaches us to derive our happiness from its pure, and legitimate source.

The feelings of bodily decay often lead to repentance; it happens, fortunately for man, that he is not called out of the world in the vigor of health, not by a sudden annihilation, but by a gradual destruction of his being; every blunted sense, and every injured organ, admonish him that it is drawing near; and, when it does come, death has only the shadow of a man to subdue. Listen, then, to these warnings of a merciful God;-when the ear is slow to receive sounds,-when the eye has lessened its range, when the nerve trembles,when the red blood of youth and strength is gone, when the proud body of man is bent down,-listen to these warnings of a merciful God; sanctify the frail and depart

ing flesh. Repent ye, for the Kingdom of Heaven is indeed at hand.

Providence has provided a source of repentance in those great events which astonish the world, and some share of good springs up from the very midst of devastation. When the judgments of God are out upon the earth-when a pestilence rageswhen a conqueror exterminates, the thoughts of men become solemn, and every countenance gathers its portion of sorrow ;then, no man doubts of the shortness of life, when he beholds death making his meal, not of one, or two, but of thousands, and tens of thousands ;-then, no man is unmindful of human weakness, when he sees how the fairest creations are broken into dust;—then, all feel the vanity of human wishes, and human designs, when they behold the arts, the arms, the industry of nations, overwhelmed by an Omnipotent 'destroyer, and their heritage tost to the children of blood.

Such are the times and seasons in which we now live, when every year in

volves some antient empire in destruction, and the evils of unprincipled ambition are. let loose upon mankind. That the terror to which such times give birth may be dissipated, we must all sincerely pray; that the long and dark shadow, which they cast upon every man's heart, may be illumined, we must all implore of Almighty God; but I wish that awful feeling of human weakness, which these times inspire, may ever prevail, I wish that right sentiment of absolute dependance upon Almighty Providence may be as visible in our future happiness, as it is in our present peril, I wish, when all the passions unfavourable to human happiness have subsided, that the only one these times have produced, which has any tendency to place human happiness upon its proper basis, may be more exquisitely felt, more widely diffused, and more profoundly revered.

Having stated the causes from which repentance commonly originates, I am next to shew by what means, and by what motives, repentance may be best fixed into a habit, so that it does not vanish away and

f

become ineffectual, after it has once begun

to operate.

A

The first, and greatest mode of repenting, is by resolving to be free, by a revolt against the tyranny of sin, and a struggle for the freedom of righteousness. This is a love of freedom, which produces no excess, and acknowledges no limits; which is at work to destroy the anarchy of pas sion, and restore the lawful empire of religion; not that foolish love of freedom which attempts to get rid of all restriction, but that useful love of freedom, which is conscious that men must be restrained, and busies itself only in providing, that the restraints to which they are subjected shall be the wisest, and the best.

But, it may be asked, is there really tyranny in sin? and does repentance make. a man free? or are these the mere habitual phrases of ministers of the gospel? There is tyranny in sin; there is more than Egyptian bondage; it is bondage to hate an appetite, and to serve it; to make one law for your heart which you cannot.