more_ has that Spirit who does “_not always strive with man_,” {9e} been striving with _us_; often grieved by our coldness, our inconsistency, our unwatchfulness; yet never quite leaving us to ourselves; and even now waiting to be entreated by us, that He may purify and sanctify us wholly. And let me say, that if it is an obvious, it is also a solemn thought, that _these ten years_ have included above 500 Sabbaths; each of which might have been, had we diligently improved them, a new step in our advancement towards heaven. They might have made such an addition to our stock of spiritual knowledge, and strength, and progress, as would ere now have carried us far more onward than we have yet reached towards that “_rest which remaineth for the people of God_.” {9f} And then comes the concerning question, from which not one person who hears me can escape; In what manner, to what degree have these advantages been turned to account? _These ten years_ of continued forbearance, and longer trial, and multiplied mercies on the part of our God, do they find us at the close of them living more closely to Him; more desirous of His favour; more afraid of His displeasure; and adorning more, in our life and conversation, the gospel of His own dear Son? _So much __nearer_ as we must know ourselves to be to our latter end, are we in any, and in what measure, better prepared to meet it? Do our tempers and pursuits prove us to be, what this new stage of our journey must convince us that we are, mere “_strangers and sojourners upon earth_,” {10a} seeking “_a better country_, _that is_, _an heavenly_?” {10b} Or rather, are there not some sins still, as in time past, a shame and a burden to us; some evil habits or negligences, some ignorances or omissions yet cleaving to us, and even growing with our growth, and strengthening with our strength? The world, the flesh, and the devil, those three enemies of our souls whom we engaged in our baptism to renounce, have they less power over us than they once had? And do we find in ourselves more readiness to pray, more comfort in our private prayers, more delight in our Sabbaths, more of actual profit from all the means of grace, than we did before? With such an inquiry as this presented to him, and quickened by the thought, that as more time is gone there is so much the less remaining, may not the most advanced and established among us find room for confession and self-abasement? And if this indeed be so, if even “_the righteous scarcely be saved_, _where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear_?” {10c} Where those who “_make a mock at sin_,” {10d} “_glory in their shame_,” and only “_mind earthly things_?” {10e} What must be their state in the sight of God, and what their aggravated danger, who for _ten years more_ have been “_crucifying the Son of God afresh_” {10f} by their open unresisted ways of sin, despising the grace of God, and giving a more free indulgence to those very lusts against