their opposition, and more insatiable defensive; but we cannot guard

in their demands. These concessions are a notable measure of expedience, which, like most measures of the same kind, recoils at length, like a racket ball, at the head of him who thinks he had performed a marvellous feat in striking it; they are a cake to the cerberus who will not be appeased, they are like a drop of blood to the ravenous tiger in the idle hope that it will satisfy him, but which only excites, and increases his fevering thirst for more.

against secret attacks. Truly may
the church, or religion say of such
false brethren: "It was not an open
enemy that reproached me; neither
was it he that hated me that did mag-
nify himself against me; then I would
have hid myself from him; but it was
thou, a man mine equal, my guide
and mine acquaintance, we took sweet
counsel together, and walked to the
house of GOD in company."

|
By such it is that the sanctity of
the Sabbath is now reduced to a
matter of expedience-by such it is
that the principles of youth are elu-

Arabian Nights' Tale, rather than the
sacred history. In our present imper-
fect state and with our yet unenlarged
faculties, there must be mysteries
in religion, mysteries not to be tho-
roughly comprehended, and yet on
Scriptural authority to be humbly and
implicitly believed. This is one of the
evidences of a future state as intended
by divine wisdom for man, where
larger fields of information will burst
on his nature, which now he sees as
through a glass darkened.

Thus do our men of letters and of nominal religion go on receding and receding till they can retire no fur-cidated in the flimsy romance and ther; conceding and conceding till there is almost nothing left to concede; and thus do the infidel literate, with whom they are bound, and whom they hope to qualify and gain over, go on advancing and advancing till the very citadel is gained. Yes, for the idle proselitism of expedience, we give up one point after another, till, like that Peter whom we have twice mentioned, we shall at length deny our master, and, like Judas, betray him and narrow his religion to the complimentary emissaries of satan, into a cold scandal, a worldly minded impious conventional edict of nothing but deism and infidelity. It is truly to be deplored that this insidious attack on our faith is the more dangerous by coming often from those friends from whom it might at least not be expected, and that the ark is overthrown, not by those who attack it with unhallowed hands, but sometimes even by the priests, and levites, and guardians, that are appointed to carry it. Against open infidelity we can always be on the

Let us then, my brethren, wait for this illumined period, which shall certainly arrive. Let the past serve as an earnest for the future; what God has done he will do again; if he has dispersed former clouds of uncertainty, surely he will clear up our present difficulties, and present in full light to our understanding those things which we are now too feeble, too encumbered with our earthly tabernacle, and, I may add, too much sealed with sin, thoroughly to comprehend.

་་་

A Sermon,

DELIVERED BY THE REV. J. H. EVANS,

AT JOHN STREET CHAPEL, SUNDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 29, 1833.

Nehemiah, viii. 10." The joy of the Lord is your strength."

acknowledgment-and remember, too, that this principle of holy joy really experienced in your hearts, shall lead you to rise above all your cir cumstances, shall make you truly thankful for all the mercies you have received, and hopeful in all the trials yet before you. "The joy of the Lord is your strength."

THE Jews were now returned from their long and painful captivity-they had come back to their beloved country once again-they once more joined in the temple service-they had the Book of the law once again read in their ears. Upon this solemn occasion, without any special appointment, as it should appear, from the Lord, although doubtless under his own direction, Nehemiah set apart a day of holy solemnity-a day of humble acknowledgment of the Lord's tender goodness and mercy. Upon this occasion we find that when the law was read to the people they could not forbear weeping-" For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law." Doubtless they were reminded of their former glory, their late sufferings in a land of slavery, and their present humiliation, for we learn that only two and forty thousand returned back to Judea; and, doubtless, also they were led to trace, as the source of all the evil, their own sins, their own transgressions, and their own iniquities against the living GOD. But it is remarkable that when they were thus weeping as they heard the words of the law, Nehemiah said to them-" Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength." As if he had said to them, This is not a time now for weeping and lamen-profit of our souls and to the glory of tation and woe, this is a holy day, a our covenant GOD and Father in day of rejoicing and thankfulness and Christ Jesus, while I first of all lay

While it is our mercy, and may we never forget it, that the circumstances in which the true Israel are placed, mainly and essentially, differ from those in which the Israel after the flesh were ever placed, and for want of the consideration of which, this ninth chapter may be much misunderstood, and many dangerous errors be embraced, for that covenant was broken, but the covenant in which we stand, and in which the true Israel stood, and being a covenant of grace and mercy, cannot be broken; for that covenant neither secured holiness nor safety, but our covenant secures both; yet there are many points of resemblance still—and, blessed be GOD, reasons have we in abundance wherefore we may say to the true Israel of GOD, Though ye have many causes for sorrow-though ye have many causes for mourningmany causes for laying your mouths in the dust-remember still The joy of the Lord is your strength."

