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truth. Under the influence of this truth, with tears of gratitude we may well inquire, Why to me, Lord? And this love is seen in its effects in bringing down every lust, plucking out the right eye, and offering them as grateful sacrifices to God. Such was the mighty principle which must have influenced the Apostle, when he travelled from place to place preaching the gospel.

Again: To consider mercy, as it is dispensed; having spoken of it as an essential perfection in itself. None of the attributes of God militate against each other-they invariably harmonize. Some, it is true, may shine where others do not : power is displayed in the works of creation, but not holiness; power and holiness are displayed in the angelic hosts, and not mercy; his mercy is to be found here below, in its most glorious display. God dispenses mercy as a sovereign-" I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy." 1 If mercy is not sovereign, then it is due from God to man. How absurd is such an assertion! What would you say of me if I were to quarrel with the king of England, because he would not make me a peer? The least good is not a debt due to any creature; but God has a sovereign right to confer good on

1 Romans ix. 15.

whom he pleases. We see this sovereignty displayed in the salvation of one of the thieves who were crucified with our Lord; while the other was left to suffer the penalty which was justly due. Good, and good only, flows from the sovereignty of God, but evil is to be traced to another source. Man is not ordained to hell, as the criminal is to the gallows; but hell is the just punishment of the sinner. I mentioned, last Sunday evening, a truth which I shall now repeat, namely, that God's purpose is connected with the end he has in view, by moral means; and in these means there is a great deal of the sovereignty of God addressing itself to each individual. Consider these means, not only as duties, but as proffered blessings. Such is the command to the apostle to go and preach the gospel.

Again repentance is commanded, and some one may say, 'I cannot repent;' the Saviour is exalted to give repentance; for his sake, I say, approach God—not to attempt to peruse his secret purpose, but, in wisdom, lay hold of the means connecting the end with his secret purpose. The rejection of these means has no existence in any of the decrees of the Almighty. These, my brethren, are first principles and remember, that when any one spurns these means, it is exclusively his own

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act and deed; it has its exclusive source in his own sin, and not in the decree of Deity: on the other hand, he who is conscious that he repents and believes, traces the change in character to the sovereign blessing of God. If we look forward to judgment, to those to whom God says "depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting flames; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth:" they will be then obliged to confess; our sin, and not any purpose of God, brought us here.' To answer the ends of justice, sin must be fixed in the sinner's conscience.

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Make this principle of fear the daily rule of your life. God is not only a sovereign in dispensing gifts, but he is infinitely wise in dispensing them. His mercy comprises every thing necessary to make us happy here and for ever. He dispenses every thing in its proper time. He first convinces the sinner, and then comforts him. We often mistake the way in which a sinner is to be dealt with; but God never does. Mothers are often injudicious in caressing where they should chastise; but with God, when chastisement is needed, the rod descends when tenderness is wanted, then "the love of God is shed abroad in the heart." He is on our right hand and on our left; he prevents and follows his child: need I tell you

that God is holy, as well as wise, in all his dispensations?

Are we the subjects of this mercy? and does it produce its effects? Does a sense of guilt invade the conscience? "The blood of Christ

cleanseth from all sin." There is infinitely more glory in the sacrifice on Calvary, than there is demerit in hell itself.

Sunday Morning, March 13, 1831.

SERMON XLVII.

CHRIST ESSENTIAL LIFE-HIS CHURCH LIVING IN HIM.

Because I live, ye shall live also.-JOHN XIV. 19.

" and I

In the sixteenth verse, our Lord says, will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever." Seventeenth-“ even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you." Eighteenth-"I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you." They were happier in his personal absence, having the Comforter with them, than they were in his personal presence. Christ, in his Spirit, is what we stand in need of; this will raise us above all the snares of prosperity and adversity. Nineteenth-"Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me." Seen by faith here below; seen in glory by them for

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