you have not an high-priest who cannot be touched with a feeling of your infirmities, but one who was in all points tempted as you are, yet without sin, go boldly to the throne of grace, that you may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Are you exposed to reproach and contempt, to the sneers of the ungodly and the scoffs of the wicked? Look to Jesus execrated, derided, and cursed, "scorned and rejected of men." Are you afflicted with inward griefs, with sorrows of soul, with darknes and desertion? Look to him, who "in the days of his flesh, offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto God;" who exclaimed, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death ;" who in his mysterious dereliction upon the cross, cried, "My God! my God! why hast thou forsaken me"? Does the world attempt to terrify you by its violence, or seduce you by its allurements? On the cross you see Jesus undauntedly braving its fury and trampling on its gilded vanities. From the habitation of his holi"Thus ness he looks down upon you and says, was I oppressed and tempted; and these my children suffer for my sake and not for their own." Is your reputation slandered by the ungodly? Ah! how much severer were the reproaches that were cast upon the holy Jesus. Are you in a lowly situ ation in life? Mark the deep abasement of the Redeemer, and bless God for those enjoyments which you possess, and which were denied to him.

Whatever may be your calamities, go to the cross; there you will learn, as did Paul, to rejoice in your sufferings. There you will learn, as did the first believers, to exult even in tortures and upon racks, to defy the malice and the power of earth and

hell.

4. Dying men, look to the expiring Saviour for consolation and direction. Precious as he is at all times, his name is doubly dear on the threshold of eternity. Like him employ the time that may yet be granted to you in "finishing the work which your Father hath given you to do ;" like him employ your last moments for the glory of God, for the consolation and instruction of those around you, in prayers for your enemies. Then in your closing hours, you may say "Father; by this endearing name I am emboldened to address thee, through the covenant ratified by the blood of thy Son: Father of my Saviour, into thy hands I commit my unworthy spirit: through Jesus I trust thou wilt receive it as thou didst his holy and innocent soul."

Communicants, when you commemorate the death of Jesus, think then of your own which is rapidly approaching. Since we know not whether some of us will not be in the eternal world before we have another opportunity of celebrating this sacred festival, let us while we hold in our hands the consecrated symbols, commit our souls to

God, and with faith and fervour supplicate his protection, his grace, the application of the blood of his Son, and the manifestation of his love in the last struggles of nature; so that when Jesus shall come as our judge, and cry again with regard to time it self, "It is finished;" we may rise with joy from our tombs, and advance with humble confidence to his throne.

It would be delightful to expatiate longer on this subject; it will not be exhausted by eternity itself. But we must pause; for our Beloved calls us to come and put a new seal to our covenant and our hopes. Yes, we will come to begin on earth the business of heaven, to unite our gratitude with the hallelujahs of the redeemed, and to celebrate that Jesus, who lived among men to bless them, who died to redeem them, who reigns to receive and crown them after their departure from earth.

SERMON VIII.

THE CHRISTIAN's VICTORY OVER THE WORLD.

1. JOHN v. 4.

"Whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the World."

WHILST we remain below in a state of probation, we are surrounded by numberless and powerful spiritual enemies. The adversary of souls attempts to delude us; our corrupt inclinations estrange us from God; and the world spreads before us a thousand snares and temptations. These enemies we are unable to vanquish whilst we continue in our natural state; but when we are "born of God;" i. e. when a new and divine principle is implanted within us, when we are regenerated by the Holy Ghost, we can then triumph over them. My text confines me to an examination of the believer's conquest over one of these enemies, the world; and in illustrating it, we will

I. Consider the manner in which the world assails the christain; and

II. The mode in which he repels these assaults.

I. The world assails the christian by its evil ex. ample, by its false maxims, by its pleasures and ca. resses, and by its persecutions and frowns.

1. The effect which the world often produces on the christian by its evil example, is most lamentable.

Our manners and our habits are almost entirely formed by imitation; example always addresses usin a more forcible and persuasive manner than naked precept; when models are continually before our eyes we can scarcely avoid copying them. How difficult then must it be for the believer to preserve in the midst of the world the holiness and purity of the christian character! He looks around him, he 'beholds the multitude uniting to give a fashionable

air to vice and folly, and the few who have seriously awaked to a sense of the value of their souls, and who strive to conform their lives to the precepts of the gospel, and the example of their Saviour, sneered at for their preciseness and scrupulosity; is there not danger that he may insensibly be drawn in the current and carried away by the stream? Is there not danger lest a dread of shame, a fear of singularity, a desire to please those with whom he associates, an apprehension of "the world's dread laugh," should induce him to allow many things in himself and others, inconsistent with the strict requirements of religion?