truth with half the powers which are requisite in order to be eloquent in defence of falsehood.

3. Nor is it because conscience is better pleased with error than with truth. Falsehood is offensive to an honest conscience, nor can it cease to be so, except after protracted abuse.

4. Nor is it because error makes a better character than truth. The whole world are witnesses here, that the more conversant we are with truth, and the more cordially we embrace it, the more do our characters commend themselves to mankind.

5. Nor is it because error makes men happier. Falsehood must inevitably be detected. It is a precarious basis for happiness. Truth only proves an anchor of the soul sure and steadfast.

6. Nor does error suit the necessities of the ruined sinner better thun truth. Once open the eyes of men to see themselves as they are, and they find nothing to meet their case but divine truth. I answer positively—

1. Wicked men hate the light, because it exposes their vileness. When the cellar that has been shut up for years is first laid open, by the opening of windows and doors, it presents a disgusting sight. We wonder how so much filth could have accumulated there. So the dark and wicked heart of man seems unutterably vile and loathsome when God's Word and Spirit enter and illuminate it.

2. Wicked men hate the light, because it exposes their danger. Sin and its consequences are palpably connected. It is a fever in the soul, which of itself is painful. Its presence ensures the certainty of misery. It is a leprosy which must eat up the soul, and subject it to an eternal death.

3. Wicked men hate the light, because it shows the necessity of a better character. The soul in love with sin is agonized with an apprehension of the necessity of reformation. Sinful habits let go their hold with wonderful reluctance. They cry out, "let us alone," and when they are expelled, they are like those howling demons, who were driven out by our Savior. The contrast which exists between good and bad men is painful to the wicked just in proportion as it is perceived.

4. Wicked men hate the light, because it awakens the fear that they will be overcome. They are always found in an attitude of defiance. They cherish the most determined hostility to God, and treat him as a foe. The entrance of light shows God's superiority in goodness and power, while it exhibits the certainty of their ultimate defeat.

REMARKS.

1. God ranks all who hate and resist the light among evil doers. Multitudes pride themselves upon their rectitude of conduct, who yet are, in the sight of God, exceedingly wicked. We see men

abusing the law of God, which is holy, just, and good. We see them abusing the person of God by their neglect of his commands, and the disregard of all his wishes. We see them abusing their own consciences; we see them abusing themselves and their fellowmen by a course of conduct which tends to produce misery here and hereafter. We see them cherishing a spirit which would mar the concord of heaven, and break up the heavenly choirs, and yet glorying in their native excellence, and rejoicing that they are not as other men. Yet so long as they resist the light, they must be regarded as evil doers, and be punished as such.

2. As men grow in wickedness, we may expect to see them growing in hatred of the truth. This may account for the fact that so many discontinue the use of the means of

grace.

3. This subject explains the reason that faithful ministers must expect persecution. If they make men see their sins, they incur odium. The man who loves sin, and will not abandon it, will hate the occasion of its constant presentation.

4. We see the cause of the torments of the convicted sinner, and of the horrors of the dying bed; and also why there will be such amazing wrath at the opening of the latter day glory. The pouring of truth in all its pungency and power upon the longabused conscience, is like the sunbeam admitted upon the animalculæ, who writhe and twist, and then expire.

5. We see one of the ingredients of eternal woe. Every lost sinner will spend his eternity in a blaze of light which will fully exhibit his enormity of guilt. There can be no escape from that light which was hated and shunned through a lifetime. Conviction will be thorough, and ever increasing in the bosom of the lost, and this will constitute the worm that never dies.

SERMON CCCCLIII.

BY THE LATE REV. DANIEL A. CLARK.

"There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth."-LUKE XV., 10.

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WHY does the repentance of a sinner occasion such rejoicing in heaven? Because

1. It honors the Divine law and government. The repentance of the sinner proclaims to the universe "God's law is good; his government is just and wise; as long as I was in rebellion I was in the wrong." Whenever the tidings of this repentance come, a new tribute of respect is paid to the authority of God.

2. Because it illustrates the mercy and truth of God in Jesus Christ. Exhibition is therein made of the glorious designs contemplated in the covenant of redemption, and an earnest afforded that "Christ shall yet see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied," and that all the promises of the Father to his Son shall attain their complete fulfilment.

