pastors are mortal men, and that they cannot continue long for the same reason which applies in other cases-they cannot continue long by reason of death. Let it be your study, therefore, to derive all the spiritual advantages that can be derived from your pastors' labours while they are living; endeavour to strengthen their hands, unite with them in the work of the Lord, to the very utmost of the ability and opportunity which he may supply.

There are those present, probably, who often have heard the voice of our departed friend, and yet seem to hear in vain. Oh, that it may please God to make his death eminently a blessing, as his life was eminently a blessing. Permit me solemnly to remind you, my friends, if there should be such persons among those whom I am now addressing, that though the Pastor is dead—he is not gone for ever; and you must meet him again in that great day, for which all other days were made. You must meet him again; oh, think in what spirit, under what circumstances, with what emotions, you shall meet him in that great day, when the secrets of all hearts shall be laid open. The Pastor is dead, he is gone before; and you will certainly meet him again: the Pastor is dead: but "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." He dieth no more: death shall have no more dominion over him. "Wherefore to-day if ye will hear his voice,"-if ye will now at length hearken to the voice of him that speaketh from heaven, "harden not your hearts" any more; hew out no cisterns for yourselves; betake yourselves to the fountains of living waters. Remember how important it is to have the peace of God in life; to have the peace of God that passeth all understanding in death. Oh, we are ready to say with the poet

"Life take thy chance, but oh, for such an end."

Who does not wish to die the death of the righteous, and have peace in his latter end? Who can listen to such a record as that I have now laid before you, without lifting up his heart to God in earnest supplication, that he may have peace in life, peace in the prospect of death, peace in the prospect of judgment, and peace for ever through our Lord Jesus Christ?

But I must not detain you further. "Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before his presence with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory, and majesty, dominion, and power, both now and ever. Amen."

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF ZION.

REV. J. BURNET*,

TOTTENHAM COURT CHAPEL, MAY 9, 1833.

"And the Highest himself shall establish her."-PSALM, lxxxvii. 4.

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THROUGHOUT the Book of Psalms, we find Zion and its surrounding circumstances, constantly introduced to our notice in the inspired prayers, the inspired praises, and the inspired meditations of the Psalmist. But perhaps on no occasion is Zion more strikingly brought before us, than on the occasion referred to in the passage which I have just read. It is exhibited as having its foundation among the holy mountains: it is held up as the subject of many a celebrated prophecy; "glorious things" are said to be spoken concerning it: it is held up as established," as in the expression before us, by God himself: and it is, finally, considered as the great end of every benefit, and of every blessing. Now, if we find Zion thus strongly introduced, we naturally ask upon what grounds Zion becomes a subject of such importance, and why it furnishes so many, and such striking illustrations? Zion was at first a fortress belonging to the Jebusites; and after the settlement of the people of Israel in the land of Canaan, it still continued to be held by that division of the ancient nations. From the time of Joshua, to the reign of David, it still continued a strong hold of the enemy, on the confines of the territories of Benjamin and Judah. It was besieged by David, and after a strong resistance, was at last by stratagem carried. Recommending itself to the adoption of the Psalmist, and approved of God, as the spot which should henceforward form the grand centre of his worship, it became the place where David erected the tabernacle, that had previously been fixed in Shiloh, that had previously to that been moved from place to place, until this permanent residence was chosen. From that moment the glory of God that shone about the cherubim, took up its residence in Zion: and hence the different allusions to that particular spot, in connexion with the illustrations afforded of the character of the Church of God; and hence the appropriate, and by the Jews, well-understood epithet, so often applied to that Church under the term "Zion," by the Psalmist.

