withstanding the conviction of your mind, the inward solicitations of your conscience, the sugges. tions of the Holy Spirit; you form the frightful resolution to give the strength of your years to satan and the world, contemptuously to reject God, and to bring to him at last the dregs of a life exhausted in the service of his enemies? Have you not cause to fear that when you shall have acted conformably to these resolutions, and shall at last come to offer to God a heart infected with vices, a body worn out in crime, a mind filled with false sentiments; have you not cause to fear that he will then refuse you the riches of his grace, and denying you every mercy, send you back to your first masters whom you have always served? That he will say to you---"Go to that world to which you have consecrated your youth; let it rescue you from the grave and from perdition, and give you eternal felicity. Go to sin, your tyrant, let him give you the wages due unto his slaves, death, which is the recompense that he pays to those that serve him. Go to the prince of darkness, to whom you have sold yourselves to do evil. To them you made the offering of your best days; give them also what remains to you."

Thus whether we consider the uncertainty of life, or the increasing power of sin, or the bounds set to the day of grace, we must be convinced that forgetfulness of God in youth, leads almost infallibly to eternal perdition.

H

And now, my young friends, will you still re main regardless of your duty? Will you not resolve in the strength of the Lord to relinquish your worldly life, your ungodly habits, your sins and iniquities? Will you not at length return to your God, to your Father, to your Redeemer? Will you not accept that mercy which is offered to you? Sinner, the God of heaven beholds thee; he hears this exhortation which I now make unto thee. Wilt thou, by neglecting this invitation, force him to take hold on justice, and reject thee from his presence? Sinner, the eyes of Jesus are fixed upon thee; of that Jesus at whose bar we must shortly stand. He offers to deliver thee from perdition; he offers thee the blessings of his covenant. O! trifle no longer with eternity, but instantly resolve in dependence on his promised grace, to put thy soul under the bonds of his covenant. Go to thy private chamber; there on thy knees bewail thy sins and transgressions, and pray for grace to give thyself up wholly to God.

Act thus, and with Josiah you shall be gathered to the church of the first-born in heaven, where you shall shout forever-" Blessing and honour and glory and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever....AMEN.'

SERMON IV.

JESUS WEEPING OVER JERUSALEM.

LUKE xix. 41, 42.

*And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, saying-If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! But now they are hid from thine eyes."

WHEN the elder Marcellus had taken Syracuse, after a long and dangerous siege, he was not so much elated by the success of his arms, by the splendour of victory, and the congratulations of his troops, as he was affected by the prospect of that devastation which threatened the city; and instead of insolently triumphing, he melted into tears.* The ancient historians have rightly eulogised this action: It was an unequivo cal proof of a tender, feeling, generous soul.— But "a greater than" Marcellus "is here." The conduct of our Saviour exhibits still warmer tenderness, still deeper feeling, still more elevated

* Marcellus, ut monia ingressus ex superioribus locis urbem, omnium fermè illa tempestate pulcherrimam, subjectam oculis videt, illachrymasse fertur.

Tit. Liv. Hist. Lib. XV.-See also PLUTarch,

generosity. He was now descending from Mount Olivet, and entering into Jerusalem. He is not surrounded, it is true, like a Roman conqueror, by kings in chains, and slaves loaded with the spoils of vanquished nations. But, what is infinitely more splendid, he is encircled by the trophies of his almighty power; by demoniacs, whom he has delivered; by the blind, on whose eyes he has poured the light of day; by the dumb, whose tongues he has loosed, and who shout his praises; by the dead, whom he has caused to spring into new life: He advances to complete the conquest of satan and of sin, whom he has already bound in fetters which cannot be broken: He comes, loaded with heavenly spoils and celestial gifts, which were purchased not by the sack of cities and the dying groans of thousands, but entirely by his own humiliation, and agonies, and blood. The multitude crowd to meet him, strew their garments in his path, with palms in their hands welcome the Prince of peace, and shout hosannas to the son of David. These circumstances would have elated an ordinary mind, and filled it with self-complacency and pride; but in the midst of them he cast his eyes upon the city, which was now in full view, and anticipating its impending calamities, tenderly wept over it: He knew that in a few days it would demand his death, it would nail him to the cross, it would riot in his agonies; yet he still wept over it. Compare then these two scenes; place Mar.

tellus by the side of the Saviour; which character shines with greater lustre? The one displays no haughtiness, although a mighty city has yielded to his arms the other is humble, although he has forced the laws of nature, although he has stormed and vanquished hell, and unbarred the gates of heaven for our reception. The one weeps over depressed, trembling, subjugated foes, who will not insult and who cannot injure him: The other weeps over those who, he certainly knows, will in a few days cover him with reproaches and ignominies, torture him by the most refined cruelties, and inflict upon him a painful, and accursed death. Yes! I repeat it; "a greater than" Marcellus "is here." If Marcellus acted as a generous man, Christ acted as a God-man. "And when he was come near, he beheld the city and wept over it, saying-If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things that belong to thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes."

Come then, my brethren, let us carefully contemplate the conduct and expressions of our Lord on this occasion; and whilst we are thus employed, grant, most merciful Jesus, that we may not be insensible to thy tears, but may be induced to lament those transgressions which caused thee to weep, and savingly to improve the day of our visitation.