-that is only a new stage in its eternal progress! For the Word of God emphatically proclaims not only our immortality, but that whatever be the effect of infancy on childhood of childhood on youth of youth on manhood -that the effect of the whole together on eternity is incalculably greater. That word most fully assures us, that a lost, a neglected, an unsanctified life, never can be recovered in eternity; that at death all the hopes and comforts, the prospects and enjoyments of the unbeliever are cut up, root and branch; and that he passes into eternity not only destitute of preparation, but as if all his life had been spent in preparing for its darkest, blackest allotments. With every hope blighted, every good resolution (as it is termed) unfulfilled, he then enters the world of spirits, into a naked, wretched existence,— strengthened in habits and principles which are doomed through eternity to perpetual disappointment,-while he neither possesses the power, the inclination, nor the opportunity to be deprived of them. The only remedy which could have removed them— the glorious gospel-having been habitually-systematically refused or neglected; and the day of grace being past, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins. Seeing, then, the awful uncertainty of life-the bearing of every stage on the following one, and the whole together on eternity-of what infinite importance is it to commence our preparation now, with the earliest dawnings,―that from this very day we may be travellers to the heavenly Canaan-to the rivers of pleasure which are at God's right hand for evermore!

But what is the great hindrance with too many to this first start for eternal glory? It is deep, practical ignorance of their native corruption-and of the utter worthlessness and guilt of their past life. They do not believe in the deceitfulness and desperate wickedness of their hearts, and that they are righteously exposed to the fearful curse of God's holy law. Hence they feel little need of the Saviour. For the whole have no need of a physician, but they who are sick. How dreadful is your case, O unpardoned reader !-every day, every hour, you are borne onwards by the inward current of sin-further and

further from God-nearer and nearer to destruction, by the very nature of cherished sin, which, by a fearful gravitation, hurries its victims to its centre in the place of woe. Your path may appear flowery by day, and an ignis fatuus may lure you on by night-but the deep pit waits your approach-every moment brings you nearer to the endless gulf.

Now before you will truly come to the Saviour to be saved from sin, as well as destruction, you must be convinced of your lost, corrupt, and ruined state by nature: for though you may have been, like Nicodemus, outwardly correct in the sight of man, yet you require a change in regard to your principles and motives, as great as if your whole being were dissolved to its very elements and entirely reconstructed. "Ye must be born

again," through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Believe it, all that has sprung from your heart since you were born has been only sin,—though it may have often been in such a modified form as to have escaped your own observation, or that of others around you. You must, if you would be saved, start afresh from the cross of Christ, and date your true existence throughout eternity, not from your first, but your second birth through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh do not dream that outward reformation will avail before that God who looketh on the heart. For while the root of the tree is poisonous, so must of necessity be the branches and the fruit. But when the soul is united to the Redeemer by the power of the Holy Spirit, through faith in his blood, and the branch is thus grafted into the true vine, Jesus Christ (John xv. ver 1), then from that eternal root it draws up strength and nourishment to bring forth fruit unto God. No sooner, then, is any one convinced of the necessity of this great and radical change of heart, through the Lord Jesus, ere he can enter heaven; and that no human merit, no efforts of his own, can possibly take away a single sin; than he hastens to the Redeemer to receive a free pardon, through his atoning blood, and the renewing energy of the Holy Spirit. Then shall he be enabled to exclaim, to the glory of God, "Whereas I was blind, now I see; whereas I was dead in trespasses and sins, now I live by faith in the Son of God,

--

that is only a new stage in its eternal progress! For the Word of God emphatically proclaims not only our immortality, but that whatever be the effect of infancy on childhood of childhood on youth of youth on manhood -that the effect of the whole together on eternity is incalculably greater. That word most fully assures us, that a lost, a neglected, an unsanctified life, never can be recovered in eternity; that at death all the hopes and comforts, the prospects and enjoyments of the unbeliever are cut up, root and branch; and that he passes into eternity not only destitute of preparation, but as if all his life had been spent in preparing for its darkest, blackest allotments. With every hope blighted, every good resolution (as it is termed) unfulfilled, he then enters the world of spirits, into a naked, wretched existence,— strengthened in habits and principles which are doomed through eternity to perpetual disappointment,-while he neither possesses the power, the inclination, nor the opportunity to be deprived of them. The only remedy which could have removed them— the glorious gospel-having been habitually-systematically refused or neglected; and the day of grace being past, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins. Seeing, then, the awful uncertainty of life-the bearing of every stage on the following one, and the whole together on eternity-of what infinite importance is it to commence our preparation now, with the earliest dawnings, that from this very day we may be travellers to the heavenly Canaan-to the rivers of pleasure which are at God's right hand for evermore!

