vileges, how serious and influential, may be the next step you will take in the great concerns of your souls! Who shall estimate its consequences for you? Who shall retrieve its possible errors?

For others, the day of the Lord is near, as the commencement of everlasting liberty and hope. They will be led to build themselves on the Lord Jesus Christ. They will lay themselves down on his merits, as their chosen foundation. They will be safe in him forever. They will pass from a conviction that they are lost and need a restoration, to a godly sorrow for sin, to a full submission to God, to an entire renovation of heart; and in this change of heart and character, they will have that repentance unto salvation, which is not to be repented of. They will be welcomed to the favour of God, and into his abode of everlasting peace, and made the objects of his peculiar and unchanging love. How happy will be their condition! How precious their privilege! How joyful for them, is the fact, that the day of the Lord is near'

My friends, many of you are this day in this narrow valley of decision. It will soon be passed by you. But whither will you pass from it? Will you return to impenitent sin, and unchangeable ruin? Or will you ascend from it with Christ, to glory and to God? This is the question, for which I press your determination. In the presence of an heart-searching God, it must be decided by yourselves. What multiplied and powerful motives combine to urge you to make your calling and election sure! To-day, while it is called to-day, harden not your hearts, as in past days of provocation; but hear the voice, embrace the promises, and obey the commands of God your Saviour.

XV.

THE CHRISTIAN'S HINDRANCES.

GENESIS XXIV. 56.—And he said unto them, Hinder me not, seeing the Lord hath prospered my way.

THE energy and self-devotion with which men pursue the business of the present world, furnish us with many illustrations of that total surrender of ourselves to the service of Almighty God, which he requires of us all. We daily behold instances of men, who in their ardent desire for some distinct, and in their estimation, valuable object of pursuit, are willing to banish all other purposes from their minds, and appear to consider the whole value of life, as consisting in the opportunity, which it presents for this single selected pursuit. The man of industry, the child of pleasure, the victim of sensuality, the aspirant for the honours of the world, are accustomed to set up their individual plans as the sun in their firmament, and to consider the time occupied in them, as the main engagement of their life. They have made an unequivocal surrender of themselves to a peculiar end. And whatever attempts to interfere with their attain

ment of this end, they arrest and repel with the exclamation of the servant of Abraham, "hinder me not."

From an observation of this singleness of purpose among men, directed to the acquisition of supposed advantages in the present world, our Lord derives one of the serious admonitions which he gives to his disciples; "the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light." If there were no room for this comparative reproof, who can calculate the beneficial results which would flow for the church of Christ? If the same monopolizing spirit which is seen to mark the affairs and course of those who have laid up their treasure on the earth, should constrain and govern all the members of Christ, elevated above all worldly engagements, and directed to the salvation of souls, and to the imperishable glories of an eternal state of being; how soon would the church of the Lord Jesus arise and shine, and the glory of the Lord be seen rising upon her.

Let us announce some brilliant scheme of gain, let us scatter the invitations of gayety and mirth, let us exhibit the little elevations which are bestowed by popular breath, and how eager and pressing are the hearts of men for their attainment! Nothing else appears in their view to be of comparative importance. "Give me this, or I die," they are ready to exclaim. But when we would lead the affections of men to glory and to God, then a lion is in the way; something else must be first attended to; a more convenient season will certainly arrive; at any rate, they desire to be excused. In this course of effort, a thousand hindrances interfere, and very few are found willing to con

tend with them all, and to hate and renounce all other things for the sake of Christ. This cross to be immediately borne, is frequently an insuperable obstacle; and the prospect of self-denial is alınost as repulsive as the fear of death. Many who hear, and apparently desire to embrace, the invitations of the Gospel, thus go away from Christ, and walk no more with him. They cannot endure the difficulties which they meet, and the words which they hear. Instead of girding themselves for a race, with a fixed determination so to run that they may obtain, they give up their first desires for salvation, and lie down in despondency, if not with contentment, amidst the snares and dangers of a state of unpardoned sin.

There are, doubtless, many hindrances, and great hindrances, arising from a variety of sources, both from our own hearts, and from the course of the world around us, in every stage of our Christian course. Some of these I purpose to consider. Whatever they may be, the reason which the servant of Abraham gives in our text, for his haste in the performance of duty, and which I design to accommodate to our present purpose, may be used as an answer to all attempts to lead us away from God. "Hinder me not, seeing the Lord hath prospered my way." The Lord hath prospered our way. He has provided means for our return to him. He has awakened us from entire carelessness. He has bestowed upon us thus far, all the comfort and peace which we have received, and enabled us to do all that we have done for him. These past manifestations of his goodness to our souls, encourage us to strive for greater attainments, and excite us to press forward to a full experience of his renew

ing and saving power. Our past prosperity is an unceasing encouragement to future effort, and may be employed as an answer to every hindrance. Under this view would I adopt the expression of our text.

I. It is the entreaty of an awakened sinner returning to the Lord. "Hinder me not, seeing the Lord hath prospered my way." An open door is set before him. A new and living way of salvation invites him. But there are many adversaries. Just awakened to know and feel his own unworthiness and danger, his heart is tender and fearful. He would gladly indulge the hope of safety, but a thousand apprehensions break in upon his peace, and fill him with mourning and bitterness. When he looks upon the misery to which he has been reduced by sin, he gladly resolves, "I will arise and go to my Father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son." But when he remembers the rebellious discontent which first led him from his Father's house, the ungrateful and proud spirit with which he has wandered through the world, and the hateful appearance of his whole character in his Father's eye, he is almost ready to despair of acceptance with him, and to resolve never to attempt a return which seems so little likely to be successful.

In this state of hesitation and difficulty for the convicted sinner, a thousand hindrances are suggested to his mind. His sins are too many and too great to be forgiven. His name is not in the book of life. God will not accept his return. He has no true penitence for sin. He but deceives himself in the idea, that he is sorry for his transgressions. His tears are selfish