the words of those who would give you encouragement in your present way of life. But which will you judge to have been the truer friend, in that day when you shall as much loathe the follies of this world, as now you love them—the man who flattered you into the false persuasion that all was well-or he who told you the plain, though unwelcome truth, that "except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven?" Which is the faithful watchman, the man who would let you sleep on in sin, though danger is at hand, or he who lifts up his voice to awaken you now, that you may not be awakened hereafter, by the trump of the Archangel, and then be found unfit to meet your God? Oh! go not away and forget what you have heard -return not to your homes resolving to pay no attention to what has been said. All I ask is, that if what I have spoken be false, it be at once rejected; but if it be true, that then for your own soul's sake, without any further delay, before the sun goes down, you will think in earnest about preparing to meet your God, and seeking for refuge in the cross of Christ, that so you may be safe from that coming storm, in which the world and all the workers of iniquity, shall perish.

SERMON XIII.

THE VANITY OF WORLDLY WISDOM.

1 CORINTHIANS i, 18.

"For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God."

If there be any thing in the Bible, which we can depend upon as true, we are here assembled in the presence of the all-seeing God, a company of accountable beings, who must perish or be saved, just as they reject or embrace the salvation which is in Christ. If this be not the alternative before us, what is there in the word of God, to which we can trust? what religion is there in all the world, which may be regarded as true?

We set out, then, with this most serious reflection, that there are some, to whom the Gospel of Christ is preached, who will perish, because they despise it. "The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness."

To some, however, it may seem needless anxiety that I should endeavour to convince you that whosoever neglects the salvation of God, must

certainly perish. But it is a lurking scepticism here, which lies at the root of all that indifference to religion, which so commonly prevails. It is this which leads men to despise the Gospel, and to neglect their Saviour. It is this which gives them such peace as they have, in the midst of their forgetfulness of God. It is this which enables the careless to go through life without fear, and often to meet death with composure. Men do not acknowledge it to others; nay, they will scarcely acknowledge it to themselves, that they have this suspicion. But yet it really exists, else who would continue in sin? who would be careless of his salvation?

But let the case be put thus: see if you can remember any time, when the thought has crossed your mind, that possibly your end might be destruction. Reflect, whether you have ever felt for one moment alarmed, lest your portion hereafter should be, the worm that never dies and the fire that is not quenched. Now it is but too probable, that this thought has never come into your mind. It may have never seemed possible to you, that you, like the rich man in the parable, may have hereafter to lift up your eyes in hell, being in torments. But if this thought has indeed, never come into your mind, is not this a convincing proof that you cannot really believe

that those who neglect their salvation, must certainly perish?

Again, if you are not living by faith in Christ; if you are not giving all diligence, sparing no pains and refusing no self-restraint in order to escape the threatened judgments of God, how is it possible you can look upon as true, what the Scriptures reveal to us about the end of the ungodly? Surely, it is altogether impossible, that any one can really believe what we are taught in the word of God, about the misery of the lost, and yet at the same time be guilty of neglecting the salvation of Christ. We can easily understand how the preaching of the cross should be foolishness to those who have no faith in God's word, and, therefore, no fear of his threatenings: but how any man can believe in the reality of the punishment of the wicked, and yet think lightly of the great work of man's redemption, is altogether unintelligible. How a man can see destruction approaching, and yet take no pains to escape from it, is an inconsistency so adverse to every principle of our nature, that common sense refuses to give credit to its existence. We are forced then to the conclusion, that those who neglect the salvation of Christ, do not and can not believe in the threatened punishment of sin. And if this be so, oh! how many are there who doubt the truth of what God