'future hope, O leave me not, neither forsake me, 'but save me with thy great salvation; save me to 'the uttermost: from every stain and spot of sin; 'from the galling yoke and heavy burden of sin; 'from the love and power of sin; from every che'rished and easily besetting sin; from the snares 'of an entangling world; from the treachery of 'my own heart; from the crafts and assaults 'of the devil, from thy wrath and from ever'lasting damnation, O save me, for-"I am 'thine. Wilt thou suffer the roaring lion to seize 'the very sickliest lamb of all thy flock? shall it ever be said that the spoiler hath plundered a single jewel from thy mediatorial crown? that be far from thee; perish the bare supposition, the 'faithless misgiving, at once and for ever! No-“I ' am thine, save me.

Bear with me, brethren, while I attempt a simple illustration of the irresistible cogency of such a plea. Conceive a scene such as this: it is midnight, and darkness is upon the face of the deep the ocean is still chafing as if with sullen impatience against the winds which have lashed it into a tempest: the fragments of a once goodly bark are drifting here and there, the very sport of the billows; and to some of them you may just discover, by the fitful blaze of the lightning, a few surviving mariners yet clinging for their lives. The peril is as imminent as imagination can picture; they mount up to the heavens, they go down again to the

depths; their soul is melted because of trouble, they reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits' end. Then-when hope itself is shipwrecked, and death appears inevitable, conceive that the ship's sole unfoundered boat is discovered nearing the raft. It approaches, it labours onwards to reach them—and now it comes! it comes! But alas! its arrival serves only to embitter their despair, for see it is full. In answer to the shrieking cry from every perishing struggler,- Save me, Save me,' the stern decided voice of the pilot protests that not more than a single soul can be received into the already over-laden vessel. On the instant the cries are renewed and redoubled; the most urgent appeals, the must munificent promises, the most tempting bribes are offered by the noble and the mighty, by the wealthy and the proud, but all in vain. They are alike disregarded, for hark! amidst that general terror and confusion, a single voice faint, feeble, faltering has pierced the master's ears. It is the cry of his own sinking child; the loved one who he thought had perished. Oh, how it thrills through his heart as it murmurs for the last time, "I am thine, save me!" Though princes were struggling there, and offered their crowns or their kingdoms, though all that earth called great and grand were appealing for his help, what think you, brethren? Would not that feeble cry engross his whole attention-would not that childish plea prevail above them all?

I grant this is a mere picture of the imagination; but, if I mistake not, it may serve to bring home the conviction- How much more shall my heavenly Father hearken to the call of his afflicted yet beloved children." "Shall not God avenge his own elect?" See, then, ye that love the Lord, how great are your privileges as compared with the prospects of the ungodly! Hear how his church is emboldened to plead-" Our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary. We are thine. Thou never barest rule over them; they were not called by thy name."

Again and again, dear brethren, I put the question, Can you thus appeal to God? Are you

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his? Have you yielded yourselves up unto him, body, soul, and spirit? Have you presented yourselves a living sacrifice to his glory? If not, do you desire to do so? Then come at once. Yes, if you are sincere in that desire, come now. "with a true penitent heart and lively faith” to the Saviour. Come, as he has invited and commanded, to his table. "O taste and see that the Lord is gracious!" Doubt not, reason not, parley not. Wait not for a riper meetness. The best qualification for all who partake of those holy mysteries is expressed in the desire-"we would see Jesus." His people hope and expect to see him with the eye of faith. Yes, he will sit down with them, and sup with them, and they with him. This, at least, is not imaginary. These are the words of truth and soberness; and there are, I am per

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suaded, some now sitting by your side to whom I may safely address those exquisite words of the Apostle: "Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.” I would to God, beloved, that ye might all be partakers of this joy, and therefore as the revealed, the infallible, the only prescription for security and happiness, for present, complete, and eternal salvation, I exhort and warn, I entreat and conjure you, rest not day nor night, yea, give the Lord himself no rest, till he has enabled you to appeal to him with filial confidence, and say, "I am thine, save me."

SERMON IV.

2 SAMUEL XII. 13.

AND DAVID SAID UNTO NATHAN, I HAVE SINNED AGAINST THE LORD. AND NATHAN SAID UNTO DAVID, THE LORD ALSO HATH PUT AWAY THY SIN."

ELEMENTARY truths and doctrines are always the most vital-fundamental duties the most essential -first principles the most important. It is perfectly lawful indeed that the disciple should press on to perfection, and seek, under the teaching of the Holy Spirit, to understand all mysteries and all knowledge; but he must at the same time examine on what basis he is building, lest haply he should find himself under the necessity of "laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God." A review of our Lord's method of instructing his disciples is strikingly calculated to enforce these conclusions. What was the evident aim and tendency, as well of his more intimate intercourse with them in private, as of his public ministrations? Did he labour