when you shall not see a to-morrow. If this be not the last, there is a sermon yet to be preached which will be the last you will ever hear.

Let me speak to Christless persons who are anxious about their souls. Some hearing me know that they are in a Christless condition, and this made them anxious; and yet it is to be feared some are losing that anxiety, and now going back to the mirth of the world. Why is this? This is most unreasonable. If you are still out of Christ, however anxious you have been, remember God has made no promises to save you. The sword is still over you, furbished and sharpened. Ah! do not then make mirth. Strive to enter in at the strait gate. Take the kingdom of heaven by violence. Press into it. Never rest till you are in the bonds of the covenant. Then be as happy as the day is long.

(5.) It is a sore slaughter : "A sword! a sword !”

ist, Sore, because it will be on all who are Christless.—The dreadfulness of the slaughter in Jerusalem was, that all were slain, both old and young. The command which the prophet heard was (ix. 5), “Go ye through the city, and smite. Let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity. Slay utterly old and young, both maids and little children and women; but come not near any man upon whom is the mark.” Such is the sore slaughter waiting on unconverted souls. All Christless persons will perish, young and old. God will not spare, neither will his eye pity. Think of this, old grey-headed persons, that have lived in sin, and never come to Christ; if you die thus, you will certainly perish in the sore slaughter. Think of this, middle-aged persons, hard-working merchants and labourers, who make money, but do not sell all for the pearl of great price. Think of this, ye Marthas, who are careful and troubled about many things, but who forget the one thing that is needful, you also will fall in the sore slaughter. Think of this, young persons, who live without prayer, yet in mirth and jollity; you that meet to jest and be happy on Sabbath evenings; you that walk in the sight of your own eyes,--you, too, will fall in that sore slaughter. Think of this, little children, you that are the pride of your mother's heart, but who have gone astray from the womb, speaking lies. Little children who are fond of your plays, but are not fond of coming to Jesus Christ, who is the Saviour of little children, the sword will come on you also. Oh! it is a sore slaughter that will not spare the young, nor the lovely, nor the kind-the gentle mother and affectionate child-the widow and her only son. Should you then make mirth? Unconverted families, when you meet in the evening to jest and sport with one another, ask this one question, Should we make mirth? Is your mirth reasonable? Is it worthy of rational beings? Unconverted companions, who meet so often for mirth and amusement, should you make mirth together when you are in such a case ? Ah! how dismal will the contrast be when God says, Bind them in bundles to burn them!

2d, Sore slaughter because the sword is the sword of God. If it were only the sword of man that is furbished and sharpened for the slaughter, it would not be very terrible. But it is the sword of Almighty God, and therefore it is very terrible. “Fear not them that kill the body, but after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear Him, who after He hath killed the body, is able to cast body and soul into hell; yea, I say unto you, fear Him.” If it were the sword of man, it conld reach only to the body ; but, ah! it is the sword of God, and the iron will enter into the soul. It is the same sword that appeared in the garden of Eden,"a flaming sword, that turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life.” It is the same sword which pierced the side of Jesus Christ in his agony. “Awake, O sword, against my Shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of Hosts: I will smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.” It is that sword of which Christ speaks, when He says, “It shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with hypocrites: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”

Dear brethren, it is not a few flesh wounds that that sword will make. It will cut asunder,-it will be a death-blow,-eternal death. It is a death which body and soul will be always dying, yet never dead.

(1.) Let me speak to the old.—There may be some hearing me in whom these three things meet, namely, that they are old, and Christless, and full of mirth. Oh! if there be such hearing me, consider your ways,-consider if your mirth be worthy of a rational being. I have shown you plainly out of the Scriptures what your case is : First, That you are condemned already. Second, That God's sword is ready. Third, That it may come down any moment. Fourth, That God has made you no promise to stay his hand. And, Fifth, That it will be a sore slaughter. Consider, then, if it be reasonable to believe a lie,—to deceive your own soul, and say, Peace, peace, when there is no peace. In the ordinary course of things, you must soon go the way of all living, you must be gathered to your fathers; and then all that I have said will be fulfilled. Should you then make mirth? Are you tottering on the brink of hell, and yet living prayerless and Christless, and playing yourself with straws, telling over the oft-repeated tale of youth, and laughing over the oft-repeated jest? Alas! what a depth of meaning was there in the word of Solomon! "I said of laughter, It is mad; and of mirth, What doeth it? Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful, and the end of that mirth is heaviness.”

(2.) Let me speak to the young.–There may be many hearing me in whom these three things meet: They are young in years, fa: from Christ, and yet full of mirth. Now, my dear friends, I entreat you to consider whether your mirth is reasonable. The sword is sharpened for a sore slaughter. Should you then make mirth?

