the voice from heaven: "Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord." He in whom they are found, has abolished death, by the final destruction of the state, and the present removal of the sting; by the change of its nature and office; by turning it into a departure, a sleep; by making it gain. If death finds you in Christ, it will be the angel of the covenant; it will wipe away all your tears; it will lead you to the altar of God, to God your exceeding joy.

You may continue to neglect and despise the Friend of sinners now, but you will have other thoughts soon. Death will discover and display the errors of life. How will you then wonder that the trifles and vanities which now engross you, should ever have acquired such an ascendancy! How will you be amazed that you constantly disregarded him who alone can befriend you when all other helpers fail! Then you will learn, but in vain, that an interest in Christ is the one thing needful. Cannot you look forward? Cannot you foresee this, before the knowledge can result only in despair?

For, fourthly, There is another day, and from which the former derives its greatest dread-it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment. I do not ask you what are your thoughts now?-but what will they be, when the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? when all that are in their graves shall come forth? when the dead, small and great, shall stand before God, and the books shall be opened? What will you then do without a friend, an advocate? Then the tribes of the earth will mourn and wail because of him. Then they who have despised him, and rejected him, will cry to the rocks and mountains to hide them from the wrath of the Lamb. But the believer in Jesus lifts up his head with joy, for his redemption draweth nigh. Here he looked for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life, and now he enjoys it. He is found in him, and therefore he is found of him in peace-and hears him say, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." To which we may add, that all this admits of anticipation by faith; and now, even now, he can say"I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day."

But all that renders the state important pleads in favour of inquiry and decision. -Let us, therefore,

III. Consider the EVIDENCE of our being in Christ.

There is no doubt but it is very desirable to know this; and it would be strange to suppose that it is impossible to ascertain it; especially since we are not only required to examine ourselves, and prove whether we are in the faith, but also to rejoice in the Lord always. Paul, we see, was assured of this- " I knew a man in Christ:" and he knew himself to be so, not as he was an Apostle, (for a man might have been an Apostle, and not in Christ-this was the case with Judas,) but as a believer. Official service is very distinguishable from personal experience, and gifts do not pledge the existence of grace. John does not say, we know that we have passed from death to life because we can prophesy or speak with new tongues, but "because we love the brethren."

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When, however, we speak of this confidence, a little explanatory caution may be necessary. People often call it the full assurance of faith. This is indeed scriptural expression, but it occurs only once; and then it is used to denote, not a certainty of appropriation and experience, but a full persuasion of our being allowed, by the new and living way which he has consecrated, to enter the presence of God in prayer, and partake of all the blessings of his salvation. There is, therefore, an expression we prefer to this-it is "the full assurance of hope." Our present confidence is the confidence of hope, and of hope only. This hope may be considered in a state of conflict with doubts and fears; or in a state of victory and triumph over them: in the one case, there will be anxiety and uneasiness, and in the other, joy and repose; but the degree does not alter the nature of the thing itself.

On what, then, is this confidence founded? Dreams? Visions? Voices in the air? Sudden impulses? Passages or promises accidentally presented on opening the Bible? and applied, regardless of the connection from which they are taken, or the characters of those by whom they are adopted? On what strange, what dubious, what unauthorized evidences, do some rest their eternal hope! "To the law and to the testimony. If they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them."

All the errors, however, in judging ourselves, are not on one side. There are mistakes also on the right hand: and though they are not dangerous like those on the left, they may be distressing and even injurious, and therefore we must guard against them.

In deciding your condition, you should not make the experience of others too much the standard of your judgment; for though, as in water, face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man, yet, along with a general conformity, there is frequently much difference, especially in the degree and duration of those spiritual exercises which commonły precede the joy of God's salvation, and attend the part of divine doctrine that first seizes our attention.

Neither should you be too minute in your inquiries. The blind man, who was not able to answer every question pertaining to his case, could yet say, "One thing I know: whereas I was blind, now I see." A man may be sure of his natural life, though he knows not when it commenced; and he actually possessed the boon, long before he was able to prove it to himself, though he always evinced it to others. What we have to look after should be influences and effects; and these may be undeniable, without the knowledge of the time, the means, and the manner of their production. A slow and gradual operation is less striking than a sudden and instantaneous; but the increase of the corn sown is as real, and as divine too, as the multiplication of the barley loaves in the Gospel.

