truth, and the favour and protection of Him who hath promised to be with his church even unto the end. What I would earnestly enforce upon your attention, is the duty of considering generally the nature of your Christian profession, and particularly the relation in which you stand to your great master Christ; as members of a distinct branch of his church upon earth, not to content yourselves with vague indistinct inoperative notions of the Christian character, but anxiously to enquire, by what means you may effectually do credit to your calling, and strengthen the influence of the blessed Gospel, and of the church which is its blessed depository and interpreter. The improvement of yourselves, and the edification of others, under the ministry of that church, are objects never to be lost sight of; and let me add, and this is no unimportant consideration, that the best encouragement you can give to those who labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, is not merely as the Apostle says, to esteem them very highly for their work's sake, but to let them see that their labour is not in vain in the Lord. As it is their duty-how sacred and awful a duty it is-to be an example and pattern to the flock of whom the Lord hath given them the oversight, so it is your duty to animate and reward them in their labours, by showing that their admonitions and instructions are not wholly thrown away. The highest and the most pure recompense that a faithful minister of the Gospel in this life has to witness, is the growth of seriousness and piety in that portion of his flock committed to his charge, feeling as he does the unspeakable value of men's souls, and knowing the rich reward that is promised to those that turn many unto righteousness. These reflections, my brethren, have appeared to me to be not unsuitable to this day's interesting solemnitythe restoration and improvement of a temple dedicated to the honour of God's holy name. The re-opening of a place of concourse for Christian worshippers, if viewed with reference to its probable results, may well awaken a pious mind to serious reflection. I was glad," said David, "when they said unto me, now let us go up unto the house of the Lord." Would I could add, Jerusalem is built as a city that is at unity with itself;" yet every fresh occasion of this kind may be viewed as an approach to that unity so much to be desired, and affords both to a faithful minister and pious people opportunities of building up the walls of our Zion. I would hope that our brethren at large, in proportion as they are better instructed, are becoming more and more alive to the real merits and spiritual advantages of the Established Church; and if the government of this Christian country do their duty, and the ministers of the Establishment do theirs, we may expect to witness a great increase of piety and goodness, and an enlargement of the boundaries of Christ's kingdom in the world. There is one characteristic of our Protestant reformed church, which it is the especial duty of her members to exemplify in their own conduct. 1 mean an anxious desire to extend her boundaries, and to set forward the salvation of souls, by promoting the cause of religious education. Provision is made in her rules and ordinances for sowing the seed of Christian knowledge in the minds of children, but the increase of our population and the altered habits of society have rendered it necessary to add to that provision a system of general education for the children of the poor. This constitutes a feature in that plan which must ever be the distinction of a true branch of Christ's church, and which we think belongs eminently to our own, to preach the gospel to the poor. The gospel, my brethren, is preached to the poor by a duly appointed ministry-the young are prepared in our charity schools to profit by the instruction of their spiritual teachers the Scriptures are distributed in every corner of the land by the hand of Christian charity; and these are modes of edification in which all may bear a part, not only the minister but the members of Christ's church. In urging the adoption and extension of the National system of education, I may perhaps be told, that it is an exclusive system, that it is a mode of bringing over to our own communion those who might other as far as possible to counteract; and no mode of counteracting it can be devised more promising than that which instils into the tender mind of childhood the seeds of Gospel truth, which by the blessing of God, and by the operation of his Holy Spirit, may in after-life spring up and bring forth the fruit of holy doctrine and religious practice. Let me then exhort you, as you de wise have joined some other persuasion. Why should we deny the charge? Why should we conceal the fact that we are desirous of providing schools for all, where all may be taught what we believe to be, the saving truth of the Gospel. We would that all should be habituated from their earliest years to a rational and consistent interpretation of the Scriptures to a distinct and intelligent Confession of Faithto the use of a well ordered Liturgy-sire to promote the growth of Chrisand to decent and conforming habits of congregational worship. This last advantage is one of incalculable benefit. How many young persons who have been educated in our Parochial and National schools, are now regular attendants at the service of the sanc tuary and join with understanding in the offerings of prayer and praise, with a seriousness and propriety of manner which may well put to shame many young persons of a higher order in society; and if all other topics of commendation were wanting, I think it would be a sufficient praise of those institutions to say, that they have pre-sult of its teaching, in the increase of pared and disposed many thousands of young people to profit by the comfortable opportunities of the Christian sanctuary. tian knowledge and civil order, to contribute according to the ability which God has given you, to set forward the cause of religious education in this parish, where at present, owing to the scanty number of influential persons who continue to reside in it, the very heavy burthen of instruction and charitable exertion rests on