has actually come down from heaven, and "died for us, the just for the unjust, that he may bring us unto God." Repent then and believe the gospel. However numerous or aggravated your sins may have been, there is forgiveness with God, that He may be feared, and loved, and served by you. Now is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation to-morrow may be too late. Delay not then to accept the overtures of mercy and grace.

Look to Jesus and be saved. Come unto him and he will in no wise cast you out. But how shall you escape, if you neglect so great salvation? Escape? You cannot. For there is no other method of deliverance. Jesus is the only Saviour; "neither is there salvation in any other for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must or can be saved." If you embrace him by faith, and receive him as your prophet, to instruct you; your priest, to make atonement for your sins, to intercede for you in heaven, and to bless you; and as your king, to reign over you in righteousness, to subdue your sins and to conquer your enemies, you will then belong to the family of God. Your faith in the Saviour will be an evidence that you are numbered among his adopted children. This I trust, brethren, is the happy case with some of you. If it be so, remember your high alliance, and consider whither you are going. "You are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-heirs with the saints, and of the household of God." Rejoice in your connexion and your prospects; and

the brevity of life, lead us to serious reflection on the
apostle's exhortation on the subject.
"This I say,

brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both
they that have wives, be as though they had none;
and they that weep, as though they wept not; and
they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and
they that buy, as though they possessed not; and
they that use this world, as not abusing it; for the
fashion of this world passeth away."

2. But Job speaks also of the calamitous state of human life.

"Man is of few days, and full of trouble." His life is not only short, but sad. Some indeed are ready to say, "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die;" let us run the race of sensual pleasure until death terminates the pursuit. But the scripture cannot be broken-the word of truth declares that man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward;" and that, during the few days of his life, "he is full of trouble." The wise man declares that every thing under the sun is grievous; "for all is vanity and vexation of spirit." Few days pass without some vexation or trouble. Something is continually arising to disorder either the mind or the body. Whatever be man's state or character, we cannot avoid calamity. Good men have their trials. They are troubled on account of their sinfulness. They groan under that body of sin and death, to which they are tied and bound; under the weight of their corruptions; their unbelief, their pride, their deadness of spirit, their hardness of heart. They

of Jesus, we have hitherto been spared to hear the offer of his mercy renewed. Oh let us redeem our remaining time from the service of sin and the world, and devote it to him who died for us, and rose again. Let us be anxious to make our calling and our election sure. Let us look to the Saviour to grant us repentance for our sins. Let it be our object to live a life of faith upon the Son of God; and let us pray for grace to enable us to obey his blessed will. Thus all will be well with us, whether the period of our life be of a longer or a shorter date. And then, when we are called to give up the ghost, if the inquiry be made respecting any individual among us, "Where is he?" What answer would be made?

If the question be asked in hell of Satan the adversary of God and man, who goeth about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, what reply would be wrung from his disappointed malignity? "He has escaped from our hands; he was made acquainted with our devices; he resisted our temptations; he has been rescued from our society and torments; he has obtained an inheritance in that state of glory from which we miserable have been cast down for ever."

If the inquiry should be made on earth-of a fellow Christian, an heir of the same promises, "He has given up the ghost, and where is he?" might he not with confidence answer, "He is gone to inherit a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens; to enter on the mansions prepared for

him by Jesus, who has saved him with an everlasting salvation; to participate in the felicities and glories of that inheritance, where there shall in no wise enter in anything that defileth; but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.

Should the question be asked in heaven, and one of the innumerable company of angels should be addressed, "where is he?" "He belonged to our society; he was predestinated to be made equal to the angels; he is now come to dwell with us and unite in our songs. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.

Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever.

And finally, imagine the question proposed to one of the spirits of just men made perfect, "He hath given up the ghost, and where is he?" "He is come to our Father's house, to rest in the bosom of his Father and his God; to see the Saviour whom he loved and to be made like him; to serve God day and night in his temple; where he will hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on him, nor any heat. For the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne shall feed him, and shall lead him unto living fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away all tears from his eyes.'

SERMON VIII.

ST. PAUL'S CHARGE TO TIMOTHY..

2 TIMOTHY iv. 1, 2.

1 CHARGE THEE, THEREFORE, BEFORE GOD, AND THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, WHO SHALL JUDGE THE QUICK AND THE DEAD AT HIS APPEARING AND HIS KINGDOM: PREACH THE WORD.

If we consider, my brethren, the high dignity and the awful responsibility of the ministerial office, we shall be constrained to view it as the most important trust with which a human being can be invested. The work in which a minister of the gospel is engaged, is the most honourable, the most benevolent, and the most useful employment in the world. The minister of Jesus Christ possesses a station of far higher honour, and infinitely greater importance, than the prime minister of the most powerful and illustrious monarch. The one is the minister of a

This sermon was preached some years ago, at a visitation at Stony Stratford, before the late Rev. Hugh Heslop, D.D., archdeacon of Bucks, and the clergy of the district, and was subsequently published. But as a very limited impression was circulated, the author reprints it, in the hope, from the importance of its subject, it may be generally useful, and more particularly so to his junior brethren of the clergy.