one.

If I do not believe, it is really because I have not the strength to believe!' Not at all, my dear brother; if you do not believe, it is because you are not poor. Before we believe in the reality of the aid, we must believe in the reality of our want of it; when we do that, the truth of the former becomes self-evident. If you acknowledge the true state of your soul, all your weakness and hesitation will cease.

As the man

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say

who, on opening his eyes, sees that he is in imminent peril, and seizes with unwonted strength the help which is offered him; so you would unhesitatingly seize the aid which this message tenders to you; and the peace which it would immediately impart would show you, more clearly than any thing else can, that this really is God's appointed remedy; and, still oppressed by some doubts, you would cast yourselves at the foot of the cross of the Redeemer who saves you, ing with tears: Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief!” 'But no; that is not the reason either: if I do not receive this news with eagerness, it is because I see nothing worthy of God in it; there is, in the Gospel, no form nor comeliness when we see it.' In my eyes it is despised, and not esteemed." And why do you not see that beauty in the glorious Gospel of our Lord which so many discern in it? Ah! learn your nakedness, and then you will learn "the unsearchable riches of Christ!" So long as you are rich, the Gospel will appear poor to you ; but become poor, and then you will find it rich. Our poverty restores its value to it. Oh, how glorious is the Gospel, when we know that it alone can save! Thus the prodigal son, who in times of plenty despised his father's table, esteemed highly what he once despised, when forced to feed swine, and said, with bitterness, 'How many hired servants of my father have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!"

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'Well,' you perhaps continue, I can understand that this external humility of the Gospel may conceal Divine grandeur; but it is not this that keeps me from approaching it. The distractions and occupations of the world prevent my doing so.' You are right, my dear brother; we will not deny it; the attractions of the world are a source of ruin to many; our Lord teaches us this. But if a feeling of poverty came over you in the midst of the enjoyments of the world, do you suppose that

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they could drive it away? With what scorn would you turn away from those empty phantoms, if your soul hungered after 'the true bread, which cometh down from heaven!" Your poverty would drive you to the Cross of Jesus Christ, to seek for life there. How many "brands" have already been thus "plucked out of the burning!"

Yes, my brethren, the ignorance in which man is living, with reference to his own wretchedness, is the greatest obstacle to the reception of the Gospel; it is the reason why this generation possesses neither peace nor salvation. It is this which impedes the progress of the kingdom of heaven. It is this that prevents the waters from flowing over the parched earth. This is the link by which Satan still holds the sons of Adam in chains, although deliverance has been proclaimed from the cross. Become poor, then, my brethren, that ye may become rich. And is this poverty so concealed to you that you can not discover it? How often have you had a feeling of emptiness in your soul! When have you ever possessed that which an immortal being should have? And is not that sense of emptiness poverty? But if something is wanting in your heart, do you not also discover in it propensities rebellious to the law of Him who made you? And have not these propensities been working upon your heart? Ah! far from being able to enumerate the rebellions into which they have led you, do you not find that your whole life has been one continued revolt against God? And how will you cloak these faults from the eyes of your Judge? Will you resort to any of your own works? Which of them will you adduce that does not, in itself, deserve to be hidden from him? Yet those crimes can not thus remain uncovered. Devoid of holiness, overcome by sin, self-accused at the bar of God, and without any thing to exculpate you-see, O see your misery! Is it not evident to you?

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Prepare ye, prepare ye the way of the Lord! Let every mountain be brought low, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God." A message of pardon comes from heaven, and the earth must prepare to hear it. Forsake to-day, my brethren, all your proud thoughts, and behold your nakedness. You have acknowledged that you are of little value in the sight of God; take now a more difficult step: acknowledge that you

are of none.

So long as you hesitate to do this you can not be truly poor. Cast off every covering, throw down your rich. habiliments, and humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord. Conceal those robes now in this house, and seek only the white robe of Christ's righteousness. It will be given you then; for "the poor have the Gospel preached to them."

