son of his good and offended father. When the Romans, to whom the epistle was addressed, had heard and received the word of God, they saw in that word, as in a glass, the folly and misery of those things in which they had formerly lived. God's holy word is the true, the only mirror to exhibit the exceeding sinfulness and consequence of sin. Of their former, unholy, ungodly lives, these converts to the faith were ashamed. True conviction of sin invariably leads a man to feel ashamed of his sins, and to hate and forsake sin, as an evil, a bitter, a cursed thing. In the agonizing death of his Saviour, he sees the fruit of his own sins. In the wretchedness and sufferings incident to humanity, he recognises the fruit of sin. In the inconceivable torments of the damned, he acknowledges the righteous wages of sin. Of sin, of his own transgressions, he is ashamed. When the Jews repented, they were ashamed of their evil ways. Hear their confession as made by Ezra: "O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God, for our iniquities are increased over our heads, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens." Look also at the confession of repenting Israel:" "Surely after that I was turned, I repented, I smote on my thigh,—I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my

7 Ezra ix. 6.

youth." This is the feeling, this, in substance, is the confession, of every one who repenteth unto life, and into whose heart the light of divine truth has dawned. With sorrow and shame does he review "those things" in which he formerly delighted. He mourns over his madness, and loathes his sins, and for his sins abhors himself. He enters into the feelings of humbled Job, which are thus expressed: "I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes."9 The sins in which he once lived are the things which have defiled his soul,—provoked the wrath of his heavenly Father, crucified his blessed Redeemer,-and grieved the Holy Spirit, his Sanctifier. He is amazed at the forbearance and goodness of God in so long sparing him; and he is "ashamed" of his manifold provocations. O! that the divine Spirit, whose office is to convince of sin, would produce in the heart of each one of us, these salutary feelings and views of sin, —of our own sinfulness!

Having, I. described some of "those things" of which the apostle reminded the Roman Christians; II. Pointed out "the end of those things;" and, III. Showed how a review of "those things," affects the Christian's mind, we shall now make a brief application of the subject.

Jer. xxxi. 19.

9 Job xlii. 6.

My dear friends, how far does the foregoing description of true penitence agree with your own case? Many and great have been the provocations which God has received from you. Many are the days and the years which you have passed in an estrangement from God; in a disregard of his holy name, his authority, his goodness, his love; and in "serving divers lusts and pleasures." Ah! "what fruit had ye then in those things? for the end of those things is death." Some of you have, I trust, discovered that the end of sin is death. You thought yourselves happy, but you found out your mistake. You rejoiced in your youth, and in the ways of your own hearts, and in walking in the sight of your own eyes,' and soothed yourselves by supposing, "I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart." Your precious time has been dissipated in mad mirth, in drunkenness, in revelling, in dressing, in dancing, or in revenge, in malice, in envy, in despising the God who made you, and the Saviour who died to redeem you. But did these things make you happy? O no. And now that you see the evil of "those things," "you are ashamed of" them: and you can testify that their fruit was disappointment, vexation, sorrow, care, and anxiety. You also discovered that "the 'Titus iii. 3. 2 Eccles. xi. 9.

3 Deut. xxix. 19.

end of those things," if you continued in them, would be death,—would "be wailing and gnashing of teeth." 4

This is a season when this subject seems to be more especially needed;-a season of much dissipation, of drunkenness, of wickedness in various shapes and colours; "The end of those things is death."

We are no enemy to man's happiness or enjoyments, provided they be rational and innocent. But is it rational and innocent to degenerate below the brute, by drunkenness; to wallow in the polluting mire of sin; to swear and curse, and blaspheme, and provoke the wrath of God? Surely not. As your faithful friend, I forewarn you that "the end of those things is death."

PARENTS, if you, by your example, encourage or teach your children to follow that which is evil,or if you neglect to check them in their evil ways, can there be any wonder if you should live to see your offspring grow up in wickedness, and become your tormentors in this life, to say nothing of that which is to come? And is it not strange to see persons, professing godliness, professing to fear God, take delight in and mix with such unholy scenes? Not they alone who do such things, but they also who take pleasure in witnessing others

Matt. xiii. 42.

5 The annual village feast or wake.

do such things, are accounted guilty before God. "They who commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them."

YOUTHS AND CHILDREN, take heed to yourselves: there is evil before you. In such times as these, Satan is particularly busy in laying his snares to entrap the young and thoughtless. Should you be tempted to mix with the vain, the foolish, the giddy, the godless, remember the word-" A companion of fools shall be destroyed."7 Ask yourselves, is it thus that I renounce the devil and all his works, the vanities of this wicked world,-and all the sinful lusts of the flesh? Perhaps you excuse yourselves by saying, I am only doing what many others do. Well, what saith God to this?" Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil." And, My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou

66

not."9

CHRISTIANS, who profess to know and serve the Lord, "abstain from all appearance of evil." Set not your seal of approbation to the sins and follies of others, lest you should be partakers of other men's sins. And while, by your example in abstaining from the unholy mirth and licentiousness

6 Rom. i. 32.
8 Exod. xxiii. 2.

7 Prov. xiii. 20. 9 Prov. i. 10.

1 1 Thess. v. 22.