blessed, in their present security and privileges; and if they run with patience the race appointed them, they shall be blessed in their eternal inheritance.

To you, brethren, who thus cordially welcome your Saviour, who are, thus serving him with sincere, unreserved obedience, though in the midst of daily and lamented failures; to you belong all the blessings and henefits of this heavenly feastforgiveness of sin, peace of conscience, peace with God, adoption into the family of God as his own children, the supports and consolations of his Spirit, faith which "overcometh the world," a sanctified use of all the blessings of life. It is your privilege to be able to "rejoice in hope," to "be patient in tribulation," to find support under afflictions, which will be converted into blessings; and finally, to triumph over your last great enemy, death. And when others shall call on the rocks and mountains to fall on them and hide them from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, you shall hear him say, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."1

1 St. Matt. xxv. 34.

SERMON VII.

2 CORINTHIANS vi. 17, 18.

Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

BY the providence of God, we are once more drawing near that season of the year when we commemorate the most solemn and affecting events in the history of our faith-the death and passion, the resurrection and ascension of our blessed Lord; together with all the wonderful and glorious consequences which follow from these events to all sincere and real Christians. How deeply ought our minds to be impressed with these things. How earnestly should we pray to God that we may give them that weight and importance they deserve; that we may all respectively enter into

ourselves, and seriously and impartially examine our hearts, both with regard to our Christian faith and practice; whether, upon true Scripture grounds, we can have an humble hope that we do indeed belong to Christ, and are his followers and servants, not in name only, but in reality; or whether we are, as yet, far off from him.

To be a real Christian is no easy matter. Of this the Scriptures assure us, and our own lives and consciences can abundantly confirm the truth. Our blessed Lord has himself solemnly told us, that "straight is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few (comparatively few) there be that find it; while broad is the way that Ieadeth to destruction, and many (the many, alas!) there be which go in thereat." To follow the multitude, then, must lead to misery and ruin; and in this view, what exhortation can be more important, what caution more necessary, than that which the Apostle gives us in the text? where we are led to consider the real nature of the Christian's intercourse with the world; or rather, that separation from an evil world, from its unscriptural opinions and maxims, its ungodly and unchristian pursuits, which is one great mark and sign of real conversion, and which every true follower of his

1 Matt. vii. 13-14.

Saviour (when he comes to know and judge things aright), will esteem as much his privilege and happiness, as it is his duty.

It has pleased God to place us in this world as the great scene of trial for eternity. The Scriptures pronounce it to be a world which "lieth in wickedness." We have all of us our different callings and occupations in this world. These (supposing them to be lawful and Christian) it is our duty to follow. But remember, my dear

brethren, there is a Christian and an unchristian way of following them: and here lies the grand distinction between the real and the nominal disciple of Christ. We have various enemies who oppose us in our way to heaven; but they are all summed up under three heads-the world, the flesh, and the devil. And on many accounts, the world may be pronounced the most formidable to us; for it assails us on all sides. In one form or another, we are continually brought into contact with it. It is the great, too often the successful weapon, which the arch destroyer, the devil, who is called the "god of this world," employs to ensnare and mislead us to our ruin. Not only is he deceiving the great multitude around us, in all ranks, and leading them captive at his will, but real Christians-they who, in a measure at least, and with sincerity, have received and embraced the

truth, and have chosen a better master,-what an unhappy influence is the world seen to possess over them, so as often to cause them to forsake their first love, and fearfully to backslide from their Christian character and consistency; and sometimes, like Demas of old, to make shipwreck of faith and a good conscience. The best, the most established Christians should remember, that while they are in the world, they are still in a state of trial; and that there is a constant call, therefore, for watchfulness and prayer. "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." Not only was Judas the slave of base and covetous desires; but Peter, and James, and John, the upright disciples of Christ, were greatly. infected with worldly pride, selfishness, and ambition. What caution, then, can be more necessary, more salutary, more important to us all, than that contained in the text?

The whole chapter is well worthy your most serious attention. In its opening, the Apostle, in his usual earnest and affectionate manner, beseeches the Corinthians to "receive not the grace of God in vain." What this "grace" or favour of God means, may be gathered from the conclusion of the former chapter. It is the offer of

12 Cor. vi.-1.