summoned in His Gospel, and of which He has set us the example, the clearer will be the proof of our being alive unto God through Jesus Christ. And then, when this shall be the case, how bright is the prospect which is opened to our view! "To be carnally-minded is death, but to be spiritually-minded is life and peace;" and "if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in us, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies, by his Spirit that dwelleth in us.”

But farther the text speaks of the comfort of the Holy Scriptures, as leading together with patience, to the attaining of a good hope. And on this point it will not be necessary to say much, for it is a truth obvious of itself to all. Comfort implies the knowledge of sorrow, and what sorrow is there for which there is not some balm, some healing remedy in the Bible? For instance, is our sorrow caused by some grievous calamity, some great loss which has ruined our earthly prospects? let us search the Scriptures, and we there see it written, that "it is a good thing to be in trouble." We find David, the man after God's own heart-the man who of all that ever lived, tasted both of prosperity and adversity to the full,thus testifying of his own experience: "Before I was troubled I went wrong, but now have I kept

thy word." We find St. Paul declaring that "our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us" (if properly received) "a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." We find St. James counting them happy who endure ;" and holding forth for admiration "the prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an ensample of suffering affliction and of patience."

In short, we find throughout the whole volume of the Bible the witnesses to this great truth: "that sweet are the uses of adversity;" that temporal losses and temporal sufferings are the instruments which in many cases God vouchsafes to use for bringing men unto Himself; for taking their affections off the things of this world, and fixing them upon things above.

Again, is our sorrow that which Death occasions, when he enters our house, and steals away our treasure-some child, or brother, or wife, or sister, or mother, dear to us as our own life; for whom we had gladly died,—for grief like this, deeper than any other, where shall we go for comfort? Where but to the Bible? There we find that solace which we look for elsewhere in vain. There we are bidden to sorrow not as those who have no hope; for that" if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him."

Or thirdly, does our sorrow spring from a sense

of sin-from a feeling that we have offended our God, and know not how to approach Him? Are we in a state like that described in the Psalm, "afraid of God's judgments," and refusing to be comforted by the usual antidotes which the world applies to a wounded conscience? In circumstances like these, when all else fails, there is sure support and comfort to be met with in the Scriptures. For therein we read of One set for the consolation of Israel,-One who has reconciled us unto God,-One in whose name "forgiveness of sins " is proclaimed,

-even the Lord Jesus Christ. If we go unto God, not trusting in our own righteousness, but in the righteousness of his dear Son; earnestly bewailing our offences, pleading His merits for our pardon, and stedfastly purposing henceforth to live by His holy laws, then will the burden be taken off our hearts; our sins, great and grievous as they may have been, will be remitted unto us; we shall have cause to rejoice heartily in the God of our salvation. Only let us not forget that such joy may be taken from us. It can remain only so long as it awakens us to a more religious life: only so long as it constrains us to do from love, what we could not do from fear. God pardons us freely when we repent, and call upon Him in the name of his blessed Son. But He expects that after He "has delivered us from our strong enemy," we should "serve Him

without fear, in holiness and righteousness all the days of our life."

Such then, is the comfort of the Holy Scriptures; and it is easy to see how this great consolation is connected with the hope of the Gospel. If, from what it tells us, our hearts are comforted under the loss of friends, with the prospect of joining them again, it is clear that there must be another state of existence where that union can be effected; another and a better country than that in which we now dwell. If, under the agony of sin, we find rest and comfort in the Atonement made by our Lord Jesus Christ upon the Cross; if we have great joy and peace in believing in Him as our Redeemer and ever present Helper; it is because there is a place of punishment beyond the grave from which He can rescue us, and a place of happiness to which He can bring us. And is not this preeminently the hope of the holy Scriptures? "The blessed hope of everlasting life" which "God that cannot lie," hath promised to us, in and through His dear Son. Is not this that on which every sincere Christian leans, as on an "Anchor of the soul sure and stedfast," amidst the tossing and tempest of this troublesome world? Is not this that which enables him to bear long with, and submit to without repining, all the trials and adversities which assail his course? Is not this the hope which enabled St. Paul and his fellow

apostles, and many after them," to take joyfully the spoiling of their worldly fortunes; to wear a calm, even joyful face, amidst their infirmities, reproaches, necessities, persecutions, which came upon them for their fidelity to their Master's cause the hope laid up in heaven-the hope of being, in a very little while, with that Lord and Master, never to be separated from Him more?

Yes, my brethren, this is indeed the great hope of our calling. Let us rejoice in it, and hold it firm; so that nothing may move us from it. At the same time let us remember that " he who hath this hope," this blessed hope of being with Christ in His kingdom, must seek" to purify himself even as" the Lord" is pure."

And now to conclude. From what has been said, I think it will be plain, that the purpose of the Almighty in giving us His Holy Scriptures, was to make us "wise unto salvation;" that they were "written for our learning," that we, through the patience and comfort which they afford, " might embrace and ever hold fast the hope of everlasting life." It remains that I should urge upon you the importance of using them so as, by God's grace, to attain such an end.

That you do all possess the Holy Scriptures, I make no doubt. At least it must be your own fault if you do not. It is the boast of this country, that