the ministers of religion. In these days of trouble and rebuke let all who desire the peace of our Jerusalem not only pray for it, but set themselves in good earnest to strengthen its bulwarks by evincing in their own conduct the re their faith and charity. And may the Lord give us all grace to lay to heart the duties of our respective callings and places in his household-may he And this argument, a powerful one pour down his gifts abundantly upon at all times, derives additional force the pastors and teachers of his flock from the complexion of the times in to edify and make perfect his church which we live, in which, as it is jusly on earth-may he add unto them daily, observed by the Committee of these such as shall be saved, and sanctify Schools, so many endeavours are mak- all their members, and write his laws ing to instil infidel principles into the upon their hearts, that they may all minds of all classes, particularly in know him from the least to the greatthe rising generation, and which it est, and be finally brought, both miis the earnest desire and determination nisters and members of his household, of the Committee, as it is the duty, the to receive their recompense from the sacred duty of all faithful Christians, | Great Shepherd of the sheep. London: Published for the Proprietors, by T. GRIFFITHS, Wellington Street, Strand, and Sold by all Booksellers in Town and Country. Printed by Lowndes and White, Crane Court, Fleet Street. delivered BY THE REV. HUGH M'NEILE, AT ALBURY CHURCH, NOVEMBER 28, 1830. Matthew, xvi. 27, 28.—“ For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then shall he reward every man according to his works. Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here who shall not taste of death till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom." EVERY revolving season bears testimony afresh, my brethren, to the wisdom of those timely remembrancers which are supplied to us by the service of our Church; by means of which our attention is once more directed at this time to the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, with all the impressive solemnity, all the tender consolation, and all the animating hope, which stand connected in Holy Scripture with that most glorious event. The language of the text stands in a connection which it is of exceeding importance to observe. We read at the twenty first verse, that "from that time forth Jesus began to show to his disciples how that he must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and raised again the third day." What effect this intelligence had on the disciples generally we are not informed; but we learn that Peter took his Master, "and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord; this shall not be unto thee." Peter had just received the celebrated commendation, "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona," for his clear and decisive testimony to Jesus as the Messiah, the Christ of God. He was elated by it; and knowing assuredly that the person then among them was the Messiah, he was doubt VOL. I. less in expectation that there would be an immediate, or almost immediate manifestation of the power, the majesty, and glory of the Messiah's kingdom. When he was told, therefore, that his Master must suffer, that he must be rejected by the scribes and elders, and be put to death, his high expectations were so checked that he could not endure the disappointment. He seems to have endeavoured to rally himself into unbelief of what his Master said; and he had the audacity even to take Jesus and to rebuke him for what he had said. "But Jesus turned aside and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan, thou art an offence unto me; for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men." Although you have been rightly taught of the Father that I am the Messiah, yet your heart is not rightly prepared to behold the glories of my kingdom-nay, a distinction among men is what you aim at; and you shrink from what is esteemed disgrace. You are not yet instructed in this part of the truth of God, that the work of God on the earth is not to be carried on by mere arbitrary absolute power; if so, I need not have come in the flesh : but the work of God is to be carried on in righteousness.. God will not deal unrighteously even with the devil. R Man having fallen under Satan and become his lawful prey, must remain so unless man can overcome Satan in his strongest holds, death not excepted; so that the lawful prey may be lawfully delivered. To avail one's self of absolute power to act unjustly is human. Thus thou savourest of Satan. Thou knowest I have power, and thou wouldst that I would exert it and not suffer. That is not dealing righteously for God dealeth righteously, I say, even with the devil. To make use of absolute power, yea, of Omnipotence itself, only in the way of righteousness is divine. Of this thou savourest not. Thus was the rebuker rebuked. : "Then said Jesus to his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.' My people like myself must be made perfect in suffering. Whosoever will not be mine now in my suffering, shall not be mine in my glory; and then he must suffer for ever: but whosoever will be mine now, suffering and all, he shall be mine in my glory; and then he shall suffer no more for ever. "Whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it." There is no compassion which is the better of these two; an appeal even to man's natural reason would be sufficient to convince him, that nothing which can last but a little while, however excellent in itself, deserves to be compared with what must last to all eternity: "for what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" These broad, open, universal considerations ought to have weight with every rational immortal creature; and they shall have weight when they leave every immortal creature, who perseveres to transgress against the dictates of his conscience, absolutely inexcusable before God. But the Christian is supplied with other considerations in addition to these not in exclusion, but in addition to these-considerations more peculiar in their nature, and, when once followed, more practically influential in their power. To the highest