giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering; for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord." For this strength you may go to him freely. "What man is there of you whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?" "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him." A firm belief in this is the very faith required. "Without faith it is impossible to please him for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

"And do the first works." This was spoken with all the authority of the Godhead. "And do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent." Do you hear this, indifferent Christian? Unless you repent and return to your first love, he may come unto you quickly and break up your church-standing, either by taking you away, or leaving you to fall into open sins and forfeit your Christian privileges. Where are we? In what a solemn condition do we stand? Right under the eye of God, and this awful threatening ringing in our ears. It is too late to say, "A little more sleep, a little more slumber," when the sword of the Almighty is at our breast. We thought it would be in season to awake at some future day;

but what think we now? "Else I will come unto thee quickly." While I speak he may be hastening to meet us. What a solemn condition are we in. An hour's delay may prove fatal. Instantly burst those chains which bind you to the world. Break up your wretched worldly calculations. Awake from sleep. Inquire what there is for you to do to advance the interests of religion and pluck souls from eternal death. Break, as from a burning house, from that stupor and fear of man which can demur about coming out from the world and engaging thoroughly in religion. Rouse all your powers and come up to the help of the Lord. Whatever you do you must do quickly,-for the Judge is at the door.

SERMON XXIV.

THE DOVE.

GEN. VIII. 8, 9.

Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground: but the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark; for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. Then he put forth his hand and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark,

The pigeon or dove is held up in Scripture as an emblem of the Church. This species of birds are distinguished by their simplicity and innocence. They are gentle, inoffensive, easily subdued and tamed, and quick to forget injuries. Strongly attached and faithful to their mates, they seem disconsolate under separation, and are easily reconciled when a breach happens between them. They are the most fruitful of birds, bearing almost every month. Their food is the purest seed or grain, their drink the fairest waters, and they loathe the filth on which the raven riots. They are weak, defenceless, exposed to injuries, beset with fears, and ad

dicted to mourning. When pursued by ravenous birds they will not fight, but tremble and flee to their windows. In eastern countries they often seek a refuge in caves and holes of rocks, where they nestle and abide. Of all birds they are most attached to home; and if carried to almost any distance and then set free, they will steer straight and rapidly to their favourite cabin.

In allusion to these dispositions, Christ calls his Church his dove, and hails her, sheltered as she is in her eternal refuge, "O my dove, thou art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs." To denote at once her meekness and tenderness, he represents her as regarding him with "doves' eyes." Attached and faithful to him, she sits solitary when he is absent, and when at any time she has grieved him by her follies, she is eager to be restored to favor. Her fruitfulness is in good works. Unable to live on the ordure of sin and worldly objects, she quenches her thirst at the waters of life, and can relish only "the finest of the wheat and honey out of the rock." In this vale of tears she is addicted to mourning on account of her sins and the miseries of her race.

"Like a

crane or a swallow" so does she often "chatter;" she mourns sore like "a dove.” With inextinguishable desire she cleaves to her home, the bosom of her God; and when driven from it by the hurry of her passions, nothing, though worlds rise between, can prevent her from rushing back and seeking again a retreat in her father's arms. Weak and defenceless in herself and exposed to injury,

disinclined to strife and incompetent to the rough encounter, she fears and trembles and flees to hide herself in her eternal rock. Like the gentle spirited Psalmist shrinking from his robust enemies, she often pants with the desire, "O that I had wings like a dove; for then would I fly away and be at rest."

With these several marks of resemblance, a dove may not improperly be considered as the emblem of a Christian. So the ark, in which the Church was sheltered from the storms which swept a wicked world, may, even with the consent of the apostle Peter, be considered as a symbol of Christ.— The circumstances recorded in the text, of the dove's leaving the ark, finding restlessness abroad and returning with instinctive eagerness to that friendly refuge, have been employed, without incurring the censure of fanciful allusion, to illustrate the wanderings of Christians, their consequent uneasiness and glad return. I will not say that the passage was originally intended to be applied in this manner; but if it furnishes an apt illustration of truths obviously taught in other parts of the Bible, it may lawfully be employed for such illustra

tion.

I. First then the dove wandered from the ark; and Christians alas are too prone to wander from Christ. In this state of imperfection and sorrow they are not so happy or so wise as to abide constantly at home. This happiness is reserved for a better state. O that it were now here. But God knows it is far otherwise with us. Here Christians must have their turns of wandering, that they may