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ground to be occupied. Now enter | devil from some part or other; our into your own hearts individually. If I shame is exposed to others before we had the universe before me this morn- are conscious of it. ing, I would challenge any one to contradict the position I am laying down. It is a very forcible one-may God write it on our hearts; unless we are preparing ourselves to meet the Lord, we are arming ourselves to fight against him. Oh, may the Lord teach us this truth, and teach us to make a wise and holy use of it.

Thirdly, I would observe, There is a great provision, a most wonderful preparation for it. God has been engaged from eternity to prepare it. Surely, my brethren, it is not much that we should give him the little time we have here below. God has loved us from eternity, God had from eternity prepared the sacrifice to be a feast for man. This preparation, this provision likewise is to last to eternity: and when he invites us to meet him at his board, he invites us to receive at his hand, fully and freely, what he has prepared and provided for us.

Lastly, There is another reason why we should prepare ourselves-We have a very great work before us. We have more to achieve than Wellington ever had when he faced the enemies of his country in Europe. We have the world, the flesh, and the devil, to fight against-we have every evil propensity that can possibly live within the human bosom-we have all evils, external and internal. We must fight these, and conquer them all. It is true, indeed, that God must teach our hands to war, and our fingers to fight. It is equally true, that he must have our own services in our own salvation. "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God that worketh in you to will and to do." It is a great blessing that an individual should have his eye perpetually fixed on his principles-that he should live as though his eye was perpetually in the centre of his heart, and kept there. This is a great blessing, and God only can enable us to do it. It is a lamentable thing, that others read us more accurately than we read ourselves. Now, if we do justice to ourselves, we must certainly be much better acquainted with self than any other person can be; but we sometimes forget ourselves, and out flies the

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In addition to this consider, First, If I could preach like an angel, or better than all the augels of heaven, my sermon would not reach your heart. The best instruction, the eloquence of God himself, cannot reach the human heart —no, not the heart of his own child, without the influence of his Holy Spirit. Pray earnestly, then, for the influence of the Divine Spirit. He is infinite, and he only can teach you to approach God as you ought. Some individuals are so much under the influence of good sense, that they not only say and do what is right, but they time things admirably. They will not only say a good thing, but say it at the moment it ought to be said; and we are very much pleased. This is just the way with God. I am merely using this as an illustration. Thus it is that the Divine Spirit, the Spirit of the Father and the Son, can give us this spiritual discernment, that can lead us under the influence of proper feelings into the presence of the Almighty. There will be a reverence which no one can rightly estimate: the individual will be conscious that he is going into the presence of an infinitely holy, infinitely just, and at the same time, infinitely merciful God. It is the province of the Divine Spirit to keep us from all extremes, to show us that path which the vulture's eye has never yet seen; and to enable us, at the same time, in the strength of God to tread it. I may preach to you the truth, but unless I am under the influence of the Divine Spirit, I should be talking a language to you which I do not understand myself. It is possible indeed to teach others, and to be damned one's-self. I sometimes think of a celebrated mathematician in Cambridge, who taught Optics remarkably well, though he was blind. Pray for all ministers-they are harbingers in the armies of the living God. The sharpshooters of hell mark them out. They occupy an honourable post, it is true; but it has often been observed, that the "post of honour is the post of danger." If they say or do any thing wrong, ten thousand tongues immediately follow them in censure and in reproach. Pray for them, my

brethren, because whatever good they possess, whatever good they impart, is given them of God. Nothing is their own, but their imperfections; and this they are most ready to acknowledge.

thus approaching God? There is no other way.