When we are deciding our Christian state, we should not ↑try ourselves by attainments. The reality of divine grace is one thing; the degree is another. We may be of the same species with a fellow-creature, though not of the same stature: and though not equally advancing, we may be in the same way. This I know is liable to some abuse; and we are always afraid, when we thus speak, lest people should avail themselves of it, " to settle," as the Scripture has it, "upon their lees;" or, in other words, to be content with a hope of their safety, while they are careless of religious progression. Thus it is said, Cromwell having asked a minister, " What was the lowest evidence of regeneration," said, on receiving an answer, "Then I am safe." And yet there are moments of gloom and depression, in which the question must be not have I much grace? but have I any? When the house is on fire, the tradesman does not think of taking stock; his only concern then is to save.

It is a good evidence in your favour, if you value the thing; and while the multitude ask, "Who will show us any good?" can say-One good only can serve my purpose; and the language of the Apostle, and of the martyr, is not too strong for me That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death:" "None but Christ, none but Christ!" "Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled."

It is a token for good, when you feel much concern and anxiety about this state. It has been said, that it is easy to believe what we wish; but, Paley remarks, that the experience of every man gives the lie to this maxim. We all know, that in proportion as we attach moment to a thing, and find our happiness involved in it, we find it hard to persuade ourselves that we have a firm hold of it; we are alive and awake to every supposition of uncertainty: we still want proof and confirmation. Does the miser feel it easy to believe that his money, the god of his idolatry, is safe? A mother hears that the vessel is wrecked on a foreign shore, but that her son is rescued from the deep. There is nothing in the world she so much desires to be true; yet is it easy for her to banish her solicitude and doubt? She will peruse every document, and examine every witness; and scarcely be able to think he is living till she presses him in her arms. Now we may reason from the less to the greater. A man who feels the infinite importance attached to the soul and eternity, will always find it difficult to consider himself a child of God, and an heir of glory; and will never cease saying, "Give me a token for good, that I may rejoice in thee. Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation." Smoke is not fire, yet there is no smoke where there is no fire-doubts and fears are not faith, but they are gendered by it.

They who are united to Christ are characterised by the change which they have experienced. This change is not only real, but entire-entire, not in the degree, but extent. It is complete in nothing; but it is begun in all the Christian's views, and sentiments, and dispositions, and dependence, and taste, and motives, and pursuits. Hence, says the Apostle, "If any man be in Christ he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."

They are also distinguished by the principle which governs them. Hence we read, "They that are in Christ Jesus, walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." The former will excite as well as the latter; but they do not yield to it: and his servants ye are, to whom ye obey. The one is opposed, the other is encouraged. The one enters into the mind by fraud or force like a robber, producing alarm and misery, and allowing of no peace till he is expelled. The other is invited; and when he comes is welcomed and entertained as a friend. "For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of God, he is none of his."

" If,"

And this leads us to remark, that all they who are in him resemble him. "He that saith he dwelleth in him, ought himself also to walk even as he walked." Not only gratitude and consistency require this, but evidence. says the holy Saviour, " I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me." There must be likeness, in order to fellowship. "For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness, and what communion hath light with darkness? Or what concord hath Christ with Belial?" Christ and Christians are, not like Nebuchadnezzar's statue: the head of which was of gold, while the subordinate parts were of inferior metal, down to the feet which were partly iron and partly clay. " He that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified, are all of one." He is a partaker of their nature; and they are the partakers of his. They are not of the world even as he is not of the world. They have the same mind which was also in Christ Jesus: a sameness of sentiment and feeling; a oneness of heart and of soul-" he that is joined to the Lord, is one spirit. "

Men and Brethren-Are you in Christ?

Perhaps you have never yet asked yourselves this question. You have been careful of your property; and every legal doubt has led you to call in the lawyer. You have been anxious for your character, and every whisper of