the next step is to repent. This must be no ordinary repentance. You must come down into the very dust. You must mourn and weep at God's feet; and forgetting all other cares, must give your whole souls to humiliation and sorrow; resolving to lie in that posture till the return of his pardoning love, whether it be for a day or a month or a year; refusing to wander abroad among other truths even of a religious kind, till you have thoroughly settled this great controversy with your Maker. For one who has wandered thus, there is no getting back to a state of reconciliation with God,-there is no getting back to heavenly affections, but by going through the valley of humility and measuring over all its solemn length. Begin then this day the work of repentance in earnest, and set apart this week and following weeks to this special duty, till peace is restored with your offended Saviour. If you linger long in this exercise, think not the time lost or your progress retarded. A month spent upon your face, would carry you forward more than your ordinary pace would do.

The next thing required is to do your first work. You must actually return to the faith and love of former days. This obligation is laid upon you by all the authority of God, who makes no allowance for your dependance,-who accepts no plea of inability, but demands all this with as little ceremony as if there was no Spirit and you were independent, -with as little ceremony as he commands any outward action. But you must go to him for strength. "If any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God that

giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering; for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord." For this strength you may go to him freely. "What man is there of you whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?" "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him." A firm belief in this is the very faith required. "Without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

"And do the first works." This was spoken with all the authority of the Godhead. "And do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent." Do you hear this, indifferent Christian? Unless you repent and return to your first love, he may come unto you quickly and break up your church-standing, either by taking you away, or leaving you to fall into open sins and forfeit your Christian privileges. Where are we? In what a solemn condition do we stand? Right under the eye of God, and this awful threatening ringing in our ears. It is too late to say, "A little more sleep, a little more slumber," when the sword of the Almighty is at our breast. We thought it would be in season to awake at some future day;

thee quickly."

to meet us.

but what think we now? "Else I will come unto While I speak he may be hastening What a solemn condition are we in. An hour's delay may prove fatal. Instantly burst those chains which bind you to the world. Break up your wretched worldly calculations. Awake from sleep. Inquire what there is for you to do to advance the interests of religion and pluck souls from eternal death. Break, as from a burning house, from that stupor and fear of man which can demur about coming out from the world and engaging thoroughly in religion. Rouse all your powers and come up to the help of the Lord. Whatever you do you must do quickly, for the Judge is at the door.

SERMON XXIV.

THE DOVE.

GEN. VIII. 8, 9.

Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground: but the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark; for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. Then he put forth his hand and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark.

The pigeon or dove is held up in Scripture as an emblem of the Church. This species of birds are distinguished by their simplicity and innocence. They are gentle, inoffensive, easily subdued and tamed, and quick to forget injuries. Strongly attached and faithful to their mates, they seem disconsolate under separation, and are easily reconciled when a breach happens between them. They are the most fruitful of birds, bearing almost every month. Their food is the purest seed or grain, their drink the fairest waters, and they loathe the filth They are weak, defencebeset with fears, and ad

on which the raven riots. less, exposed to injuries,

dicted to mourning. When pursued by ravenous birds they will not fight, but tremble and flee to their windows. In eastern countries they often seek a refuge in caves and holes of rocks, where they nestle and abide. Of all birds they are most attached to home; and if carried to almost any distance and then set free, they will steer straight and rapidly to their favourite cabin.

In allusion to these dispositions, Christ calls his Church his dove, and hails her, sheltered as she is in her eternal refuge, "O my dove, thou art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs." To denote at once her meekness and tenderness, he represents her as regarding him with "doves' eyes." Attached and faithful to him, she sits solitary when he is absent, and when at any time she has grieved him by her follies, she is eager to be restored to favor. Her fruitfulness is in good works. Unable to live on the ordure of sin and worldly objects, she quenches her thirst at the waters of life, and can relish only "the finest of the wheat and honey out of the rock." In this vale of tears she is addicted to mourning on account of her sins and the miseries of her race. "Like a crane or a swallow" so does she often "chatter;" she mourns sore like "a dove." With inextinguishable desire she cleaves to her home, the bosom of her God; and when driven from it by the hurry of her passions, nothing, though worlds rise between, can prevent her from rushing back and seeking again a retreat in her father's arms. Weak and defenceless in herself and exposed to injury,