condemned, but be acquitted and accepted now, and become the heirs of eternal glory hereafter? And is it possible, think you, really and truly and undoubtingly to believe all this, and yet trifle with sin, and run on in the paths of unrighteousness? It cannot be;—the nature of things forbids, prevents it! As soon would you think of plunging your body in a lake of burning sulphur, as soon would you, though famished with hunger, refuse the offer of bread.

Now Jesus is the bread of life, on whom, if we believe, though dead, we shall yet live. He is the great and glorious deliverer, the only refuge from the wrath to come! If, by faith, we first realise the truth of the divine threatenings, we shall then, under the influence of the same faith, be persuaded of the truth of the divine promises also, and embrace them to our comfort and joy. But here, too, Israel failed;—and let us take heed, lest we fall after the same example of unbelief. If they had not been given up to utter hardness of heart, they never, surely, would have rejected the corner foundation-stone-the rock Christto build their hopes on the shifting quicksands of their own obedience. "Because of unbelief these branches were broken off; and thou standest by faith! Be not high-minded, but fear. For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee!"

4. Jesus beheld the city and wept over it, in the prospect of its final and fearful destruction. Let any one read the account of that calamity as recorded in the pages of Josephus, the historian of the Jews, and he will confess that it is more than enough to draw tears from the eyes of any one, far less susceptible

and sympathising than was the blessed Jesus. Now, to his eye futurity was open, and destruction had no covering. He beheld the Roman army surrounding that city which was once the abode of righteousness and peace, but destined now to become a scene of devastation and slaughter; within, the sword devouring-without, the strong intrenchment of the besiegers preventing the escape of fugitives. Numbers can scarcely repeat the multitude of her slain, nor can the mind grasp the magnitude of her sorrow. Well had it been for her to have been entombed in the caverns of the earth, or sunk in the waters of an ocean flood,—or burned up like a second Sodom; for every kind of cruelty that ferocity could invent was let loose on her wretched inhabitants. The very recital harrows up our feelings even now; and we need not wonder therefore that the near prospect of it so overwhelmed with grief the tender heart of the compassionate Redeemer.

But I go on to mention in the fifth and last place— That Jesus beheld the city, and wept over the final, everlasting destiny of its impenitent, unbelieving inhabitants. Brethren, the endless ruin of one immortal spirit is an event most deeply affecting, whether it be of Jew or of Gentile. And how then must he, who knew the value of human souls, (for he had come to die to redeem them,) how must he have been affected in contemplating the ruin of so many of his chosen Israel! They had been favoured with high and peculiar privileges; they had enjoyed exclusively the personal ministry of the Son of God; among them he had taught his truth, preached his gospel, performed his miracles, displayed his example. Now, it is a standing rule—an eternal principle in the divine

government—that they who by their advantages and opportunities are exalted to heaven, shall (if their opportunities they neglect and their advantages they despise) be thrust down to hell, and sink in more unfathomable depths of misery. The queen of the south, the men of Nineveh, Tyre and Sidon,-yea, Sodom And Gomorrah, shall rise up against Jerusalem in the day of judgment. Hypocrites and unbelievers are consigned to outer darkness, to hell's densest gloom. And there is darkness at this time conspicuous round about the entire mass of the Jewish people. The inhabitants of Greece and Rome were indeed greatly depraved and highly cruel, and upon them might be found much innocent blood; but it was not the blood of prophets nor of saints,—it was not His blood, respecting which the cry was raised, "His blood be upon us and upon our children!"-a cry which is still fresh in the ear of heaven. For upon the forehead of every Jew there still rests the brand of that avenging Ever since they were scattered from their beloved, devoted Jerusalem, they have been as remarkable for hardened infidelity, as for their entire separation from the surrounding nations. As yet the "wandering Jew" is scarcely a fiction, he is but a personification of his race-living and living on, to show to successive generations that verily there is a God who judgeth in the earth.

curse.

Now, over such a scene of continued impenitence from age to age, well might heaven suspend its songs and creation groan as in pain,-while the Son of God himself is dissolved in tears.

Beloved brethren, learn from the whole of this subject that the condemnation of sinners, in the end, is

wholly of themselves. Were it otherwise, Jesus would never have thus wept over them, saying, "How often would I have gathered you, but ye would not!" And if, when you think of the Jews, you wonder and lament,—think of yourselves and of your children. Placed in circumstances equally favourable, beware lest ye make shipwreck of faith and good conscience, and draw back unto perdition through unbelief. Tremble for yourselves,-weep over your own sins,— improve diligently and prayerfully your own privileges. This is your gospel day. Know now the things that belong to thy peace, for soon, soon, will they for ever be hid from thine eyes.

Amen.

SERMON XIV.

"For ye have need of patience."-HEBREWS, X. 36.

THERE is no grace of the Spirit which, in passing through this vale of tears, we are more frequently called upon to exercise than the grace of patience; there is none in the practice of which we are more liable to fail; and consequently there is none which we ought to be more earnestly solicitous to acquire. The word patience, in this passage, has reference to a state of suffering. The many exhortations of Scripture similar to that in the text, imply that the present condition of man is not generally, and is never completely, happy; and the experience of all ages, succeeding that in which human happiness was forfeited with the loss of human rectitude, accords with the representation of the Word of God that the life of man is a cup of mixture— that its aspect is continually changing-that its enjoyments are very imperfect and transient-that its pains quickly supplant its pleasures, as the shadowy clouds sweep across the summer sky.

The portion of existence thus imbittered by many a sorrow, is, besides, very scanty and awfully uncertain. We have life doled out to us in single moments, and of what is to happen at the next beat of the clock, we are as ignorant as the babe unborn. Health is preca