dom." This was not a little measure of faith. He saw the Son of God in the extreme of his humiliation. He saw him dying like himself as a malefactor to the world. He saw him capable of dying. And yet he confessed him and declared his reliance upon him as the Lord of life and glory, the King of heaven, the Great Omnipotent Jehovah. The apostles, who had seen his miracles, were all of them now disbelieving,— "they all forsook him and fled," and afterwards the account of his rising 66 "seemed to them but as idle tales;" but the thief, who beheld him in the humiliation of his death, even at that moment proclaimed him the King of glory.

Behold then, beloved brethren, the power and efficacy of saving grace ;—all these fruits produced in one sudden moment by the Holy Spirit in the soul! a guilty, unjust, reviling sinner converted to a penitent, believing saint! And therefore the pardon of the Lord was upon him, and the promise was given him, "Today shalt thou be with me."

And, beloved, would you know, therefore, if this forgiveness of sins is yours? See if you have this character. See if you have these fruits. See not for them as the merit to procure it,—God forbid,—but as the evidence that it is really yours, as the proof that the Lord has loved you, that at the last you shall be with him. Are you a contrite sinner? Do you confess the Saviour? Do you, by your life and conversation, reprove and condemn the world? Do you pray to him? And while you are looking to him as a dying Christ upon the cross, do you believe in him as the King of saints? as hereafter to "come in the clouds of heaven, that every eye may see him, and all the kindreds of the earth may wail because of him,-even so, Amen?" Depend upon this, that this humble, contrite, supplicating, broken, believing spirit of this

dying malefactor is the mark of the spiritual seed, the characteristic disposition of all the redeemed, the saved saints of Jesus Christ.

III. But, thirdly, we must also just look at this narrative to suggest to us a word of admonition. What is that word of admonition? Do not delay, brethren, to receive the grace of God. Do not put it off to the future, to a time that may never come. Do not run the risk, which this malefactor did run, to leave it neglected to the evil day, to the time of adversity, or the dying hour. How can you tell, if you act in a similar manner, in which of their states you may find yourself, the state of the one that died a penitent, or the one that died blaspheming? Learn from this narrative, briefly, these three reasons why you must not delay,

(1.) First its danger. Both of them delayed and resisted the grace of God till death overtook them. Both of them did so, and one of them was lost. If death should thus overtake you, you may not be able to think of the Saviour then, or of any spiritual thing. You may be called suddenly away. You may not have the opportunity which this transgressor had, to have a crucified Saviour set before you when you come to die.

(2.) Further learn from this narrative the great unprofitableness of delaying;-nothing done for that gracious Master who has done and suffered so much for you! Life gone by for ever in sin and the service of the devil! Now the night come upon you in which no man can work any more!

(3.) And further learn from this narrative the costly sacrifice of delaying. The work of sanctification is almost always a gradual, progressive work. There

is much to do in the heart for every true believer. How shall you do it in a dying hour, when the body is weak, and the senses decaying, and the time is short, and the powers of life are departing. O be persuaded," seek the Lord while he may be found,— call upon him while he is near ;"-" let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return to the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, and he will abundantly pardon." "Now is the accepted time, and now is the day of salvation;" we beseech you, beloved, that now ye receive not the grace of God in vain.

IV. But, if you are persuaded to yield to the strivings of God's Holy Spirit, and now to turn to him from the present evil world,-if you will look to a dying and risen Saviour, and begin from this time to cry to him "Lord, remember me,”—then, brethren, after the reservation we have made to you, let this narrative afford to you a most free and gracious encouragement.

Look at the character before you-a dying thief! and is not Christ able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him? Is it not certainly true, that whosoever comes to him he will in no wise cast out?

Think of what it is that is offered you in the Gospel-peace with God!-reconciliation, and a sense of reconciliation, and an assurance of reconciliation to the Omnipotent Jehovah !-to him that made the heavens, and the earth, and all that is therein! now in the present life, a free deliverance from a guilty mind and from a sinful, unsanctified nature, to be holy and happy in him, and in his Son Jesus Christ! and in the life hereafter, to be with Christ in his kingdom, when the visible heaven and material earth shall have

both of them passed away! then to be a jewel in the crown of the Redeemer! then to be a trophy of his grace, and the purchase of the travail of his soul, as a happy spirit of light and everlasting glory, through ages and ages that shall never end!

The good Spirit of the Lord make you willing to seek this in the day of his power, and to seek it without delay! O may you make the resolution now, at this moment, in the house and presence of Jehovah, that by the help of his Holy Spirit, you will seek for the knowledge of Jesus, and seek to participate in his salvation, that you may have the gift of his righteousness upon you, and the work of his grace within you, before you die !

VOL. II.

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SERMON XVII.

DIST. I. MORAL. SEC. II. EXAM. II.

THE "SINNER" WOMAN.

And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house. Thou gavest me no water for my feet; but she hath washed my feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss ; but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint; but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.-Luke vii. 44-48.

THE condition of man in this world is, beyond all doubt, a state of distance and departure from God. The moral image of God has been completely lost by the fall. Communion between God and his creature was destroyed by the fall, because sin has separated between them. The favour of God is withdrawn and taken from his creature. Instead of the holiness of original nature there is indwelling sin and corruption, "the lusts of the flesh and of the mind, the lust of