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his ordinances, to read hisword, to unite ourselves to his servants, and to regulate our whole lives by his example. Oh, my brethren, see that ye are not deficient in these evidences of regard to Christ! The hour is coming in which his favour will be of more worth to you than a thousand worlds. Let it not be discovered in that day that ye have been strangers to him, and have undervalued, or neglected, his salvation.

3. The preceding considerations may strengthen your dependence on the death of Christ for the pardon of your sins and the redemption of your souls.

We call upon you to rely on Christ as making a full atonement for your sins, and to commit your souls with entire confidence into his hands; and therefore we call upon you to contemplate him in all the various offices which he bears. He is our Creator and Benefactor, the Giver and the Preserver of our lives: by Him we shall one day rise again from the dead, and He shall be our final Judge. If we are delivered from any evil, our deliverance is effected by his power; whatever good is conferred upon us is the result of his bounty. He has all power in heaven and earth to accomplish every thing for our benefit, and possesses every Divine attribute necessary for our security and welfare. He is with us upon earth to defend us with his loving kindness as with a shield; he is seated in heaven at the right hand of the Father, there to intercede in our behalf. He once became man for our sakes; yet, even in that state of humiliation, he performed works which clearly manifested his Divinity: though men rejected, angels adored him; though his body suffered from toil and hunger, yet that frail tabernacle was the residence of the Godhead. Even then he knew the secret thoughts of men's hearts-the devils were subject to him he touched the eye of the blind, and it saw-he bade the deaf ear be opened, and it heard-he called, and the dead came forth to him from the graves-he commanded even the winds and sea, and they obeyed him. Whatever view we take of Christ, he exhibits

the same character of essential greatness and glory. In his humiliation he was still "God manifest in the flesh;" as Mediator he has all power for the salvation of his people; and as Judge, shall have authority to pass the final sentence and fix the doom both of his disciples and his enemies.

Each view affords some new display of his power and dignity. Each presents him to us as deserving of our highest confidence; each shews the efficacy and greatness of his redemption. He is thus proclaimed to be the Son of God, infinite in dignity, qualified to be our Advocate, as having power to prevail with the Father, worthy to receive from man, as he does from the blessed spirits above, all honour, and glory, and dominion, and majesty for ever!

In confiding our souls, therefore, to Jesus Christ, we trust in One who is almighty and all-sufficient and able to save to the uttermost those who come to God by him. Fear not, therefore, thou penitent sinner, who art justly sensible of the number and guilt of thy sins; fear not, but apply in faith to this omnipotent Saviour; and with all humility, and yet with exulting hope and joy, say-"In the Lord put I my trust." "In the Lord have I righteousness and strength." "In the Lord shall" I "be justified, and will glory."

O blessed security, which is thus afforded to all who, with repentance and faith, trust in the Redeemer of sinners! The sense of that security will continually enlarge, as the knowledge of the glorious plan of salvation becomes distinct, and as the power and dignity of the Redeemer are better understood. Hasten, then, ye penitent sinners, to Him: "under the shadow of his wings make" your "refuge, till the calamities" of life "be overpast." Behold, he waits to be your Saviour! And having been both ordained and accepted by the Father, as the Atonement for sin, he offers you a free and complete salvation. Oh, perish not in your sins, while this Deliverer stands near, and is able and ready to communicate life and salvation!

4. And ye who do trust in Christ for salvation, forget not that in all things he is to have the pre-eminence. "For it hath pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell." It is not, therefore, enough that you rely on him for the pardon of your sins; your application to him must be for every blessing of which your souls stand in need. Do you want wisdom, strength, or grace? He "of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." The life of a true disciple of Christ is a continual exercise of faith in him; or rather, it is he who lives and works in the believer. "Christ dwells" in "his heart by faith." "I am crucified with Christ," he exclaims with the Apostle: I am in myself dead and powerless, like the body of Christ when hanging lifeless on the cross: "nevertheless I live, yet not 1, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." O blessed union of the disciples to their Divine Master! By this precious faith they become one with him, and he with them: they thus dwell in him, and he in them.

[This union is abundantly manifested by the holy emblems of the Lord's death which are now set before you. On this point I need not enlarge. As our bodies are strengthened by the food which we eat, so are our souls nourished by faith in the body and blood of Christ given for us. God grant that, being united to him by a living faith, our souls may indeed be refreshed and strengthened by our participating in this most holy service!]

Yet, while I indulge that hope on behalf of each of you, my brethren, I must not forget that there are many nominal Christians, who, either from indifference respecting their salvation or from a vain confidence in their own imperfect righteousness, do not address themselves to Christ as their Saviour, have no communion with him, and are even jealous of the honour rendered to him by others. Let such reflect that they are sin

ners; and that if their sins are pardoned, it must be in the way which God has appointed. If they do not believe the Scriptures, they incur a tremendous responsibility; they are exposing their souls to eternal and inevitable perdition, unless that volume is false which others most assuredly believe to be a Divine revelation. But if they profess to believe in the word of God, then there is a strange inconsistency in their conduct. What infatuation has possessed you? Do not these Scriptures testify of Christ as the only hope for lost sinners? Do they not continually set him forth as the son of God; sent to be the Saviour of the world? Is not He the illustrious person to whom all the Prophets as well as Apostles bear witness, that there is salvation in no other; that there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we can be saved? Shall we, then, at once believe this testimony, and neglect Him concerning whom it has been given? Shall we cast contempt upon God's appointment, by treating it as unimportant or unnecessary. Let us not, my brethren, incur this danger to our immortal souls. Christ is "the way, the truth, and the life; and no man cometh unto the Father but by him."-God grant that we may all draw near to God through Jesus Christ, and thus attain grace in this world, and in the world to come life everlasting!

SERMON X.

ON THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY.

(PREACHED ON EASTER-DAY)

Phil. iii. 21.

Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.

THE mind is naturally desirous of inquiring into the changes we are likely to undergo in the different stages of our existence; and, indeed, it even becomes a duty to pursue such inquiries, since the hope of those changes is held out to us, that we may learn to submit with cheerfulness to exertions and self-denial; to bear the hardships of life without murmuring; to trample under foot, the vanities of this world, and to fix our affections on things above.

On this day, dedicated to the remembrance of our blessed Saviour's resurrection from the dead, the pledge and earnest of our own, I feel justified, there

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