"But that the dread of something after death, That undiscover'd country, from whose bourne Why is it, but that the truth of God is foreshadowed by the appalling apprehensions of a guilty conscience? Why is it, but that conscience already apprehends the agony of the undying worm and the unquenchable fire? And if the premonition, the mere foreshadowing of this eternal death, be thus appalling, what must it be, when the sinner shall experience it, in all its fullness! 5. Permit me to pause with emphasis upon this subject -O, that I could impart to it that solemn emphasis, which its importance demands !—that I may present it with more distinctness and force to the impenitent before me. Say not, sinner, let me earnestly and solemnly entreat you say not that this ruin shall not come nigh thee; for it may be that even now thou art standing upon the very verge of everlasting wo. The merest thread of being separates between thee and the realization of all the horrors of the second death. "Be not deceived; God is not mocked." Thou mayest hide thy sins and cloak thy follies from the sight and observation of man; but thy God is not deceived, and fearfully shall he call thee to account; nay, thy own conscience accuseth thee and bodes thy fearful doom. It raises its voice with solemn admonition and warning, and points thee to the solemn hour of Heaven's avenging retribution. And, if it thus reprove thee, notwithstanding all the influence of worldly interests, prejudices, and passions; how will it torment thee, when all these have died away! If the recollection of thy sin, thy dereliction of duty to thy God and to thy own soul, be thus poignant here, what will it be hereafter! If impending ruin fill thee with dismay, and blanch thy cheek to deathly paleness, what horror shall attend ruin realized! Though thou mayest stifle the voice of conscience here, and in folly forget thy sin, yet, presume not that it will be thus with thee hereafter. Thy soul shall be all uncovered to its sting; and shall stand unhoused, amidst that storm of divine wrath, which the Almighty shall rain upon the wicked. Memory shall never forget; conscience shall never die, and through the long, long ages of eternity, shall it continue to hold ever before thee the mirror of thy fol lies and thy sins. Clearly, as if reflected in the sunbeams of eternal light, shall it upbraid thee for thy disobedience to thy God; thy want of care for thy soul; and the burden of thy lamentation shall be, that with thine own hand thou hast plucked down this fearful ruin upon thee; that upon thyself thou hast barred and bolted the massy gates of hell's enduring dungeon; that thou hast pointed the spear and aimed the shaft that now pierces thy soul with unending anguish. And to fill up to its very brim the cup of thy bitterness, to complete thy loathings of self, to give higher zest to the gnawings of the undying worm, thou shalt ever remember-the appalling truth shall be written in burning capitals upon the very walls of thy prison-house -that thou hast done all this "in spite of the Godhead slain," and while bleeding mercy wept over thee, and a compassionate Redeemer besought thy return to God. But I must now close. I have endeavored to probe this moral disease, and trace it out into its final results. And now, it only remains for me to hold up the grand restorative; to proclaim that "there is a balm in Gilead, and a physician there" that though "the wages of sin is death," "the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord." And while I turn to this glorious truth, new light from the highest heaven seems to break upon my mind. Here do I learn that the sinner may be pardoned and redeemed; the unholy be sanctified and saved; that death may be deprived of its sting, and hell disappointed of its prey. Here do I learn that though sin may rage, and death devour, the grace of God can give victory and triumph. Wide as they may have spread their ravages, so wide is the abounding grace and mercy of God; mighty as may be the dominion they have so long usurped, still more mighty and glorious is the dominion and power displayed in the person of Jesus Christ. O, the triumph and glory of the cross! There is in it an omnipotence, to break off the chains and thraldom of Satan, and exalt the soul to the knowledge and glory of salvation. "Break off your tears, ye saints, and, tell Say, 'Live for ever, wondrous King! Then ask the monster, Where's thy sting?' And 'Where's thy victory, boasting grave?" But what madness can prompt the sinner to the rejection of this priceless gift; the only balm that can cure his spiritual malady; the only agency that can deliver from the power and dominion of sin and death? Is it a slight thing that the soul, endowed with powers and capacities which ally it to angels and to heaven, the soul that shall never cease to be and to suffer, shall perish in eternal night? O," it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God!" "Be not deceived; God is not mocked. Whatsoever"-yes, WHATSOEVER a man soweth, that shall he also reap." Life is the spring-time of our being; we go forth sowing seed; eternity is the season when the harvest shall be reaped, the fruit gathered in. The fruit of sin is eternal death. 