Him: but He dwelleth in his living temple, the Lord of all that believe upon Him. "For the righteousness which is of faith," saith St. Paul, “speaketh in this wise; say not in thine heart, who shall ascend into heaven! (that is, to bring Christ from above,) or who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring Christ again from the dead). But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, that is, the word of faith which we preach." His second coming to judge, is only the completion of the kingdom, whereby He already reigneth in the hearts of his saints.

He will be no stranger to them when he appeareth, for He is already their joy, and their exceeding great reward. He will be no terror to them, though heaven and earth flee from his countenance, for he knoweth his own and his own know Him. And being made like the angels, they shall spring into the air to meet him at his coming, and they shall stand round about the judgment-seat, and they that be just

shall shine as the sun, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever! And we and they shall return with Him into the presence of his Father and their Father, and his God and their God, and so shall they ever be with the Lord! Amen.

O Lord Jesus Christ, who, at thy first coming, didst send thy messenger to prepare thy way before thee; Grant that the ministers and stewards of thy mysteries may likewise so prepare and make ready thy way, by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, that, at thy second coming to judge the world, we may be found an acceptable people in thy sight, who livest and reignest with the Father, and the Holy Spirit, world without end. Amen!

30

SERMON II.

ROM. XV. 4.-" "Whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written for our learning; that we, through patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope."

IT is marvellous, if you come to consider it, how vast a difference there is, in the manner of men's hearing and reading Holy Scripture! Heaven is not further from earth, than the man who has been converted by the Spirit of God is from him who with the name of Christian, and with the water of baptism once sprinkled on his forehead, has no perception of divine things! To the latter they convey no more meaning than words on any other subject in which he has no particular in

terest. Or, if in some tempers of mind, he is struck by that beauty which fills and shines through the word of God, like an inward light, still there is a lack of practical application. It seems of no especial use to him. It answers nothing in himself. Its declarations gratify no hopes. They feed no hunger and thirst of the soul. They are not powerful to remove doubts or fears. At best they are like the sounds of one who plays cunningly on a musical instrument, and, whilst they charm the ear at one moment, vanish from mind and memory the next.

Now, what is infinitely important to observe is, no book is like this book. There is no doubt that much of what men have written in worldly books is beautiful and attractive! But it is, after all, not so much things which they have set down therein, as notions and pleasing fancies only! When the hour's amusement or instruction is gone they have no existence, there is no substance in them. But the word of God is

all made up of things, not notions. It speaks from first to last, of that which has a real existence, and neither changes nor passes away. God is such a reality. He is what he is, whether you think or speak of him orno. Your souls are realities—things which live and will live, with a world of misery or happiness in the depths of them, whether you perfect them or not. Heaven and hell are such realities-the one is bright and blissful, the other the place of woe and wailing; the one for the saints, the other for the ungodly, whether they are in our thoughts or not.

And so it is, touching all the warnings and counsels to men of which the holy book is full. All this, too, is just the opposite of mere words. They are but sounds, this has a power in it. The letter of scripture is only the body for a mighty soul; and that soul is the Holy Spirit. And, by virtue of his presence in the book and in our hearts at once, it changes, it comforts, it persuades, it guides, in deed