"the blood of the covenant is counted an unholy thing;" and that, although the mighty hand of the Lord has been stretched out for their deliverance, "the last state with them shall be worse than the first;" and that in those sins, which a Saviour's blood could alone wash away, and on account of which, it has been so unsparingly poured forth, they will even yet die, and perish everlastingly?

My fellow Christians, suffer not, I beseech you, the repeated calls which are made to you by your Bible, your minister, and your conscience, any longer to be disregarded. Reflect for a moment on the extreme hazard you are running, by thus persisting in disobedience to your Saviour's last and dying request. Had not our gracious Lord deemed it essential for the furtherance of the everlasting interests of his people, he would never have appointed this holy ordinance for our constant observance. He did it, because he felt that we stood in need of some awakening and lasting memento of that mighty sacrifice, which he had made to appease the just indignation of his insulted Father against a guilty and rebellious world. His willing submission to a painful death was far more than we could pos

sibly have deserved. The appointment, then, of this solemn festival was surely an additional act of mercy, which no tongue can express, nor heart

conceive.

Can you, then, any longer remain insensible to such inconceivably tender expressions of divine love for your once perishing souls? An opportunity will soon again be presented for proving your grateful sense of the goodness of God in appointing this blessed sacrament. I therefore exhort you all, young and old, rich and poor, to hasten to the heavenly banquet. Let none of you plead business, nor pleasure, nor want of preparation, as an excuse for absenting himself from it. Let none be so bold as to say, "I cannot come." Let none say, either to his conscience or to his God, "I pray thee have me excused."

More particularly would I admonish those amongst you, who are but now arrived at a fit and proper age to partake of these holy mysteries, and who have recently been confirmed1 in the promises and vows which were made for them at their baptism, to shew the sincerity of

1 Preached the Sunday after a Confirmation.

their faith in Christ, by commemorating in his own appointed way his bitter death and passion.

One and all, draw near in full assurance of faith, and take this holy sacrament to your comfort. "Repent truly of your former sins, stedfastly purpose to lead a new and a better life; have at lively faith in God's mercy through Christ, with a thankful remembrance of his death, and be in charity with all men." And then we may humbly hope, that this and every succeeding demonstration of your faith and obedience, may tend to the present consolation and edification of your souls, and finally, through Christ's merits and intercession, may be the means of securing to you the possession of those inestimable blessings, such as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man "" to

conceive.

66

1 1 Cor. ii. 9.

SERMON XIII.

THE CHASTENING OF THE LORD AN EVIDENCE OF HIS LOVE.

HEBREWS xii. 6.

"Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth."

We learn from Revelation, as well as from the deductions of reason, that this life is a state of trial and probation; that it is merely a place of temporary sojourning, an avenue of finite extension, leading to another world, as boundless as the perfections of him, who is alike the author of "things visible and invisible." We are taught, that all that can possibly conduce to happiness, may in that world be found; that things are there prepared, such as " eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man" to conceive: while, at the same time, is made known to us the awful fact, that there too are centered woes of the most dis

mal nature; such as we can form no other conception of, than what we gather from the book of life; which tells us they are of endless duration,—— that "their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched 1."

To one of these two distinct states, we are all quickly, though in some measure, imperceptibly, advancing. And the grand object of our earthly pilgrimage, therefore, is, that we may eventually attain unto the former, and thus escape the latter, which otherwise must be our portion.

But it has seemed fit to the Almighty, in his wisdom and mercy, to ordain that, before this desirable and only really important object can be accomplished, every degenerate child of a once pure, but afterwards guilt-stained, progenitor, should undergo a peculiar and appropriate discipline; be schooled by lessons,-not such as might seem consistent with worldly wisdom to adopt,—but which an all-wise and heavenly Master has appointed; and which too, if learned with the teachableness of the "little children" of a meek and lowly Saviour, will be sure to perfect us in the knowledge of salvation, and render us "meet

1 Mark ix. 44.