Consider, moreover, your own spiritual wants and necessities. This will have the effect of humbling us. It is not enough to approach the Lord, and say,

Secondly, Meditate on your naturally" I am nothing"-I have a great deal lost estate. We are naturally as destitute of spirituality as the Devil himself. Imitate holy David when he traces sin to its source-"I was shapen in sin, and in iniquity did my mother conceive me." This was the Lord's method when he addressed the Israelites-" Thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite." He wished his people to look back, to consider their mean origin. Some individuals tell us, we ought to repent of the sin of Adam. I do not like this at all I have no idea of any one repenting of any sin but what he has committed himself. This I can very easily conceive, that every one who is spiritually-minded, every one who knows his own sin, will mourn over the fall of Adam. It is a correct feeling to weep when God is insulted, be the insulter whom he may.

of unworthiness, I am full of want, my wants are my only possessions, considered exclusively in myself. The Divine Spirit does not lead any individual to the Lord's Supper while he remains a stranger to his own unworthiness. He opens his eyes to see himself-he opens his heart to feel himself-he knows that God is infinitely holy, and infinitely just; he makes him conscious at the same time, that he is infinitely merciful. Our wants are so great and so numerous, that we stand in need of every good; we stand in need of every thing that God himself can do for us. Do not shrink from this important truth. This is eminently calculated to fill the soul with sobriety, to keep men totally free from levity, and from a trifling spirit. If I were asked what I stand in need of, I should immediately answer, I stand in need of every thing that God can give me― I stand in need of all that God can do

for me. Of course, my brethren, I take the Saviour's work into consideration. True religion will sift a man through and through it will fly through the faculties of the soul, as mercury perforates the human frame. It is the leaven that comes from above

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himself—it is living leaven. This life
is the life of God. It must search and
sift us thoroughly. It must and will
make us honest men-honest in the
presence of the Almighty.
"Search
me, and try me," says David,
see whether there is any wicked way
in me, and lead me in the way ever-
lasting." Here is again the voice of
God within the human heart.

Connect with this, a review of the whole of your past life. Call to remembrance every sin you have committed; and perhaps there may be many sins in your bosom, at the present moment, very strong, and yet you may be strangers to them. Arm yourselves, then, with the light, as well as with the strength of God. Enter into the inmost recesses of your own bo--it is put into the human heart by God soms. Pursue all your sins as a police officer pursues a gang of thievestake them all. Do it as one who makes the most diligent search, till no one is wanting; they must all be had, and they must all he sent to prison, that they may be tried and executed. Now we find, if we read Scripture attentively, the most eminently holy men thus engaged when they were here upon earth. Listen to what holy Job says he teaches us an invaluable lesson-pay attention to it. "How many are mine iniquities and sins make me to know my transgressions and sins." This is, if I may so speak, the voice of God within the human heart. Do we know this? The truths that are now flowing from my lips put our principles to the test. Are we

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Lastly, It is thus the believer is delivered from self-deceit and hypocrisy. It is thus that he is made conscious he is not under the influence of deceit and hypocrisy that is, that they do not lord it in his bosom. It is true, there is hypocrisy and deceit in the bosom of the believer; but he knows these enemies, and is fighting against them. This is the difference-though hypo

crisy and deceit are lurking in his heart, yet he is not a hypocrite, a selfdeceiver. I remember hearing a very eminently pious man say, "You smile so sweetly." "Hold your tongue," said I, "you do not know how to abuse me : if you knew what was in my heart, your expressions are took weak a great | deal; you cannot paint me : if you want to see me in all my deformity, let me paint myself-I do not want such a dauber as you are to murder my picture." The man was astonished, and at the same time ashamed of himself.

In the hundred and nineteeth Psalm we see what individuals who live nigh unto the Lord are engaged in. What sweet aspirations there are in that Psalm! We see David flying on the wings of faith and love, leaving earth and all its trumpery; he seems to soar in the neighbourhood of the sun; yet after all how does he conclude? " Seek thy servant; I am gone astray like a sheep that is lost." He was a man, as I told you before, who had his eye fixed in his heart. His conduct must have been admired by all who knew him. He was eminently imbued with the spirit of piety; yet he said, “Seek thy servant. May God give us this religion, a religion that will make us all radicals-that is the religion we want a religion that reaches the root of every principle-a religion that sometimes does what one tooth does with another, in the mouth of a young person; the tooth that grows pushes out the other. So divine grace grows out every evil principle, in the strength and love of God.

