brethren, do not rest satisfied with a mere cold and outward respect for your heavenly Master, but devote yourselves, your souls and bodies, to his service; make the love he has manifested for you the subject of your thoughts, the object of your hopes, the impulse of your actions; give yourselves to prayer, and to the contemplation of him, as he was once on the cross, and as he is now in the glory of heaven; and in both, the friend of penitent, believing sinners; and you will learn to say, "For me to live is Christ, to die is gain."

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SERMON VI.

GENESIS xlii. 1, 2.

"Now when Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt, Jacob said unto his sons, Why do ye look one upon another? And he said, Behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt. Get you down thither, and buy for us from thence, that we may live and not die."

Ar the close of the preceding chapter, we find that the famine was not confined to Egypt, but was "sore in all lands." Among others, it afflicted the country in which Jacob and his family dwelt. Though it was the land of Canaan, the land of promise, it was not exempt from the general calamity; neither was the patriarch himself, nor were his descendants. In this

world, the righteous and the wicked often suffer together: there are many temporal afflictions common to all, and God has not promised that his people shall escape them, though he assures them that they shall be supported under them. And indeed in the midst of their privations, if Christians are but true to themselves and to their sacred profession, God abundantly compensates them by spiritual blessings. It is in times of trial that religion becomes most precious, that its value is most sensibly felt, and its consolations best appreciated. Then too do the children of God more truly learn the uncertainty of earthly things, and are taught to fix their hopes and affections more firmly upon objects which are heavenly and eternal; their faith is exercised and strengthened, and they become more fitted for that kingdom of holiness and happiness to which they are hastening. Yet it is not, brethren, that such are necessarily the effects of affliction. Afflictions in themselves have no such

power; it is only when they are sanctified to us by the Holy Spirit of God, that they are made to produce the fruits of the Spirit, and to raise our hearts from earth to heaven. Without this, they serve but to harden the heart, and increase its natuperverseness and obstinacy. We need much secret self-examination, lest we deceive ourselves on this subject.

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In all probability there are many persons before me, who have had heavy troubles. Let me ask you, Have you reason to hope that they have been accompanied with this blessing from the Holy Spirit? If they have, you will be less worldly-minded than you were; you will be more in earnest about religion; you will be making greater exertions to promote the glory of your Saviour, and to be conformed to his image. In proportion as they have been sanctified, you will find increased spirituality in your affections. affections. And O! if the Almighty is, at this very time, laying on you his afflicting hand, pray fervently that

with it he would also vouchsafe his blessing. If you are earnest in this prayer, you will find your afflictions to have been most salutary, and will say with the psalmist, "It is good for me that I have been afflicted."

We may learn, further, from the calamity which had fallen upon Jacob and his family, the uncertainty of all earthly blessings. He had been a very prosperous man. God had given him abundant riches. Now, however, we see that he was in want even of daily bread. The words he uses to his sons show that there was a general and deep anxiety respecting the event of the famine. “Why do ye look one upon another?" In times of general consternation, men are apt "to look" to each other for help, or advice; and to have their fears depicted in their countenance, while their eyes wander anxiously on all around them. They had probably reason to apprehend that the worst might happen, and that their aged father, and