Delaware weekly Republican. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1841-188?, 1857-09-03
Religious.


AS for that sorrow and regret which is fel
by the sick and dying, let it not be mistakel
for repentance. 1t proves nothing. 1t is
miserable hope that is built upon it. No mar
mas any assurance that, since the foundation o.
the world, more than one man, repenting thus
late, repented savingly for the dying man has
no opportunity to " bring forth fruits meet for
repentance" and only by therfruts shall ye
know them.'
Perhaps nothing ould more strikingly illus
trate the decoitfulness of sin than perversion
thereby produced In regard to future repen-
tanee. 1t tells how many excellent opportun-
Ties there will be for repentance inthe progress
OF life, seasons of Affections, periods cf leis-
ure, occasion of sickness, and what golden
time the last, the sickness that shall be unto
death, VIII affords what glorious opportunity
then, in the midst of medicines, and in the
company Of nurses and physicians and pastors,
when there is necessity to constrain and urge
on, and no world to attract, no friend to oppose,
no formidable cross to take up, but death is in
| near view, and everything favorable. The
| poor sinner is made to think return OF the
Pentecost would hardly equal such a time in
advantages for Tepentancel lie fOrgets that
the seul is not merely bound with iilaments-
that there are chains to be broken. He for
gets that, in making peace with God, the di-
vine consent and concurrence are as neccessa-
ry as his. He f0rgets, too, that true repen-
tanco is not mere sorrow, and that there is
a sorrow for sin, for which hell Is penitenti-
ary.
There is among the realities of the world
what answers to that which in the parable of
the virgins is set forth in figure. A person
he may DO one of those who have borne the
lamp Of the Christian profession. and have
gone forth to meet the bridegrOom-makes in
one Of his last hours, perhaps his very last,
the painful discovery that he has no grace IN
his heart. What shall he dor His mind is
now awake. But the approach of death has
already been announced, and the cry, &c He
cometh, he cometh 20 has been reiterated in
his ears and he hears the fatal football at hand.
What shall he do7 He has no time 70 lose.
He applies to those around him; but all the
help they can afford is friendly counsel-''Go
buy and he hastily goes, and, with tears and
signs he asks for the holy oil and he offers the
world, upon which he has now no claim; and
he proposes to give his all, which is now no.
thing and he enlists as many as he can in his
behalf; but death, ineXorable, uncourteous,
intrusive death, snpervenes and draws his i'm
peryious curtain around the scene, and he is
gone Friendship, thinking that importantly, |
tffectual prayer, and that warmth and earnest
ness, the effect Of loves enkndlement in the
heart, calls these exercises religion and sup |
pose that tho flown spirit has found easy and
abundant entrance through an ample and wide
and open door. But, it is to be feared, he
found the door shut. He slept ton long. He
began too late. He was in earnest he lost
not moment; but it was too late when he
began. All that noise and hustle that the
fearful soul sometimes makes on the eve of its
departure about its salvation, place little de-
pendance upon. 1t is thus that animal feelings,
when highly excited, exhibit themselves. ALL
this may occur, and yet the Holy Spirit be afar
on.-Dr. NeUiRs.