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In conclusion, Figure to yourself an individual under the influence of truth under the influence of the Divine Spirit. We are never under the influence of the truth of God, otherwise than as we are under the influence of the Spirit of God. The truth is in itself worse than a dead letter—it is a damning letter, I ought to have said, in itself. I would suppose an individual under the influence of the Divine Spirit approaching the table of the Lord; and if he were asked what he had in view, he would immediately say, I approach it in love and gratitude to that God who sent his Son to die for me, and to redeem me from the wrath to come. I approach it in gratitude to that Saviour who gave his life a ransom for me. I

approach it in gratitude likewise to that Holy Spirit, who has taught me to prize the Saviour above all other persons, and above all other things. He renders a reason for the "hope that is in him." He says, I approach the Lord's table to renew my covenant with God, determined, no longer in my own resolution, but in his strength, to devote myself entirely to his service that is my object. It is true, I am compassed with imperfections-it is true, my iniquities are more in number than the hairs of my head-it is true, sin blends itself with every thing I do—it is equally true, I am opposing this sin, and that God is within me, opposing it likewise. I am conscious I shall not come into condemnation-it is forgiven. How do you know it is forgiven? Because it is subdued. We cannot feel that sin is forgiven except in its being subdued by the hand of God; and it is forgiven that it may be subdued. He will assign another reason why he approaches the Lord's table-to be assured of his interest in Christ. Have you always known this?

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No, but I have kept it in view." Do you know now that you are interested in the Lord Jesus Christ? "Yes I do." But what is your assurance? It is the assurance of hope. "For I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to his hands." Do not imagine, that there is in real assurance any presumption-quite the reverse. The assurance of hope is full of humility; it humbles the believer in exact proportion as it exalts him. His language is, “I know that he has loved me, and that he has given himself for me-he has forgiven me my sins-he has taught me to love him, and to delight in serving him, and to hate every thing that is opposed to his holy will." This is the experience of the individual who has in his bosom the assurance of hope. Ask him another reason. He approaches to eat and to drink the flesh and blood of the Son of Man : in other words, to receive of his fulness, and grace for grace, every moment, till he has bidden an eternal farewell to the things of time and sense, to every thing that is offensive to the living God. Eating and drinking the flesh and blood of the Son of Man evi

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dently involves this a reception of all tainty-there is no peradventure. If the blessings that are treasured up thus I wait upon God in the exercise in him in the exercise of faith-righte- of faith, he will give me every thing ousness that justifies from every that is good for me; he will give me charge, and strength that strengthens every thing that is best for me. Yes, for all the sufferings and for all the he will give me, to-morrow, or even trials the believer has to pass through. to-day, the sun, moon, and stars, if He comes to be blessed with every they would do me real good. God spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus our takes away many things from his Lord. The promise of God was to family, as a mother does with her this effect when the church was in its child who has found a knife and infancy. We have the promise at the fork: they pass very near his eyes, present time. "In all places where I his mouth, and his nose; and what have recorded my name, I will come does she do? She takes them away unto thee, and I will bless thee." from his hands. Thus the Lord does When we thus approach God by faith, with us; and we shall learn hereafter, he certainly will bless us. He has as I have often told you before, that promised it, and heaven and earth God is often acting wisely in taking may pass away, but his words must away what we consider to be necesall be fulfilled. It is not an uncer-sary.

A Sermon

DELIVERED BY THE REV. DR. HOLLOWAY,
AT FITZROY CHAPEL, FITZROY SQUARE, NOV. 7, 1830.

Ezekiel, xvi. 62, 63.—" And I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD: that thou mayst remember and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the LORD GOD.”

SIN is the great obstacle which obtains to prevent the enjoyment of the favour of God. The removal of sin is the removal of that obstacle; and in the removal of that obstacle, way is made for the overflowing of God's mercy to us, which flows fully and freely, like a stream both deep and smooth. Sin is the cause of all our evils-it poisons our peace-it mars all our comforts; and so long as it remains in its guilt and in its pollution on our consciences, it continues to be the source of perpetual disquietude.

