is, to know that that book on which you rest your hopes, is the book of truth. Call to mind, to how many millions of your fellow-men, this one volume has imparted peace. Call to mind, how many have sealed with their blood, their testimony to its truth. Behold how it has gone forth under the protection of God, to be a light to lighten the Gentiles, and to be the source of endless comfort to every believing soul. Oh! what a gladdening of the heart does the full persuasion of its truth give rise to! Its record of the love of God is true. Its assurances of pardon, and peace, and holiness, and heaven, are all most true. It is not a fable of man's contriving. It is not the invention of priests, or the useful engine of worldly expediency. It is the truth ;-it is the power of God. We need not be ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth. Oh! then, continue ye steadfast in the truth. Be not turned away from the hope set before you in the Gospel. Turn not aside to the vain disputings of men, but rest your faith on the unfailing word of God. This we all of us must know, that if we have not eternal life in Christ, we cannot possibly have it elsewhere. Either there is salvation for us in the name of Christ, or there is no salvation for us at all. Either the Christian is right in what he believes,

Rejoice

Be more

or every one, every where, is wrong. then, ye righteous, in the truth of God. and more obedient to His word; more and more alive to His glorious promises. Strive to be more and more meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. And soon you will see, how good a thing it is to trust in God. Soon what you now gladly believe, all the world will be forced to confess that he only is safe who lives a life of faith; and that they alone are blessed, who have the Lord for their God, and whose hope is in Christ their Saviour!

SERMON II.

THE REWARD OF THE RIGHTEOUS.

PSALM lviii. 10.

"So that a man shall say, verily there is a reward for the righteous: doubtless there is a God that judgeth the earth."

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THESE Words imply, the removal of all doubt as to something that had before been looked upon as uncertain the setting at rest some point, about which there had previously been a question. When certain events should have taken place, then it was, that the truth should come home irresistibly to the minds of all, so that a man should say, verily there is a reward for the righteous: doubtless there is a God that judgeth the earth." The events, which should lead to this conclusion, are thus spoken of by the Psalmist : "the consuming away of the ungodly like a snail;" and "like the untimely fruit of a woman;" his being "vexed with indignation, even as with a thing that is raw ;" and the "righteous rejoicing in beholding the vengeance: and washing his footsteps in the blood of the ungodly." These are the things

spoken of by the Psalmist, as leading a man to say, "verily there is a reward for the righteous: doubtless there is a God that judgeth the earth.”

The expressions, however, here made use of, may seem to some, to savour of the ferocity of a barbarous age; and the idea of the righteous rejoicing in the destruction of the ungodly, may appear to many, scarcely compatible with the charity of a Christian. But, let it be remembered, that the Christian, with the word of God in his hands, must, of necessity, be looking forward to the utter overthrow of every enemy of righteousness; and however difficult it may be now, to reconcile to one's feelings, the misery of the lost, yet will every one hereafter, both see and feel, that just and righteous are the ways of God, in rendering to the wicked the reward of their hands -the threatened punishment which they have presumed to disregard.

My brethren, men are deceiving themselves, in judging that because God is merciful, therefore vengeance will never overtake the workers of iniquity. It should always be borne in mind, that the day which is at hand, is spoken of, as a day of wrath: a day of vengeance: a day of perdition to ungodly men. And we may not be unfaithful to the word of God: we may not keep back all mention of His threatened judgments: we may