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 world even  would  not  justify  your  risking  the  danger of continuance  in  deadly  sin,  what  shall  we  say  of  a  vile momentary pleasure,  a  handful  of  filthy  lucre  or  an inhuman  revenge? To risk  your  soul  for  such  worse than trifles  is  like  fishing  for  frogs  with  a  golden  hook, or braving  a  tempestuous  voyage  for  a  cargo  of manure. Tell me  not  that  though  you  sin  to-day  you will repent  to-morrow;  for  you  there  may  be  no  tomorrow. Take example  from  the  Ninivites  who, when they  heard  from  Jonas  that  after  forty  days destruction was  to  come  upon  them  for  their  sins, donned immediately  sackcloth  and  ashes  and  so averted  the  wrath  of  God. You, no  doubt,  would have deferred  repentance  until  the  evening  of  the fortieth day. Repent you  now,  now,  more  promptly even than  the  Ninivites. No forty  days  of  grace  are promised you. You know  not  the  day  nor  the  hour of the  Lord's  coming;  of  your  death  you  know  not the day  nor  the  hour.

Brethren, as  a  motive  urging  to  repentance  not  less potent than  the  nearness  of  death,  is  the  host  of miseries  resulting  from  a  life  of  sin. I speak  not  here of bodily  infirmities,  though  they,  too,  count  for  much, but far  more  painful  are  the  tortures  of  a  guilty  conscience. Between the  birth  of  life  and  the  birth  of death  there  is  a  striking  contrast. A woman  in  labor when delivered  forgets  her  anguish,  rejoicing  that  a man  is  born  into  the  world,  but  the  soul  begetting  sin, though it  feel  a  momentary  pleasure,  is  presently convulsed in  an  agony  of  remorse. " Sin,"  says Scripture, "  sin  when  completed  begetteth  death,"