to you as a means of increasing your love to him, and of purifying you for his enjoyment. More arduous duties may be imposed upon you, but your strength is in God, and as your day is, he will make your strength to be. Your spiritual adversaries may set themselves in array against you, but greater is He that is for you than all they that are against you. Perhaps you may be tried with prosperity, -the world may smile upon you-your table may be furnished-your cup may overflow-the praise of men-success in life-the riches of the world, may be yours. But neither height nor depth-the height of prosperity, no more than the depth of adversityshall separate you from the love of God. Look forward, then, my Christian friends, to things to come; look forward, and rejoice. There may be darkness, there may be doubt there may be danger, but with the word of truth to comfort you, of what need you be afraid? What real good can you ever want? Has not God given up his Son, and with him will he not freely give you all things? But not only is the possession of this mortal life the property of Christians; the boundless felicity of the heavenly state is before you, and eternity is yours. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time," 1 Peter, B But God He loves He loves nature of years of ages of an eternity of things to come. The imagination of man cannot conceive them, language has no name to express them; and yet we know enough to excite every feeling of our nature to the uttermost-for death and judgment, and heaven and hell, are some of the things to come. Even without going beyond the present scene, there is enough to call forth many fears. Trials may, nay, they must befal you-temptations will assail youtroubles and misfortunes must needs come. maketh all things work together for good. his people with a never changing affection. them to the end. You know not, indeed, what may come upon you, but you know, at least, that nothing can come that is not according to the determination of your Father in heaven who careth for you. may be young, and going forth into the world, and you are not without cause of alarm in the snares and dangers of a world that lieth in wickedness. But if you put your trust in God, he will guide you by his counsel and shield you by his might. You may be old, and perceive the decay of nature coming upon you, and you may be looking forward with apprehension to the greater decline to come. But the Lord knoweth your frame. He remembereth you are but dust. He will not forsake you when you are old. He can make your grey hair a crown of glory. Amidst the decay of nature he can revive strength in the inner man, and the trees that are planted in the House of the Lord shall still bring forth fruit in old age. Afflictions may be awaiting you, but they come from God, and he will bless them You to you as a means of increasing your love to him, and of purifying you for his enjoyment. More arduous duties may be imposed upon you, but your strength is in God, and as your day is, he will make your strength to be. Your spiritual adversaries may set themselves in array against you, but greater is He that is for you than all they that are against you. Perhaps you may be tried with prosperity, -the world may smile upon you-your table may be furnished-your cup may overflow-the praise of men-success in life-the riches of the world, may be yours. But neither height nor depth-the height of prosperity, no more than the depth of adversityshall separate you from the love of God. Look forward, then, my Christian friends, to things to come ; look forward, and rejoice. There may be darkness, there may be doubt-there may be danger, but with the word of truth to comfort you, of what need you be afraid? What real good can you ever want? Has not God given up his Son, and with him will he not freely give you all things? But not only is the possession of this mortal life the property of Christians; the boundless felicity of the heavenly state is before you, and eternity is yours. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time," 1 Peter, B i., 3-5. The prospect of this may well support us under all the trials of our earthly condition, or rather, it may teach us to rejoice in our tribulations, for, as has been beautifully observed, the greater troubles we come through, the kinder usage shall we receive when we come to our Father's house-that house where there are many mansions, and our Saviour is preparing a place for his people. There they are to enjoy an exceeding and eternal weight of glory— treasures, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, -treasures inestimably precious and of endless variety-treasures abounding in all things for he that overcometh shall inherit all things. However much may be enjoyed on earth there is still something wanting, and the want of it takes away from the enjoyment of all the rest. But in heaven there is all that can contribute to complete happiness. They may go through that glorious land in the length of it and in the breadth of it, and all they see is their own. The Almighty shall rejoice in his works for ever, and they enter into the joy of their Lord! Such, O believer, is your heritage! All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life or death, or things present or things to come. I cannot conclude without reminding all those who are strangers to the covenant, that while believers, in having nothing, possess all things, the wicked, though they possess all worldly comforts, have nothing. They may say, I am rich and increased in. goods, but in reality they are poor; and surely this consideration should lead them to seek for those riches which endure, to come to Christ and buy wine and milk without money and without price. SERMON II. PART FIRST. THE UNCHANGEABLENESS OF CHRIST IN HIS HEB. xiii. 8.-"Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." THERE is no attribute of Deity more wonderful than that of unchangeableness. It seems to be the condition of every created thing in the visible universe, that they are all subject to constant change. They have a beginning and an increase, then a decay and a dissolution: and nothing is for a moment stationary. They are indeed made known to us only by the mutations that they exhibit. Even the objects that appear to be permanent, and no way subject to time and chance, are not so in reality; they only appear so to us because we are still more fleeting than they. And the stars that seem as if they would shine for ever in their beauty and their brightness, are to fall to the earth at last, as a fig tree casteth its untimely figs when it is shaken of a mighty wind. The world itself waxeth old as doth a garment, and is to pass away. If we descend to our |