speedily," the Almighty therefore pays no regard to the sins of the world. On the contrary, he has appointed a period for the revelation of his righteous judgment upon those sins. His forbearance and long-suffering are therefore no proof of his overlooking them : quite the reverse; they are manifest indications of a mercy that would rather allow time for repentance and reformation than cut off the delinquent in the midst of his transgressions. They ought surely then to actuate our virtue and not encourage us to vice. Though the divine punishments be delayed, they will only fall the heavier upon such as wantonly provoke them. So will the rewards of the righteous hereafter be the greater for having received none here.

If we only reflect that "God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to Hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; and spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly," it must convince us that the Almighty is not an unconcerned spectator of the guilt of his creatures; and that as he can pardon their offences, where contrition has awakened his mercy, so also can he punish their iniquities, where impenitence has excited his wrath. Do we not find, among all civilized communities, that wherever those laws are

violated, which are established to protect or promote our liberal intercourse with each other, the person violating them is invariably punished? It is the wise policy of human jurisprudence that punishment shall follow transgression, and whence did man derive his notions of justice but from God? If then it be a universal maxim of equity among men, that all infractions of established laws shall be visited with punishment, upon what principles of reasoning would we persuade ourselves that all violations of the immutable laws of God, when not expiated by repentance, may find impunity at the great day "when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed?" Has not the "Father of mercies" declared that the impenitent guilty shall suffer? --and although they may not do so in the life present, this ought not to afford them any grounds for encouraging a hope that they shall not suffer in the life future. Should it not rather lead them to infer that the next world will be the scene of their sufferings, and there these will be eternal, for setting their Creator as it were at defiance in this, by despising his commandments, since his irreversible decree has gone forth, that the unrepentant wicked shall not escape the inflictions of his justice?

Is it because we choose to imagine the offence disproportioned to the punishment denounced against determined iniquity, however deep may

be the taint of our guilt, that the Lord of life will therefore reverse his determinations respecting us, and break through the immutable course of his providence only because it does not happen to square with our notions of divine equity? We know the conditions upon which we act. We are not required to do beyond what we are able to perform. An alternative is offered to our choice of everlasting joy or sorrow. We can secure the former by acting up to the conditions annexed to its possession; if therefore we recklessly expose ourselves to the perils of the latter, by refusing to employ those means of salvation which the divine mercy has pointed out to us, shall we presume to allege that God has disproportioned the punishment to our guilt, however terrible that punishment may be? We can avoid it if we will; we shall consequently be without excuse if, "when we are weighed in the balances, we shall be found wanting."

The forbearance of God-a God let us remember who created man innocent, and condescended to expiate his guilt in forfeiting his innocence is a striking proof of His favorable intentions towards us. He affords us time and opportunity to return from our wickedness and live." In the midst of our most heinous transgressions, He still encourages our return to him. If we were all cut off in the midst of our worst offences, with what just terrors

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should we appear before the tribunal of our eternal judge! He bears with us long, not to encourage in us the perilous persuasion that we may transgress with impunity, but in order that we should embrace the opportunity of repenting and thus of regaining His favour. He affords us all sufficient opportunities of seeking him; but let us not imagine that because he is "longsuffering and of great kindness" he will therefore submit to provocation.

Where we continue in sin, he frequently delays to strike, that we may have time to improve our dispositions for amendment, and that, by seeing the deformities of vice, we may learn. to appreciate justly the loveliness of virtue. It cannot be probable that the commands of a Being to whom the Psalmist, under the influence of inspiration, has addressed this sublime attestation of omnipresence,-" if I ascend up into heaven, thou art there; and if I make my bed in hell, thou art there also ;"-it cannot be probable,

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say, that the commands of a Being, in whom all perfections are blended, may be violated with impunity, when He has positively declared that such violation shall be punished. "Hath he said, and shall he not do it; or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good." However his judgments may be delayed, they will nevertheless, sooner or later, be inflicted.

If it were an even chance whether there will

be a state of suffering in eternity for impenitent sinners, surely even then it must be the extreme of imprudence to continue in sin, as there is still the possibility of everlasting woe; and whilst that possibility exists, there can be no security in guilt. It would, at all events, be the wisest, and must therefore be the best, plan to provide against the worst, since a terrible risk would be thereby avoided, and the soul, at the same time, prepared for whatever change of circumstance may await it in the world of spirits. As however we know that God has proclaimed his determination to inflict punishment upon the impenitent, how manifest is the folly of opposing our mere interested suppositions against the authority of His recorded word; and how obvious the madness of abiding in iniquity because we choose to persuade ourselves that His sovereign mercy will even betray him into the inconsistency of falsehood; because we are so rash as to presume that He will be weak enough to pardon where He has pledged himself to condemn. He will indeed forgive many, let us hope by far the larger portion of his erring creatures; He will overlook manifold and great offences in those who are contrite. We may rest assured, however, that he will never receive into his favour such as uniformly refuse to obey him. Every moment's continuance in sin, therefore, must necessarily encrease the risk we run