who is the Maker of all the earth shall be the Judge of all the earth; and that he has prepared the thunderbolts of his wrath, that he may take vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not his will; and yet you continually defy this authority, and expose yourself to this vengeance! You say you believe that you have immortal souls; that when you leave this world you must go into another state; that this other state must be regulated by your present character and conduct; that there is a state of happiness for the holy, and of misery for the unholy; and yet-you act as if you had no souls-as if there were no future state-as if heaven were a delusion, and hell were a chimera! You say that you believe Jesus Christ came from heaven to earth to seek and to save the lost; that he was delivered for the offenses of men, and rose again for their justification, and returned to heaven, that he might intercede for them, and send them down all the blessings of his salvation; and you come to hear his truth proclaimed to you Sabbath after Sabbath; and, such is the force of habit, you would be quite uncomfortable if you did not listen to these things; and yet-you are quite content to have no experience of this Saviour's pardoning mercy and sanctifying grace! I might pursue this train of remark; but, from what has been said, you see how clearly a charge of the most marvelous unbelief and absurdity may be made out against you. You kiss the Saviour, like Judas, and like him you betray him for this world's good. You call him Lord, but you do not the things which he says. You sleep as quietly in your beds, after we have assured you, upon his authority, that you are in danger of eternal perdition, as if you had never heard a word about the matter! and it is more than probable that some of you will do so this very night! And how is this? Is it not marvelous? Well may Christ be grieved and wonder! Is it not marvelous insensibility to what you acknowledge to be so valuable and important? Is it not a proof of marvelous unbelief, to disregard a blessing which you yourselves allow to be attainable? Is it not a marvelous disregard of all the thunders of the divine wrath, which you must confess are hanging over your head? O that you were willing to follow up the convictions of your own minds! that you would not attempt to get rid of them in an unhallowed way! that you would cherish them by reading the Scriptures and pious books, by meditation, by prayer, by intercourse with Christians, and by the use of all the means which God has appointed to save souls from the wrath to come!

4. I speak to those also who, though not loving sin, but truly convinced of their sinfulness and consequent danger, hating sin and desirous of being freed from it; yet go on for weeks, and months, and even years, without finding the mercy which God has promised-without obtaining the blessings of pardon, of adoption, of holiness, of consolation, of the Holy Spirit's influence. Come and let me expostulate with you. There are many such in all our congregations, and in all our societies. It is a

fact, that if we have a thousand members, we find at least a hundred to whose general seriousness we can make no exception, whose conduct is marked by regularity; who yet can not, with satisfaction to their ministers and fellow Christians, declare what God has done for their souls. There are, no doubt, therefore, some such present this evening. Now, let me expostulate with you: look at your case. O that I may be assisted to say something which shall lead you this night to lay hold on Christ! Something that shall make you ashamed of your unbelief in my Saviour and yours! Something that shall convince you that, when he opens his arms to receive you, you have no right to run away from him; that you have no right to close your ears to his inviting voice; that it is your duty, as well as your interest, to lay hold on his mercy, and to receive the blessings which he has pressed on your acceptance in the exuberance of his kindness! Now, what does he say? "Come unto me, all ye that are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." But I need not repeat these promises; what you want is not the knowledge of them— you have heard them read a hundred times; no; what you want is, to believe, to embrace them. These promises point out you you yourselves -as the very persons who want these good things. And O, consider that these promises are confirmed confirmed by a solemn oath; "that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, they might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before them." You have heard God's promise-now hear God's oath. O, infinite condescension! You doubt his word-shame on you! But he does not desert you for your sin. Now, hear it, penitent; hear the oath of thy God! We have it on record in his own book; it is written for your comfort. Listen: "As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye, from your evil ways; for why will ye die?" God tells you, by his life, that he is ready to save you to save you now. And this promise, and this oath, have been sealed by the blood of Christ; "and he that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" And this promise, and this oath, have been confirmed by the resurrection of Christ. By this we are taught that the sacrifice he presented was accepted-that God is satisfied; and that there is nothing even in his justice to hinder him from pardoning you. Hence the language of the apostle to the Hebrews: "Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect!" And so on. O, what comfort is contained in these

words! God is "the God of peace." Why, we might have been charged to tell you that God is "a man of war." But no; we have to proclaim him to you as "the God of peace." He has a peaceful disposition toward you; and he has proved this by raising up Jesus Christ from the dead.

It is possible that we may have erred in telling you that this is your privilege, and not dwelling sufficiently on it as your duty. It is your duty to believe; it is a great crime you are guilty of in not coming to God for the pardon of your sins, when he has told you so plainly and so repeatedly that he waits to bestow that pardon. You believe the word of your fellow men; to-morrow you will take their word, perhaps, twenty times in the day, in the course of your business; but you will not take the word of God; you must behold something extraordinary, you must have some miracle performed, before you believe God! and is not this most marvelous, most unreasonable? Will it not be infinitely better to take him at his word, and receive the blessing? Why, part of his word you do believe; you do believe his threatenings, when he says that "the wicked man shall surely die." This you firmly believe. But another part of his word-that very part which is most suited to your case-you put away from you! You say that you are not ready yet; that you are not worthy yet! O the marvelous absurdity of this unbelief! Men under the influence of this vile principle will absolutely believe all but that which they are required to believe-that which most of all concerns them to believe-that "THIS IS A FAITHFUL SAYING, AND WORTHY OF ALL ACCEPTATION, THAT JESUS CHRIST CAME INTO THE WORLD TO SAVE SINNERS." I now proclaim it to you; take it home to yourselves; say,

"Who did for every sinner die,
Hath surely died for me."

