the actual consequences which their sins entail upon them, or by the internal remorse which they occasion.

How often does it occur, for instance, that sins committed in youth do not exhibit their effects till late in life, after having lain long hid! A man when young gives way to profligate conduct. As he grows older, he perhaps forsakes those particular sins. But still, so far as this life is concerned, their consequences remain; and at the age of forty or fifty, when other men are hale, he finds himself with a worn-out constitution, unable to go about his business, diseased in body and mind. Or, it may be, a man yielding to temptation in early life, commits some act of dishonesty; and having committed it, after a while he almost forgets all about it. Yet often, even after many years, that act of his turns up, so to say, and becomes known, and he suffers shame and disgrace for it, and his children after him. Even in those cases where no external consequences follow, yet very often the mere internal remorse is intolerable: so that men have committed murder, and there was no witness, neither could any thing be proved against them; yet, after, it may be, twenty or even thirty years, they have been known to feel such extraordinary agony of mind, on thinking over the deed done long ago, that, not urged by religious considerations, they have, out of pure weariness of life, delivered themselves up to justice; the sin which they had committed

hunting and pursuing them from year to year as though it were an evil spirit, and not being satisfied till it had satiated itself in their blood.

Thus frequently, even in this life, sin finds out the sinner; not by any chance, but agreeably to the secret ordinance of God. And even if persons escape altogether in this life, both from punishment and from remorse of mind, yet such an enduring power is there in sin, and so certain is it in its effects, that it follows the sinner into the very world to come. It dies not with his death, but seeking after his soul, and pursuing it beyond the uttermost parts of the earth, through the very valley of the shadow of death, it ceases not till in the end it finds him out, and seizes upon him, even though it be before the very throne of God. Thus, let a man escape ever so easily in this life, yet, at the Day of Judgment, his sins, great and little, will appear; and Satan, who tempted him to them, will testify against him, and demand his soul. For if there be any thing plain and undoubted in holy Scripture it is this, that God "hath appointed a day on the which He will judge the world in righteousness, by that Man whom He hath ordained."

Be sure, then, whoever you are, who are in the habit of committing wilful sins, that, unless you repent and amend, those sins will find you out in the end, whether they are secret sins which the world cannot see, or public sins committed before 1 Acts xvii. 31.

the eyes of mankind; whether they are such sins as "are open before-hand, going before to judgment,” or such as "follow after." You may escape in this life, although even that is not probable; but most certainly you will not escape in the life to come: for then the judgment will be set, the books will be opened; then will be the incorruptible Judge, the horrible judgment-seat, the answer without excuse, the inevitable charges, the shameful punishment, the unquenchable flame, the unwearied worm, the indissoluble chains, the inconsolable cry, none to stand by thee, none to plead for thee, unless in this life thou hast repented and cast thy sins from thee, and sought thy Lord while He might be found.

Let such thoughts, concerning the unavoidable consequences of unrepented sin, alarm us out of that heedless state in which too many of us live. And as to those who seem to sin on without check, let it not be thought that God will suffer them to escape. Certainly their sin will find them out at last. In the times of David there were many such, men who corrupted others, and spake wicked blasphemy; who said, "Tush, how shall God perceive it; is there knowledge in the Most High ?”2 And that such persons should be allowed to exist caused David to wonder, and led him for a time almost to doubt the providence of God. But "when he went into the sanctuary, then he understood the end of those men; namely, how God

1 1 Tim. v. 24.

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2 Ps. lxxiii. 11.

doth set them in slippery places, and casteth down and destroyeth them. Oh, how suddenly do they consume, perish, and come to a fearful end!" Such is the case with sinners, who seem to go on a long time in their sins, and to suffer no punishment. They are walking in slippery places; and so much the greater will be their fall in the end, in proportion to their security now.

To conclude, let us thank God that, whatever our own sins may have been, He hath not yet given us over to a reprobate mind; but that it is still in our power to turn unto Him. Let us, whilst we condemn others, take heed lest we ourselves fall. Let us be alive to the particular temptations which our own dispositions and occupations most naturally bring before us. Let us pray that we may not be led into temptation, and let us keep ourselves out of it.

SERMON XVIII.

RETRIBUTION.

2 KINGS X. 10.

Know now that there shall fall unto the earth nothing of the word of the Lord, which the Lord spake concerning the house of Ahab for the Lord hath done that which He spake by His servant Elijah."

THIS is now the third Sunday upon which we have been engaged with the history of King Ahab. A fortnight since you heard the inspired account of Ahab's sinful act in regard to Naboth's vineyard; together with the judgment which Elijah denounced against him, his guilty wife, and all his family. To-day you have had brought before you the final completion of that judgment in the destruction, by Jehu, of Ahab's seventy sons, and of all the kindred that remained to him.

This subject, therefore, having occupied so much of our attention in the reading of the lessons, it will be well to meditate upon it, and consider what important truths it conveys to us.