this kind to witness and record! Instead of expressing sympathy for men of conscience, the great ones of the earth did first deprive the Church of its spiritual liberty and chartered freedom, and next proceeded to interdict every spot of ground within their confines, on which a house of prayer might be built, or a moveable tent erected-as if they might, in the exercise of irresponsible power, issue a decree that neither in mountain nor in desert wilderness should men be allowed to "worship the Father," though they did it peaceably, "in spirit and in truth." Is there principle here? Yes! such principle as sundry ancient lords exhibited, and which, by the Holy Spirit, has been handed down for the condemnation of all ages-as seen in Daniel iii. 6. What account posterity shall take of these modern measures, we know not; but who can doubt the verdict of the last day? Happily, all to whom God hath given great power have not so misapplied it; and far more pleasant we feel it to commend the deserving than to censure the wilfully wrong, though it may be, they think, in oppressing us, they are doing God a service. Hitherto, we have had little to notice in the form of absolute persecution. The countenance of some, that of old befriended us, and have power to do us harm, is indeed sorely changed; but liberty of conscience still survives. Menaces indeed are not wanting, and little faith ingloriously inclines to the blast; but men rooted and grounded in the Truth will stand upright, and refuse to swerve. How pitiable is it when the fear of man casts out the fear of God! What an infinite error is thus committed in the estimate of things!

We have perhaps dwelt on collateral topics at greater length than may seem consistent with a strict exposition of the text, considered doctrinally. But the occasion and circumstances of the time will, we trust, account for and defend the method we have followed in the foregoing remarks. If we have said more about man than about God, let us, in conclusion, strive to correct the fault. Alas! what is man, that the infinite Jehovah should invite his homage, accept his poor celebrations, or even tolerate expressions of love and adoration, which so seldom proceed from a heart purely and profoundly impressed with the genuine sentiments of devotion? In nothing stand we more in need of a kind and clement Mediator, than when we draw near, as we call it, to a heartsearching God; for it is an act of creature duty that requires the soul's entire engagement, and failures in it affect the glory of God to an extent that undevout and careless worshippers are little aware of, just because they neither know themselves nor God—that great God, whose manifestations overwhelmed ancient saints and prophets with speechless wonder and awe. Isaiah vi. 1.

Having a place of public worship now prepared for us, let it not only

be frequented, but loved. Be glad when the day of Sabbath rest dawns -glad when the hour of worship arrives-glad to swell the number of willing worshippers-flocking to the house of the Lord, like "doves to their windows." Breathe after Zion's assemblies with intense aspirations of desire, crying, like the Psalmist, impatient of hindrance or delay, "When shall I come and appear before God." Come, brethren, as if to meet God in his ordinances, realizing the great object of worship, and come with a direct intention of the mind to render unto the Infinite One the glory we confess to be his due. Without intention to glorify God in our religious duties, they are vain and inefficient shows, which cannot fail to dishonour and be offensive to the Most High. But if we have it in view to offer ourselves and our services to God in the sanctuary, it becomes us to lay to heart what spirituality of frame, what praying in the spirit and for the spirit, is required. If we would be "temples of God," not honouring him with our mouths, while our hearts are far from him-we must engage our souls wholly in worshipping him who is a spirit in spirit and in truth. No doubt, in this imperfect state, we cannot always retain the frame we covet; but should a realizing sense of the Divine presence and favour be lost, brethren, ye who have known the Lord, acquiesce not-no, not for a single hour-in spiritual deadness or desertion. Seek to detect the cause of dereliction, and cry for light and revival.

Finally, hold fast the principles of truth that brought you hither. Extenuate no man's error-partake in no man's sin. To judge others we are not called; but away with the perversion that justifies want of principle, and palliates defection from Christ, because the treacherous party are admitted to have some virtues, and are reputed wise in their generation. The question of the time is a question of principle-a question involving our allegiance to Him who is King of kings and Lord of lords; and to assume that we may worship the Father in spirit and in truth, while we deny supremacy to him whom the Father has truly anointed, and set as king on his holy hill, is a fallacy preposterous as it is fatal to those who fall under its pernicious influence. What remains, then, but that we exhort you, as fellow-citizens of the saints, and as good subjects of our regal Redeemer, to believe his truth, imbibe his spirit, and worship the Father in his name, rejoicing in the persuasion, that Worship is not an incidental duty but an eternal obligation, not a joyless, unmeaning act, but a service of delight-to be resumed in Heaven with nobler powers, and to constitute, we believe, no small portion of Heaven's conceivable beatitude.-Amen.

13

SERMON II.

THE CONSOLATIONS AND SUFFERINGS OF THE BELIEVER, AND THEIR EFFECTS UPON HIS CHARACTER.

BY THE REV. JAMES BREWSTER, D.D., CRAIG.

"The God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you,"-1 PETER v. 10.

