tells you that you are now in the friendship of God, oh, let it be all your care to avoid sin. Fly from the face of sin. Fly from the approach of sin. Avoid the occasions of sin. Watch against sin, and pray continually, not to be led into sin: and when your hour of trial comes, when some strong temptation assails you, then be ready to say, as the prophet Joseph, "What! shall I do this wicked thing, and offend against God?" This is that fear of God which is the beginning of wisdom. This is the happiness of which the Psalmist spoke: "_Blessed is the man that hath not walked in the council of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the chair of pestilence; but his will is in the law of the Lord, and on His law he shall meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree which is planted near the running waters, which shall bring forth its fruit in due season. And his leaf shall not fall off; and all, whatsoever he shall do, shall prosper._" [Footnote 80] [Footnote 80: Ps. i. 1-3.] -------------------------------- {340} Sermon XIII. Divine Calls And Warnings. (A Sermon For Lent.) "Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near." --Isai. LV. 6. The Wise Man tells us that "_all things have their season, and in their times all things pass under heaven_." [Footnote 81] Certainly, it is so in the natural world. There is a time for the birds to migrate. "_The kite in the air knows her time, the turtle and the swallow and the stork observe the time of their coming_." [Footnote 82] [Footnote 81: Eccl. iii. 1.] [Footnote 82: Jer. viii. 7.] There is a time for seeds and shrubs to grow. Seed-time and harvest do not fail. There is a busy time and a slack time in the world of commerce. There is a time for education, a time when the mind is inquisitive and the memory retentive, and it is easy to acquire knowledge; and another time, when the powers of the mind, like the limbs of the body, seem to grow stiff and rigid, and can be employed only with difficulty. But does this law reach also to the supernatural world? Has the grace of God also its seasons and its times? I believe it has; and it is to this fact, so important in its bearing on our salvation, that I wish now to direct your attention.