And what season, my brethren, can be more appropriate, on which to preach that gospel to you, than this solemn day, when you are about to receive the bread and the wine, those sacred symbols of the body and the blood which were offered up for our sins? Generations pass away, and are called to appear before the bar of God; but as they pass they have the Gospel preached unto them, to save them from the wrath to come. I will then preach that Gospel to you too; on this day, and at this hour, I will proclaim in your midst that message which the voice of the apostle once published at Iconium and at Corinth; I will bring it to this part of the Lord's heritage, one of the smallest, it is true, but not less precious in his eyes on that account, and a large flock of which will, I trust, stand one day before the throne. The Spirit of the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." I come, then, my brethren, in the footsteps of so many ambassadors of Christ, who, in all ages, have preached the Gospel, to deliver unto you, feebly, it is true, yet boldly and joyfully, this testimony which has been committed unto me: God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." "The Word was made flesh." "Christ gave himself for our

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sins.'

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"Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord; and I will heal him." Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, and we pray you, in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God."

Such are the tidings which are published, and which we bring you to-day. That gospel which is preached over the whole earth has come to you now. The tidings of great joy are now published within these walls. Have you never heard

them before, my brethren? Oh! how many there are among you to whom it is suited! How many to whom God has caused it to be proclaimed! Oh! ye who are poor in spirit, who weep often over your sins, to you is the Gospel preached! You are told that the Lord forgets all your iniquities, and that in Christ he communicates his eternal righteousness to you. Oh! ye who are thirsty, who seek peace and happiness, and can not find them either in yourselves or in any other creature, to you the Gospel is preached; the living fountain of happiness is open to you; "God hath given to you eternal life; and this life is in his Son." Oh ! ye who have even become lukewarm, who have been overcome by the allurements of the world, who have obeyed the lusts of the flesh, and have wandered in the dark paths of sin, to you the Gospel is preached. For your souls Christ has died; his blood can wash away your sins too, and to you also he can impart the pardon which he proclaims. Then leave the bondage of this death. Look upon him whom you have pierced;" be reconciled unto him, and receive from him a new heart.

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The Gospel is preached unto you now, my brethren; this is a certain truth, of which you are witnesses. The Lord, who designs to give peace to your souls, offers you reconciliation. I display all his mercies before you. This fact, I repeat, you can see and hear, and you can bear witness to its truth. The Gospel is preached unto you. Ah! I doubt not that the angels of God are rejoicing that such a favour is granted unto you; and what joy would there be in heaven if one soul awoke at the sound of this proclamation, and formed an eternal covenant with God, sealed with the blood of Jesus Christ! The Gospel is preached unto you; give ear to this publication. Henceforth you can not stand before the throne in any other character than as having had his gospel of peace announced to you at his command. Oh! may he never have to say to you, in allusion to this hour, "I would have gathered you together, and ye would not!" The Lord fulfils his work toward you. The Lord causes his pardon to be proclaimed unto you. Receive it then with joy! The Gospel is preached unto you. God grant that, throughout eternity, you may bless the hour when you heard it! May it be the instrument of saving your souls! Amen.

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DISCOURSE IV.

THE SERVICE OF JESUS CHRIST.

A HOMILY.

"Then came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds. And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities.-LUKE, xix, 16, 17.

IT

T is the destiny of man to serve. Having lost his innocence, he has lost his liberty. He serves even when he imagines that he enjoys the most perfect independence. He serves his own passions and prejudices, or the passions and prejudices of others, or else some other master. Within ourselves, or around us, we may be certain to find masters. It frequently happens that what we call freedom is but another species of slavery. A man who is at liberty to do what he pleases, a son, for instance, who has left his father's house, is perhaps at that very time living in a peculiarly painful slavery; for, instead of having one master without, he has several within.

Man must serve. Do you not agree with us, my brethren, in thinking that his welfare must depend on the nature of the master whom he serves ? For you know that "Like master, like servant," is a popular axiom. Man will do right so long as he has a good master; but when his master is wicked, nothing but evil can be expected of him. Of all masters, there is one whom all will readily acknowledge to be the best. That Master is God. What an influence must he exert upon his subjects! And what blessings must he impart! To serve God is to serve sovereign truth and righteousness, and, consequently, to escape all the deluding tyrants who make us miserable. Oh, blessed slavery! which will release us from all other slavery. Oh, glorious slavery! which, in restoring man's innocence, gives him back his liberty also, true, eternal liberty.

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