There is a twofold view of the human race which is universally true, and which is fully descriptive of their present condition, namely, that they are sinful creatures, and that they are suffering creatures. Take any number of individuals, from any country or nation, from any class or condition, from any age or sex, and these two things you may say of them without hesitation, that there is sin in their nature and suffering in their lot. It is painful enough to reflect upon the extent of these evils, as affecting all the children of men, without exception, who have ever lived on this earth; but it is still more afflicting to contemplate the awful height to which they often rise in particular instances, the almost diabolical depravity which some individuals are permitted to reach, and the overwhelming weight of calamity which others are appointed to bear. Let it here be observed, that these are not matters of opinion, but matters of fact in the history of man's present condition, about which there is no disputing; and the great aim of every benevolent and considerate mind should unquestionably be, not so much to comprehend how human beings came to be placed in such a state of sin and misery, but rather to inquire how far any remedy may be found for its accumulated evils. It would evidently avail us very little to know clearly every step and every cause which led on to this sad state of things, unless this knowledge could also show as clearly the way by which we might be brought out of it. Nothing less than such a way of deliverance is the unspeakable benefit proposed to man's fallen race in the gospel of Jesus Christ. That gospel proclaims a sufficient remedy for all his present evils; to those who suffer, it presents an everlasting consolation;" to those who are sinful, it points out "an everlasting righteousness." It calleth us at once "to glory, to virtue;" and what it principally requireth of every fallen creature for receiving these blessings, is simply to feel truly our need No. 2.-SER. 2.

of them-to feel our misery, and desire to be made happy,-to feel our sinfulness, and desire to be made holy,-to feel our need of both these blessings to be so urgent and extreme, as to be willing to receive them humbly and gratefully, in whatever way it may please the blessed God to bestow them upon his rebellious creatures.

The gospel of our salvation does indeed instruct us also as to the original cause of this our sinful and suffering state, so far, at least, as such knowledge may contribute to further our deliverance from that state. It holds out to us, on the mere principle of our own self-interest, a plain reason for aiming after freedom from all sin, namely, that it is the great cause of all our suffering; and it holds out an equally powerful reason for exercising patience under all such suffering, namely, that it is one great means for correcting our sinfulness. Throughout the whole of its wondrous revelations, it says to fallen man, 'hate sin, because it makes you suffer;" and again it says, "take comfort under suffering, because it leads you to see the evil of sin." All this is distinctly taught in the prayer which, in the words of the text, the Apostle here expresses for the Christian friends whom he is addressing; and the whole passage presents a brief summary of all that concerns our consolation under the trials of the life that now is, and our course of preparation for the blessedness of the life which is to come. "The God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered awhile, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you." From these words let us briefly consider,

I. The consolation here set before us,

"called to eternal glory."

II. The course through which we must pass," after that ye have suffered awhile." And

III. The effects to be wrought out by these consolations and sufferings, "make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you."

I. The consolation here set before us,- God hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus."

In such wonderful terms as these it is, that the Word of God ordinarily expresses the blessed remedy, which his infinite mercy hath provided for the evils of man's fallen state; and you cannot fail to observe how much more they express than a mere relief from such evils. The remedy provided is not merely a call to a state that is free from suffering and sin; for that might have been secured by a very inferior kind of existence, even by an existence incapable either of much evil or much good; but it is a call to a state of actual happiness. Neither is it a call to a state simply of happiness, that is, a state in which every sense and faculty of our nature shall enjoy its proper object, for that happiness may be small

or great according to our power of tasting what is good in itself; but it is a call to a state of positive excellence or holiness. Nor is it merely such a state of excellence or holiness, in which every part of our spiritual nature is raised to its proper perfection, which would assuredly be the utmost attainment that we could well desire to possess; but it is finally, a call to a state which we have no language to describe, nor material of thought to imagine-namely, a state of "glory." What is this "glory?" --the Scripture name of the heavenly state, expressing not only deliverance from evil, but the enjoyment of good; not only the enjoyment of good, but such a kind of good as is morally excellent; and not only that which is excellent, but the most exalted kind and measure of excellence, namely, the victory, the triumph, "the glory," the shining forth of spiritual beings in the fullest purity and perfection of which their exalted nature is capable.

But

There are two additional circumstances here mentioned, which complete the blessedness and excellence of this future and final consolation, namely, that it is an eternal blessedness, and that it is such a blessedness as God himself enjoys. It is called "eternal glory." Its excellence is thus crowned by its being endless. Rarely is it found that the best things in man's lot are also the most lasting; on the contrary, it is generally the great alloy of every mere earthly excellence and blessing, that it is so uncertain in its tenure, and so transitory in its nature. It is at least the declared deficiency of all the glory of this world, that it "passeth away as the flower of the grass;" while it is the special preeminence of the glory here promised, that it "abideth for ever." it possesses an excellence still more peculiar and distinguishing, namely, that it is such a glory as God himself enjoys. "He hath called us," says the Apostle, "unto his eternal glory." Does this expression mean merely that it is his possession or property, and so must be his gift to us, as the fruit of his grace or favour? Or does it mean merely that it is a blessing to be enjoyed in his presence, and so that, while enjoying it, we shall be where he is? All this indeed it is; but it is also some-thing more, namely, it is of a similar kind to that glory which forms his own blessedness, so that it shall make those who receive it like to God himself. Such a thought as this, it would have been, indeed, the most daring presumption in any created being, and much more in fallen man, to have entertained for a moment; and even, with all that the Divine Word has declared to this effect, it is with the utmost reverence and humility that we should dwell on the amazing thought. But we are explicitly taught that "there are given to us so many exceeding great and precious promises, that by these we might be partakers of the Divine nature;" and that, "beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, we