that it is ever driven out from it. When Satan has brought the soul into such a bondage, he leads it captive at his will. That word of the Apostle is fulfilled in them, "It is impossible for those who have been once enlightened, and tasted the powers of the world to come, if they should fall away, to renew it again unto repentance." Or, as it is elsewhere as plainly written, "He that wandereth from the way of understanding, shall remain in the congregation of the dead."

See how it was with Judas. What a course of transgression! What a steady continuance in that course of sin and unrighteousness! And to what an end did he bring it! It seemed as if nothing could stop him or arrest his progress; till at last the sentence was passed on him, "That thou doest do quickly.” And "he went out" from among the disciples, because he was not of them: Satan entered into him and took him away to his own place.

And such is too frequently the end of an unfaithful course of life: there seems to be no power whatever to come back to the path of righteousness. When the heart has got so much enslaved, when it is tied and bound with the chain of its sins; it is not a little that will set it free. There may be occasional impressions, as the circumstances and sorrows of life come upon them. There may be occasional convictions, and strong feelings, and workings of conscience, and great awakenings, and strivings of spirit; but they will only be occasional: they will soon pass away again and be as the morning cloud or as the early dew. Such an one will pray perhaps and that most earnestly; he will make an effort in prayer for a day or so together and he will seem for that passing moment to get ease and comfort. But he will soon leave

*Heb. vi. 4-8. Prov. xxi. 16.

it off again, and go back like the dog to its vomit, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

2. Consider secondly, the present misery of such a state of mind. Is such a man in any respect a happy man? Has he any real enjoyment of true peace of mind? Rather is he not in a state of constant distress and disquietude? And that too, whatever be his outward circumstances. Though he may seem to prosper and things to go well with him, yet he cannot enjoy them, because his soul is cast down and disquieted within him. He will know and experience that a curse rather than a blessing is resting upon all that he does. That scripture is always fulfilled to him, "Because thou servedst not the Lord with joyfulness and gladness of heart, therefore the Lord shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck until he have destroyed thee: Cursed shalt thou be in the city and cursed shalt thou be in the field; cursed shall be thy basket and thy store; cursed shall be the fruit of thy body and the fruit of thy land; cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out." Look again at the state of Judas. When he had committed that deed, and when it was too late to repent of it, then he was filled with remorse, with misery, and terror, and dismay. He was unable to bear life any longer, and he went and destroyed himself, that he might seek for a refuge by drowning his thoughts in death! Or see this exemplified in the latter history of Saul. When the Lord had forsaken him for his continued disobedience; when he enquired of the Lord but the Lord answered him not; when the ghost of Samuel told him, "The Lord is departed from thee and is become thine enemy;" mark what a state of wretchedness and distress he was reduced to. "He fell straightway all along on the earth, and there was no strength in him,

for he had eaten no bread all the day nor all the night;" and at the last, when there was no one that would kill him, he fell upon his sword and died. Such is the present misery of an unfaithful man.

3. Then thirdly, look at the effect of unfaithfulness in its Satanic tendency : "One of you is a devil:" the "son of perdition." "Satan entered into him.” Look at the debasing and poisonous influence which such a course of character had upon the mind of Judas. See how it brought him under the power of Satan, and see how it worked in him, to lead him still further from righteousness, and made him at the last himself a devil! And so it is likely to be with every one whose heart departeth from the Lord. They will go from sin to sin, from one degree of guilt to another, till at last, in the strong language of Scripture, they are “full of all subtilty and mischief, the enemies of all righteousness, and children of the Devil." They are clouds without water; trees twice dead, without fruit; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever."

4. Finally, dear brethren, I would urge it upon you to flee from this state of iniquity, by its needless continuance, by the offers of mercy and the means of escape that are set before you. If you have found by experience that to deal falsely with God, and to have your heart not right with him, is already hell upon the earth, then make haste to return to him and to renew your covenant with him as a God of love and a God of grace,-love to pardon, grace to save and sanctify. "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, and he will abundantly pardon." As you value your eternal salvation, do this without delay. You know that you must do it before you can die in peace,

or go out of the world in hope or safety. Time is passing and life is hastening on. Death often comes

in a short and unlooked-for moment. And how shall it find you or whither shall it take you after this present world? Think how much you have at stake in it! A world of immortal happiness and glory for a life that can never end! And this you are sacrificing, not for present comfort and enjoyment, but, as I have shown you, and as your own experience tells you, for present distress and misery! O make up your mind, my brethren, to halt no longer between two opinions! Decide the doubtful question, and let your purpose be fixed for ever, that you will be the Lord's: that you will be his in body, soul, and spirit. Let this be the day of revival to you. Go home and renew your covenant with the Lord your God. Put away from you all that is evil in your practice or inconsistent in your life. Wash away the guilt of past unfaithfulness by a fresh application to the precious blood of Christ. And then go on your way rejoicing, with singleness and gladness of heart.

SERMON VI.

CLASS III. DEFECT IN IMPRESSION.

FELIX.

And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will send for thee. Acts xxiv. 25.

WE have considered two out of five of those particular classes of character in the New Testament, which, together, make up the rank of defective cases in the matter of evangelical conversion. That is, those which fell short of a real regenerative change of heart, owing to some fatal and radical defect in them; a defect in principle, or a defect in practice, or else in impression, or else in extent, or else in final perseve

rance.

We have seen the defect in principle, in the character of Simon, and of Ananias and Sapphira; a vain and selfish purpose; a mind unsanctified by the profession of the faith; a heart not right with God. We have examined the character of Herod as a case defective through evil practice: his mind instructed; his fears awakened; his desires excited; his affections greatly moved: but his soul made shipwreck of, through the deceitfulness of sin, through its gratified