When the subject of a monarch, who, this very week, has, by his own fault, lost his crown, again occurs to you, I intreat each one of you to say to himself, in the presence of God: "And thou, O my soul, how is it with thee? Hast thou been careful to make sure to thee the crown of life? Art thou more occupied (so it should be), a thousand times more occupied with this concern, than with the occurrences of the year with the events of the day, or the passing debates of politics? Hast thou considered that 'it is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God? And hast thou earnestly inquired, 'what will become of thee shouldst thou neglect this great salvation?" "

After holding converse with each other on the sad fate of this king— fallen from his throne, flying his kingdom, abandoned by all, not knowing where to find an asylum, in which to weep for his crown and his glory-I intreat of you to enter into serious communion with yourselves, to place before your minds this thought: "What shall be in eternity? What shall soon be the frightful condition of those who lose the crown of life, and find themselves cast out into darkness." I intreat you to ask yourselves what, in this approaching eternity, will be the condition of an immortal being, who must say: "I might have obtained the crown of life, but by my own fault have lost it! I might have been admitted to the right hand of God. I might have been happy, happy forever, and I have chosen to remain 'a child of the devil, under wrath; far from blessedness, far from my God, with the devil and his angels.""

"It is then," said our Lord, "that there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, all the just and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves cast without!" It is then that "the righteous shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father."

For, after all, what is a kingdom of this world? What is one of these crowns for which men sigh, and for which so many efforts, so many labors, and, often, so many crimes, procure so little? What is one of these crowns, compared to the crown of life?

Ah! my brethren, to all the wealth of this world, to all the crowns of this life, two things are wanting: First. They confer not happiness, because they procure no reconciliation with God; they bestow no holiness; they give no peace; they encircle but too often the brow of an enemy to God-loaded with cares, watered with tears; they crown nothing but sorrow.

Secondly. Another thing is wanting: it is duration. Should the possession of a crown bestow happiness, its continuance might be for thirty years; it might be but for three days! After the most glorious reign, the crown, the scepter, and the sword repose upon the coffin; they ornament nothing but a corpse! But the crown which I am sent to announce, is offered on the part of God, through Jesus Christ; it is offered to the child as well as to the aged; to the poor as to the rich.

Ah! that crown is the real one; for that alone bears the characters which are wanting to all the crowns upon earth. First, it gives happiness-it is happiness in itself; it is called by Saint Paul, the "crown of righteousness," by David, the crown of "grace and compassion," by a prophet, the "crown of joy ;" and secondly, this crown is immortal; it is in itself a blessed immortality; it is the crown of life, and, by the apostles, is called the "incorruptible crown of glory."

My brethren, take care, then, that no one take from you this crown. This is the first reflection which I had much at heart that you should draw from my subject.

The second is this:

That which, without doubt, must aggravate and much embitter the pain of the unfortunate monarch of France, and of his family, in view of their fall, and of the blood which it has caused to flow, is the numerous warnings so vainly received by them during the past year-the last week still, and even the day preceding the one which consummated their ruin. How often might he have arrested the steps which ruined him, and have pursued a career of peace, as one of the most happy and powerful sovereigns of our age! How often have his honor and happiness been placed in his own hands, and he incapable of retaining them! How many reflections will come to him in his sad exile, bearing the reproach, like that which God formerly addressed to his people: "Thou hast destroyed thyself, O Israel !"

Let us each one apply this example to himself.

How many times, my brethren, have you been warned by God. On how many occasions has he said to you-now; to-day; on this Sabbathday; at this communion season; on this bed of sickness; in these days of mourning-"Poor child; give me thy heart! Wilt thou not come to me that thou mayest have life ?" How often in the strength and clearness of these warnings have they not seemed to say to you, as to Jerusalem, "Oh, if at least, in this thy day, thou wouldst have listened to the things that belonged to thy peace! My people, my people! Oh, if thou couldst have listened to me!" How often has it been asked whether you were in Christ! How often has it been repeated that there is salvation in none other. And with what truth may it be said to you, as Paul said to the church at Miletus, "I am pure from the blood of all

men."

Know, then, that the kingdom of God has come nigh to you; that you have been warned. Deceive not yourselves; for "God will not be mocked." "That which a man soweth shall he also reap. He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; and he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting."

And certainly one of the greatest torments endured by those who, at the last day, shall stand at the left hand, will be the thought of all these despised warnings, of all these neglected appeals, of all these

invitations of divine goodness, reteived with indifference, and repulsed with such carelessness, with even so much contempt. "Because I have called," said divine Wisdom, "and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded; but ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity: I will mock when your fear cometh; for that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord: they would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices."

You, also, have received warnings to avoid the greatest of all miseries -the loss of the crown of life, an irreparable misfortune; the ruin of your soul-eternal ruin! This is our second reflection.

The third, is, that with which we would stir up the depths of your conscience, whenever the intercourse you hold with each other, this week, shall lead you to the subject of that event which, but a few days ago, overthrew the son of a long race of kings.

Like him, you have a time given and determined; a time, after which, "it will be too late,” an extremely short time. "Behold I come,” saith the Lord; "behold, I come quickly!"

There is a reflection which often strikes me in reading the Bible, when, in the books of Chronicles, I meet the history of the kings of Israel and of Judah. In considering the judgment, which in a few lines the Holy Spirit passes upon each of these princes, also the short recital of their course upon earth, always ending with these words, so simple, yet so solemn and he died. He walked in the steps of David, to do right; and he died. He walked in the ways of Jeroboam, to do evil; then he died. Perusing, I say, these short but solemn biographies, I ask myself, And if my name had also been written upon this list, what, by the Spirit of God, would have been inscribed of me? He walked in the ways of ; and he died! And in whose ways, O my God?