66 66 I pray God to deliver us from the pollution and the practice of sin, that we may not gather this fearful harvest unto our souls, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. SERMON V. Salvation-Mysterious and Glorious. BY REV. JAMES FLOY, A. M., OF THE NEW-YORK CONFERENCE. "Which things the angels desire to look into.”—1 Pet. i, 12. 66 THE natural inquiry, What are the things into which angels desire to look, or, as the original implies, upon which they intently gaze, is readily answered by the context. They are the salvation of souls," "the sufferings of Christ," "the preaching of the gospel with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven." These are the "things" which engage the attention of the first-born sons of light; these the "things" which constitute the subject of angelic study. Hence results the doctrine :- Salvation, procured by the sufferings of Christ, and rendered effectual by the preaching of the gospel, is a subject profoundly mysterious and infinitely glorious. Infinitely glorious,-else had their attention been absorbed by some other subject in the boundless empire of the great Supreme; profoundly mysterious, or they "who excel in strength" had long since fathomed it, and turned their attention elsewhere. I. Mysterious, and therefore a subject of angelic study. First, from its novelty. "The thing that hath been," says the wise man, "it is that which shall be"--a truth which holds among the inhabitants of heaven, as well as among the dwellers upon earth. From them, equally as from us, God has hidden the future. To HIM only is known what a day will bring forth; and they, like ourselves, are enabled to infer the probability of what will be, from a knowledge of what is, and what has been. For the salvation of sinners by the sufferings of Christ, there was no prototype. It was an event totally unique in the annals of eternity; and the anthem John heard in heaven, the burden of which was, "Glory unto the Lamb," is called there the new song. Not only so. It was in direct contradiction to their experience. There had been sin in heaven before its blighting influence blasted God's earthly-paradise. Angels, under their leader Michael, had fought against their compeers who kept not their first estate; had seen them thrust down to the place prepared for them; and knew that they were there reserved in everlasting chains, under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day. For them no Saviour was provided; no gospel ever echoed through the dreary caverns of the damned, and the smoke of their torment was ascending, in increasing blackness, when an embassy of these angelic students was commissioned to announce to our world the strangely mysterious truth, that, by the sufferings of Christ, sinners might be pardoned, sanctified, glorified. Again, 2. The moral character of the race to be redeemed heightens this mystery. Were rebel angels greater sinners than fallen men ? Of course, we presume not to answer that question; but we may ask, and to some extent answer the inquiry: What had been the moral history of our world when the Redeemer's advent was announced to the wondering shepherds of Judea? What a spectacle had it presented to the gaze of those who shouted for joy when God laid its corner-stone, as one generation succeeded another, until the fullness of time had come? They saw the first man, created (and it is not said they were thus created) in the likeness and image of his Maker, basely yield to temptation, and coolly attempt to palliate his guilt, and to justify his conduct. They heard the dying groan of righteous Abel, as death first entered into the dominions of Jehovah; death by violence, death by a brother's hand. Thence onward, age after age, in every part of the earth, they saw man in arms against his fellow; carnage his delight, the shedding of a brother's blood his glory; unto such an extent, that the history of our world is little else than a chronicle of wars, and a record of the slain. And what was man's conduct toward his Maker? How did it appear to those who worship Him with a pure and unceasing devotion? God had revealed himself to his earth-born creature, had made known his will, and stooped to ask the homage of his heart. Behold man as angels saw him, "disliking to retain God in his knowledge," bowing down to idols made by his own hands, worshiping the planets, deifying some monster of wickedness, and adoring the reptiles that crawl beneath his feet. That black cloud, which has been rising for centuries from earth to heaven, darkening the very throne of Jehovah; what is it? It is the incense offered by the children of men to their great Creator, their unwearied benefactor; the incense of oaths, and cursings, and blasphemies. How did these things appear in the eyes of the celestial host; and how, upon their ears, did such sounds vibrate? Lo! these are the subjects of this salvation ! But its mystery is seen still further, 3. In the manner of its accomplishment. By the sufferings of Christ! Instinctively our minds revert to the manger of Bethlehem, the garden of Gethsemane, the cross on Calvary. We behold the man, the man of sorrows, homeless, friendless, for he had not where to lay his head, and in his trying hour all forsook him. We remember his piercing cry:-"My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death;" his prayer for the removal of |