For me he hath obtained that redemption which is of so much value; that, without which I must forever have perished! Sayest thou this? Then thou art the very man for my Saviour. Thou art the very man on whom he now looks down, on whom he now waits to be gracious!

I have already trespassed so unwarrantably upon your time, that I must leave you to apply this train of thought to other cases of unbelief which will present themselves readily to your mind. We may learn from this subject,

1. The marvelous corruption of human nature, from whence all this unbelief originates. If man was as he came out of the hands of his Maker, he could receive with simple, confiding love, all that he has said, and listen implicitly to all his assurances. Faith has its seat in the heart and so has unbelief; hence we read of "an evil heart of unbelief.” Man is very far gone from original righteousness. Now, as unbelief took us away from God, so faith alone can bring us back to God, and prepare us for an ultimate admission into heaven. See also,

2. The necessity of the agency of the Holy Spirit. This is necessary, that faith may be inspired, and kept in exercise, and brought to maturity. If unbelief be in the heart by nature, it is not the nicest train of reasoning, it is not all the power of moral suasion that can produce faith. True faith is supernatural; the apostle tells the Philippians that it had been "given them to believe in his name." You must believe; believing is your act; but it is an act of a heart renewed by the grace of the Holy Spirit; by the same almighty and efficacious power by which Christ was raised from the dead. Look at the case of infidels; other means are employed in abundance, but they remain infidels still; while others have been converted from infidelity in the absence of all human means. Look at the case of Saul of Tarsus; he was a most bigoted Pharisee, and a furious and determined persecutor; and he was not made into a sincere and humble Christian, and a zealous and successful preacher, by books, or by human argumentation. The miraculous light, and the voice from heaven, might arouse his attention; but it was by an immediate and direct interferenee of the Holy Spirit, that the change was effected, and true faith was inspired. The conversion of Vanderkemp, also, is a case fully in point; a conversion scarcely less remarkable than that of the Apostle Paul. From a German infidel, infidelity, perhaps, of the most specious and dangerous kind, Vanderkemp, without human interference, became a zealous Christian. I do not mean to say that good books, that wise and pious information, are to be despised; but I do mean to say, that the great fault is in men's hearts; and that it is necessary that the heart should be prepared by the operation of the Spirit, to receive the truth in the love of it. And that, though the mind may be prepared, in some measure, by knowledge, yet that true faith is the immediate effect of a direct influence of the Holy Spirit.

As to all the instances of unbelief we have specified, and as to all others which may occur, go direct to God; pray against your unbelief; beseech him to cure you of this dreadful infatuation.

And let the disciples-let those who are set to guide souls to Christlet all the Church say, "LORD, INCREASE OUR FAITH !”

DISCOURSE XL.

HUGH MACNEIL, D. D.

DR. MACNEIL, of Regent's Park, Liverpool, is one of the most powerful preachers in England. He is a native of the province of Ulster, in Ireland, and was in youth a very thoughtless young man, fond of the drama and light literature. After his conversion he gave himself to the work of the ministry, and was, for a time, one of the most popular preachers of the London pulpit, and was presented afterward with the living at St. Jude's in Liverpool. His labors there were blessed to the conversion of hundreds; and while there he signalized himself as a controversialist on the Romish question. Under his ministry the church became far too small, and hence his removal to Regent's Park, where he occupies a very handsome and capacious church. He is known as the author of several works on prophecy, among the rest a very excellent treatise on the Restoration of the Jews. In common with many of the evangelical school in England, he holds Millenarian views, although he does not go the length of some of the less sober and intelllgent writers on these questions.

Dr. MacNeil possesses all that impetuosity of temperament, that versatility of talent, that exuberance of imagination, and that affluence of imagery, which have characterized some of the most celebrated of the sons of the Green Isle. His appearance in the pulpit is most commanding. He is tall, handsome, and erect. His hair is now flaxen white; his complexion ruddy, without any tendency toward corpulency; his voice is clear, sweet, and melodious, possessing all the tones, from the lowest bass to the highest alto, and under the most perfect control; his preaching is impassioned and telling; his argumentation is well put; his expositions are clear; his illustrations to the point; and his appeals never fail to reach the heart. Rev. Dr. Tyng, in his "Recollections of England," describes glowingly the abilities of Dr. MacNeil, and speaks of him as combining, in an extraordinary degree, the "unrivaled excellences of subject, mind, and matter." In preaching he is wholly extemporaneous, and holds a little pocket Bible in his hand, from which he makes his quotations. It is said that he has admitted not less than a thousand souls to the church, who have been savingly converted to God under his ministry. It was hoped by many of the evangelical friends of the Church of England, both in Canada and in the eastern provinces, that he would have received the appointment of Bishop to some of the recently-vacant provincial sees; and no man in England better deserved such a preferment. Dr. MacNeil would be widely useful to the British colonies of North America. The discourse from his master pen which we subjoin, was first preached in 1834; Dr. Chalmers once heard it, and declared it to be one of the best productions on the subject to which he had ever listened.