less followers! How encouraging is the belief, that at the present day, and at the present hour, this is, and while time remains this shall be still his merciful occupation, that as a great High Priest he has entered into the holy of holies to plead for his people; for "He ever liveth to make intercession for us," ever liveth to bless with the tokens of his love, with the communications of his grace, each individual member of his redeemed and ransomed family. Nor is this all. It was not enough that his last act on earth should be an act of blessing, his present occupation still the same, but when he comes again, it shall be for the same most gracious purpose!

How glorious is the anticipation, that when time shall be no longer, when we shall see Him" whom having not seen we love," the first accents of his voice, upon the day of his long looked for, prayed for, wished for return, when he shall come surrounded by the church triumphant, will still be the language of blessing! He shall come forth to bless his people, saying to each and to all who have denied themselves and taken up his cross, and in heart and affection, and life and conversation, followed him, "Well done, good and faithful servants, enter into the joy of your Lord."

LECTURE VI.

GENESIS XV. 6.

"He believed in the Lord; and He counted it to him for righteousness."

WE concluded our last discourse with the consideration of Abram's interview with Melchizedek, upon the former's return from his successful expedition against the four kings. There was yet another, and almost equally remarkable interview, which occurred at the same time and place. "The king of Sodom," who had suffered so severely from the inroad of the four kings, whom Abram had vanquished, "went out to meet him," and said unto him, "Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself." In other words, restore to me my subjects, who have been carried away captive, and whom you have liberated, and keep as a recompense, the flocks, and the herds, and the goods, which are justly the property of the conqueror. And Abram said to the king of Sodom, "I have lift up my hand unto the Lord," (i. e. I have sworn,)" that I will not take from a thread even to a shoe-latchet, and that I will

not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich." What another beautiful testimony is here given to the disinterestedness of the patriarch? He would receive no reward at the hands of the ungodly king of an abandoned and God-deserted city. But for the men that were with him, the three princes who had joined him in the conflict and the pursuit, "Let them," said Abram, "take their portion." They probably were not the followers of the God of Abram, and over them he desired to exercise no control; but for himself, he was firm and decided that nothing of the goods of Sodom should cleave to him. He looked for his support and his subsistence here, to the Lord, and to him alone; he knew that "his bread and his water should be sure." God had undertaken to provide for him-the Lord had provided, the Lord would provide—and Abram had learnt to trust the word of God's promises, even where he could not trace the hand of his providence.

My brethren, would that we were able to say that the spiritual children of Abram acted at the present day in accordance with this admirable example. But is it not, on the contrary, continually brought as a charge against the professing Christians of our times, that instead of evidencing this un

worldly and generous spirit, there are few who are more anxious to secure every possible temporal advantage than themselves; few who are more eagleeyed after the emoluments of this world, or more inclined, I will not say to overstep the bounds of the strictest honesty, in the acquirement of them, but to advance to the very limits of those boundaries. You, my brethren, who thus act, plainly demonstrate, that while you profess to trust God for the eternal salvation of your soul, that jewel of inestimable value, you cannot really trust him for the maintenance of the poor perishable casket which contains it.

Again, how often do we hear it said, that there is far more liberality, more openness of dealing, more disinterestedness among the high-minded people of the world, than among many of whom we may not doubt that they are the people of God. This is a distressing truth, but one which must not be suppressed. You excel the people of the world, my Christian brethren, upon every point which involves your duty to your heavenly Father, let it not be said that you do not equally excel them in your duties to your fellow-men: let it be evident, that the graces of the Christian are as superior to the virtues of the man of the world,

in the every-day transactions of life, as the Christian's motive is superior to the worldling's motive, and the joys of the Christian's heaven are superior to the pleasures and immunities of earth. And especially you, my poorer brethren, when you are tempted to relieve your poverty by any act of petty dishonesty of your own, or by sharing in the doubtfully-acquired property of another; or, if you fill the office of domestic servants, by what are termed in the language of the world, the perquisites of your station, but are, in the language of God, too often positive thefts; remember the upright, disinterested example of him of whom we speak; be "jealous over yourselves with a godly jealousy," lest you should put it into the power of your spiritual enemy to say hereafter, as the king of Sodom would have said of Abram, I HAVE MADE THIS MAN RICH!

If you are a child of God, be assured you shall never want such a child's portion of the good things of this world, as a Father, who knows you infinitely better than you know yourself, thinks best for your own interests, and for his glory: rest therefore in faith upon the promise, that the Lord hath provided, and the Lord will provide.

It was

"after these things," says the inspired