raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and flourish, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.

:

"In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely and this is the name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS." Jer. xxiii. 5, 6.

"In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, but they shall not be found.” Jer. 1. 20.

"For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him out of the hand of him that is stronger than he.” Jer. xxxi. 11.

"The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him." Lam. iii. 24.

"O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life." Lam. iii. 58.

66

'Thy words were found, and I did eat them, and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart; for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of Hosts." Jer. xv. 16.

You see how all these holy men were justified. They were accounted righteous before God, simply through faith in the promised Saviour.

"These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." Heb. xi. 13.

"And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell you of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jeptha, of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets :

"Who, through faith, subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,

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Quenched the violence of the fire, escaped the

edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.

“Women received their dead raised to life again : and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection.

"And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:

66

They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheep-skins and goat-skins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented:

"(Of whom the world was not worthy :) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

"And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise;

"God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.' Heb. xi. 32-40.

Israel, in ancient days,
Not only had a view

Of Sinai, in a blaze,

But learnt the Gospel too :
The types and figures were a glass
In which they saw a Saviour's face.

The paschal sacrifice,

The blood-besprinkled door,
Seen with enlightened eyes,

And once applied with power,

Would teach the need of other blood

To reconcile an angry God.

The Lamb, the Dove, set forth
His perfect innocence,

Whose blood, of matchless worth,
Should be the soul's defence.
For he who can for sin atone,

Must have no failings of his own.

The scape-goat on his head
The people's trespass bore,
And to the desert led,

Was to be seen no more.
In him our Surety seemed to say,
Behold, I bear your sins away.'
Dipt in his fellow's blood,

The living bird went free:
The type, well understood,
Expressed the sinner's plea :
Described a guilty soul enlarged,
And by a Saviour's death discharged.
Jesus, I love to trace,

Throughout the sacred page,
The footsteps of thy grace,
The same in every age.
O grant that I may faithful be
To clearer light vouchsafed to me!"

"Not all the blood of beasts

On Jewish altars slain,

Could give the guilty conscience peace,
Or wash away the stain.
But Christ, the heavenly Lamb,
Takes all our guilt away:
A sacrifice of nobler name,
And richer blood than they.
My faith would lay her hand
On that dear head of thine,
While like a penitent I stand,
And there confess my sin.

My soul looks back to see

The burdens thou didst bear,
When hanging on the accursed tree,
And hopes her guilt was there.

Believing, we rejoice

To see the curse remove ;

We bless the Lamb with cheerful voice,

And sing his bleeding love."

VI.

"No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him." JOHN, vi. 44.

I AM now going to talk to you a little more about repentance; and I wish you to understand, in the first place, what the word means.

It means a change of mind.

You know it is called in the Catechism, "Repentance whereby we forsake sin ;" and I have shewn you, that we must forsake sin when we come to Christ for salvation. That is, we must make up our minds to give up what we know to be wrong.

But repentance includes much more than this. It means that "change of mind" by which we are brought to hate sin, and to feel sorry for having committed it.

And this change we are quite unable to produce in ourselves.

We can, to a certain degree, refrain from doing what is evil; but we cannot prevent ourselves from loving it.

We know that our sinful indulgences are wrong, and yet we cannot help taking pleasure in them. We try to think of our home in heaven, but our hearts will cleave to the world.

Those who have tried in earnest to set their affections on things above, know how difficult, and almost impossible, it is.

And yet many people are much mistaken about this: they imagine that they can repent at any time.

But, both Scripture and experience prove the contrary. They both prove that we cannot change our tastes, and feelings, and affections, merely by determining to do so.

"Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil." Jer. xiii. 23.

If you are not convinced of this, just make the attempt. Just try whether you can, at once, change your feeling of love for your parents into a feeling of hatred towards them.

Try whether you can alter your heart so as to make it take pleasure in seeing them suffer.

Can you do it? No. You can act as you please, but you cannot make yourselves feel as you please.

You have perhaps taken pleasure in reading books which you know to be hurtful to you; books which take away your thoughts from your duty, and tempt you to misspend your time.

Now can you, by an effort of your will, make yourselves dislike those books?

I do not say, can you exercise self-denial, and refrain from reading them.

That you may do. But can you at once alter your taste, so as to like religious books better?

Or, suppose some person has treated you with great unkindness and cruelty, and that for a long time together; can you force yourselves to love him?

You can refrain from unkind words and actions, I know; but when you see him, can you make your heart go out towards him, as it does towards those who are dear to you?

Perhaps this is a question you have never considered. Feeling yourself free to act according to the de