from strength to strength. "In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.” 1

Again: His promise is, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee; again" Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them ; " again—" For the Lord's portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye."2 "Thou leddest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron." 3 They were his servants, Christ was the great leader; he was in the pillar of the cloud by day, to screen them from the scorching heat of the sun; he was in the pillar of fire by night, to destroy the noxious vapours of the desert; to bless them by night as well as by day, leading them safely through Jordan to the promised land of Canaan: so he is now in the midst of his family, leading them through the wilderness of this life, till he shall conduct them safely across the river of death, when he will usher them triumphantly into the heavenly Canaan.

1 Isaiah lxiii. 9.

2 Deut. xxxii. 9, 10.

3 Psalm lxxvii. 20.

Application. And must then sin be punished? Yes: thoughtless sinner! you must triumph over Deity, before you can sin with impunity you are the subjects of God's government, you are under a dispensation of mercy; you are invited; God does not drive you away; I reject the error of those who say the elect only are to be addressed: if I had the whole universe before me at the present moment, I would say to them," Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth."1 "As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, oh house of Israel?" 2

May these words reach every heart, Satan be dethroned, the usurper driven from the bosom, and God received in his own legitimate throne -the human heart-and reign there for ever in his own kingdom.

Again: You who are professedly followers of the Lamb: Is it in spirit and in truth? In what things are you delighting, are you delighting in his word and work? Do not tempt Christ, live a life of faith, fighting against self and all your spiritual enemies. Are Are you triumphing in the Lord?

1 Isaiah xlv. 22.

2 Ezekiel xxxiii. 11.

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and the power of his might. Remember the millions he hath led to glory, even in the midst of enemies, as numerous as those which surround you. He who was present with them, will be present with you; remember, all the minutiæ of his providences are under his command. Look back upon the events of your past life, and you will discover that what was once a subject of bitter sorrow, is now the source of grateful praise. Commit your case and circumstances into his hands for time and for eternity, and he will conduct you safe through every difficulty, and eventually bring you triumphantly into the presence of his heavenly Father.

Sunday Evening, June 20, 1830.

SERMON XLIV.

THE OFFENCE OF CONSCIENCE-HOW REMOVED.

And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men.-ACTS XXIV. 16.

A CONSCIENCE at peace with God, gives us invincible courage before men. In a professor of the Christian religion, we not only want piety, but wisdom. Men talk much of acting conscientiously,-of acting according to the dictates of conscience, but we do not hear them talking of their violations of conscience. Conscience must exist in every moral agent; and that conscience must have a rule, and no one has a right to give that rule, but God. This rule must govern every relationship,-magistrate and subject, parent and child, master and servant, and husband and wife; and in the discharge of the duties consequent upon these relations, the believer travels from his own bosom, to the bosom of God.

I. THERE IS AN OFFENCE IN EVERY THING BELONGING TO THE NATURAL MAN, WHETHER WE KNOW IT OR NOT; BUT DIVINE TRUTH WILL, SOONER OR LATER, MAKE IT AN OFFENCE

ΤΟ OURSELVES. Angels, and the glorified spirits above, have a perfect rule, and they live in perfect correspondence with that rule, and hence their bliss: but man, instead of taking the truth of God as his rule, sets up a standard of his own; be that standard what it may, man never lives up to the standard he has made for himself. On no principle, therefore, can man be saved, but in God's appointed way. The Christian religion, is a religion provided for a being who is not faithful to his own rule :make a wise and holy use of this truth.

Those who have the Bible within their reach, will be judged by the rule contained therein. Contrast the rule of scripture, with the rule of the individual which he sets up for himself. His conscience is defective, first, in not knowing the evil of sin, which consists in its being committed against God. David felt this when he said in the fifty-first Psalm, "Against thee, thee only, have I sinned." Who is he then that acknowledges that he is an enemy to God? for the natural man does not acknowledge this: he whose conscience acknowledges a perfect rule: the conscience of him who rejects the record of God, is blind and stupid.