of these the Lord Jesus directs the attention of his disciples. "The Son of Man cometh in the glory of his Father, with his angels; and then shall he reward every man according to his works." This is not an appeal to reason, which has no concern with it-it is a revelation to faith. "The Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels." And the Lord Jesus Christ willing that this revelation should be made not in words only, which might be misunderstood, and about the meaning of which there might be diversities of opinion-but by a matter of fact, also, which should be put upon record, and which should serve as a rallying point for the real interpretation of the words, determined that such a fact should take place, in order that his disciples might see what he meant by the words, and that they might be able to tell others: so that all his people might know that which shall be. This he promises to do in the next verse:"Verily I say unto you, there be some standing here who shall not taste of death till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom"-as if he had said, I have already told you that the Son of Man shall come, and I shall now show to some of you what I meant by those words. He fulfilled this promise to Peter and James and John on the following week, in the vision on the Mount. When the Son of Man was risen from the dead, this vision was told wherever the Apostles went. One of the leading themes of their preaching in every place was, the power and coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter told the Jews in the very outset of his ministry, that the heavens had received the Lord Jesus "until the times of the restitution of all things," when he would again be sen to the earth from the Father. And when the aged Apostle drew near to his latter end, when he knew by revelation from the Lord that he was about to lay off this tabernacle, he thus wrote to his brethren in the faith;-"I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance. For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known to you the power and coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.' "We made known unto you," he says; he refers to it as a subject which had been his habit to preach-" we made it known he shall wear a human face" his face shall shine as the sun; and his raiment"-for he shall wear a human body to you." And now from my death bed, as it were, saith the aged Apostle, I write to you; and amongst the few things that I have time to specify, and—his raiment "shall be white as the which I am more anxious than any light." In the sublime language of other you should have in remembrance the Prophet Isaiah, "The moon shall after my decease, I specify this; for I be confounded and the sun ashamed, have said nothing more in making this when the Lord of Hosts shall reign in known than what I know to be the Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem the truth-nothing more than what I have place of his glory." It is the same been assured of by the evidence of my person called by the Prophet "the own senses for we-that is, James Lord of Hosts," who in our text is deand John and myself" we were eye nominated" the Son of Man." He witnesses of his majesty. For he shall come to the earth in the glory received from God the Father honour of his Father, with his angels. We and glory, when"-to what time does read in the sixty-eighth Psalm, "The he refer? To that time when the Lord chariots of God are twenty thouasnd, gave him a specimen of his glory and even thousands of angels. The Lord of his coming in his kingdom-"when is among them as in Sinai, in the holy there came such a voice to him from place." There we are referred to the the excellent glory, This is my beloved scene which took place on Mount Son in whom I am well pleased. And Sinai for a description of the glory of this voice which came from heaven we God, when he shall come with his heard when we were with him in the angels. holy mount." From the words in connection with the whole passage thus expounded, I deduce a few particulars for your instruction and edification. First, let us look once more at this sublime truth, THAT THE LORD JESUS CHRIST SHALL RETURN TO THIS EARTH AS A MAN IN THE GLORY OF GOD WITH HIS ANGELS. The coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for which we look, is not what is commonly understood by a providential dispensation, God himself remaining invisible. It is not such an event as the Destruction of Jerusalem, or the Reformation, or the French Revolution: no event of that kind, however magnified in extent, however vast in its importance to the interests of the world, can for a moment be mistaken as the coming of the Son of Man for which we look. The circumstances set before us here in this exhibition of his glory to his disciples as a proof of his words, exclude for ever any providential dispensation from being mistaken for the coming of the Lord. That for which we look is God manifest in the flesh, the personal re-appearance of Jesus of Nazareth the Son of Mary within the precincts of this planet, visible to the eyes of men. This is what we look for, and which we are encouraged to look for from the language before us. There we are told, that his face-for In the nineteenth chapter of Exodus, we are told, "It came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunderings and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled. And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount. And Mount Sinai was altogether in a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire; and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice." The effect produced by this scene is beautifully referred to in the fifth chapter of the book of Deuteronomy, where Moses recounts the history of what had taken place.There we are told that the people were afraid of the glory of God; they sought for a mediator to stand between them and God; and they appointed Moses to hear what God should say to them, and then to come and speak to them; for they were terrified at the glory of the Lord. To this the Apostle Paul refers in the epistle to the Galatians, where speaking of the law given on Sinai he says, "It was ordained of angels in the hands |