glorious consummation, the Saviour doubtless referred, when he spoke of the wide extent and prevalence of the gospel. The means by which this gracious purpose is to be accomplished, are hidden from our view. But though we may not hope to penetrate the mysteries of God's future dispensations, yet are we bound to give our most serious attention to those under which we dwell. The kingdom of God is come upon us; the glad tidings of salvation are proclaimed in every corner of our land. Have we listened in sincerity and gladness to their sounds of comfort? Have we fled for shelter to the tree, which has spread its branches over us, and endeavoured to preserve its beauty and increase its growth? Or have we spurned its shade, and fled from its protection? Have we madly braved the tempest and the whirlwind, rather than repose in safety beneath its canopy? My brethren, it will avail us little that we live in a Christian land, if the Christian graces do not flourish in our hearts. The name of a believer will not suffice, if the spirit and fervour be away. Happier, far happier, is the savage in his destiny; happier in time, happier in eternity, than he who lives in the light of God's truth, and yet rejects and despises it; upon whose soul the tidings of salvation have been poured, but poured in vain. As the kingdom of God will spread from land to land, until it has embraced the limits of the world,

so will its influence, if it be truly felt, fill our whole hearts with piety and purity. There can be no devotion by halves-no serving of God and mammon. If you seek God's grace in sincerity and truth, and that grace be given you, as it will be if you ask in faith, you must resign every thought and every affection to his guidance, and his controul. Then will his blessed presence so fertilise the soil, so root out the thorns, and thistles, and weeds, which have hitherto polluted and impoverished it, that it will receive the good seed with joy into its bosom, and bring forth fruit an hundred fold.

SERMON VII.

MATTHEW Xviii, 1, 2, 3.

At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, verily I say unto you, except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Or the internal evidences of the divinity of our great Redeemer, numerous and powerful as they are, there is not one more striking to an unprejudiced and reflecting mind, than the perfect sinlessness of his character. Consider all those holy men, as they are called in the ordinary acceptation of the term, who are introduced in scripture for our benefit and imitation; and you will not find one, without some earthly imperfection about him, some folly or some frailty, which proclaim him an inheritor of the corruption of our first parents. Amongst the disciples especially, who

enjoyed the advantages of the precepts and example of their great master, we meet with instances of perverseness and infirmity of temper, of pride, of falsehood, and ingratitude. Their chief failing, and it was one which seems to have pervaded every individual of their number, was a craving for the wealth and dignities of the world. They inherited, in common with the rest of their countrymen, the persuasion, that the Messiah would at length assume the sceptre of an earthly kingdom, and reduce the rebellious nations to submission and obedience. The consequences of this belief displayed themselves prominently on several occasions; not only in their expressed anxiety, to be made acquainted with the honours, which were to be their reward in this empire of universal sway; but in many actions of their lives, which evidently proceeded from such a supposition in their hearts.

We cannot indeed but remark on the difference of their behaviour, after they became convinced, both by his own resurrection from the dead, and the inspiration of the holy spirit in their own souls, of the true nature of that throne, which the Redeemer came down to raise. His seizure by the messengers of the chief priests, and his consequent crucifixion, seem to have destroyed every vestage of hope; and when they beheld him, after an ineffectual effort on the part of one

of their body to defend him, (which effort he censured rather than encouraged,) surrender himself an unresisting captive into the hands of his enemies, they forsook him and fled. His death and burial put the final stroke upon their despair. They "trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel," and it was not until after they had seen him rise a conqueror from the grave, that they could he brought to acknowledge that his kingdom was not of this world, nor his a redemption from merely earthly bondage. But when once they were persuaded of these great and solemn truths, when the glories of a future state of existence were placed in bright array before them, how changed did they become from the timid and desponding fugitives they had so lately shewn themselves. How undaunted, how persevering were they, in the very cause, in which they had before displayed so much pusillanimity and irresolution. Theirs is an example, which holds out an important and most consolatory lesson to ourselves, if we do but read it aright. It teaches us how weak and unstable we are, when our hopes are placed upon this world and its unsubstantial advantages alone; how strong and persevering we may be made, if God vouchsafe to aid us with the grace of his assisting spirit.

To return however to the subject now more immediately before us, namely, the desire of