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things, if he even took water and a bason, and girded himself with a towel, and washed his disciples' feet, we may well learn that pride was not made for man. If we are haughty and high-minded, and seek for ourselves a name among the great ones of the earth, we are far from bearing the image of Christ, and shall have no part, either here or hereafter, in the records of his people. Let us be ambitious of no name, but that of servants of God, nor of any power, but that of blessing and benefitting our fellow-creatures.

4. We may also see from hence the advantages of union in a good cause. The children of this world are often wiser in their generation, than the children of light, and may teach them lessons of prudent contrivance and skilful management. Change the purpose formed at Babel by these children of men to oppose the will of God, into another for the glory of his name, and the promotion of true religion and goodness, and then how desirable is union among the sons of God? Wherever this can be firmly established, there will be influence and power far beyond

what can be attained by divided counsels and separate efforts. The church of Christ should be builded as a city that is compact together, and at unity with itself; and if we may not hope to see the whole body of Christians of one heart and one mind in every particular, we may at least say to the members of our own church, "I beseech you, Brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment." And wherein in any respect we differ from others, let us "endeavour to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace."

5. Lastly, let us all remember that here we have no continuing city. The strongest edifices and mightiest works of human power fall into ruins, and the life of man is even far shorter than their duration. Let us seek a city which hath foundations, that can never be subverted, whose builder and maker is God, and where death and separation are never more to be feared. Let us feel that this is

not our rest; let us seek the rest which remaineth for the people of God. If we gain a place in their blessed society, then we shall have a name that will endure for ever: there we shall all have one language, the language of praise and thanksgiving: there we shall all be of one heart and one way, and together with the voice of many angels, and the thousands of thousands of the redeemed, sing "Blessing and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever."

SERMON IX.

THE CALL OF ABRAHAM.

GENESIS xii. 1-3.

Now the Lord had said unto Abraham, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

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In the preceding sermons we have seen the creation, the fall, and the destruction of mankind, with the merciful preservation of that particular family, from which the earth was in due time repeopled. But the scriptures are not the history of the world, but of the church. They therefore leave the

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rise and fall of other nations, that they may especially record the circumstances of one particular people, with whom the God of heaven was pleased to enter into covenant, and whom he selected from all the rest as "a peculiar people" unto himself. On the history of that people we are now entering ; that wondrous people whose rise, and progress, and splendour, and downfall, are all accompanied with miraculous displays of almighty power; whose pristine glory and present dispersion form a great part of the prophecies already accomplished, and whose future restoration occupies a very large portion of those which yet remain to be fulfilled. Here we have their origin. Here is the first planting of that Olive, which long bore such precious fruit, the branches of which are now broken off, but which yet again shall take root downward, and bear fruit upward. Here is the quarry, out of which was hewn the first stone for the building of the Church of God. Here is the call of Abraham, by which he, and his posterity, were separated from all the other nations of the earth, that God might place his

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