viour of sinners, we have the same practical need of the doctrine of conversion, even as the profligate offender. For, in this case, our "hearts are not right with God," and we have not that "holiness without which no man shall see the Lord." Examine, then, let me beseech you, my brethren, the character and extent of your own conversion. Beware of stopping short at a change which reaches the manners without touching the heart; which cuts off only a few of the grosser vices, or imparts only a few of the easier virtues; which separates you from the profligate without uniting you to God and the Redeemer. "O Israel, return to the Lord thy God."

3. And, finally, let me speak to the poor contrite sinner, who is unable to find any hope or consolation in the promises of the Gospel.-To whom, I again ask, was the invitation of the text addressed? Was it not to guilty and afflicted Israel; to those who, whatever name they bear, had, by a long series of provocations, brought down the heavy wrath of God upon themselves; to those who had sinned against light and conviction, in the face of the strongest warnings, and in the midst of the highest privileges? And, even those deep and old offenders are directed to draw nigh to God, with the conviction, that in Him" the fatherless," the helpless, the destitute, “find mercy." Take, then, this encouragement to your wounded bosoms, you who are prostrate supplicants at the cross of your Redeemer; and never question the willingness of God to save you. Go to Him, as not merely the Judge of his creatures, but the "Father." and the tenderest

of all fathers. But, then, while the conviction of his love fills you with hope, let it also prompt you to watchfulness, to purity of life, and sweetness of temper. If it is as children you would be saved by Him, it is as children you must love and obey Him. "Say no more, therefore, to the works of your hands, Ye are our gods." Renounce every other master for the love and service of the Lord. Abandon the world, that you may be installed into the high privileges of the children of heaven. Whatever be the disposition of others, let your language be, “Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a covenant which shall not be forgotten." Thus, by the power of Divine grace, resolve and act; and the promise of God shall be eternally fulfilled to you: "I will be a Father to you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty."

SERMON XVI.

OUR EARTHLY AND OUR HEAVENLY FATHER CON TRASTED.

HEB. xii. 9, 10.

Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence; shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure, but He for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holi

ness.

PERHAPS there is no duty of which the obligation is more universally felt and acknowledged, than that of a child to a parent. Indeed, it might be thought that none could fail to give to obligations of this class all their due weight and solemnity, who had ever reposed on the sleepless anxiety of a mother's love, lavishing health, and strength, and life itself, for the child of her bosom. Amongst some of the nations of antiquity, the violation of this duty was regarded with such abhorrence, that the parent was permitted to punish it with death. And, if in some modern idolatrous countries, the child is found lighting the funeral pile of its widowed mother, or plunging its decrepid parent into the waves of the sacred river, it is not so much that filial duty is despised, as that a false system of religion has prescribed wrong means of discharging that duty. In fact, this obligation seems in many in

stances to be regarded where every other is forgotten; and to be often, as it were, the only flower which blooms in the chilly waste of an erroneous or corrupt religion.

But it is not necessary, for the sake of establishing the argument of our text, to consider the estimation in which this duty is held by those beyond the pale of the Gospel. The words are addressed to the followers of Christ; and to them it may be confidently said, You, one and all, entertain a strong persuasion of the duty of children to their parents: you, probably without a single exception, condemn your own neglect of these duties whenever it has occurred; and you as universally require the fulfilment of these duties at the hand of your own children. The text, then assuming this general law and principle both of our nature and our religion, as the basis of its argument, says to you, "If such is the tribute you both render and claim as the duty of a child to its earthly father, “shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits?" Is not also the God we serve a Father, and a most tender Father? Does not he himself say, even of creatures sunk in idolatry, "Bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth?" Is it not the language of our Lord, "I ascend to my Father and to your Father?" And does not that disciple who lay in the bosom of his Lord, and to whom the secrets of his heart were revealed, declare, that "to as many as received Christ, to them gave he power to become the sons of God?" Shall we then deny to our Heavenly Father, the tribute we so rigorously exact from others? Shall we not say to Him, "Thou art our Father;" "O

take us, body, soul, and all; for thine we are, and thine we desire and love to be ?"

Such is the substance of the reasoning in the verses before us; but as they enforce this reasoning by a brief statement of the comparative claims of our earthly and heavenly Parent; and as the general argument is much strengthened by this comparison, it may be desirable for us carefully to consider it.

And to this end it may be observed, that the text contrasts the claim of a heavenly and an earthly Father in four particulars. It adverts, I. TO THE DIFFERENT SENSE IN WHICH OUR HEAVENLY AND OUR EARTHLY PARENT MAY BE CONSIDERED AS A FATHER.

II. TO THE DIFFERENT CHARACTER OF THEIR
DISCIPLINE AND CORRECTION.

III. TO THE DIFFERENT VALUE OF THE GIFTS

THEY ARE ABLE TO IMPART.

IV. TO THE DIFFERENT DURATION OF THESE

GIFTS.

To these four points it is my wish now to call your attention; and may the merciful Father of his poor erring creatures prosper our examination of them!

I. In the first place, the text adverts To THE

DIFFERENT SENSE IN WHICH A HEAVENLY AND AN EARTHLY PARENT MAY BE CONSIDERED AS OUR FA

THER. Of the one it says, he "is the father of our flesh;" of the other, he is the "Father of our spirits." Now consider, my brethren, the wide distinction implied in these expressions.

Your earthly parent is the father of your flesh. In other words, he is the transmitter of that part of man which is merely animal; which bears the least resemblance to God, and the most to the