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ty even unto death. Consider the worth of that knowledge which you have received. You might have had your lot where men bow down to idols as to their Gods. No holy page of truth and of love might have been opened to your sight; or living in a Christian land you might have been among those, over whose souls' welfare, no fond anxiety ever watched. No dying Saviour's grace might have been presented to your thoughts! But "the lot has fallen to you in pleasant places, and you have" in Christ Jesus " a goodly heritage." From childhood you have known the Scriptures. Blessed privilege, high and holy distinction ! Oh may you feel it to be such, and may you adore God for the grace which separates from a vain and ungodly world! But the future-the future! The world is still before and around you-temptation from ten thousand quarters will spread its cruel snares-the glitter of external objects, will suggest the preference of joys that are seen to those which are hidden in the quietness of the heart! The immediate applause of men may be placed above the distant approbation of God! But be resolute-still take the side of God and truth; survey the result of things-there are principles of evil which lead to wretchedness; there are principles of good which lead to honour and peace. Follow then the counsel of God and dare to be happy in his friendship and

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Cast away the husks of the world and feed upon the bread of heaven! Give your early and warm and generous affections to God your Saviour! take the direct course of virtue, ere habits of sin erect ten thousand additional barriers to your peace! Would you escape the more bitter pangs of remorse; would you be sheltered from the harsher struggles with iniquity, and avoid the infliction of wounds never perhaps to be healed on this side the grave, commence your active life in the holy and dauntless fear of God! Recall often the day when under deep convictions you pledged afresh your allegiance to God, and renewed as it were with your own hand the sacred impression of the cross upon your foreheads! Ah! let not unhallowed intercourse with the world erase that sacred symbol of devotedness to Christ! Connect henceforth all sin with the shedding of your Benefactor's blood; and all virtue with gratitude to your first and most generous Friend! If you love nobility of aim, dignity of purpose, the courage of enterprize, the ardour of hope, the elation of victory, seek them all in the service of Christ. His service is great, and beautiful, and good, adorning him who engages in it, with all the ornaments of sincerity and candour; and refreshing the spirit with all the high anticipations of eternity and truth! Dear young friends! make that service your

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own! I bid you good speed in the name of the Lord! You have no strength of your own, but Cleave to him by faith counsel in all the cir

He is the mighty One. and prayer. Take his cumstances of life. Expect little from this world, but expect much from the next. Be grateful for mercies countless as the sands, but expect trial, wounds and sorrows. Often break from the shackles of the present, and forget the world in the anticipation of eternity! A little while and the dream and delusion of sense will pass away! But there remaineth a rest. The Saviour comes. The voice of his approval will thrill to your soul. "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord!"

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SERMON XIV.

THE PILGRIM AND STRANGER.

HEB. XI. 13.

"AND CONFESSED THAT THEY WERE STRANGERS AND PILGRIMS ON THE EARTH."

A STRANGER is a man who is unknown to the persons around him. To them his character, his habits, his aims, his inclinations are matters of speculation, and not of knowledge. He is homeless amidst a thousand homes. He stands isolated amidst the world of sympathies by which he is encompassed; and meets no single heart that is in contact with his own. He encounters many eyes but they beam not with complacency upon him. He is scanned but not recognised. And if his language should be different from theirs; if his accents should be foreign as well as his person unknown, then he is emphatically a stranger. Ten thousand barriers are erected between him and the multitude. who walk on every side in the din and

energy of familiar converse with each other. A Pilgrim is a man who wanders from place to place. He is a stranger who tarries too short a time in any one scene to make it familiar to his sight. He is a stranger, but in perpetual movement. He has a distant object in view, and through every intervening space he seeks no rest. He has no anxiety to throw off the stranger's garb and to be naturalised amidst the men around him. He roams the wilderness, and makes no immediate effort to find a home.

Now these are the terms under which the apostle characterises those servants of God who lived in the elder times. 66 They confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims upon the earth." The description in itself is sufficiently cheerless. But there may be other ideas connected with their case of a very different kind. A stranger is not necessarily without sympathy, though unknown to those immediately around him. It may be that he can retreat from the indifferent throng and give vent in solitude, to large and generous and kindred emotions. His memory may be active, and his imagination fertile in its resources. His eye

may rest upon a spot where many an inmate would fondly give him welcome; where many a look would respond to his; where many a

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