thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth?" It is Christ that died." "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" Death is his last and greatest enemy, and death shall bring him to the house of his God. Death is the porter that opens the gates of eternity; and when the heaven-born soul has entered there "it shall proceed through ages and ages, and dive deeper into these riches and still find them unsearchable."

Come then, poor sinner, to God and be blessed with durable riches. "But, are they for me?" Yes, for thee. God is not rich in grace for Himself; it is for sinners, for rebels, for enemies. The strongest proof He has given us of the riches of his grace, proves that He has opened his treasures for such as these. "Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes became poor, that you, through his poverty, might be made rich." In the depth of his poverty see how grace abounds for the chief of sinners. How low he comes! see him in the "likeness of sinful flesh;" lower yet, see him under condemnation; lower yet, see him made a curse for us. Will he not then willingly make us rich? It was for this end He became poor. He gave his life for us, how will he not then give us all that his blood bought? There is no escaping from these conclusions: they are drawn from infallible premises, by the infallibility of divine wisdom.

Come then sinners, however poor, however wretched, come to God; give yourselves to Him with all your poverty, but with all your heart, and He will give Himself to you with all His riches; and they are riches that make glad the heart, and add no sorrow therewith: riches on which your hearts may be fixed with the utmost intensity: riches that you may covet with a miser's thirst; "He is rich to all that call upon him." Let Augustine's prayer be yours, "Lord,

give me thyself;" and let the Psalmist's resolution be yours, "Thou art my portion, O Lord, I have said that I will keep thy words;" this makes a complete Christian character. Take the Lord for your portion, and you secure "exceeding abundantly above all that you can ask or think." Take His word for your rule, and you have an indisputable evidence to your interest in Him, for "Christ being made perfect became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him"*

*Heb. v. 9.

SERMON III.

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto In all thy ways acknowledge him,

thine own understanding.

and he shall direct thy paths."-PROVERBS iii. 5, 6.

"Oh Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps," says the Prophet Jeremiah. Though this declaration refers to a particular case, it applies equally to all men. That man has been but a poor observer of his ways, who has not learned, that his own understanding is inadequate to the task of guiding him with discretion, through the mazes and labyrinths of life. He knows not what is good for him; he cannot tell what will be the events of the next moment; and if he were competent to this, he has not the power to bring any thing to pass. Hence, a very cursory glance will suffice to show, that the men, who "lean to their own understanding," are doomed to lives of projects, and frustrations, and vexations; the evils which they weave in their vain imaginations, are in an instant unravelled by another hand; and so they are wrapt in their winding sheet, before they have effected any device.

Lean not then, O man! to thine own understanding. It is a miserable counsellor: it will keep thee in constant perplexity and uncertainty; it will not direct thee to any good purpose; it will leave thee to be tossed on the ocean of

life, like a frail bark in a tempest, without cable or anchor, and at last, cause thee to make shipwreck of thy interests, in this life and the life to come. Neither trust in man, for his breath is in his nostrils, and wherein is he to be ac-. counted of." No, not in princes, for in them is no help; nor yet in angels, for their wisdom would be folly in guiding the affairs of men; but "trust in the Lord with all thy heart." "Happy is the man that hath the Lord for his counsellor, and the God of Jacob, for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God;" for, "He is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother." We may trust in Him for all things, for all nature is in his hands; and at all times-in times of affliction, temptation, and darkness; for all power is with him to help. Trust him with all thine heart; with all sincerity and confidence, for His love, and grace, and mercy, are free and boundless, and "His delight is in all that trust in Him." "In all thy ways acknowledge Him;" look to Him, not only for protection and support, but also for guidance to be directed in a right course of conduct through life, and "He will direct thy steps."

Our text is a direct recognition of the doctrine of Providence, and perhaps it will be proper to dwell a little upon this point, before we proceed to the particular duty here enjoined.

It is not our design to enter into a metaphysical disquisition of the subject: such a course would be neither pleasant to us, nor profitable to you. "To the law and the testimony," is our constant motto, and this is both profitable and pleasant.

The providence of God consists in creating, sustaining, and governing. His creating providence, is the exercise of that power, by which all things are brought into being. His sustaining providence, is the constant exercise of that

power to uphold and keep in existence those things which He has created; so that all creatures, "in Him live, and move, and have their being." This, some call the law, or course of nature; but more scripturally, the divine will. "With Him is the fountain of life, and in His hand is the breath of every living thing." This sustaining influence extends to all creatures, from the most exalted to the meanest; like the sun, its influence reaches to the high and low, to the noble and the ignoble. As an archangel could not exist at first without Him, so neither can he continue in being, independently of His power: and as the most insignificant and detestable reptile that creeps on the earth, was not beneath Him to create, so neither is it beneath Him to sustain. His hand guides the stars in their courses, and preserves them in their respective spheres; He makes the outgoings of the morning and evening; He causes the regular returns of summer and winter, of seed-time and harvest; He appoints to man his habitation, and determines the number of his months; "He gives to the beast his food, and to the young ravens when they cry." So general is His providence, that it extends to the utmost bounds of creation; and so minute, that "He numbers the very hairs of our heads, and suffers not a sparrow to fall on the ground without him."

His governing providence extends to all the actions of His creatures. The very clouds, which seem to wander so much at random through the air, are guided by His hand. "He scattereth his bright cloud, and it is turned round about by his counsels; that they may do whatsoever He commandeth them upon the face of the earth;" He gives the fish of the sea, and the fowls of the air, that instinct by which they are brought to our shores in their re

* Job xxxvii. 11, 12.