omnipotent hand, that to him we owe our very existence in a world framed for our use and

enjoyment, if this is so vast a subject of praise, and so stirring an incentive to adoration, what will not the contemplation of his redeeming love, what will not the continual bounty of his assisting and preventing grace, what will not the constant indwelling in us of his holy and blessed Spirit be felt to be? These are the fruits of divine goodness, and unmerited love, and undiminished favour, which naturally present themselves to our thoughts in the celebration of this holy day. Lift up your hearts, then, my dear brethren, and praise the Lord God Almighty who hath done all things well; who brought you out of nothing into all the varied blessings of existence, and gave you faculties through which to participate of them to the full. Lift up your voices in praise of him who left you not in darkness and in sin, but when you were lost from God, came down from God to find and save you. Lift up your souls to receive and embrace the heavenly truths of that Lord and King omniscient, under the shadow of whose wings you may find peace and may "the very God of peace

sanctify you wholly :"* may "the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all, Amen."

* 1 Thess. v. 23,

SERMON XI.

THE DUTY OF AVOIDING EVIL-DOERS.

2 THESSALONIANS, iii. 6.

of

Now we command you, brethren, in the name our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketḥ disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us.

THE time is fast approaching when the Christian Church will once more be called upon to celebrate that coming of the Son of God in the flesh, in which all our hopes and expectations of mercy originate. There cannot be a more fitting pre

X

paration for such a season than that by which holy desires and good resolutions are promoted in the soul; by which the wedding-garment of righteousness is put on anew; by which holiness in the fear of the Lord is fostered and promoted in our hearts. And of all the parts of a Christian's duty what is more necessary in itself, or more hard to be observed in the present lax condition of society, than that to which St. Paul's words just recited to you direct us?

To know how to conduct ourselves as Christians towards those who in a Christian community walk disorderly; to preserve in ourselves the spirit of Christ, and yet not to forget the obligations which are bound upon us towards all the members of Christ, this is by no means a matter of easy acquirement. On the one hand we are tempted to forget, in a too rigid exactness upon minor points, that charity which thinketh no evil; whilst on the other, a careless disregard of the souls of others, and a forgetfulness of the evil consequence of evil communications are continually inclining us to put aside the injunctions of Christ and his inspired servants, and to let slip the recollection that those only are fit to be companions of the candidates for

heaven, whose own conversation also is in heaven. To clear up some of the difficulties thus thrown around the subject, and thereby to lead the way towards a right understanding of it, is the end I propose to myself this morning: and let us all, my brethren, lift up our hearts to the good, and merciful, and guiding spirit of God, that he will be pleased to direct our judgments into the full understanding of his will.

First, let me invite your attention to the position and authoritative language of the apostle: "We command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." It would hardly be possible for words to be stronger; and we may be sure so solemn an injunction, delivered in the express name of Christ himself, would not have been given unless the necessity for it were great. The far more usual language of St. Paul is that of the gentle enforcement of love: "We beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus,"* is the style commonly adopted by him; and he is very careful not to allow an apprehension to be formed, that what he speaks only on his own authority is to be considered as coming from the Lord. Here, however, he commands instead of entreat

* 1 Thess. iv. 1.