But what is the great hindrance with too many to this first start for eternal glory? It is deep, practical ignorance of their native corruption-and of the utter worthlessness and guilt of their past life. They do not believe in the deceitfulness and desperate wickedness of their hearts, and that they are righteously exposed to the fearful curse of God's holy law. Hence they feel little need of the Saviour. For the whole have no need of a physician, but they who are sick. How dreadful is your case, O unpardoned reader !-every day, every hour, you are borne onwards by the inward current of sin-further and

further from God-nearer and nearer to destruction, by the very nature of cherished sin, which, by a fearful gravitation, hurries its victims to its centre in the place of woe. Your path may appear flowery by day, and an ignis fatuus may lure you. on by night-but the deep pit waits your approach-every moment brings you nearer to the endless gulf.

Now before you will truly come to the Saviour to be saved from sin, as well as destruction, you must be convinced of your lost, corrupt, and ruined state by nature: for though you may have been, like Nicodemus, outwardly correct in the sight of man, yet you require a change in regard to your principles and motives, as great as if your whole being were dissolved to its very elements and entirely reconstructed. "Ye must be born again," through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Believe it, all that has sprung from your heart since you were born has been only sin,-though it may have often been in such a modified form as to have escaped your own observation, or that of others around you. You must, if you would be saved, start afresh from the cross of Christ, and date your true existence throughout eternity, not from your first, but your second birth through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh do not dream that outward reformation will avail before that God who looketh on the heart. For while the root of the tree is poisonous, so must of necessity be the branches and the fruit. But when the soul is united to the Redeemer by the power of the Holy Spirit, through faith in his blood, and the branch is thus grafted into the true vine, Jesus Christ (John xv. ver 1), then from that eternal root it draws up strength and nourishment to bring forth fruit unto God. No sooner, then, is any one convinced of the necessity of this great and radical change of heart, through the Lord Jesus, ere he can enter heaven; and that no human merit, no efforts of his own, can possibly take away a single sin; than he hastens to the Redeemer to receive a free pardon, through his atoning blood, and the renewing energy of the Holy Spirit. Then shall he be enabled to exclaim, to the glory of God, "Whereas I was blind, now I see; whereas I was dead in trespasses and sins, now I live by faith in the Son of God,

who loved me, and gave himself for me; whereas I was under the influence of self, and lived according to the course of this world; now the love of Christ constraineth me, because I thus judge that if one died for all, then were all dead. And he died for all, that they who live should not live to themselves -but to Him that died for them, and rose again."

There is a fountain filled with blood,
Drawn from Emmanuel's veins,
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains.

The dying thief rejoiced to see

That fountain in his day;
And there have I, as vile as he,

Washed all my sins away.

But though the believer in Christ has started on his new course to eternity-he is yet far from being out of danger. Full many are his temptations to lag in his glorious career-to be hindered by comparative trifles-to be drawn aside after the momentary illusions of life. Hence the necessity for repeated afflictive providences to proclaim to him again and again— "Arise, and depart-for this is not your rest." And now, surely, the commencement of a new year-it may be his last on earth-calls loudly to every Christian to start afresh in his heavenly course-to forget the things behind, and press toward the immortal prize;-while it reiterates the apostolic warning-"Knowing the time-its brevity-its awful value in relation to eternity,—it is high time to awake out of sleep— for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed."

E. C

J. F. SHAW, BOOKSELLER, SOUTHAMPTON ROW, AND
PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON; AND

W. INNES, BOOKSELLER, SOUTH HANOVER STREET, EDINBURGH.

J. & W. RIDER, Printers, 14, Bartholomew Close, London.