the riches, honors and pleasures of this life, which raise mountains between us and heaven.

6. We see the benefit of Christian fellowship. It aids in the great work of mortification. Here "two are better than one, for they have a good reward of their labor."

III. I come now to offer some motives to induce my hearers to engage immediately in this duty.

1. Your present comfort and happiness demand it. There is a double satisfaction attending it-that of having performed a Christian duty, and that which results from clearer evidence of your interest in the promises. "If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body ye shall live." "Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall live with him." Would you then, on good ground, be delivered from distressing doubts, and painful suspense, respecting your interest in Christ, engage immediately in this duty. There is no other way in which your doubts can be removed.

Mortification of sin, is also attended with inward peace-a calm serenity of soul. Sinful indulgence creates disquietude and alarm. The wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest. have they that love God's law.

But great peace

2. Your usefulness in the cause of Christ depends on it. If you refuse to mortify your sins, you will have no heart to do good. Conscious guilt will hold you back. David prayed, "restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee."

3. Your safety in the hour of temptation depends on

it. All are more or less exposed to temptation. If you have not been inured to mortification and self-denial, You will be taken by sur

you will be an easy prey. prise, and be in danger of devil.

falling into the snare of the

4. The honor of religion requires it. Are you afraid of bringing reproach on the cause of religion; then deal faithfully with your hearts. All the disgrace brought upon religion, by Christian professors, is owing to unmortified sin.

If you have fallen because you have suffered sin to take deep root, it will be difficult for others to reclaim you. The unhumbled and unsanctified heart, will be found unmanageable. You will be likely to persist in your evil course, and thus bring still greater disgrace on the cause of religion. If all are found guilty of neglecting their own hearts, discipline will cease. So many being guilty nothing will be done. Those who are unfaithful to themselves, will be unfaithful to others. In this manner churches have run down and become extinct. The candlestick has been removed out of its place. Brethren, the honor of religion requires that you engage in this duty.

5. It is a necessary preparation for the day of adver. sity. There is nothing like it to fit you to bear affliction. If you are not dead to the world, it will be hard. parting with it. If you are dead to the world, it will be easy parting with it.

6. When tempted to sin, think what will be gained or lost by indulgence. Set heaven on the one hand, and hell on the other. Weigh the matter well. Think again, what it is, for which you are about to barter

away your soul. What is it, for which you are willing to lose heaven, and endure the pains of hell forever? Think what the damned in hell now suffer for that very sin.

Finally. Let every sinner in this house take warning. The way to heaven lies directly opposite to every feeling of the natural heart. Sinner, you must part with your sins, or part with heaven. However painful, the work must be done. God requires it on pain of eternal death. "For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die." It is reduced to this single point. You must kill, or be killed. Now is the time to break off your sins. The longer the work is delayed, the greater is the difficulty. Sinful habits become stronger and stronger; and your case will soon become desperate. Let the awful warning of our Saviour sink deep into every heart. "If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out. It is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire, where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched."

SERMON XX.

Sinners entreated to be reconciled to God.

Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.-2 CORINTHIANS V: 20.

WERE an ambassador sent from a foreign power with a message to this assembly, every ear would be attentive to hear it. But the message of an earthly sovereign is not what you are now called upon to hear, but a message from the court of heaven. It is addressed to every impenitent sinner. "Now, then, we are ambassadors for Christ; as though God did beseech. you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead," that you will listen to the message and comply with its demands, the sum of which is, "be ye reconciled to God."

The text contains a summary of the apostles' preaching, not only to the Corinthians, but to mankind generally. Wherever they went, this was their message to sinners, "we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God."

Let us consider the duty of an ambassador in delivering his message.

His great business is, to publish the treaty of peace, and to set before sinners the terms of reconciliation. In doing this, he is bound inviolably to adhere to the instructions of his divine Master. From these instruc

tions he must not depart in the least degree. He must "justify the ways of God to man." He must hold up the character of God as a holy and righteous sovereign, who claims the love and obedience of all his subjects. He must hold up the character of the sinner as odious in the eyes of infinite purity, as a lost and guilty criminal under the condemning sentence of God's holy law. On the one hand he must bring into view the glorious gospel, with all its melting invitations, and promises of eternal peace and joy. On the other, he must bring into view the broken law, and wrath of God as "revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men," and point the sinner to the regions of despair, and never-ending torments in hell. By the mercies of God, he must beseech, and by the terrors of the Lord he must endeavor to persuade men to be reconciled to God.

"As though God did beseech you by us." Here mark the divine condescension. God beseeches. By whom? By his faithful ambassadors. Does God beseech? Then the ambassador is not to deliver his message in the name of a dying man, but in the name, and by the authority of the living God. And thus he must come in the name of God, and deliver his whole message, without regard either to the love or hatred of men. Says the faithful ambassador who penned the words of the text, "Even so we preach, not as pleasing men, but God, who trieth our hearts." "Do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ."

"We pray you in Christ's stead." Here again, you will mark the same condescension. Christ still retains his compassion for sinners. He still pleads