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may be found in every congregation; for although, perhaps, there is not a being so foolish as to say, "there is no God," there are multitudes who have never addressed him, nor glori fied him, as the God of their salvation. The declaration, therefore, of the apostle may serve for you: "Whom ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you." What then is salvation? It is the soul's deliverance from the death of sin and of woe, from Satan's dominion, and an eternity of wrath; it is the grant from heaven, of "an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away;" it is the removal of the seal from the sepulchre of dead souls, and the bringing them out to life and freedom. Need

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say more to convince you what the Masterbuilder of such a work is, he, who with wicked hands was crucified and slain? that, if ever you hope to be saved at all, the God of your salvation must be Christ Jesus the Lord? What do you answer to all this? That you have known these things from your youth up. Why then are there no fruits from this knowledge? Where is the confidence and the joy that it should necessarily produce? If you had a saving knowledge in that mighty One, who for our sakes was exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour, you would think of his great salvation from day to day, and rejoice that such

a wonderful way should have been ever exibited to sinners, as that new and living way which he has consecrated with his own blood. Have you ever supposed such a season of trouble as that spoken of by the prophet, and considered whether you have faith and strength enough to bear up against it? You may, by the wisdom of the world, keep poverty away from your doors; but can you guard your lives, and preserve them from the destroying angel? Alas! what is the strength and beauty of the frames of men? they must be overtaken by death and judgment: then will the worldling's joy be over, and the fashion of his countenance will change, and he will treat pleasure itself with scorn; and if he has no other foundation than that he laid, when the hills and mountains of the earth were his dependance, he will be as open to the wrath of an avenging God as the improvident sinners of the old world. It is better to realize a scene that will soon lie in dreary prospect before us, than to witness the rushing in of the tide without an avenue to escape. But in speaking thus to some of you, I fear I am only "beating the air," for I am arguing with persons who affix a very different value to salvation from that which I contend attaches to it. The prophet speaks of it as the chariot of salvation; the apostle calls it a great salvation, and in another place, an

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eternal salvation. Thus intimating, that for its swiftness, its greatness, and its durability, it is worthy of all acceptation." But we, instead of rejoicing when it travels through the earth, and the sound of it is heard at our own dwellings, remain as listless as if we had nothing to do but to avail ourselves of it, at any moment, as a convenient shelter from impending punishment. What an unhappy dissimilarity is there between the language and experience of the prophet, and some of those whom, for courtesy sake, I will call Christian brethren! Where is their King? by their silence concerning him, you might suppose they had none. Where is their hope? if their thoughts and tongues are to be believed, it is settled upon the best things they can collect below. Where is the blessed Spirit? he is cast as far away from them as the stony heart has power to do it. Where is their Saviour? they have trampled him under foot, and made light of his garments of salvation. How different are the actings of the prophet! The day of Christ was overhung with shadows, it was not visible to the eye at all; and yet dim and clouded as it was, he rejoiced to have it before him, and as he saw it, he was glad. He looked abroad, but every thing was marked with the serpent's touch; and though there was room enough for tears and sorrow, there

was none for joy. If there be fruit upon the olive, it is not the tree of life; if the field yield its meat, it is not the bread that cometh down from heaven; if the outward man can be nourished with the cattle in the stalls, they are not food for the soul within; he is ready to say, "Woe is me that I am constrained to dwell with Mesech, and to have my habitation amongst the tents of Kedar." But when his eye catches a gleam from the seat of glory, he follows it in the fulness of faith until he finds the rest he is in search of, until he sees the whole company of the blessed built up in Zion, a church triumphant; and then, in anticipation of his own redemption, he begins the song to which every chord in his heart responds, “I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.”

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SERMON IX.

CHRIST THE TREE OF LIFE.

GENESIS xlix. 22-24.

Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall: the archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him; but his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel.

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THIS was the rich blessing that the dying patriarch, in the spirit of prophecy, bequeathed to Joseph, the youngest and the most beloved of his sons. The blessing of a father, in those days, when he not only governed his family as the head, but taught them as a priest, was looked to, with deep interest. It was by his hand, as an instrument of the God of righteousness, that light was sown for the righteous, and gladness for them that were upright in heart. It is true

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