It was looking at Zion in this view of its then circumstances, that induced the Psalmist to inscribe this description of its beauty and excellence in the passage before us; and it was in connexion with Zion's spiritual glory, of which Zion of old was a type, that the Spirit of inspiration directed the inscription. Uniting, therefore, the view which struck the Psalmist himself with the intention of the Spirit of God in directing his contemplations-the stability and glory of Zion-we have before us the meaning of the Psalmist's

For the London Missionary Society.

expression, "The Highest himself shall establish her." The Psalmist may be supposed to have taken a dis'ant view of the mountains of Zion, (for they were a cluster of mountains:) he may be supposed to have considered the valleys that surrounded them, and added to their strength: he may have felt his heart burn within him, when he reflected that on the top of that elevation dwelt the God of all the earth, the Protector of the people, the shield of the energies of Israel: he may be considered as comparing this view of the children of Israel of old, in this, the spot where the God they worshipped visibly manifested his presence, with the idolatrous nations around them: and then, though he might have mentioned, as he tell us, of the glory of Rahab, and Tyre, and Philistia, and Babylon, among his acquaintance, and those he knew; and although he might speak of the men born in them, as possessing a certain species of honour by their citizenship; yet still he would regard Zion as rising in splendour, and in importance, and in purity, and in privilege, and stability, above them all, and thus would be led to pronounce concerning her, “The Highest himself shall establish her.”

Taking this view, then, of the feelings of the Psalmist, when he recorded the expression before us, we may apply them as they were obviously designed by the Spirit of Truth to be applied, to the circumstances of the Church in the future ages of the world, and consider them in connexion with the object for which we have now come together; and regarding Zion as typical of the Church of God, (and without these typical allusions, the passage before us is only an extravagant description,) we may inquire, first, WHAT WE ARE to underSTAND BY THAT CHURCH, WHIch the Highest HIMSELF SHALL ESTABLISH.

A Church, like every other community, consists, in the first instance, of individuals stated to form a part of a general membership, of which it is finally, in its perfectly organized condition, to consist. If we were to assemble all the grandeur and glory of the universe; if we were to collect the courage of all the mighty of the earth; if we were to accumulate the wealth of kingdoms and of commonwealths; if we were to bring the intellectual and mental power of the philosophers of every name, of every school, and of every country; if we were to unite with this mighty and imposing group every thing that we could find connected with the progress of pure morality, so far as humanity can purify morals; if we could invest this imposing body with all the attributes of unity, of which they could possibly, in such a state, be made capable; if we could rule them by the wisest species of laws which their combined wisdom could invent; yet still there would be found a lack of that community, of that spirit that is absolutely essential to the constitution of a Church; and we should consider every effort on their part, at forming a special community, wholly vain. We should look at the light of the Word of Truth, as an attempt to show how far all these elements, however excellent, considered apart, were calculated to repel one another, and increase the general confusion. There must be a community of character, there must be a oneness of spirit, there must be a community of view, of fellowship, and of feeling, before we can, under any circumstances, contemplate even the materials, out of which a Church must necessarily spring. We must, therefore, regard the elements out of which the Church is to be formed, that God is to establish, before we can view these elements in their combined operation, towards the final glory implied in Zion's establishment.

We may consider an individual, in the first instance, as a single stone, dead in trespasses and sins, but capable of a spiritual quickening by the great power of God, before he can be added to that temple which God is to establish as his own Zion on the holy mountains. We must regard his understanding as illuminated; we must follow up that illumination in its power on his moral faculties; we must see it diffusing its light, and beginning to engender its energy; and we must see that energy growing up by the power of constraining love; and we must find the man's attachments begin to quicken to the spiritual things from which he was originally alienated; and then we must find the soul exhibiting the first symptoms of vitality before we can consider it as having so changed its nature, as to make it fitted to the spiritual edifice which the Highest himself is about to establish. To establish a temple of dead stones, unfitted for such a building—to establish a temple unfitted to sustain the worship and the adoration of the God who is intended to dwell in it, would be to establish an empty form, an unmeaning show, and, in the end, would exhibit nothing of the "manifold wisdom of God," which even the angels learned by the Church.

If, therefore, we regard the very first materials, out of which the Church of God is to be formed, previously to its establishment as living stones, then no one is within the limits of this sacred territory upon which Zion is founded, and which forms a part of Zion's temple, unless he has been made the subject of this enlightening, this quickening, this new-creating power, of which we have been speaking. Each individual connected with the temple of the living God, should himself be living; each individual, forming a part of this great edifice, must sympathize in spirit and feeling with the whole and unless this vitality is found within, no fashioning without, no operation of man's hand, either upon the chief corner stone, or upon the foundation stones-no squaring of human systems, or fashioning of human schools-no diffusion of human knowledge, or imparting of human energy, can, in a single instance, much less in the many that must constitute the spiritual members of the Redeemer's body, create one specimen of that life, and power, and godliness, in which Zion is to be built up, and by which the Highest himself is to establish her.

