A man can destroy himself, but he cannot save himself. It is easier to destroy than to save; to pull down than to build up; to take life than to restore it. "Facilis descensus Averni, sed revocare gradum, hoc opus, hic labor est;"-to destroy is human, to save is divine. "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself, but in me is thy help." The first man, he by whom the offence came, needed to be but of the earth, earthy; the second man, he by whom the free gift came, behooved to be the Lord from heaven. Adam to destroy, had only to reach out his hand, and take, and eat; but Christ, an infinitely more glorious personage, to save, had to labor, to weep, and to die. To shut heaven against our race, O, how easy it was, but to open it again, what it cost even the Son of God! Man could sin, but it required the incarnation of Deity to atone for sin. One transgression of man obliterated the image of God from his soul, but to restore it, demands the operation of the divine Spirit. We can unfit, we have unfitted ourselves for heaven, but to fit us for it is as much the work of God as creation. A single and easy effort quenches the spark of spiritual life, but no collision of earthly materials can strike it up again; fire must come down from heaven to rekindle it; in Jehovah is our help, and he has come forth for our help; and the work he has undertaken for us is greater than the work of creation. Look at it in its preparation; look at it in its execution; love impelled him to seek a ransom; he found one in his only begotten Son, and he so loved the world that he gave him. He hath laid on him the iniquities of us all; with his

sacrifice he is well pleased; and now he is in Christ reconciling the world to himself. And he has sent forth his Spirit to convince the world of sin, and to take of the things of Christ and show them unto us. Will you avail yourselves of his help? Help yourselves you cannot, and creatures cannot help you, God alone can; and now he will, he waits to help you; will you be helped by him, or will you continue undone for ever? There is no other alternative; choose in view of this.

THE SINNER'S CONDITION.

O, sinner, hast thou any hope, or inheritance, or treasure beyond the grave? Alas, none! Your hope and portion lie below. And yet you are on the brink of the grave, and a step carries you beyond it. Here you have no continuing city, nor yet do you seek one to come. You have a treasure, but it is on earth; a portion, but it is in this life; good things, but they are here. You are presently going to eternity, where you have nothing, and whither you can carry nothing of all you have here. What a prospect you have before you! A blank eternity! An eternity of unsatisfied desire, without any thing, without even hope. Behold before you an immortality utterly unprovided for; and within a day you may be compelled to enter upon it. Still there is an opportunity of changing the prospect; still

the hope of the Gospel is set before you; still you may lay hold of it, if you will but fly for refuge to Jesus.

The way of life and grace is indicated by a thousand bends, and lighted by ten thousand lamps, and we are exhorted, yea, intreated by motives of every kind and from every world to pursue it. And no solitary index ever set up by God points its finger to any other, and there is access to this way only from this world; and human life is a withering flower, a fleeting shadow, a vanishing vapor, a breath in the hand of God, a short uncertainty.

PLEAS OF SINNERS.

Some sinners would set off their obedience against their disobedience; pleading merit against demerit; asserting that they have done some evil and much good; urging in extenuation, that the temptation was strong, and their natures frail; declaring that they were sorry for the offence before they committed it, as well as ever since, and that they do not intend ever to repeat it; and finally reminding God that the sin which they have committed was small,-"Is it not a little one?" thus fostering a vain hope of pardon and acceptance. How very different from such was the Psalmist. prayed, "For thy name's sake, Oh, Lord, pardon mine iniquity, for it is great." This is the temper on which

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a sense of pardon will produce penitence and humility. The greater one's need of pardon, the less able to do without it-the more urgent the case-the more miserable the condition-the more powerful the plea with God. The magnitude of a man's iniquity enforces his plea for pardon, just as the greatness of a beggar's necessities enforces his petition for relief, just as the squallid wretchedness of the returning prodigal, pleaded with a kind father. Besides, God's grace is more glorified in pardoning great iniquity, for none but a great God can do such a thing.

It follows that if the greatness of one's iniquity be a reason why it should be forgiven, it can never be a reason why it should not be forgiven.

INABILITY.

We ought to be very guarded in the use of language. Yet is there no impropriety in saying of God that he cannot do certain things, for although cannot more commonly signifies the want of power to accomplish a thing, yet this is not the only meaning of cannot in the Bible or out of it. It always implies the existence of an effectual obstacle, so that the thing will certainly not be done; but the obstacle is not always a want of power to accomplish it. It may be a want of will, or the sense of justice, or the principle of honor, or the strength of

affection, or something else. There is an indisposition which is as invincible as any inability. You might as soon move a mountain, as shake the integrity of some men. Some can be bound by the spiritual bonds of love as fast as others can by chains of iron. If I were going to define cannot, I would say that it expresses either want of power to do a thing, or the existence of a moral obstacle to its performance, as effectual and insuperable as that reared by an absolute impossibility. And if this definition were admitted, it strikes me that it would settle at once the long debated question in the Church in regard to moral and natural inability. One theologian says the sinner can repent, another says he cannot, and thus the minds of the people are perplexed. They are both right in part, and both in part wrong. can, that is, in so far as repentance is an act of power; and yet he cannot, on account of his love of sin-his utter and invincible aversion to God and holiness.

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SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Could men climb some steep and rugged ascent, and enter heaven with the boast of victory by their own right hand, and give out the impression that they had, unaided, won for themselves the crown of glory that fadeth not away, many would go to heaven who, as things now are, will meet an everlasting overthrow.