the heralds of a pure and spotless faith, that holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord, shall they permit you to suppose you may neglect the only foundation of a sinner's hope, and yet build securely for eternal bliss? Shall any worldly motive, any fear of man, any love of applause, any mean and contemptible desire of distinction, induce them to swerve from the holy commandment committed unto them? Or shall they not "take heed to themselves and to the doctrine; that in so doing they may both save themselves and those who hear them?"

But, my brethren, this Scripture has also a warning voice from God to you, not less than to your ministers-"Before all the people I will be glorified." "He is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him." Approach him in the way of his own especial appointment, with incense kindled at the altar, with prayers that seek acceptance, and service that hopes reward, because Jesus Christ your surety and representative died and lives in your behalf. What shall you do to be saved? Believe on him and you shall be saved. Adorn his doctrine in all things, by holy godly lives; and his love shall rest upon you. What come ye here to see? a reed shaken by the wind? Nay, but matters of the most solemn concernment, to

which the eye and heart of men can be directed. Endeavour to improve them. Endeavour to see the Redeemer in all the exercises of his religion; and the blessing of the ordinances shall abide with you.

And when the hour of affliction and bereavement comes, strive to imitate the holy resignation of Aaron. A moment before this catastrophe, he was the happy father of four sons, all dedicated to the solemnities of the priesthood, and to a most distinguished station among the ranks of Israel. By a judgment, as tremendous as sudden, two were smitten and slain with fire from the Lord: yet when Moses spake on the part of Jehovah, Aaron held his peace. He set a watch over his tongue, and kept the door of his lips. No murmuring word escaped him; no repining thought seems to have mingled its bitterness and poison with the allowed and necessary sorrow of parental love. The example, awful as it was, became necessary, in order to vindicate the divine glory: and what was the language of Aaron's heart? "It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good." In all this he sinned not; neither charged God foolishly. Amidst all the sufferings which this loss excited, he owned the justice of the Lord; and mourned in submissive silence. The hour of sorrow will arrive. Affliction will try, bereavement will

distress. Learn at such a season to imitate the priest of God, in his holy submission. Learn to imitate a still higher model; and to pray with him who bore the infinite load of human transgression, and fainted beneath it, in the garden of Gethsemene, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. Look for the Almighty sufficiency of the Holy Spirit, to enable you to cry with David, "I was as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth." If affliction find you in this state of mind, or produce it within you, through the blessing of divine grace on its visitation, it will be a messenger of mercy, though it should assume a forbidding aspect. It may be a bitter, but it will be a salutary medicine. Live by faith. Realize the wisdom, goodness, love and fidelity of your God. Learn in the school of humble belief, that all the ways of the Lord are mercy aud truth, to them that keep his covenant and his testimonies. And then, if in the hour of your affliction, the voice of Christian sympathy should ask you, as the prophet asked the Shunamite, when her child lay dead, Is all well? you may answer, in the chastened resignation of her soul, All is well.

SERMON II.

THE CHARACTER OF THE JUBILEE, AND THE MODE OF ITS PROCLAMATION.

LEVITICUS XXV. 8-10.

Thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years: and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.

THE great object of the gospel is to assure us that "God hath given us eternal life; and that this life is in his Son." Accordingly, every intellectual endowment of man, in its highest and

best exercise, has been employed to demonstrate by its internal evidence, the divine inspiration of the New Testament. Nor has the other part of the sacred volume been forgotten. The law and the prophets give their strong attestation to the mind whence they proceeded, as well as to the purpose for which they were designed. They also testify, that "holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." They contain statements, utterly and hopelessly at variance with the infidel supposition of fraud and falsehood; and in no part more frequently, or more particularly, than in the five books of Moses. This part of the Bible has been triumphantly proved, from internal testimony, to contain the true sayings of God; and to demand the implicit confidence of all who desire to "believe to the saving of the soul."

The institution of the sabbatical year, and of the year of jubilee, furnishes undeniable evidence of the truth of the Mosaic history. The people of Israel were not permitted to cultivate their land, during either of these two periods. They would naturally ask—and the question was anticipated, "What shall we eat? Behold, we shall not sow nor gather in our increase.— What is the reply to this startling question? "I will command my blessing upon you, in the sixth year; and it shall bring forth fruit for