hibiting in its every feature the most distinct and consistent proofs of devotedness to God and reliance upon Christ; in which no eye could fail to perceive, through the modesty and humility that adorned the whole man, those fruits of the Spirit which demonstrated beyond all controversy that renewal had taken place, and that sanctification had been in progress; and in which the peacefulness of the last hour, viewed as the conclusion of such a holy and heavenly course, left us no room for doubting that we saw a true believera saint of God, taking his departure to the regions of bliss, and that we should have been perfectly safe in wishing, had such a wish been lawful, that "our soul had been in his soul's stead!" And I mention these things to guard you against laying it down as an invariable maxim, that the declaration of his experience is absolutely essential to the real Christian, and making this the test of a filial relationship to God, and of a personal meetness for heaven. Proceeding strictly upon such a principle, you might draw inferences destructive of your own comfort, and form judgments equally groundless and unfavourable as to the state of others. And therefore, it is necessary that you look to those other criterions which the Scripture affords for determining the reality of your spiritual life, and which, while they are altogether indispensable, are at the same time most satisfactory in ascertaining that important fact, and in warranting the consolation which it naturally imparts.

With all these exceptions and cautions, however, it well becomes you to follow the practice of the Psalmist. The degree in which you do so, must depend on circumstances which I cannot detail or specify, and of which you yourselves must judge when they occur. But still let it be a part of your spiritual exercises. And whenever an opportunity presents itself, which you can regard as fit and seasonable, embrace it, that you may declare to them who fear God what he has accomplished in your behalf. You will find comfort and advantage from it. It will afford an evidence of the state of your heart, as the seat and the subject of divine influence. It will help you to glorify the God of all your blessings. It will assist and animate you in the course which you are pursuing as followers of the Lamb. It will prepare you for bearing witness at your dying hour, in behalf of Him who has made "goodness and mercy to follow you all your days," and who will not forsake you in your last agony. And it will be the beginning of that hymn of holy rapture, which you shall join the saints of heaven in singing to his glory and praise throughout the ages of eternity.

And let me beseech such of you as never tell to others what God has done for your souls, because you have no such experience to tell, to think seriously upon your situation. If you had no earthly friend of whose kindness you could

speak, would not you be desolate and forlorn indeed? If there was not a fellow creature who had ever assisted you in your seasons of adversity, or showed you any token of his good will, or even cast upon you an eye of pity or of kindness, what a comfortless and dreary scene would be that world which, though full of living men, had thus treated you with a death-like coldness and neglect! And how would your spirits sink within you under such total abandonment, even though all that the mightiest and richest of human beings could have done for you, would not have soared above the perishing comforts of the earth, nor stretched beyond the narrow horizon of mortality! O then how utterly deserted must you be, and what loneliness and despair ought you to feel, if you have no mention to make of the mercy of that God, whose mercy is essential to the welfare of all his creatures, and sufficient for them all; or if you can only refer to that mercy of his which has lengthened out to you a day of grace, in whose light, however, you have not walked, and whose advantages you have not improved! If you cannot talk of his saving mercy here, how can you ever hope to enjoy it, or to celebrate it hereafter? If you have nothing to tell of your experience of his bounty, as manifested to you through Christ Jesus, in this scene of trial, and preparation, and hope, how can you expect to meet him with confidence at last when he comes with the

awards of a righteous retribution, or to have an abundant entrance administered to you into the kingdom of his glory? It must needs be in this case that you perish. Not being vessels of mercy, fitted for the master's service in the heavenly temple, you must be vessels of wrath, fitted for the destruction and perdition which await ungodly men.

Do not then, I entreat you, live any longer in your present state of destitution and estrangement from God. Cast yourselves upon his compassion. Be reconciled to him by the death of his Son. Apply to him in that "new and living way," as the sole and inexhaustible fountain of all good. Leave not his throne of grace till you have obtained that " blessing of his which maketh rich, while he addeth no sorrow with it." Wait upon him continually in faith and supplication, that you may receive out of his fulness as "the fulness of the Godhead," all that can contribute to your spiritual life, and all that can prepare you for the life that is eternal. So that cleaving to him, he may be gracious to you, and so crown you with his benefits, that you also may be among the number of those who can say from the heart, and who will say with the Psalmist, "Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what He hath done for my soul."

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SERMON V.

JOY FOR TEMPORAL MERCIES.

ACTS VIII. 8.

And there was great joy in that city.

THERE was great joy in the city of Samaria, and the cause of it was two-fold. Philip miraculously cured the diseases of the people, and thus restored health to individuals, and comfort and independence to the families with which they were connected. And he preached Christ, by whose power and in whose name he performed those miracles of healing; he preached him as the promised Messiah, Messiah, the expected Redeemer. These things, the miraculous healing, and the preaching of Christ,-were not fruitless. Being accompanied with the divine blessing, they filled the minds of the people with joy,—each of them producing the joy appropriate to itself. There was joy on account of temporal mercies, and there was joy on account of spiritual mercies. This is what we learn from the narrative where our text lies: and the fact as thus stated