St. John vii. 37-39.-In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on ENCOURAGEMENT TO GIVING LIBERALLY. St. Mark x. 28-31-Then Peter began to say unto Him, Lo! we have left all, and have followed Thee. And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's, but he shall receive an hundred-fold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecu- St. Luke xii. 4, 5.-And I say unto you, my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear Him which, after He hath killed, hath power to cast into SERMON I. CHRISTIANITY NO FABLE. 2 PETER i. 16. "For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eye-witnesses of his majesty." We have in this, the best possible proof, that St. Peter did not think he had been following any cunningly devised fable, in obeying the Gospel of Christ-that he laid down his life for the faith. A man may be misled, in taking that for truth which is not truth; but no one would die in defence of what he knew to be false. We are sure, therefore, that the Apostle must have felt persuaded of the truth of what he taught respecting the power and coming of Christ; for otherwise he would not have been bold enough to meet death in its defence. Martyrdom, it is allowed, is no test of the truth of what a man believes; but only of the sincerity of his belief. It might therefore be argued, that the Apostle was possibly over credulous, in expecting a glorious resurrection. It might be urged, that others, also, have had their hopes excited by the prospect of some higher and happier state of things; and so it might be hinted, that it was not impossible, that all alike might be under a delusion. But observe, no such doubts and misgivings did in the least shake the faith of the Apostle; for he was trusting to what his own eyes had seen. He knew that he had himself been an eye-witness of his Master's glory, and the remembrance of the scene of the transfiguration of Jesus, would entirely remove every shadow of doubt, as to the truth and the reality of his high and heart-gladdening expectations. That therefore, of which he felt so sure himself, and knew to be so important, St. Peter was most anxious to communicate to others. And thus we find him stating, in all the simplicity and confidence of conscious truth, that he and his brother Apostles had not been following cunningly devised fables, when they undertook to make known to all the world, the power and the coming of Christ. These words, then, of the Apostle, may teach you to reflect, first, upon the certainty and the importance of that which the Bible makes known to us, concerning the power and the coming of Christ; and secondly, upon the different effects which a conviction of this would produce upon the minds of men. First, then, as to the certainty and the importance of what the word of God makes known to us concerning the coming and power of Christ. We maintain, that what you are wont to hear about the coming of Christ, is so far from being a cunningly devised fable, that it is the truth of God. When we speak to you on this subject, we speak not with hesitation, as if it were possible we were deceived. We speak with the full assurance of faith, as those who know that they are trusting to the word of God. We speak as those who are in earnest, because we feel that we are bearing witness to the truth. We ourselves are sure that it is no fable-no vain and imaginary state of things, to which we direct your attention. We feel, indeed, that we have a work of difficulty to accomplish. We cannot but see that men's eyes are not open to the truth; and though there are few that would say that the Gospel is a fable, there are multitudes who are living exactly as if it were so. Of you, then, brethren, I would enquire, whether you are treating that which God has made known to you in his word, as if it were an idle tale, or a cunningly devised fable? you understand what it is that God has made known unto you? Have you ever given one hour's serious thought to the consideration of what God has revealed? Have you formed any ex Do |