selves with the spiritual standard of God's law, and conviction of sin breaks in upon their minds with the brightness of a sun-beam. They feel that their former lives have been full of rebellion, vanity, and ungodliness; that their best deeds have been polluted with evil, their merits demerits, their virtues a mask, their religion a form. Thus the arrows of God stick fast in them, Pain, and grief, and perplexity, and alarm agitate and rend their minds.

Whether the manner, however, of this conviction of sin be sudden or gradual, the essential point is to feel our transgressions with deep sorrow and compunction of heart. This is the beginning of true repentance. This forms the broad distinction between a careless, worldly, wicked man, and a lowly and teachable one, Such was the change in Manasseh when he humbled himself before God in the time of his affliction; such was it in Josiah, whose heart was tender; such in Zaccheus; such in Mary Magdalen; such in the woman of Samaria; such in the Apostle Paul. In all these cases, there was a poignant grief for their iniquities as committed against God.

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And here let us stop, and inquire if we have ever thus felt the weight of our sins, Religion is a personal concern. Have we, then, discovered and confessed our own transgressions against God? Do we know what it is to weep

for our rebellion and enmity of heart? Is sin a heavy burden, too heavy for us to bear? Did we ever mourn for it as unspeakably odious and abominable? When we hear the word of God read or preached, does it convince and affeet our minds? If it does not, O let us implore the illumination and grace of the Holy Spirit, that such an effect may be produced! It is by his influence alone that our hard hearts can be changed. It is in vain for me to proceed with this discourse if there be no impression on our souls. I shall strive as one that beateth the air. Let us then pause, and fervently beg of God to "cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of his Holy Spirit ;" and to take away the heart of stone out of our flesh and give us an heart of flesh; that thus we may have a right judgment and feeling of this important subject, and be touched with penitence for our unnumbered offences against God.

But I proceed to notice,

III. THE INQUIRY TO WHICH REAL COMPUNCTION FOR SIN WILL LEAD.

The converts in the text are described as saying unto Peter and the rest of the Apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? This was the spontaneous language of an awakened mind. When the understanding is informed, and the heart changed, the inquiry will imme

diately be, What shall we do ? Thus, the jailor at Philippi fell at the Apostles' feet and said, Sirs, what shall I do to be saved? Thus St. Paul at his conversion, when Jesus met him by the way, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? The various classes of persons also who heard John the Baptist are represented as inquiring, Master, what shall we do? These various persons, like the Jews in proposing the question of my text, appear to have been anxious to do any thing or suffer any thing. which might be prescribed to thein; and to re nounce their prejudices and their vices, if only they might obtain relief from their alarm and perplexity, and escape the impending danger. : Thus, in all cases of true conversion to God, compunction for sin will lead to diligent inquiries after a way of escape. The sinnery pricked to the heart, will apply with seriousness to the ministers of God's word to receive further directions in the road to heaven. So long as men are proud and unconcerned about practical religion, they are well contented to follow their own opinions, or the commonly received opinions of their day. anxiety for better instruction. tisfied with general notions of not so, when they are in some measure convinced of their sins. They are then anxious to be led in the only way of salvation. They

They feel no They are sareligion. But

apply with earnestness to the ministers of God, and seek with fervent importunity the path to pardon and holiness.

Such inquiries, then, are like that of the Jews before us, THE EXPRESSION OF ALARM. What will become of us? Whither can we flee? How can we escape the damnation of hell? Tell us what we shall do in our de plorable case. We see that we have ruined ourselves. We see that sin is a very different thing from what we considered it to be. We apprehend the just and awful condemnation of the law of God. Show us then in what manher we can be delivered from the pit into which we are fallen. How mad a part have we acted! How dreadful a punishment have we incurred! How holy a God have we provoked! What shall we do to be saved?

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The degree of alarm which may accompany this conviction, will differ in different cases, and is no infallible measure of the sincerity of the change. This alarm may also seize the sinner more suddenly in some instances than in others. But in every case the inquiry of my text will accompany sincere penitence - an inquiry prompted by an affecting sense of danger and ruin. A mere cold and formal investigation of the truths of religion will not satisfy an awakened soul. The case of a convinced sinner is like that of a man seized by a mortal dis

temper, and alarmed at his imminent danger. It is like that of the traveller overtaken by the night in an inhospitable wilderness, and inquiring with breathless anxiety for a guide to direct his steps. It is like that of a shipwrecked mariner cast on a desert shore, and seeking for some way of deliverance. Cold and formal reasoning merely, is out of place in circumstances, where the soul and eternity are felt to be at stake. No man could behold with calcu→ lating indifference his house perishing in the flames. The manslayer under the law would not fly to the city of refuge with a hesitating foot. Nor will the sinner pricked to the heart with the words of truth, tamely postpone the business of salvation, or coldly descant upon it. Like Lot, he will escape for his life, and not tarry in all the plain; but escape lest he should * be consumed. The best reason, in such an emergency, is earnestness; the best argument, a contrite heart; the best interpreter, conscience; the best guide, the Bible. Discussion makes way for feeling; doubt, for decision; speculation, for solicitude and prayer.

But the question to which our attention is now turned, is not merely the question of alarm, it is also THE LANGUAGE OF TEACHABLENESS. When the Jews said unto Peter and the rest of the Apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? they felt something more than