the self-deluded professor are "like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace. saith my GoD, to the wicked." Yet, "to the upright there ariseth light in the darkness;” “his light shall rise in obscurity, and his darkness be as the noonday." Yes! the heavenly light shall shine the brightest in the darkest night of earthly despair! When a wintry blast shall shake to the ground the foliage of earthly happiness, presenting the leafstript branches of a lonely tree; then, it is blessedness indeed to know, to feel and to be assured, that the sap of spiritual peace will still remain. "Great peace have they who love Thy law; and nothing shall offend them.” Christians "shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be their peace." Yes! "the "the LORD shall guide the Christian continually, and satisfy his soul in drought, and make fat his bones: and he shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters

fail not." This is also beautifully expressed in the 61st chapter of Isaiah. "But the self-deluded know not the way of peace; and there is no judgment in their goings; they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace." Yet, "Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls."

In conclusion, I would entreat you all, dear brethren, to trust less in ordinances, in doctrines and in duties ; and to seek more earnestly after the spiritual gift of charity. Let us recollect the history of the Israelites, when they were overcome by the Philistines at Ebenezer; and when, trusting in the ark instead of the Presence of the living GOD, they were again overthrown; and Hophni and Phinehas, who remained nearest to the ark, were likewise slain. Let us then no longer trust in church privileges, but in the Presence of the living GOD, dwelling in our hearts

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by His SPIRIT of love. Let us regard all outward privileges as shadows merely of the substance. Let us consider all duties and doctrines, as the ladder only by which we may be enabled, through the moving power of the HOLY GHOST within us, to reach the kingdom of heaven, and the Presence of our GOD. Let us be more on our guard against the ignis fatuus of carnal ease and security, which Satan raises from the vapours of hell, to decoy us into the gulf of eternal perdition.

Let us at all times, dear brethren, live near to GOD; and should distractions, in the midst of meditation and prayer, cause a cloud to intervene between CHRIST and our souls; let us quickly call to mind, with what indignation our Saviour "went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought; saying unto them, It is written, my house is the house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves." In

social converse with our fellow-creatures, let these words of David be constantly passing in our thoughts: "Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips." "Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Thy sight, O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer." And again, in solitude let our hearts continually exclaim: "Cast me not away from Thy Presence, and take not Thy HOLY SPIRIT from me." "Search me, O GOD, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." "Who can

understand his errors? Cleanse Thou me from secret faults." "Hold my goings in Thy paths, that my footsteps slip not." When a censorious thought arises in conversation or in solitude, let us call to remembrance that "it is written:" "Thou that judgest doest the same thing." When we meet or hear of a fellow-creature in distress, let us

recollect the words of St. John: "Whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of GOD in him?”

Again, whatever work of the creature we behold, let us consider it relatively to the Creator. And in every existing object, let us seek a subject for praise to GOD. Then, in every situation we shall hear a voiceless eloquence; we shall see an invisible Creator; we shall hold communion with an incomprehensible GOD,-the Omnipotent, the Omniscient, the Omnipresent,-Whose life-time is eternity, Whose purpose is existence, Whose voice is effect, Whose laws are nature, Whose throne is the heavens, Whose footstool is the earth, Whose temple is the universe,. Whose altars the suns with their revolving worlds compose, and Whose worshippers are comprised among the whole visible and invisible creation.