To the young we would say, Repent. You, my young friends, may think the work of repentance to be at present unseasonable. You think it improbable that you should die in the days of your youth and strength. Ah! this is the fatal mistake of thousands. Youth and strength form no security against death. You have seen other, as young and as healthy as yourselves, cut down and numbered with the dead. What has happened to others may happen to you: and the time to which you presumptuously defer your repentance may never, never come to you. You cannot, therefore, repent too soon. You cannot forsake the path of sin and misery too soon. Should the cold hand of death arrest you before you repent of your sins, what hope, what well-grounded hope, can you have of entering the kingdom of heaven? Dear youths, is the salutary work of repentance to be dreaded and deferred as an evil? O! no. Rather choose the way of true religion, and you will certainly find that "her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace."9 Remember, "there is joy in the presence of the angels of God, over one sinner that repenteth." Shall there be no joy in heaven over any one of you?

If repentance be necessary for the young, it cannot be less necessary for the middle aged. They

9 Prov. iii. 17.

have spent a longer time in forgetfulness of God, in despising his grace, and in transgressing his holy laws: and their time here is shorter, according to the ordinary course of nature. Perhaps some of you, who have reached this stage of your short life, are so occupied with the cares, the business and amusements of this world, that you never think seriously of turning unto God. But it is a solemn truth, a grave consideration, that death is rapidly drawing nigh to you, while you are making no preparation for it. Repentance is the commencement of this preparation. It is high time for you to pause, to review your past years, to "consider your ways." Be no longer deceived by the great and subtle enemy of your souls. It is time for you to break through the fatal snare in which he has so long entangled you. Say no longer, "I will repent next year, or to-morrow;" for to-morrow you may never see. Begin the work without delay. Begin to read your Bibles, and to pray in earnest for God's grace to renew your hearts and to grant you"repentance unto life." "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." 1

To the aged, repentance is still more necessary, and that without delay. It is truly a melancholy, heart-rending sight to behold an aged man, with

1 2 Cor. vi. 2.

hoary head and trembling limbs, standing on the edge of the grave, just dropping into eternity,yet unprepared to meet his God. "A hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness." But a hoary head in the way of sin, is crowned with " shame and everlasting contempt."

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"Behold! the aged sinner goes,

Laden with guilt and heavy woes,
Down to the mansions of the dead,
With endless curses on his head."

If there be now before me any such aged man or woman, we would say, "Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out." You have no time to lose for there is but a step between you and the grave;-between you and eternity. With grief and sorrow, review the many years which you have devoted to the service of Satan, the works of the flesh, and the ways of an evil world. It is surely high time that you should repent; that you should prepare to meet your Judge. Be impressed with this truth:

"There is no repentance in the grave;
Nor pardon offered to the dead."

Be prevailed upon to humble yourselves before God; to redeem the short time that remains; to call upon God for his pardoning mercy and quick3 Acts iii. 19.

2 Prov. xvi. 31.

ening grace that you may be prepared for the kingdom of heaven. O! let the time past suffice you to have walked in folly's ways, to have served divers lusts and pleasures, to have lived "without God in the world." It is with you "the eleventh hour;" and even now seek, we beseech you, to enter the fold of Christ, so shall you find peace, safety, and joy.

SERMON IX.

CHRIST CRUCIFIED FOR THE HEALING OF

SINNERS.

JOHN iii. 14, 15.

"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,

even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

THE text forms a part of our Lord's conference with Nicodemus. This Jewish ruler had been convinced of and confessed the divine mission of Jesus: "We know that thou art a teacher come from God." Some few of the Jews believed; though the great mass of that people rejected Jesus as their Messiah. In the worst times and among the most degenerate people, a few will be found who believe in and follow Christ, if Christ be faithfully exhibited in the ministry of the word. The Lord Jesus, having declared to Nicodemus the nature and necessity of the new birth, proceeds to testify the great design of his coming into this