hence, Satan; for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." It is owing to what our blessed Lord suffered during his temptation in the desert, during his agony in the garden, and during his passion on Mount Calvary, that this blessed Word of divine instruction is ever obeyed, or that it will one day be universally obeyed by the sons of men. "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." Thanks be to our Saviour's power and mercy, the Lord alone shall one day be worshipped by the children of our race. And Satan, now bruised, will then be broken and cast into the lake of fire. Let us, in as far as we personally are concerned, and in as far as our influence extends, anticipate that blessed time when there shall be a new heaven and a new earth, and sorrow and sin shall be done away. This we may accomplish, if we will serve the Lord faithfully, and be looking for, and hastening unto, the day of his coming;

trimming our lamps like the wise virgins, and waiting in expectation of the advent of Him who appeared once to suffer and to die for us, and who will appear again to triumph gloriously and completely over his and our enemy, to destroy that power of sin finally, which He has already dethroned, and to reign over his people as their Lord and their God.

Let us ever remember that a man is not profited if he gain even the whole world at the expense of his soul; and that he can receive no equivalent, in the most lavish profusion of temporal blessings, for the misery which will be felt eternally by every one who has worshipped mammon rather than God, and who has loved the world, and the things of the world, more than the service of our heavenly Father. The kingdoms of the world and all their glory were set before our blessed Saviour; and a similar temptation is presented to each one of us, according to our position, tastes, and circumstances. It matters not what the

worldly prize may be which is offered to us at the expense of our soul; we must resist the enemy of man in the strength of the Lord, and in the power of his might, saying, "Get thee hence, Satan; it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou

serve."

Let me, in conclusion, once more use the most appropriate words of St. John, which I earnestly pray that the blessed Spirit may impress upon your minds. "If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him; for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but of the world: and the world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever."-- Amen.

85

SERMON III.

CHRIST FOUNDS HIS CHURCH.

ST. JOHN XX. 21, 22, 23.

"Then said Jesus unto them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them, and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained.”

SIN had no sooner entered into the world, than our offended but merciful God provided for man a remedy. The curse of banishment and death had indeed gone forth against him, but the blessing of reconciliation was held out to

him as the object of hope; and even before his expulsion from the garden of Eden, he was saved from despair, by the sure word of promise, given to cheer him during a life of laborious wandering, and to animate him with the prospect of everlasting blessedness. The divine curse, pronounced against the serpent or principle of evil, contained the promise of blessing to weak and fallen man.

66

Thus, from the commencement of our race, that heavenly light, in the brightness of which we rejoice, supported and consoled the faithful children of God under every trial and temptation, teaching them that "neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers," should "be able to separate" them " from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus." (Rom. viii. 38.) This love for man, which has been fully manifested, under the christian dispensation, by the incarnation and death of the Son of God, was revealed by the oldest of all prophecies, one delivered even before expulsion from