In treating the subject this morning, may the Holy Ghost enable me and you to look into it to the real

sound stress on those REASONS WHERE FORE THE TRUE ISRAEL OF GOD MAY

WELL BE SORROWFUL.

In the Second place, WHY THEY OUGHT TO BE EXHORTED TO REJOICE, AND THE REASONS THEY HAVE FOR REJOICING-And,

Thirdly, I shall endeavour to show, WHY THE JOY OF THE LORD IS THE

TRUE STRENGTH OF HIS people.

tender warnings he has given us, in the many gentle rebukes, in the many merciful chastisements and the restorings of which we are the subjects- my dear hearers, I am persuaded there is not a child of God that hears me, but who will feel that he has more sinned against the Father that gave him Jesus than ever he sinned against the God that gave him the law; and he will feel that his sins there are of a deeper and more humiliating, and more touching nature, than they ever could have been against the God of heaven only as a law giver. I might appeal to many of your consciences that hear me at this moment. Ye look back on the years that are gone; ye retrace the covenant faithfulness of your Gos towards you; ye are mindful, in some smaller degree, of his sparing mercies, his gentleness, his kindness, his compassion, and his love; ye see it

In the first place, with regard to the causes for lamentation, one hardly knows where to begin; for when we look into the holy law of GoD and think of the precepts as holy, and just, and good, which you and I know to be so, which we are convinced are the only source of happiness, and yet while in our judgment we acknowledge it, and in our hearts we delight in it, what causes of deep humiliation, day after day, week after week, and month after month, place themselves before us, when we think of our miserable shortcomings and fail-in little things; and when ye have ings; failings even in desire towards most wanted him what has he been this holy law of GOD. That congre- to you? Oh, ye sons and daughters gation will ever be found in a healthy of affliction-you that have expeand holy state, which, whilst its eyerienced the bitter and the rough, the is fixed on Jesus first-whilst Christ straight and the narrow of the wilis the great object to which the eye derness-you who are learning that is directed continually feels the this is not your rest, because it is strongest motives for abasement, con- polluted-you that have had your trition, lowliness of heart, and deep cisterns broken one after anotherrepentance towards the eternal God. you that have not only known that the gourd has a worm, but that the very gourd breeds the worm, that there is not a mercy that you have but what in that very mercy there is that which leads you to see the emptiness of all created good, to you I would say, as you look back on the past of your lives, what has GOD been towards you? Think of tenderness; where could ye have found it but in God! Does not God oftentimes permit us to see the insufficiency of his dearest children, how they come short, how they fail us, how they do not reach our case, in order that we may tarf

But when we look into the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and see what that character of God is which he has unfolded there--his loving heart, his full and free forgiveness of all that believe in his dear Son, his gracious readiness to bless them, the throne of his grace on which he sits-we shall find that our sins under the Gospel are far heavier than they ever could have been under the law. When we think too, of our God as our Father-in all his tender love, in all his gentle conduct, in all his bearing and forbearing, with us, in the many

off from the unsatisfying creature, I would say, whatever excuse thou and find our rest in a satisfying God? mayest make to thyself, or whatever What has GOD been towards you, palliation thou mayest offer to thyself, and what have you been towards thou wilt have to stand speechless GOD? I am persuaded there is not before the eternal majesty of heaven a week of your lives but what, as when thou appearest before the white you retrace it, you shall have cause throne; thy life shall be found one to say, "I abhor myself-I once heard exhibition of abused mercy and kindof thee in the law, but now, I have ness! Ask the saints of GoD when seen thee in the Gospel, have seen GOD has touched their hearts--when thee as my kind gracious Father, they are called out of darkness-when what is the effect?" "I abhor myself the stony heart is taken out and the in dust and in ashes." Oh this pre- heart of flesh is given-ask them, cept, "neither be you sorry," utter what was God to you in the days of not one word against that godly your unconverted ignorance, and they sorrow that springs from a sense of will all, all say, He was good, I was God's free forgiveness. Oh, there vile-He was righteous, I was wicked is a meek and lowly sense of sin -He spared, but I abused his mercy, that a sight of the cross of Christ and have abused it to this day! can never fail to give. The more a man lives near to the fountain open, be assured of this, the more he feels a broken and a contrite spirit; and the more he knows and feels that GOD has forgiven him, the more he is forced to say I can never forgive myself; and thus does he walk with GOD softly. And I believe it shall ever be found that just so far as the spirit of adoption prevails in a man's soul, just so far does he walk softly with Gop-in true contrition of spirit, and true humiliation of heart-before the eternal majesty of GOD.

