know to have been so thoroughly fulfilled! It is true, they were spoken of a whole city, of a whole people, and they foretel punishments of a public kind; but let us remember that sin and wickedness, whether it be of a whole nation, or of one person in it, will not go unpunished. Indeed, this is one thing which is so plainly taught us in the text; that all disobedience to God, which is not repented of, and all sin, which is not forsaken, will most assuredly receive its proper reward at last.

The Jews, as I have told you, had long been God's own-His chosen people; great were the blessings which He had bestowed upon them, great were the mercies which He had shewn them; and because God had always treated them thus, instead of loving Him and serving him the more for it, they thought themselves at liberty to provoke Him, and that they might do what they pleased without fear. For a long time God Almighty bore this; for a long time He put up with their offences; for a long time He continued His mercies: but when He had tried all that He could to bring them to

repentance, when he had tried, by threatenings, to shew them the danger which they were in, and had encouraged them by promises to turn to Him again, and found that it was all to no purpose; and when He had seen by their treatment of His beloved Son, that the hardness of their hearts was past all hope of cure, He did at last lay upon them the punishment which they had so long deserved.

Can we, my brethren, think or hope that it will be otherwise with ourselves, if our hearts are as hard as their's were? because punishment has not yet overtaken our sins, can we be foolish enough to suppose that it never will? dare we deceive ourselves with the secret hope, that all which our Blessed Lord has told us in the gospel, all that God has declared to us in the Bible will come to nothing? No, no, we dare not, we cannotwe are believers, all. We know both that there is a reward for the righteous, and a God that judgeth the world; and that though heaven and earth shall pass away, His words shall not pass away; that they shall all be fulfilled! Since then the word of God, and our

own consciences also, plainly persuade us that guilt cannot go unpunished; and since we are taught by the text, that though God may long spare men who have sinned against Him, yet that the time will come when He will spare no longer, it behoves us to look well to ourselves, and take warning before it be too late.

Our Blessed Saviour, when He had foretold the evil that should come upon the sinful city of the Jews, gave the reason why it should come; because, He says, thou knewest not the time of thy visitation: because they knew not, that is, because they would not understand, and neglected to make a proper use of the time of their visitation ; because when the Son of God, who had been so long promised, did at length visit them in great humility, calling them to repentance, and doing such mighty works that they might believe in Him, and lay hold on eternal life, they refused to be persuaded, and would not repent.

If it was this which brought the vengeance of God upon the Jews, we must expect His vengeance too, if we, like them, neglect the time of our visitation.

But you will ask me, what is the time of our visitation? I answer, it is now, it is the present time. It is now that God visits us with mercies and blessings. It is now, that, in the Gospel, our Saviour makes to us the same gracious offers which were thrown away upon the Jews: God grant they be not wasted upon us! It is now that he calls us to repentance and faith in Himpromises the forgiveness of all our sins, if we will hate them and forsake them, and offers us the kingdom of heaven, if we will do the best that we are able to become worthy of it. It is this present life, then, which God has given us in order that we may become fit for life eternal-this is the time of our visitation, and all that is to be hoped for in heaven, or feared in hell, depends upon the manner in which we employ it. If we will not endeavour to make a right use of it, God's word, God's oath is given-we must suffer but if we employ it as Christians ought, diligently doing our duty both to God and man, it is then as solemnly promised, that, for Christ's sake, we shall be blessed for ever.

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This then, my brethren, is the time of our visitation, this life is our day of salvation. I who now speak to you, and every one of you who now hear me, have it in our power, through God's help, which He is always ready to give us, to be happy in the life to come our time on earth is the only opportunity for making sure of this, that will ever be given us. That we may not lose this opportunity, it will be our duty as long as it lasts to watch and pray-to watch against the sins which we are every hour in danger of falling into, and to for God's grace that we may be able to get the better of them, remembering that if we suffer them to get the better of us, we must be cast out of the kingdom of heaven.

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And what is heaven? is it not the place where God Almighty, who is perfect goodness, dwells in endless glory? is it not the place where happy angels live, singing their joyful songs before His throne? is it not the place where the spirits of just men made perfect are at rest, when they are delivered from the burden of the flesh? and can we hope to go there, if we do not strive to get