and wormwood! when they are spared, not to lay up treasure in heaven, but to heap up wrath against the day of wrath! I would observse, lastly, that, although despisers of God's admonitions may remain unconcerned, and even say, "It is not yet," their judgment lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.

In that night was Belshazzar slain-the night of his revelry and debauchery; the night in which he dared to insult the grand majesty of God and to bid Him hasten His work; the night in which he praised his gods of silver and gold, and wood and stone, but glorified not Him in whose hand his breath was. Mark this, ye drunkards and sensualists, ye opposers of truth and scoffers at vital godliness, ye stouthearted, that glorify not the Lord of heaven ;-mark this, I say, and tremble lest your souls be in like manner demanded of you,-lest in the midst of your revelry, with the scoff on your lips and the idol in your heart, you be called to meet your God. Beloved readers, there was but a day for Noah to enter into the ark. There may be but a day for you who are yet in your sins to enter into Christ, who is the true ark. O haste to improve it! Remember, in that day the flood came upon the earth; in that night Belshazzar was slain. And what you do, do quickly, And ye that are in Christ, see that ye glorify Him in whose hand your breath is, and whose are all your ways. Live as those who are feelingly conscious of their dependence on the Lord, looking up to Him for grace to help in time of need, and desiring that all your works may be begun, continued, and ended in Him.

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THE RETROSPECT.

HEBREWS x. 32.

"But call to remembrance the former days."

HE return of seasons is a call unto all to set their houses in order, as those who are fully sensible that they must die, and not live. And since it is not possible to make any salutary or useful change without fully acquainting ourselves with what has been amiss in times past, it has ever been the custom of the wise and good, not only to review the transactions of each day as it is brought to a close, but also to commemorate particula seasons by a penitential and searching retrospect or the proceedings of their past lives. From such a retrospect much benefit may be anticipated; for those who thus keep their sin ever before them will not only be brought to walk humbly with God, but be restrained from a repetition of much that is faulty. Were we, however, to confine this review simply to the sins of our past lives, much that is salutary in the consideration of former days would be lost upon us. We must rather do as the Psalmist did, we must review the goodness and mercy of God extended to us in former times; that we may not only be encouraged to trust Him for the future, but be stirred up to praise Him for the past.

It was with this view that Paul addressed the exhortation which I have selected as the subjectmatter of my observations to the Hebrew converts. He knew that the times of trial had not yet terminated; and he wished to fortify their minds against them by reminding them of the support which they had formerly derived from a believing contemplation of the better and enduring inheritance laid up for them in heaven. "Call to remembrance," said he, "the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions."

Now this exhortation leads me to observe, first of all, that there is much in the former days of man that may with profit be called to remembrance.

The sins of former days may with advantage be called to remembrance. The former sins of believers, it is true, will not be had in remembrance by Almighty God; for whilst He says of the sins of the impenitent that they are graven with a pen of iron, He says to believers, "I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins." Were the Lord, indeed, to enter into judgment with him for his former sins against His laws, against His gospel, and against His grace, neither he nor any man living could be justified; for the sins of his days of ignorance were many and heinous: he openly offended against God's holy law, casting it under foot, and unhesitatingly setting at nought its injunctions; he resisted and grieved the good Spirit of God, who strove with him, with much longsuffering, to bring him to repentance; he turned a deaf ear to those glad tidings into which angels have desired to look.

But, blessed be God, though he could not answer to one charge in a thousand, were the Lord to enter into judgment with him; yet, being in Christ, it is his happy privilege, so long as he walks not after the flesh, but after the Spirit, to say, "There is no condemnation to me."

But though the sins of former days may be remembered no more by God-and that they are not was figuratively declared when the scapegoat, bearing upon its head the sins of the people, was sent away into the wilderness, never more to be seen by man,— yet they may be profitably remembered by man, as, indeed, I have already hinted.

Mankind are naturally proud and high-minded; and though it might reasonably be supposed that one who has been taught by the Spirit of God-one who has been shown his own leprous condition, and been made sensible that sin cleaves to every part, so that from the head to the sole of the foot there is no soundness in him, would be little likely to cherish proud thoughts; yet there is a danger lest the believer, dwelling too much on his undeniable privileges, should lose sight of his first estate-should forget the rock whence he was hewn, and the hole of the pit whence he was digged, and again give way to pride. check this propensity let him call to remembrance the former days, when perchance he was not only as others, but more guilty than others. This will be an antidote to pride: it will remind him that he has no cause for boasting-that he has nothing which he did not receive-that any difference observable between himself and others is to be ascribed simply to

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the free grace of God. Could Paul give way to pride so long as he remembered that in the former days he himself had been a persecutor and a blasphemer ? Could David indulge in proud thoughts when he thought upon his sad fall? when his sins of adultery, and blood-guiltiness, and murder were ever before him? No; such a retrospect was calculated to lay both in the dust; to bow down their heads as a bulrush; to make them go softly all the days of their life.

Another advantage arising from a remembrance of the sins of former days is the quickening and instructing of the believer's vigilance. When a person remembers the sin into which he has been betrayed in former days, and ponders well the steps by which he was led into it, we may reasonably hope that he will not only be put upon his guard against it, but that his vigilance will be instructed-that he will be led to cut away the occasions thereof. A Peter, instead of needlessly rushing into temptation, remembering that the spirit is willing, but the flesh weak, will ever pray, "Lead us not into temptation." A David, remembering how great a mass of iniquity a little fire kindles, will make a covenant with his eyes. And thus in various ways not only will the believer's watchfulness be excited, but the probabilities of a relapse into similar sins be greatly diminished.

A further advantage to be anticipated from a review of the sins of former days is an increase of gratitude to God. Persons must be sensible that they have been much forgiven ere they will love much. But if they lose sight of the sins of former