Obj. 1.-Youth is the time for mirth. Ans. I know well youth is the time for mirth. The young lamb is a happy creature as it springs about on the green pasture. The young kid leaps from rock to rock with liveliest glee. The young horse casts its heels high in the air, full of life and activity. But then they have no sin, and you have; they have no hell, and you have. If you will come to Jesus Christ now, and be freed from wrath, ah! then you will find that youth is the time for mirth,—youth is the time for enjoying sweet peace in the bosom, and liveliest intercourse with God, and brightest hopes of glory.

Obj. 2.-You would have us to be gloomy and sad. Ans.--God forbid. All that I maintain is, that until you are come to Christ, your mirth is mad and unreasonable. If you will come to Christ, then be as happy as you will; there are no bounds to your joy there, for you will joy in God. And when you die, you will come to fulness of joy in his presence, and pleasures at his right hand for evermore.

Obj. 3.- If I be Christless, it will not bring me into Christ to be sad, and therefore I may as well be merry. Ans.-Truc, to be sad will not bring you into Christ; and yet, if you were really awakened to cry to God, peradventure He would hear your cry. If you were striving to enter in, you might find entrance. If you were pressing into the kingdom, you might take it by violence. Seek meekness, seek righteousness. It may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger. If you stay where you are, you are sure to be lost. If you live on in carnal security, in mirth and jollity, while you are out of Christ, you are sure to perish.

"Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes ; but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment."

DUNDEE 1837.

SERMON V. · Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man.”—Prov. viji. 4.

(1.) These are the words of wisdum ; and wisdom in the book of Proverbs is none other than our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. This is evident from chap. i. 23, where He says, “Behold, I will pour out my Spirit unto you;” but it is Christ alone who has the gift of the Holy Spirit. And again, from viii. 22, where He says, "The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way ;” and verse 30: “ Then I was by Him as one brought up with Him; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before Him." These words are true of none but of Jesus Christ,—the Word that was with God, and was God, by whom all things were made.

(2.) The places He goes to with the invitation.—First, He goes to the country. He climbs every eminence, and cries there ; then He descends to the highway where many roads meet. Second, He goes to the city. He begins at the gates, where the people are assembled to make bargains and hear causes; then He proceeds along the principal avenue into the city, and cries in at every door as He passes. He first goes out into the highways and hedges, then goes into the streets and lanes of the city, carrying the blessed message.

(3.) Observe the manner in which He invites.-He cries aloud, -He puts forth the voice,-He stands and cries,-He calls and lifts up his voice,-He seems like some merchant offering his wares, first in the market, and then from door to door. Never did busy crier offer to sell his goods with such anxiety as Jesus offers his salvation; verse 10: “Receive my instruction, and not silver ; and knowledge rather than choice gold.”

(4.) Observe to whom the invitation is addressed.—Verse 4: “Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man." Merchants only offer their goods to certain classes of the people that will buy; but Jesus offers his to all men. Wherever there is a son of Adam,-wherever there is one born of woman,the word is addressed to him : he that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Doctrine.-Christ offers himself as a Saviour to all of the human race.

I. The most awakening truth in all the Bible. It is commonly thought that preaching the holy law is the most awakening truth in the Bible,--that by it the mouth is stopped, and all the world becomes guilty before God; and, indeed, I believe this is the most

ordinary mean which God makes use of. And yet to me there is something far more awakening in the sight of a Divine Saviour freely offering himself to every one of the human race. There is something that might pierce the heart that is like a stone in that cry: “Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man."

(1.) Had you lived in the days when Noah built the ark,-had you seen that mighty vessel standing open and ready, inviting all the world to come into its roomy cavities, would it not have been the most awakening of all sights ? Could you have looked upon it without thinking of the coming flood that was to sweep the ungodly world away?

(2.) Had you lived in the times when Jesus was on the earth,had you seen Him riding down the Mount Olivet, and stopping when He came in sight of Jerusalem, lying peaceful and slumbering at his feet, -had you seen the Son of God weep over the city, and say, “If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong to thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes,"--would you not have felt that some awful destruction was awaiting the slumbering city ? Would He shed these tears for nothing? Surely He sees some day of woe coming which none knows but himself.

(3.) Just so, dear friends, when you see Jesus here running from place to place,—from the high places to the highways,—from the highways to the city gates,-from the gates to the doors; when you hear his anxious cry, “ Unto you, O men, I call,"--does it not show that all men are lost, that a dreadful hell is before them? Would the Saviour call so loud and so long if there was no hell?

Apply this to slambering souls.

1st, Mark who it is that calls you—it is Wisdom !-Jesus Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. “Unto you, O men, I call.” Often, when ministers prick your hearts in their sermons, you go home and say, “Oh! it was only the word of a minister,--shall I tremble at the words of a man?" But here is the word of no minister, but of Christ. Here is the word of one who knows your true condition,—who knows your heart and your history,who knows your sins done in the light, and done in the dark, and done in the recesses of your heart, who knows the wrath that is over you, and the hell that is before you, “ Unto you, O men, I call."

2d, Mark in how many places He calls you.--In the high places and the highways, in the gates, in the entries, at the coming in of the doors. Has it not been so with you? Have you not been