On this ground is argued the great importance of seeking mercy at the hand of God; inasmuch as God has been pleased to reveal, that mercy is his darling attribute, that he keeps mercy for thousands, and that he does not retain his anger for ever. and seeing that God is a merciful God, we urge the necessity as well as the importance of seeking at his hands the enjoyment of that mercy, that we may

be reconciled, and know that we are restored to his favour.

Here

In these words you have a full display of the effect of God's pardoning mercy upon the soul of man. Here you see what it is to have the manifestation of the love of God shed abroad by the Holy Ghost in the heart of the true believer. Here you see what the pardon of sin operates, when manifested to the conscience. you see the wonderful work accomplished in its influence upon the mind -what a complete renovation, what a complete reformation it works-how it leads the character to lay itself low in the dust of humiliation before God, under a deep sense and remembrance of his past unworthiness; and all the shame that has covered him from his youth up, is leading him at once to admire, and at the same time to vindicate, the ways of God unto himself.

The subject which we propose for our meditation is this-the nature and

the effect of God's pardoning mercy upon our souls. And from hence we shall take occasion to urge the importance of reaching after a personal sense of it-not merely seeking at the hand of God the pardon of our sins, but a sense and enjoyment of that pardon that we may not only have our sins blotted out, but that we may know that God is pacified toward usthat we may know he has washed away our sins, and removed our shame; because, if, through the mercy of God, we are led into a personal knowledge, and a scriptural enjoyment of this truth, Christ will then become dearer to our souls than thousands of gold and silver.

We may remark, FIRST, The way in which God reveals his mercy—“I will establish my covenant with thee." SECONDLY, The character in which he reveals himself" They shall know that I am the Lord." THIRDLY, The effects that are produced by this revelation of pardoning mercy-"That thou mayst remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more, because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the LORD GOD."

First, THE WAY IN WHICH GOD REVEALS HIS PARDONING MERCY. "I will establish my covenant with thee." The covenant of grace is the grand repository of the redemption of man. It is the secret of God's tabernacle, wherein are hidden all the treasures of his wisdom and his knowledge, as they are revealed in man's salvation. It is the grand secret of man's redemption, which comprehends all the items, all the particulars of Christ Jusus our Lord, in his person, his name, and all the characters and offices he has fulfilled in the work of man's redemption-which holds up all the effects of that work, all the fruits of that love, all the blessings of that redemption, and withal tracing it in all its refined ramifications to the covenant of grace. There are all the particular circumstances that refer to your case, to your history, to your sin, to your backsliding from God-all are held up in the covenant of grace in the mind of God, when he prepared for the redemption of the Church of Christ. You see it perpetually mentioned in the Old Testament. God comforted his Church

then by a prospect of the revelation and the establishment of that covenant wherein he had pledged himself to appear on earth, and to take in his own hand the great cause of fallen man, and to raise him anew to a state far superior to, and more valuable than that which he had lost. Therefore says the prophet Isaiah, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Incline your ear and come unto me; hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David."

There is frequent mention of making a covenant with the people of God, but here the Lord says he will make an everlasting covenant-and that is the covenant which he speaks of in the words of the text-not according to thy covenant," but according to the old covenant-that is, according to the everlasting covenant, which is "ordered in all things and sure," which comprehends and reveals "the sure mercies of David." "I will establish my covenant with thee." It is the establishment of this covenant that is the subject of the promise before us; it is the establishment of this covenant which is the point of interest to us all because it is by the establishment of this covenant "with thee," that God imparts to thee the knowledge of his pardoning love and mercy. This is the act of personal ratification; it is thus that God ratifies his covenant with all his people, bringing home to the soul the knowledge of the great Author of it, who has entered into covenant with his heavenly Father, and in whom as members we are personally interested. That is the act of communication, and the Lord ratifies that act of communication with his children. Thus it is that he esta.. blishes his covenant with them. Is not this the line of argument adopted by the Apostle Paul, when he is preaching before the Christians at Antioch? "We declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children"-a promise, you perceive, which

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