influence of his grace: no sinner ever perished at the foot of his cross. If you are weary and heavy laden, Jesus saith, “Come unto ME, and I will give you rest.” Mat. xi. 28. If your heart be hard and unbelieving, he saith again, “My son give _me_ thine heart.” Prov. xxiii. 26. If your transgressions are numerous and aggravated, he saith again, “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Isa. i. 18. If all the rebellion of the prodigal centres in thy conduct, and thou, nevertheless, art desirous of returning to thy God; see, as in his case, the Father of mercies runs to meet thee, he opens his arms to embrace thee, his house to receive thee, his wardrobe to clothe thee, his heart to love and pity thee, and he spreads his table with the richest dainties wherewith to feed thy famished soul. And if thou still persist to think thy case even worse than his, and unbelief could furnish thee with ten thousand arguments to keep thee from coming to Christ, the following glorious promise is sufficient to overturn them all: “Him that cometh to me, I will in _no wise_ cast out.” John, vi. 37. 3. But, the last, and by no means the least motive, that I shall mention under this head, as an inducement to warrant and encourage the self-diffident and returning sinner to partake of the blessings of the gospel, is, that they are all the free gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Rom. vi. 23. “Ho! every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no money, let him come.” Isa. lv. 1. Indeed a moment’s serious reflection on the nature of the favors requisite to a sinner’s salvation, such as, an interest in the covenant, peace with Heaven, pardon of sin, justification before God, the spirit of holiness, and eternal life; or on the greatness of the price, with which they have been purchased, even “the blood of God;” Acts, xx. 28; or on the demerit of those, who are the recipients of those immense favors;—might convince any one of the folly and presumption of expecting the very least, on the ground of personal worthiness; and yet encourage the hope and banish the fears of the weakest and most depressed sinner upon earth. “Think not” then, as the apostle said to Simon the sorcerer, “that the gift of God may be purchased with money”—with human merit. Acts, viii. 20. Were you a possessor of all the treasures of the earth, or of all the moral excellencies that ever centred in any natural man since the fall, you would not therefore be entitled to even the crumbs that fall from God’s table. Yet the deepest poverty, the greatest unworthiness, are no bars to preclude your receiving the choicest of his favors, even eternal life. As, therefore, you _have_ nothing to pay off the immense debt you owe, so nothing is required; no merit, no works, no recommendation whatever. All is purchased already; and all gratuitously tendered. Nothing remains for