dregs of mortal sorrow may be infused into his cup; but he has God for his friend, and who can be against him? His corn and his wine may not increase; depression and penury may be his lot; the fig-tree may not blossom, and there may be no fruit in the vine; the labour of the olive may fail, and the fields may yield no meat; the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there may be no herd in the stall,-yet he can rejoice in the Lord, and joy in the God of his salvation. Whatever be the darkness in which he is doomed to walk, the light of God's countenance enlivens it all. Whatever be the privation he endures, the favour of God compensates it. Whatever be the danger that threatens him, the protection of Jehovah is his shield. "Yea though I walk through the dark valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me; thy rod and staff they comfort me."

3. The GLADNESS of the righteous is IMPERISHABLE. Every earthly advantage is limited in its duration. If the riches and honours of man escape the dangers and the snares of life, he must say farewell to them at the grave. Into that cheerless mansion the rich man must enter without any of those sordid treasures which it cost him such toil to gather and retain, and must tread the valley of death unattended with the splendour which they purchased, and uncheered with the homage which they extorted from a vain and sinful world. The honours of mortality wither in the tomb. The voice of mortal fame cannot be heard in the silence of the sepulchre, nor can "flattery sooth the dull cold ear of

death." So transitory and perishing is all that good which so many seek to be shown to them! But the gladness which the light of God's countenance inspires shall last for ever. Death has no dominion over it. Like the spirit into which it has been put, it survives the dishonour of the tomb. When every mortal joy forsakes him,-when life itself is wasting away, the child of God has still a treasure infinite in glory, and endless in duration : God is his portion,-heaven is his home, and the unfading joys of eternity are his bright reward. "Thou wilt shew me the path of life in thy presence is FULNESS of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures FOR EVERMORE.' Such is the character of that gladness which the light of God's countenance imparts to the mind of the believer. It is ever new, it compensates the absence of every other joy, and it endures for ever.

My brethren, we have now contemplated two very opposite classes of mankind,-the many who seek their portion here, and the few who seek the love and favour of God as their best inheritance for time and for eternity. I need not stay to ask you whose choice you approve, for that is a point on which, I presume, we are all at one. I have a question of more immediate practical urgency to suggest for your consideration, and which admits of no delay. To which of these classes do you belong? I am not inquiring which of them you approve and admire, for that is a question to which you would all give the same answer. But I bid you go within, and

inquire whether you are of them who are crying, "Who will shew us any good?" or of them who are praying, "Lord, lift up the light of thy countenance upon us?" If this world be to you all in all, -if your earliest and your latest thoughts be about its riches, its honours, and its pleasures, O how I tremble for your dying hour! The world, shorn of its attractions, and spoiled of its glory, will be all unlovely and loathsome; and you will look at it as the fell deceiver that has cheated you of peace, and perfected your wo. Ere that hour arrive, choose a better portion. God waiteth to bestow it. Go to him with a lively and undoubting confidence in his mercy, and say, Lift up the light of thy countenance upon me," and he will put gladness in your heart, more than in the time when your corn and your wine increased.

I trust we have many here who have offered this prayer, and experienced this return. While we congratulate you on your choice, we beseech you to suffer the word of exhortation. Remember you sojourn in a land where you are beset with many temptations to renounce the better part which you have chosen. The world will still try to entangle in its toils; and all that is in it, the lust of you the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, -will be employed to shake your purpose and destroy your peace. Stand, therefore, on your guard. By daily reflection on the Divine faithfulness, seek to keep down those fears which would awaken anxiety about the things of time. Think of the mercy of the covenant which the blood of Christ

was shed to ratify, that spiritual blessings may retain their predominance in your heart. Look forward with lively hope to the immortal inheritance in the heavens,-to the crowns and sceptres of the kingdom, to the green pastures and the living waters of Immanuel's land; and the little joys of time, and the childish honours of mortality, will have no power to dazzle or delude. O Lord, lift up daily the light of thy countenance upon us! Thou hast put gladness in our hearts, more than in the time when the corn and wine of men increased. Thou wilt guide us with thy counsel, and at last receive us to glory. Amen.

SERMON XVI.

LUKE, xvi. 31.-" If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead."

THESE words are the final reply which our Lord represents Abraham as making to the request of the rich man in behalf of his unbelieving brethren. He had himself lived and died in unbelief. And now, when amid the awful realities of a world of despair he perceives and feels, with unavailing remorse, the guilt and folly of a life of unbelief and sin, he is desirous that his surviving friends may be roused from their dream of folly, and prevented from becoming his companions in wo. With this view, he proposes that a messenger be despatched from the invisible world to apprize them of the certainty of the soul's immortality and of a state of retribution. In answer to this request, he is informed that they are already in possession of sufficient information on these important points; and when he renews his request, and begs that, in addition to the evidence which they already had, they might be favoured with that farther assurance which a messenger from the region of immortality would afford, he receives the solemn and peremptory reply which has now been read,— "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead." I know not a passage of Holy Writ that