And now, my brethren, in presence of this king, who so suddenly has ended his reign, put this question to yourselves. You, indeed, bear not a scepter, but you have no less a task to fulfill in the sight of God. Whatever instrument he has been pleased to put in our hands for his service, whether the hoe of the laborer, or the scepter of the king, it is, that we may study to glorify him in our short passage through this world. O, how important then are the days that flow along so rapidly! How solemn to us are the hours! This is the year in which our history progresses; this is the time in which it is written in the book of remembrance kept before God, and the page will soon finish with these inevitable words, "and he died."

O ye, who still enjoy a happy and peaceful existence upon earth, whom the sun still enlightens with his beams, within whose grasp is life eternal, be not, I conjure you, turned away from your high destiny, from your everlasting kingdom, from your inheritance in the heavens, by the

comparatively puerile events of public affairs, by the movements of nations, by the noisy waves of the multitude! Ah, of what importance to you is this or that kingdom, or its king? Above all, let your concern be about the kingdom of heaven, and your eternal interest. Those around you are much concerned about the news of the day; let your chief inquiry be after the state of your soul. The monarch of France, as a king, has just ended his probation, as David, Solomon, Rehoboam, and so many others, have ended theirs; as you yourselves soon, bearing the name of Christians, will end yours. This king had but one space of time; that time is passed; you have but one space of time; this time will pass. His reign is finished; he can alter nothing, can mend nothing; he can take nothing from it, he can add nothing to it. All his days, to the last hours of his fall, are registered in the history of France, and in the more exact history which is written in heaven. He can not revoke a single one of his acts; "the past is engraven upon a table of steel with the point of a diamond," thus speaks Jeremiah. It is immutable; the time of warning is past. Now, it is too late.

Christians, profit by this reflection; think of yourselves; take hold upon eternal life. Soon your career will be ended; soon you will be able to change nothing, to correct nothing. You will be unable to retrench any thing, or to add any thing. See, the Lord cometh! Behold, I come quickly," he cries. He will arrive at midnight, the hour most unexpected. This time, this day, is for you in the sight of God, as was that at the beginning of the last week, the 26th and 27th of July, for the unhappy prince whose reign is just ended. This is then a solemn, an inestimable time. Think of your soul! Let your history be that of a Christian. It is now the time to write it. O let it be well written. Be not enticed by the tumult and illusion of visible objects, which will vanish as a dream of the morning. For you there is business more pressing, news more serious, an event more important than all the revolutions of empires the coming of Jesus Christ; the end of time; the beginning of eternity; your appearance before the King of kings; the solemn erection in the heavens "of the great white throne upon which the King will seat himself, before whom shall fly the heavens and the earth, before whom the books shall be opened, and the dead, both great and small, shall appear, to be judged according to what is written in these books." This is our third reflection. Jesus Christ will come quickly-the time is short-soon it will be too late. "Behold," says the Lord, "behold I come quickly." This, I say, is our third reflection; and here is the last.

It is contained in these words, "Hold that fast which thou hast."

If the unhappy prince, whose fall now serves for our instruction, had held fast the contract which united him to his people, it is believed that he would still retain his crown; this, at least, is certain, that if you do not remain faithful to the covenant of Jesus Christ, you will lose the

crown of life. This is the meaning of the words, "Hold that fast which thou hast."

And now, at the close, it is important that these words, be well understood. They are addressed to men who have already received the gospel of Jesus Christ; they press such to attach themselves to it with fervency, and to persevere in it with firmness. "Take heed, hold that fast which thou hast."

And what is the secret of preserving the crown? It is to hold fast that which thou hast; it is to be held by faith in him who alone has been able to acquire it for us, to Jesus Christ, out of whom we can in no wise approach unto God, and out of whom God will in no wise approach unto us; it is to hold fast, by faith, to the hand of this Saviour, who alone can deliver us from the wrath to come, because in him alone can we find forgiveness in our Judge, and the change of our own heart. "Hold fast that which thou hast."

If you desire a still more scriptural exposition of the important words of our text, you will find it in the exhortation which the apostle addresses to the Hebrews, "Cast not away, therefore, your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward: for yet a little while and he that shall come, will come, and will not tarry! Now the just shall live by faith, and if any man draw back my soul shall have no pleasure in him, saith the Lord. But we are not of them that draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul."

This then is the concluding exhortation: unite yourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ-remain firm in the faith-go to him every day-distrust your own selves every day-read his word every day-nourish yourselves at all times by faith upon his flesh and his blood-expect nothing from God, but through him. Receive daily, as for the first time, in your soul, the good news, that, your sins being remitted for the sake of Jesus, you have the right, in his name, to call upon God as your father, and that you can do all things through Christ, who strengthens you. In a word, "hold fast that which you have." Fight the good fight-go on in your course-keep the faith; and then shall you receive the crown of life, and be enabled to say with Paul, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith, and henceforth there is a crown reserved for me, which the Lord, the just judge, will give me in that day; and not to me only, but also to all those who love his appearing."

My brethren, the apostle has made in his Epistle to the Corinthians a comparison with which I shall conclude. "The men of the world," he says, "that strive for the mastery are temperate in all things, they submit to the greatest privations, they strive to obtain a corruptible crown, and will you not do it for an incorruptible one?" Such is the reasoning of St. Paul.

I conclude, then, by recalling to you, what I have said on the subject of the unhappy monarch of the French. First, Like him, you have a