than they by motives of interest, you have received of his fulness, and grace for grace, John i. 16; you to whom Christ has revealed immortality and life, 2 Tim. i. 10; who having received such promises, you ought to be the more separated from all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit....more than they, by motives of fear, for, knowing the terrors of the Lord, you ought to be the more obedient to his will. More than they by motives of emulation; you have not only the cloud of witnesses, but the grand pattern, the model of perfection, who has left us so fine an example that we should tread in his steps; who has said, Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart, Matt. xi. 29. Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of your faith; you ought, according to St. Paul's exhortation, to be induced not to cast away your confidence, Heb. x. 35....More than they by the grandeur of your heavenly birth; you have not received the spirit of bondage unto fear, but the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father, Rom. viii. 15.

What is the result of all these arguments? If you have more motives, you are more culpable; and, if you are more culpable, the mercy which they have obtained concludes nothing in your favour; and the objection, which you derive from example, is altogether sophistical. And what is worse, this superabundance of motives renders your conversion more difficult, and thereby destroys the hopes you found on their example. For though the Holy Spirit has a supreme power over the heart, nothing, however, is more invariable, than that in promoting our conversion, he acts with us as rational beings, and in conformity to our nature; he proposes motives, and avails himself of their force, to induce us to duty. Consequently, when the heart has long resisted the grand motives of conversion, it becomes obdurate.

How were those miraculous conversions achieved to which you appeal? It was in a way totally inapplicable to you. The first time Zaccheus saw Jesus

Christ, he received the promise of salvation. Zaccheus feeling, by the efficacy of grace, the force of a motive never experienced before, yielded immediately, and without hesitation. The converts, on the day of Pentecost, were in suspense concerning what opinion they ought to form of Jesus Christ: they had crucified him in ignorance, and Jerusalem remained undecided what to think of him after his death. The apostles preached; they proved by miracles the truth of his resurrection. Then those men, being struck with motives never before proposed, yielded at once. Thus the Holy Spirit operated in their hearts; but, in conformity to their nature, proposing motives, and employing their force to captivate the heart.

But these operations of the Holy Spirit have lost their effect, with regard to you. What motives can be in future proposed, which have not been urged a thousand times, and which have consequently lost their efficacy? Is it the mercy of God? That you have turned into lasciviousness. Is it the image of Jesus Christ crucified? Him you daily crucify afresh, without remorse and without repentance. Is it the hope of heaven? You look only at the things which are seen. Is it the fear of hell? That has been painted a thousand and a thousand times, and you have acquired the art of braving its terrors and torments. If God should, therefore, employ in your behalf the same degree of power, which effectuated those instantaneous conversions, it would be found insufficient; if he should employ for you the same miracle, that miracle would be too weak. It would require a more abundant portion of grace to convert you, than it did to convert the others; consequently, a miracle less distinguished than was afforded them, concludes nothing in favour of that, which is the object of your hope, and the flimsy foundation of your security.

A third difference is derived from the duration of their crimes. Ofall the sinners we have enumerated,

if we may except the converted thief, there was not one who persevered in vice to the close of life. St. Peter, St. Paul and David, were but a few moments, but a few days, or a few years at most, entangled in sin. They consecrated the best part of life to the service of God. They were unfaithful in a few instances, but afterwards their fidelity was unremitting.

I acknowledge the good thief seems to have, with the sinners we attack, the sad similarity of persisting in vice to the end of life. But his history is so short in the Gospel, the circumstances related are so few, and the conjectures we may make on this subject are so doubtful and uncertain, that a rational man can find in it, no certain rule for the regulation of his conduct.

Who was this thief? What was his crime? What induced him to commit it? What was the first instance of his depravity? What was that of his res pentance? What means did grace employ for his conversion? So many questions, and so many doubts, are so many sufficient reasons for inferring nothing from his conversion. Perhaps he had been engaged in this awful course but a short time. Perhaps seduced by an unhappy ease, he was less guilty of theft than of softness and compliance. Perhaps only the accomplice of Barabbas in sedition, he had less design of disturbing society, than of restricting the tyrannic and exorbitant power of the Romans. Perhaps surprised by weakness, or tempted by necessity, he had received sentence for his first offence. Perhaps having languished a long time in prison, he had repented of his sin. We do not affirm these things, they are merely conjectures; but all that you can object are similar conjectures, refuted with the same ease. And after the like refutation of all these probabilities, how many criminating circumstances occurs in your life, which were not in his. We said, that he had not received the educa

tion which you have; he had not received the torrent of grace, with which you are inundated: he was unacquainted with a thousand motives, which operate on you; the moment he saw Jesus Christ, he loved him, and he believed on him. How was that? With what faith? At what time? In a manner the most heroic in the world: with such a faith as was never found in Israel. At a time when Jesus Christ was fixed on the cross; when he was pierced with the nails; when he was delivered to a frantic populace; when they spit upon him; when he was mocked by the Greek; when he was rejected by the Jew; when he was betrayed by Judas; when St. Peter denied him; when his disciples fled; when Jesus made himself of no reputation, and took upon himself the form of a servant, the thief....the thief seemed to be the only believer, and he alone to constitute the whole church. After all, this is but a solitary example: if the converted thief afford you consolation in your crimes, tremble, ye sinners, when ye cast your eyes on him, who was hardened at his side; and let the singularity of this late conversion induce you to fear, lest you should not have been chosen of God, to furnish to the universe a second proof of the success of a conversion, deferred to the hour of death.

A fourth reflection turns on the virtues of those sinners, whose example you adduce. For though one criminal habit may suffice, where repentance is wanting, to plunge into the abyss him who is captivated with it, whatever may be his virtues; yet there is a vast disparity between the state of two men, one of whom has fallen, indeed, into a crime, but who otherwise has the virtues of a great saint; and the other of whom has fallen into the same crime, but is wanting in those virtues. You bear with a fault in a servant, when he is well qualified for your service; but this defect would be insupportable in the person of another, that is destitute of those talents.

Apply this remark to the subject in hand. It is a duty to inquire, whether God will extend his mercy to you, after the perpetration of notorious offences. You allege, for your comfort, the case of those sinners who have obtained mercy; after having proceeded in vice, at least, according to your opinion, as far as yourself. Take two balances: weigh with the one hand their crimes, and your crimes; weigh with the other their virtues, and your virtues. If the weights are equal, your argument is conclusive: the grace which they obtained, is an infallible testimony that you shall not be excluded. But if you should find, on inquiry, a difference; if you should find, on your dying bed, that you have resembled them in what is odious, and not in what is acceptable, do you not perceive the impropriety of your presumption, and the absurdity of your hopes?

Now, who is there among us abandoned to vice, that will compare himself with those illustrious saints in regard to virtue; as it is readily acknowledged that they resemble them in regard to faults? You fonow, to-day, the multitude to do evil, as Zaccheus and the apostles before their conversion: so far the parallel is just; but can you prove, like them, that you obeyed the first calls of Jesus Christ; that you have never been offended, neither with the severity of his precepts, nor with the bloody horrors of his cross and martyrdom? You sacrifice, like David, to an impudent Bathsheba, the rights of the Lord, who enjoins temperance and modesty so far the parallel is just; but have you, like him, had the law of God in your heart? Have you, like him, rose at midnight to sing praises unto God? Have you, like him, made charity your glory, and piety your delight? You have persecuted the church, like St. Paul, by malicious objections, and profane sneers; you have made havock of the flock, as this zealot once did, by persecutions and punishments: so far the parallel is just; but have you asked Jesus Christ,