righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?" Choose ye then now whom you will serve. Choose your friends and companions, and make a distinction; discern between the godly and ungodly; not with unkind and uncharitable, not with proud and censorious thoughts and speeches, but with a firm and decisive judgment, that the fear of God is the true wisdom; that those who neither fear nor serve him can be no safe or fit companions for his servants; and that if you choose your portion with them here, the same must be allotted to you hereafter. The Lord's book of remembrance has no names written in it for good, but of such as fear and honour Him. The prophet Ezekiel has a remarkable passage much to our purpose:-"The Lord said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite; let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity: slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women; but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary."* What is this mark, but that * Ezek. ix. 4, 5, 6.

mentioned by the Apostle" The word of the Lord standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth who are His. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from all iniquity."

We must mention, in conclusion, though without dwelling upon it, the manner in which the Saviour of the world is introduced by the prophet and the Baptist. By the former, as the Sun of righteousness, the heavenly luminary, which brings light and salvation: -" Unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings," one of the most beautiful images any where to be found. The sun at his rising awakens all creation to a new existence, shedding life and joy over the face of nature. The divine Sun at his coming brought health and salvation, and newness of life, to a world that was dead in sin. And when he rises upon the heart of any one, for it is there (according to the language of St. Peter) that "the day-star must rise, and the day dawn," he brings healing by his grace, which he sheds forth abundantly; he gives new life to the dead, awakens the sleeping soul, cheers the fainting, and rouses to fresh exertion the sluggish spirit. The prophet then should seem to describe the coming of the Saviour as the occasion of spiritual grace more

abundantly shed forth. The Baptist points to the atonement to be made by Christ:-" Behold," said he to his disciples, directing their eyes to Jesus as he walked, "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world," in manifest allusion to the lamb which was slain in sacrifice under the law. And thus, in the Apocalypse, he is described as "a Lamb which had been slain." In joining these two figures, then, alike beautiful, and descriptive of the grace brought by the Son of God, you are taught to look to the sacrifice which he hath made for your sins, as the price paid to procure your pardon and reconciliation with God; and to receive his Spirit into your hearts, to quicken you to newness of life. Whatever idea of innocence and gentleness can be suggested to you by a tender lamb without blemish, you will see here a fit emblem of the spotless purity and meekness of the blessed Jesus. Whatever thought you may conceive of renewed life and health, and vigour and joy, from the rising sun, you will trace a faint though animating representation of the life-giving, spirit-stirring graces of the Holy Ghost, shed forth abundantly by Jesus Christ. Oh! receive those graces into your souls; open your hearts to the full benefit and full enjoyment of the precious gift, that thus you may be made ready, a people prepared for the Lord at his coming.

SERMON XIII.

JUDGMENT EXERCISED BY CHRIST IN HIS CHURCH.

JOHN, ix. 39. For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see, and that they which see might be made blind.

ONE of many passages which send us to serious communing with our own hearts, and inquiry how far we rightly understand the character of our Lord and his Gospel, the purpose for which he came down from heaven, and the will of the Father concerning us. We picture to ourselves

the Lord Jesus Christ as full of love and tenderness, all grace and benignity, and his office as that of a Saviour. And it is well to do so. It is right and good for us so to do. For we are sure that God would be known by the attribute of love distinguished by this among all his perfections. And we know that Jesus Christ hath manifested toward us, while at enmity with him, far greater love than man can show even to a friend; that his office was to "bind up the broken-hearted, and comfort all that mourn; and the gentleness of his character such that he

would not "quench the smoking flax, or break the bruised reed;" and he declares of himself, "I came not to judge the world, but to save the world." And yet he says in the text, "For judgment I am come into the world." And it is remarkable how many passages of a similar import, and even stronger in expression, are to be found in this gospel of the beloved disciple, which is distinguished above the rest for high and explicit declarations of Gospel doctrine. Such expressions, I mean, as these: "He that believeth not is condemned already." "This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." The words which follow show the true meaning and reason of what is here taught:- "For every one that doth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved; but he that doth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God." The word of God is described by St. James as a glass, wherein every one may discover “what manner of man he is." And St. Paul says, "It is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." No one will read this word, and compare his heart and inclinations and actions with it, but he will grow better or worse. It is "a