might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to the hope set before us." I cannot better describe the Gospel than as a dispensation expressly intended for the comfort and peace of mankind, in which nothing is omitted to strengthen their hope, to encourage their confidence in God: and to assure them, that those who come to him he will in no wise cast out. You have the hope of consolation set before you in the office of the Holy Spirit, who, from the Divine consolations he affords to those who live under his blessed influence, is by our blessed Saviour expressly styled "the Comforter." "The Spirit," saith the Apostle, "witnesses with our spirits that we are the children of God; and if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ. If so be that we suffer with him, that we may also live with him."

See, then, the care which our heavenly Father has taken to dispel all doubt and anxiety in the minds of his real disciples. Can any thing be more clear than his willingness to save you? Is there any reason for doubt or hesitation? "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth, who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died; yea, rather that is risen again, who is ever at the right hand of God interceding for us."

Yet, while I describe this rich and full provision for peace and hope, which God has made in the dispensation of the Gospel, let it not be thought that the Holy Spirit will seal these blessings to the careless, the worldly, or the sinful professors of his religion. No! if you value the hope of glory, you will walk according to the vocation with which you are called. "He that hath this hope purifieth himself, even as he is pure." This the scriptural guard against a presumptuous abuse of this doctrine. If you do enjoy a hope of glory while your tempers are unsanctified, while you are living under the dominion of sin, know that your hope is presumption. "If our hearts condemn us not," says the Apostle, "we have confidence towards God." Indeed,

there will necessarily be a beautiful correspondence and harmony in every part of the conduct of those whose heart is right with God. The hope of heaven will be closely and inseparably connected with that purity of mind, and that love to God, which will preserve the soul from sin.

Thus may you attain this joyful hope of glory. And why, then, do we so incessantly listen to complaints of misery and sorrow? Is there no remedy? O ye afflicted, who are ready to cry, there is no hope for you! would to God you would cease to seek for happiness from the world, and endeavour to derive it from God! One faithful prayer will more calm the mind than the full indulgence of your fondest earthly hopes. Cease, then, to hew out broken cisterns, which can hold no water; and come to God, the Fountain of living waters. Hitherto you have sought for peace in the world: now begin to seek it in God only; seek a peace of a pure and spiritual kind, fit for an immortal spirit to receive, and for an infinite God to bestow!

Would to God, that every one who hears me would make this transporting hope of glory the object of his serious endeavours and his fervent prayers! How light would all our trials and sufferings then appear, when the prospect of eternal glory was ever dawning upon us! What an armour of defence would it be against every danger, if you could say, "All is well; for I now can confidently look up to God as my Father, and to heaven as my home! What a defence against the fear of poverty or pain, continually to rejoice in the prospect of a heavenly inheritance! It would be a treasure which would make us rich indeed. And how unspeakably valuable would it be in that solemn hour when we must quit this life, and all our expectations from it! My brethren, I speak to you as dying men. The hour cannot be very far distant, when you and I must lie on a death-bed: and what will then appear to be the value of a well-founded hope of glory? Ob! what transporting happiness will it be then to be

able to say, "I bless God, it is well with me: I have no fears of death: I enjoy a delightful hope of glory. I am willing to quit this corrupt and sinful world, that my happy spirit may join my Redeemer, and the glorious company of the ransomed above!" Which of you does not say, May this be my lot! "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his."

But, alas! I must also address many who enjoy no such hope of glory. The hour of death would come upon them with dreadful terror and fearful apprehensions. And O what a state! To be summoned to appear before God with a spirit oppressed by dreadful forebodings and bitter reflections; to have no cheering prospects of the glory ready to be revealed; to be a stranger to the precious promises of the Gospel; to die in darkness, without one ray of light from Heaven to enlighten the dreary passage! Alas! that any who have lived in a Christian land, any who have sat under the sound of the Gospel, and have been hearing continually of the salvation of Christ Jesus, should be found at last in this miserable state! My brethren, whose consciences testify that this would be your state if you were summoned to-night to meet your God, I beseech you by the mercies of God, by the redemption of Jesus Christ, by the regard you feel for your own salvation, think of these things. Pause for awhile, and ask whether you choose to die eternally. other hand reflect on the happiness of enjoying a hope full of immortality. Which will you choose? Heaven and hell are set before you. Go, decide which shall be your portion. God soon will send the messenger of death to know your determination. May you in that hour be able to say, Lord, I have waited for thy salvation!

On the

SERMON XIV.

ON THE CHRISTIAN'S PEACE.

John xiv. 27.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

THESE words are a part of the last discourse which our blessed Saviour held with his disciples before his crucifixion. They are replete with that, tenderness and kindness which were so conspicuous in his character. His apprehension of the bitter sufferings and ignominious death which he was himself about to undergo, seemed to be entirely lost in the consideration of that distress which his disciples would endure when they should behold their beloved Master so cruelly treated, and so unexpectedly taken from them. He therefore uses the most endearing expressions, and suggests the most affecting topics of consolation. He assures them, that he would not leave them comfortless, but would send the Holy Spirit, the Comforter from above, to supply his place, till he should come again and take them to himself, to dwell with him in those mansions of glory