We speak thus of single individuals, that we may carry the view that we offer of Zion's materials to every one of you; that we may press on you, while we speak of the heathen, the vast importance of asking each for himself, Am 1 a living stone in this great spiritual temple? For, my friends, unless we are, our Missionary Society will move on heavily, the wheels of her motion will be intercepted, her energies will often be paralyzed, her counsels will be often turned into confusion, her strength will often become weakness, and her wealth become poverty. But let those who profess to be the instruments, the humble, but willing instruments, in the hand of a righteous, but powerful and mighty God, be found ourselves the subjects of the living power that we carry out among the heathen; and then we may expect that the Lord himself will, by them, establish his own Zion.

If we could for a moment suppose, that the materials were thus fashioned, and that spiritual power was thus imparted; if we could suppose, that a great number of individuals had been actually called out of darkness, into God's marvellous light, and had been spiritually quickened by the great power of God; we should still come short of the idea of a Church established by the

God of Zion. for the expression "Church," signifies an assembly, a congregation; and as Zion is intended to exhibit that congregated body as on the mountains of holiness and stability, established by the Highest, we must seek for a congregation of the strength and might which we have now been considering in the individual, materials that constitute the elements out of which Zion is formed. The man who is found in the enjoyment of his own spiritual privileges and ministry; the man who is found, like the ascetic in the desert, seeking to serve God alone; the man who despises the world, and lives away from it, because he hates it; the man who professes to have communion with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ, through the Spirit, while he has no fellowship with the brethren, may be considered as a living stone, (for such individuals, thus ill-judging, have there sometimes been among the people of God,) but he cannot be considered as a living stone forming part of a compact building, which, knit together by joints and bands, edifies itself in love. And hence, although he is a member of the body of Christ, he cannot be considered as a part of that Church which the God of Zion is here said to establish. He is one of the stones that has fallen from the building, or one of the stones that has never been lifted to its place; and though, insulated and alone, he may exhibit, perhaps, some of the finest strokes of the chisel, yet, unconnected with the whole, the carving he displays is imperfect, and the skill manifest in it, is unconnected with the wisdom which pervades the general plan of the whole edifice.

In order, therefore, to make this individual really, ostensibly, and efficiently, a member of the Church of the Living God-the Zion that God will establish, like Zion of old, on the holy mountains, it is necessary that there should be a fellowship with the brethren. In order to constitute a community, there must be a community of feeling; the sinner's views are directed to God first; his sympathies are directed towards him; he is lost in the blaze of his glory, and thrilled by the first feeling of the influence of his power; and beholding as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, he is changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord: he forgets that there is a world; he forgets time, and space, and every inferior object; and he is lost in the contemplation of the one grand object, thus first making manifest the splendour of his attributes. But after the vision with which he has thus been blessed, has become, in some degree, familiar to him, and after the power he thus felt, became a part of his being, his spiritual and living nature, he looks around him for community of feeling and enjoyment; he has affection for his fellow men, and he has affection especially for the people of God; and in loving the Father of the family he is ready to love the children also: and after he has recovered from the first information of his guilt, and the first intimation of God's mercy, he looks around him, and he seeks for others, to whom he may tell what the Lord has done for his own soul, to whom he may tell the love that there is, and the light he enjoys, among a family growing in energy and numbers: and thus he finds scope for his faculties, lifted up from their degradation and directed anew; and as they expand, he finds in the meanest of his brethren the image of Christ, on which those faculties can dwell with increasing rapture; and thus, while he exchanges the sympathies of kindness with them, he finds that they and he become helpers together of each other's faith and joy: and thus laying the foundation on the holy mountain, Tion will be found to be a temple of living stones, each finding its fellow,