3. The repentance of a sinner occasions joy in heaven, because it displays the power of the Holy Ghost. The third person in the Godhead has equal honor with the Father in the presence of the angels. His influences are ever hallowed in the estimate of heavenly beings, and to their power are ascribed all the peace, and love, and joy, which fill the ransomed soul; and every tear of penitence on earth bears new witness to the all-conquering energy of the Spirit.

4 The repentance of a sinner occasions joy in heaven, because honor is thus done to the gospel of the grace of God. This was given by inspiration of God-the divinely appointed means of light and life to a ruined world, the only charter of man's inheritance of the blessedness purchased for him in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. This truth, illustrated and enforced by the Holy Ghost, aroused the conscience and sanctified the heart.

5. The repentance of a sinner occasions joy in heaven, because it lessens the number of the army of revolt. There is one heart less to pour out evil affections, one mind less to conceive iniquity, one tongue less to utter perverseness. Shame and defeat are carried into the phalanx of the enemy. Satan and evil men are disappointed by the loss of one upon whose sympathy and co-operation they had relied.

6. There is a lost and miserable soul recovered and made happy. The sympathies of heaven are kindled into fresh and powerful action when a ruined creature becomes the inheritor of such unspeakable blessedness as awaits the children of God.

7. A foundation is laid, moreover, for an endless series of holy exertion. The converted sinner becomes at once the minister of good to some other soul, and that soul in turn to others still, and eternity only can reveal the results of this glorious chain, thus created for the transmission of holy influence.

REMARKS.

1. How hard must that heart be which does not take pleasure in the repentance of a sinner! Such an one could not live in heaven, where there is always rejoicing over such an event.

2. He who takes no pleasure in the repentance of a sinner, must in the sight of heaven be regarded as in league with the power of darkness. He has no sympathies in common with holy beings.

3. How precious in the view of angels must be a revival of religion. If the repentance of one sinner occasions joy, how great must be their joy when hundreds turn to God.

4. The sinner has presented to him a new motive for repentance. If he will but repent, he can make angels happy. The purest and the noblest in the universe are ready to welcome and encourage him, as they strike their harps anew and sing the song of redeeming love.

5. The impenitent heart must be a dark spot in the creation of God. Angels would not contemplate the change with such delight, were it not that the unsanctified heart is to them the most loathsome object upon which they can look.

6. This subject must rebuke the cold and unbelieving spirit of those professors of religion who hardly know whether the conversion of sinners would give them joy. It would seem a matter of doubt whether there are not some in the church who will feel but little sympathy with the hundred and forty and four thousand who will be gathered together at the marriage supper of the Lamb; and whether they will have any heart to add their cordial Amen to those ascriptions of praise which shall ascend to Him that sitteth on the throne.

PASTOR OF THE CHURCH OF THE PILGRIMS, BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

THE MANNER OF SELF-EXAMINATION.*

"Examine yourselves whether ye be in the Faith; prove your own selves."2 CORINTHIANS 13: 5.

EVERY believer is responsible for the formation, within himself, of an elevated and symmetrical Christian character. The attainment of the most eminent holiness is represented in the Scriptures as the result of the well-directed effort of the individual disciple. This effort will be aided and made effectual by the influences of God's Spirit. But these are cöoperating influences; and ordinarily they are given in largest measure to him who uses most faithfully the appointed means of spiritual improvement. Even when God interposes to draw back to himself those of his children who have wandered most widely from him, there is no exertion of influence which supersedes the activity of the Christian. He must run, as well as be drawn; and it remains as certain that the merely passive Christian will not advance in the Divine life, as that the foot-traveller will make no progress, without personal exertion.

It is in part from this general principle in the Divine Government that the necessity results for frequency and fervency in prayer, and for the diligent study of the Scriptures. For this reason it is needful for the Christian diligently to cherish the spirit of love and faith, of penitence and humility. From the same principle arises the necessity for the discharge of the duty enjoined in the text. It is a duty frequently inculcated in the Scriptures. It is a duty whose natural influence is, if it be properly discharged, to

* It may be proper to say that this Discourse, as preached to the writer's congregation. was designed to follow another founded upon the same text, and treating specifically of the nature of the Injunction.