the picture is the more distressing, when accompanied with the opinion of having forfeited all hope of salvation for some petty present gain; having bartered eternal life, for a momentary gratification, without the possibility of revoking the contract; and that, too, when the folly had been the impulse of passion; or, still more excusably, occasioned by the cravings of hunger. It is this representation which often appears before the mind of the alarmed sinner, from the passage cited, and attaches an arbitrary precariousness to the salvation of the soul. And if, in addition to this, the providential dealings of God towards him, in times past, have been remarkable, a comparison with the case of Esau is easily instituted, and the most poignant reflections are gathered from it. He can possibly recollect when he was penetrated with a feeling sense of his lost condition; when, for a season, the importance of religion occupied and filled his thoughts. He can recollect, too, how he abandoned the inquiry under the influence of worldly considerations; or, it may have been, for some short-lived pleasure.— Desirous as he may now be to renew those impressions, he finds it not possible to recall the same feelings and sensible of guilt and ill-desert, he bitterly laments his inability to reach a state of mind, which he considers irrecoverably lost. He fancies himself unable to "find any place of repent

ance, though sought carefully with tears:" and he sees in Esau, an instance so closely resembling his own, that hope dies within him as he contemplates it; and he believes the only alternative now before him to be, either a return to the world, or a fruitless brooding over his lost condition. Sad choice of evils, each fatal to his eternal happiness!

That it is possible to "seek a place of repentance carefully with tears," without being ever able to comply with the primary requisite to salvation, believing repentance or penitent faith,* supposes that irremediable state which distinguishes none but the lost. Yet the apprehension of such a state has more than once, to my own knowledge, been produced in the mind by the text we are now considering. Nor is it surprising that it should be so, when we consider the pointed and animated manner in which this language seems to describe the past and the present state of the backslider.

The simple truth however is, that the verses before us have no relation whatever to the state of the inquirer. The apostle is addressing professed Christians; and he presents an example of the danger of departing from the truth as it is in

* See the late venerable and judicious Mr. Scott's "Discourse on Repentance;" one of the cheapest and best human compositions ever given to the world. Ed.

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Jesus, and of exchanging the high privileges of the faithful for any temporary advantages. profane person is one who lightly esteems, or despises, sacred things. Such was Esau. His birthright, which, according to the economy in which he lived, held peculiar religious honours, (not to mention its legal claim to the larger portion of the inheritance,) he bartered for a brief present indulgence. No excuse could palliate this conduct for it evidently implied contempt of a divinely conferred privilege. Now, of what was it that he repented?-Of his gross sin in the sight of God? Not at all. He regretted his folly and sought "a place of repentance," in his father's mind; that is, he endeavoured to procure a reversal of his father's decision respecting the blessing; and even that not immediately, but forty years after the transaction. Also, this regret was not only unavailing from the late hour in which it occurred, during the whole interval to which he had continued impenitent, and from the irrevocable investiture of the blessing in another, but in its very nature it was devoid of any moral value. All Esau's vehemency and tears arose from considerations completely selfish, and inconsistent with sincere penitence of heart. He sought nothing from his offended God, and he retained a feeling of rancour towards his brother. Besides; it was the pique of pride, the wounding

of ambition, under which he smarted. The object of his desire was no spiritual blessing, nothing religious; it was to have the grant transferred to himself, "Be Lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee." Had he, from the heart, before God, sought repentance, and earnestly desired the special blessings of salvation, there was nothing that could have prevented his obtaining them.

In all this you see no parallel to the case of the awakened sinner. The circumstances, the object sought, the kind of repentance desired, as the apostle applies them, give an admonition to the members of the visible church, by a very plain inference; but they present no discouragement to the inquirer. The lesson which they furnish to sinners in general, is by analogy and inference; the hazard of delay, or, the great importance of improving the present moment.

Let me now say, that the uneasiness which you have entertained on this subject, should lead you to reflect on the duty of taking every passage of scripture in connexion with its broad and general truths. The word of God will illustrate, but never contradict, itself. A detached sentence may fill the heart with terror, when it never was intended to do so. But carry it to the light of some other truth, and you will see that there is

nothing to deter the returning sinner, but every thing to encourage him.

You adduce the language of Jehovah by the prophet, "Ephraim is joined to idols; let him alone ;"* as an evidence that some may be sentenced to a judicial exclusion from hope, notwithstanding any desire on their part to return to God. But surely, he who is "joined to his idols," who is obstinately bent on pursuits and pleasures dishonourable to reason and religion, inimical to spirituality, and forbidden, directly or indirectly by God, can have no sincere desire for holy enjoyments.

Moreover, if these words had been designed to indicate to the rebellious people, that their doom was now sealed, and that no further effort should be made for their good, the curse would have carried its own sign along with it, a cessation on the part of God to break in upon their insensibility. But the prophet continues to expostulate, with pathos and earnestness, "O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words, and return unto the Lord. Say unto him, Take away alj iniquity, and receive us graciously." + All this pleading is clearly inconsistent with the idea of a state of abandoned hopelessness. It announces

* Hosea iv. 17.

+ Chap. xiv. 1, 2.