God hath thus spoken by his prophet, (Jer. ii. 19.) “Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord God of hosts.” This language was fearfully made out in the case before us: for forty years this man had no rest in his mind; he had committed many sins before, which, like to many lying spirits, had deceived him; but this sin as soon as committed, he felt to lie upon his conscience unforgiven; and from that time forward all his sins, which he once turned as sweet morsels under his tongue, he found to be bitter as gall. His sufferings for so many years together, may be better conceived than described; wherever he went, whatever he did, he seemed to see the eye of God continually fixed and frowning on him. Oh! if the pressure of one unpardoned sin upon the conscience, be sufficient to fill the soul with anguish, and render a man wretched through life; what must be his sufferings in the world to come, where all his sins will be brought to remembrance, and made to prey upon his peace for ever! Reader! You must sooner or later taste the bitterness of sin. O that it may be in time to bring you to repentance and salvation! But know, that if you die unpardoned, you must dwell with devouring flame, and lie down in everlasting burnings. Thirdly. Notice signs of penitence. His views of Christianity were indistinct and confused: this, however, was to be expected from his habits of life. Up to his eightieth year he had been a fugitive and wanderer upon earth, without the means of grace; and there is reason to think, without ever hearing a sermon in his life. And had he possessed a Bible, he could not have read it: nothing therefore but profound ignorance could be expected, but then, he exhibited signs of the deepest penitence, and we know who has said, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” (Pa. li. 17.) Nor was this contrition the mere effect of his dying circumstances; for some years previous he had been an altered man, and had frequently been seen by his family, engaged in prayer by himself under the hedges, and in other retired places. I have certainly no warrant for positively declaring that he is now happy; nor dare I say he is not; “to his own Master he standeth or falleth”—but when I heard of his death, I could not help, in the judgment of charity tracing he departed spirit to the throne of God.