There are some here, to whom I could say I would that your laughter were turned into sorrow, that your mirth were turned into heaviness. Poor thoughtless men and women that live at ease-poor careless sinners that ought to be crying out, "what must I do to be saved"-you see not what you are, you know not whither you are going, you see not the awful precipice beneath your feet, you know not the GOD that has been such a God of long suffering towards yon. I would appeal to the most hardened sinner that hears me, and

But perhaps, some poor thoughtless soul that may have entered these walls to-day may have been brought here to have the arrow of conviction touch his conscience; and he may go to his home, smiting upon his breast, and he may pour forth the first prayer that he ever offered up to GOD in his life, and he may cry to the Lord for mercy, and he may stand abashed and abased before God at this moment; he may feel he is without excuse, has no defence to make, and satan may be trying hard to thrust him down to the very brink of despair he may write bitter things against him, and tell him, Thou hast sinned above all hope, expectation is gone, and gone for ever. Oh, if such there be, though it be one, that heareth me-if such a poor mourning spirit be laid low in the dust before the eternal majesty of GOD-oh, if it be his blessed will to open his poor deaf ears to hear the accents of mercy which are sweet as music-if God the Spirit, will open his ears to hear it: "to him that worketh is the reward not of grace but of debt, but to him that worketh not but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly

his faith is counted to him for righ | therefore arise, O Lord GOD, into thy teousness."

But, observe, while there is nothing in the text, and nothing in the admonition that at all discourages that godly sorrow which even the spirit must feel in proportion as it enters into the heart of a loving GOD, yet the mourning soul is exhorted to rejoice, and that in the Lord. “Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength," MOURNING SOULS ARE EXHORTED TO REJOICE IN THE LORD.

resting place, thou, and the ark of thy strength: let thy priests, O Lord GOD, be clothed with salvation, and let thy saints rejoice in goodness." But if we turn to the Gospel we find exhortations in every part of itthe twelfth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans in the midst of other precepts-“ Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer." And in those two well noted, and, I would I could say, much reflected on and much enjoyed passages,-that in the third chapter of the Epistle to the Philippians and the first verse-" Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord;" and again in the fourth chapter, and the fourth verse, "Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, rejoice :" as well as in the First Epistle to the Thessalonians, the fifth chapter and the sixteenth verse-" Rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing.” But I need not multiply passagesObserve, this joy is not spoken of as a mere fleeting enjoyment, it is described as an habitual abiding frame of mind. There is not a saint of GoD but what will acknowledge it. Oh, The Old dispensation abounded the saints of GOD ought to rejoice with many exhortations of this nature. sometimes, but the word of God says In the sixteenth chapter of the First "Rejoice in the Lord alway; and book of Chronicles, when David again I say rejoice." And in the brought the Ark of God and set it in fifth chapter of the Epistle to the the midst of the tent that he had Romans, we see it is not a mere. pitched for it, and they offered burnt transient state, a mere effect of exsacrifices and peace offerings unto citement, it is a condition spoken of GOD, we read, in the tenth verse, and to be desired as an habitual pri"Glory ye in his holy name: let the vilege-" Therefore, being justified heart of them rejoice that seek the by faith, we have peace with Goo Lord." And, again, in the dedica- through our Lord Jesus Christ. By tion of the Temple in the Second whom also we have access by faith book of Chronicles, the sixth chapter into this grace wherein we stand, and and the forty-first verse: Now rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

I think I never heard a word that more reached my heart, and, for the time, more affected me, than the word of one who lives especially near to Gop; and his word was this,-There is not a more difficult precept to be found in GoD's word than that of "rejoice in the Lord alway, and again I say rejoice;" and yet the spirit of adoption takes away all the difficulty. When he brings the love of GoD into the heart there is no difficulty; when he unfolds Christ to the soul there is no difficulty when he reveals fuller, distinctively, a crucified Immanuel, there is no difficulty, then the mourning soul shall rejoice, and must rejoice in his crucified Lord..