provement in our spiritual condition. Prayer -not the mere offering of the lips, but the devotion of the whole inward man, the sacrifice of the heart and spirit-must be constant and unceasing our thoughts must be so disciplined as to be at all times ready to turn themselves to him, who is our guide, our comforter, and our friend. Thus will new graces flow daily in upon our souls; the light of the revealed word will wax brighter and stronger within us; our love of God will become more fervent, and our charity to mankind more affectionate and disinterested.

And is not this, brethren, a condition most desirable to attain? Look at a man who is under the dominion of sin, the slave of his passions-the worshipper of the world-reckless of God, and devoid of religious impressions here you behold the idolatrous Syrian in the worst stage of his leprosy; apparently without hope, dragging on an existence of misery and disease, and wholly unconscious of the power of the great Physician who alone is able to relieve him. But the

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eye of mercy beams upon him—a ray of light from the Father of spirits darts into his soul-he hears a still small voice, that whispers, "Come now unto me, and thou shalt know that there is a God in Israel— that there is a Redeemer omnipotent to heal and to save." Obedient to the heavenly voice, he comes to Christ: he looks into his word, he makes it his study and his guide, and at length he is reinstated in the favour of God-" he is washed, he is sanctified, he is justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." Thus restored, by repentance and faith, to the condition in which he was placed by baptism, but from which he had lapsed by transgression, he maintains a constant intercourse with God by means of the holy communion of the body and blood of Christ, imbibing continually fresh supplies of grace, and increasing in spiritual vigour to the very end of his course. Is not this then a condition most truly to be desired by all of us? Assuredly it is-as much as life is better than death-as hope 7 1 Cor. vi. 1.

is preferable to despair-as peace and tranquillity of soul are more enviable than trouble and anguish of spirit.

Search diligently then into your hearts, brethren, and mark well if the leprous spot of sin is upon them. If it is, come at once to "him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think,"8 who even "in his anger forgetteth not to be gracious, nor shutteth up his tender mercies in displeasure;"9 come to him with a full sense of his mercy and goodness-with a strong resolution to obey his commands, to love him with all your hearts, with all your souls, and with all your strength; to believe in him with a true and saving faith; and to cleave to him all the days of your present life, so that in the life to come you may enter into the full fruition of that bliss which is reserved for all, whose sins have been washed away by the blood of the Lamb.

8 Eph. iii. 20.

9 Ps. lxxvii. 9.

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SERMON VI.

GENESIS iii. 19.

For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

THE text forms a part of that peculiar sentence which was passed upon Adam after his act of disobedience. Each of the sinners, as they stood arraigned, together with their seducer, before the tribunal of the Most High, received a particular condemnation. The serpent was first cursed, and shown that the time should come, when the offspring of the very being whom his arts had plunged into guilt and destruction, should triumph over his power, and utterly annihilate the

empire he had thus established upon earth. Upon the woman was laid the heavy pains of childbirth-"in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children"-and upon the man, the penalty of procuring his food "in the sweat of his face" until he returned to the ground; "for out of it," said the righteous Judge, "wast thou taken; for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” The sentence of death, however, though addressed to Adam, included Eve and her posterity as well as himself: they had both been warned, when first placed in the garden, that upon disobeying the command which had forbidden them to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, "they should surely die;"1 and the menace was accordingly fulfilled; "in their trespass that they had trespassed, and in their sin that they had sinned, in them must they die." And shall we say that "the way of the Lord was not equal in this?"2 Shall we arraign his justice, and complain that it bore too hard upon the offenders? By no means; let us consider the transac1 Gen. ii. 17; iii. 3. 2 Ezek. xviii. 24, 25.