The Sun.
London, England, 1839-01-07 00:00:00

brother sinner, brother man—what boots it, though all the
world be right, if thou be wrong ?—what boots it though
all the world be blest and happy, if those wart wretched,
and thine inmost heart wrung with woe ? What
hoots it though all thy brethren and mankind were
safely housed within the arms of everlasting mercy,
if thou wast u.iencompassed with those arms, and
an alien from the commonwealth •of spiritual Israel.
Haste thee brother sinner, friend, who,,ver thou art,
to go down into the depths of thine own soul—pray
God to search thee, and prove thee, and to let thee set. and
feel, and rightly understand whether thou art in the way of
wickedness, and that thou then pray God to lead thee into
the way everlasting. When thou art thyself enlightened,
set out on a mission of enlightening others, and not till
then : when thou art thyself forgiven, set out on an errand
of helping others to obtain forgiveness also : when thou art
thyself renewed, set out along with thy fellows, who, toge-
ther with thyself art wicked and unenlightened, and in
search of forgiveness—let the prayers be for them, and
their prayers for thee ; and the prayers together of
men lire-model and like- :e ett- d, and msn having
one end and one aim before them—let those united
and associated prayers go up before God as a cloud
of incense, well pleasing in his sight., and as surely as
there is a God in heaven, who hears thy prayers, thou
wilt find God on earth answer thy prayers. Se surely
as the breathings of thy spirit, the sighs of thy contrite
• soul, the prayers of thy broken heart ascend on high, so
surely will the answer of peace be sent down into thy wait-
ing but troubled, thy believing • but perhaps desponding
spirit. God says unto thee, Christ says unto thee, the
Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father says unto thee,
son or daughter, child of God, thy sins, which were many,
are forgiven thee, go in peace and sin no more. I never feel
the last sands of the old year ebbing out, or hear the fearful
sound of the rising t;de of-the new year travelling from the
depths of an eternity that bath been partly unfolded to us—
I never feel the hidden time coming onward with its waves
to meet me, but I think how much more needful than
ever it is to leave the old,
.and take up -the new—
to end the old and begin - the new, by making
for myself sure work for that eternity ; and I
call upon you, by brethren, in this the first
service in which you and I as brethren have been con-
nected—l call upon you each one for himself, now, this
afternoon, to make your peace with God ; lose no time
about it, let nothing put it off, let nothing come in between
you and this work, allow nothing to set it aside, suffer
nothing to take you off. As you stand before God, and
for him—as you stand upon the brink of the grave, and may
fall into it—as you are upon the edge of a never-ending
eternity, and may be plunged over its narrow brink to-day
—as you know not what a day or an hour may bring forth,
lose no time ; up and be doing, every one for himself, every
man having to stand or fall to his own God. Behold, now
is the accepted time ; behold, now is the day of salvation.
Lose, therefore, no opportunity, and above all things em-
brace the present opportunity, and avail yourselves of the
privileges which this happy moment presents you with,
and make your peace with that God who is
willing to speak peace to the wailing spirit.
Then you are happy men, and you are not happy till
then. There is no peace for the wicked ; nothing
can make the wicked man happy ; nothing that he can
do for himself ; nothing that others can do. for him ;.
notlieg which the whole world has in its power to offer
to him and to accomplish in his behalf ; nothing can make
the wicked man happy. " There is no peace, saith my
God, for the wicked." He may shift with the shifting
scenes around him—he may change with the changing
times in which he lives—he may array himself in the pa-
noply of power, and think he can ward off the shafts, the
darts of sickness, of disease, and of death—he may seat
to himself, as the rich man did who is spoken of in the
Gospel, after he had stripped himself from the cumbrous
panoply with which he delinded himself when before his
enemies, and had retired into the innermost receises of his
luxurious and his selfish indulgences; he may say he will
take his ease, eat drink, and be merry—clothed as thou
art in scarlet and purple, fed on the finest of meat, quaffing
tee choicest end the richest, of wine, and faring sumptuously
every (lay ; eat, drink, and be merry, for there are much
goods in store for thee, for many days ; but, in the midst of
the feast, God knowing no difference, and being
no respecter of persons—God says to him, in the
midst of his contemplated enjoymentse or his enjoy-
ments themselves, " Tuon tool ! this night thy soul
shell be required of thee." You are tot rich—Allele are
not many wealthy. not many mighty, not. many wise—wise,
mighty, and wealthy, in this world's estimation—here. But
though you are not rich in the world's goads, you poor
man, or poor woman, may have your refuge, your sources
of worldly enjoyment and worldly amusement, and worldly
dissipation, and worldly deceit ; and if any of you have
fallen into it mistake, into which some poor persons have fallen,
that because they are poor God will be indulgent and oblivious
of their effences, be not deceived—God will not be mocked.
Whatever a mail soweth, be it in his poverty or in his pride
—whatever a man soweth, be he dressed in rags, or
" clothed in purple and fine linen,"—whatsoever he snwe'h
that also shall he reap. If you sow to the flesh, of the
flesh you- shall reap corruption. If you sow to the spirit,
of the spirit you shall reap life everlasting. God is no re-
specter or persons—the rich man must repent or he will
never believe—the poor men must repent or he will never
believe.—(True.) The rich man must believe or he can never
be forgiven—the poor man must believe or he can never be
forgiven. There is but one truth—it is in this book ; there
is but one way—the way unfolded in this writing. There
is but one heaven, arid the kingdom of heaven is open to
but cne class of persons, and they are all believers. God
is co respecter of persons—al are alike beneath his
eye. A'l alike; . are included in his offers of mercy,
or his denunciations of vengeance, thou mats wilt arise in
the resurrection of the just and go into eternal life, and
thou man shalt receive the greater condemnation. But if,
my brethren, you have thus made your peace with God—
steadfastly this day, giving yourselves up unto him, to fol-
low his leading, to hear, and mark, and keep his wo.d—to
do his bidding—to walk in his was—and in all things, and
at all times, to ask what God would have you do, and then
to do his will, whatever beseems—whatetter betides—at all
risks—and at all hazards, then I can wish you a happy new
year with all my heart, and I know it will be the happiest
and the beet year you have ever yet lived. Begin it
with God—carry it on with God—let all your works this
year be begun, and carried on, and ended in him, who is in all
and above all—God blessed for ever. Then all will be well
with you, all will be well done for you, and all will
be well done by you e and those things, even those that
seem the darkest, and come lowering as black clouds hang-
ing over
your heads ; even those dark clouds when they
do burst, instead of shedding- down as they would have
done storms and vengeance on your head—fhr you will find
that your heavenly Father hicks a smiling fice behind that
frowning Providenes—all even' those most newel-
co:re and unlikely, and apparently opposed to your interests
—all thingS will work together for good unto them that
love God. Love the Lord God, then, with all your heart,
with all your mind, with all your soul, with all
your strength ; love your neighbour as yourself,
and the blessing
oefndG.oodf
gt
go.
with
withyou from the be-
ginning to
year
eon which you
have just entered. I have ,no other new-year's gift to
give you, but if yOu take that you will find it good, and
the
,-uch as I have, give I unto you. The best knowledge, the
best understanding, the result of all_the experience which I
;lave had of the world, in the ways of God, this it is, my
brethren, which leads me this afternoon so faithfully, and