sinner's retrospect.
Prov. V. 12, 13. How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof; and have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me !
A TIME of reflection must come to all: if men shake off all thought till the hour of death, they will not be able to do so when once the soul is separated from the body : their ways will then be brought to remembrance ; and all the powers of their minds be fixed upon the contemplation of them. Happily, with many this season arrives before it is too late : and, not unfrequently, the very enormities which have been committed are the means of exciting in the soul a salutary remorse. Sometimes the present conse- quences of sin press heavily upon the mind, and awaken the energies of a sleepy conscience. Thus Solomon supposes many to be affected after they have brought trouble on themselves by their licen- tious courses : and he urges this very consideration as an argument for guarding against all temptations to sin, that, however pleasurable a life of sin may be, the retrospect will be painful in the extreme ; and the now thoughtless debauchee " will mourn at the last," in the review of the mercies he has abused, and will say, " How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof!"
We shall not confine our attention to the particular subject treated of in the context, though in every con- gregation, it is to be feared, there are but too many to whom it would be applicable; but shall rather