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the sources of thy enjoyment. Disgrace, dishonour, misery and destruction are the certain fruits of thy sinful course. Here, there is not a motive to repentance which does not terminate on self, which does not draw all its force and ardour from a regard to thy own welfare and happiness. Ah! if indeed the consequences of sin involved only thy own purity and peace, motives drawn from these considerations would constitute the sole springs of thy repentance. But when thou dost consider, that thy transgressions have defied the authority, and have contemned the mercy and love of thy God and Saviour, thou wilt perceive that there are motives to contrition still more legitimate and noble,-motives, more worthy those ingenuous and disinterested emotions, with which, the penitent should commemorate, in the holy supper, the infinite love of his Redeemer.

Thy penitential sorrow therefore should be founded on a deep sense of the evil of sin, as a presumptuous contempt of the righteous authority of God. Consider, that as the infinite source of perfection, power, and goodness, he justly claims the homage of the universe. Consider, that his omnipotent hand sustains and governs all things; himself, the sovereign lord of nature. Consider, that the sacred object of that dominion which, with sovereign and resistless sway, he exercises over the world, is the advancement of the perfection, the purity,

Wednesday Evening.

MEDITATION.

RESOLUTIONS OF OBEDIENCE. THE INVIGORATING AND SANCTIFYING AGENCY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

THE important and glorious object of repentance, to which indeed all its genuine exercises and acts tend, is, the restoration of the soul to holiness and virtue. We can have no claim to the favour of a just and holy God, we are not indeed capable of enjoying the pure and perfect bliss of his presence, until the corrupting dominion of sin is subverted in our hearts, until we are reinstated in the holy graces and virtues of the divine image. Every expression of repentance is vain and presumptuous, unless poured forth from a heart, supremely desirous to be released from the degrading dominion of sinful passions-supremely desirous to obtain that celestial purity which only conducts to the favor of God, to satisfying peace, to unfailing joy in his presence. "Without holiness no man shall see the Lord."

To release us from the corrupting and miserable bondage of sin, was the glorious object which brought down from the celestial mansions of bliss, the eternal Son of the highest. It was the glorious object for which he promulgated his enlightening and renovating instructions, for which he displayed the perfect and resplendent example of a spotless life. It was the glorious object which animated all his labors, which conducted him, cheerful and triumphant, through the series of his bitter sufferings. It was the glorious object for which he finally shed, on the cross, that precious blood which was to be the seal and the means of our deliverance from sin, for which he poured forth the rich effusions of the Holy Spirit to sanctify and restore our degenerate nature. While therefore, sensual and unholy passions enthral us; while we are destitute of those pure and celestial virtues by which we must be qualified for everlasting happinessin vain for us will the Son of God have published his divine instructions-in vain for us will he have displayed his glorious example -in vain for us will he have triumphantly sustained the agonizing sufferings and death of the cross-in vain for us will he have purchased the renovating gifts of the Holy Spirit.— Ah! these powerful aids, these resplendent motives of holy obedience, perverted and contemned, will strip us of all excuse for our impenitence, will silence the vain pleas by

which we may seek to extenuate our perverse continuance in sin, will arm, with heavier vengeance, the sentence of almighty justice which consigns us to interminable remorse and misery.

Contemplate, O my soul, the awful and affecting import of the holy rite which thou art to celebrate.-Contemplate the lively exhibition which the sacrifice of the altar affords, both, of the inflexible and holy justice of God, and, of the rich overflowings of his mercy. Contemplate, under the affecting symbols there exhibited; the infinite love of the Saviour, who cheerfully encountered the consuming fires of divine justice to avert from thee their overwhelming fury.-And if, after this awful and affecting exhibition, no desires are awakened to be delivered from the dominion of those sins which poured the wrath of heaven on thy innocent Redeemer-if, after this penetrating view, no desires are awakened to testify, by thy vows of love and duty, thy unutterable gratitude to thy God and Saviour, to obtain, by a life of holy obedience, the enlivening and consoling smiles of their favour,-thou art utterly unworthy to partake of an ordinance to the exalted and affecting tendency of which thou art entirely insensible-thou art utterly unworthy to receive those inestimable communications of mercy and grace which, in this hallowed ordinance, ever meet and reward the earnest

prayers and vows of the humble and faithful. Oh! to receive the body and blood of the Saviour into a heart, which, ardently cherishing unholy passions, contemns his authority and mercy, and proudly erects the throne of rebellion against him, would display a hardened and consummate presumption deserving the most tremenduous inflictions of divine justice.

By every alarming or affecting consideration which awakened lively thy sorrow for sin, thou art excited, O my soul, to the most earnest desires to be rescued from its dominion,thou art urged to the most zealous and ardent vows of duty and obedience. How canst thou expect to escape the wrath of God, while by cherishing thy sins, and persevering in impious rebellion against him, thou dost wilfully expose thyself to the severest inflictions of his justice. How canst thou expect to enjoy that peace, which diffuses its refreshing and enlivening influence only through the conscience that is redeemed from guilt, when thou dost wilfully cherish those unhallowed passions which inevitably produce, agitation, anxiety, and remorse. How canst thou expect to avoid the presumptuous guilt of rebellion against the righteous and just authority of the Sovereign of the universe, when the sensual passions, which rule in thee, with supreme sway, bear testimony, that thy expressions and vows of penitence are insincere, that thou dost yet

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