his senses and almost bewildered his imagination. "He wist not what to say." The first impression on his mind was, in all probability, that the long looked-for reign of the Messiah was now about to commence, that the Lion of Judah had come to his destined sceptre, and that the hour of deliverance was at hand. But the fallacy of these expectations, does not at all weaken the powerful effect of the extraordinary vision by which they had been excited. No greater proof indeed can be afforded of the splendour of this celestial revelation, than the emphatic words of St. Peter, "Lord, it is good for us to be here!" The very thoughts of earth seem to have vanished from the apostle's mind; he appears to have forgotten that he was still subject to mortal infirmities and sorrows, that the land of his present sojourning was still a waste howling wilderness.

See then the mighty influence, which even a glimpse of heavenly happiness can exercise upon the soul. Consider the conduct of this apostle. His blessed Lord had, but a very short period before, been predicting events of a painful and appalling nature. He had announced his own approaching death, he had more than intimated a succession of calamities to those he should leave behind. Yet, notwithstanding these disheartening forebodings; notwithstanding the conviction, that this earth was to prove but a scene of per

secution and anguish; St. Peter wished to linger on its surface, to build there his tabernacle of rest, when it seemed touched by the cloud of God's pavilion, and hallowed by the presence of the spirits of the just. Do not your hearts throb with the same emotions which filled his soul with rapture? Do ye never, in the day of tribulation and distress, raise your thoughts to those mansions of eternal rest, where the tears shall be wiped from all faces, and where alone true joys are to be found? Even to those who are prosperous in their goings, who have wealth and luxury at command, there are hours of sorrow and anguish, which the world knows not of, when riches no longer charm and pleasures cease to please. When these clouds of wretchedness darken upon the soul, where shall the weary spirit turn for relief and rest; where but to God's sure and never failing mercies? Where can it hope to shake off the burden of its woes, but in that bright and blessed land, where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest? But there are many amongst us, who are strangers to the advantages which fortune brings, whose share in this world's goods is small, and who are subject to all the evils and privations which attend the steps of poverty. Some such there may be before me now, and to them I would offer the example of St. Peter, as affording a higher and

ye dismayed.

holier consolation, than any they can find on earth. Are ye pressed by want and penury; are ye friendless and forsaken in the world; does the scorn of the proud fall upon you, or the eye of neglect look coldly when you pass? Let not your hearts be frightened, neither be Your onward path may now seem shrouded in darkness; but it will lead you, if you trust in God's mercies and the merits of your Redeemer's death, to a bright and glorious kingdom, to a mansion not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Bend but your thoughts to these abodes of rest and peace; make the attainment of them the object of your solicitude, the solace of your weary pilgrimage; and the blessed and unfading hope will illumine the cell of misery, will fill the hungry soul with gladness, will bind the broken heart. It is not here, my brethren, we must look for happiness; it is not upon earth we must raise the foundation of our dwelling, if we desire peace within its walls, and plenteousness within its gates. It is not in this passing scene of chance and change, that we can wish to make our last abode; for there is not a living man, who is perfectly satisfied with his condition, who desires no better lot, no fairer inheritance. It is in that land which lies beyond the grave, that happiness will be without alloy, and pleasure without end. It is there alone, that sorrow comes not, and misery

never dwells; that the strife and turmoils which desolate this world below, are unheeded and unknown. It is there alone, with God's protection and aid, we may build in safety the tabernacle of our home, and exclaim with grateful and humble piety, "Lord it is good for us to be here."

SERMON III.

2 TIM. iii, 15.

And that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

To those who take delight, as every Christian must do, in studying the characters of the persons who are introduced in the sacred writings, the gleanings which they will be able to collect, of the disposition and qualities of Timothy, will be a source of much pious satisfaction and instructive reflection. He was a native of Lystra, a town in Lycaonia; his father was, or had been a Gentile, but his mother, Eunice, was a Jewess. He was ordained, with imposition of hands, by St. Paul, during his third voyage to Lystra. St. Luke, in the Acts, informs us that this was done in consequence of the favourable testimony borne to his character by the Christians of Lystra and