By the church, my friends, "is to be made known the manifold wisdom of God." By their pecuniary contributions, they are firmly, cordially, and unwearyingly to support every benevolent institution and enterprise. This is the value of money, to be able by it to bring to those sitting in darkness the lamp of life; to unfold to them the secrets of the eternal mind, and the glories of redeeming love. Money, hoarded up, of what use is it? It is like a spring of water in some inaccessible cavern: the water is there, in its smooth basin, but whom does it benefit? Money, however, benevolently diffused, is like a spring bubbling up on some frequented hill-side, and rolling its bright current into the vale below: you can trace it by the luxuriant verdure upon its banks; the animal draws from it, the bird dips his wing in it, and it refreshes and invigorates the thirsty peasant. So with the streams of wealth, starting from the liberal Christian. They roll, and bless as they roll. They go even to the desert and the wilderness, and these bud and blossom under their fertilizing power!

We have thus, as it was proposed to do, considered the three branches of our subject: the life, the word of life, and the modes in which this life should be held forth. A few remarks will close the discourse. And,

1st. We see why sinners, on being converted and becoming Christians, are not immediately taken to heaven.

They might be taken there, and be happy there; the process of sanctification once begun in the soul being always completed at death. But they are detained for a season in this world, to subserve an important purpose. They are detained here to show the effect of a believed gospel in all the appropriate circumstances of life. They are detained here to develop the results of that mighty change which has been wrought in them by the Spirit of God. They are detained here as monuments of grace to put forth their principles, and by their profession, example, direct efforts and resources, to "hold forth the word of life." Beyond dispute, this is the purpose for which they are expected to live. "Ye are the light of the world. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Ye are the salt of the earth." Thus are Christians addressed by the Saviour himself. Having regenerated them by his Word and Spirit, and having himself departed from the earth till the time of the restitution of all things, he detains them here in his stead, living representatives of himself, living illustrations of the power of his gospel, persons whose active piety shall carry conviction and reformation to others. In this manner has he made it their exalted privilege and imperious duty to coöperate with him. He on high, "head over all things to his Church," interceding for them, protecting them, presenting their prayers and shedding down his Spirit;

and they on this his footstool, making the gospel their treasure and their guide, and inculcating its doctrines and precepts on their fellow-men. This is the organization of heaven, by which Satan is destined to be bound, sin exterminated, and by which Christianity, like a robe of glory, is to enwrap the globe.

2d. Are you, my brethren and sisters, permit me to ask, accomplishing the design of your Master in keeping you in this world?

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Let me make this inquiry, for it is a most important one! There can scarcely be a greater mistake than that you are brought within the inclosures of the Church simply to remain there; that your names are upon the roll of its members for the only purpose of swelling the catalogue. No; Christ has other and higher designs than this in your conversion unto himself. He converted you to use you as instruments of good; he made you chosen vessels, that you might be the bearers of salvation. He gathered you into a Church, in order that your several rays of grace, thus embodied, might radiate an intense and brilliant light. "I thank my God," says Paul to the church at Rome, "that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world." Spoken of," i. e., noted for its singularity as differing from that of the mass of mankind, celebrated every where! In this, that church was fulfilling the Divine purpose. They were "walking worthy the vocation where with they were called," so that their religious influence was felt far and wide. To recur again to the figure of the text, they were as a light-house. Like the colossal statue of Rhodes, in one of whose hands a light was placed, or like the "Pharos" of Alexandria at the mouth of the Nile, both remarkable for their elevation and splendor, they "held forth the word of life," as a beacon against danger, and as a guide to the desired haven. This is the duty of every church. They are to have light, and this light is to shine. Their lamps are to be kept trimmed and burning, or "he that walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks" is, by their obscurity, disappointed and disgraced. Are you, my brethren, realizing the importance of this thing? Do all here who think themselves Christians make a public profession of the fact, or have they the ingratitude and hardihood to turn their backs on their crucified Lord? Do all here who profess to be Christians realize the obligations which this profession devolves upon them—with what power it endows them for doing good or evil, and that, if they are not doing good, they are actually doing evil? Is your conversation and example "as becometh the gospel of Christ"? Are you living as the spiritually alive among the dead, the pious among the profane, rebuking every form of sin by your holy and consistent walk? And feeling that "you are not your own, but are bought with a price," even with the riches of the blood of the beloved Lamb of God, are you giving, as God prospers you, to

further the interests and enlarge the boundaries of his kingdom? 3d. Suffer me, in conclusion, dear hearers, to urge it afresh upon you, to "hold forth the word of life."

"We remember," says one," to have read a traveller's conversation with the keeper of the light-house at Calais. The watchman was boasting of the brilliancy of his lantern, which can be seen ten leagues at sea, when the visitor said to him, What if one of the lights should chance to go out?'

"Never! impossible!' he cried, with a sort of consternation at the bare hypothesis. Sir,' said he, pointing to the ocean, 'yonder, where nothing can be seen, there are ships going by to every part of the world. If to-night one of my burners were out, within six months would come a letter-perhaps from India, perhaps from America, perhaps from some place I never heard ofsaying, such a night, at such an hour, the light of Calais burned dim; the watchman neglected his post, and vessels were in danger. Ah, sir, sometimes in the dark nights, in the stormy weather, I look out to sea, and I feel as if the eye of the whole world were looking at my light! Go out! burn dim! Oh! never.'"

Was the keeper of this light-house so vigilant; did he feel so deeply the importance of his work and his responsibility; and shall Christians neglect their light and allow it to grow dim? Grow dim when, for need of its bright shining, some poor soul struggling amid the waves of temptation may be dashed upon the rocks of destruction? No, by no means. Hold forth the word of life. This is the way to recommend religion; this is the way to bless your generation; this is the way to honor your Saviour; and, I may add, this is the way to assist and encourage your minister. "Holding forth the word of life," says the apostle; why? "that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, nor labored in vain." Nor labored in vain: the lovely lives of the pious bring down upon the seed scattered by their pastor a rain of righteousness.

Oh, how much has been lost by our past neglect! How few have been reproved by our Christian deportment; how many have derived a license to sin from our untender walk; how little have we done for Him whose praises we expect to shout for ever and ever! "Let past ingratitude provoke our weeping eyes." What if we had wantonly put out the light of a light-house, and as a consequence many vessels with their crews had gone to pieces upon the rocks? We could weep then. But have we not in a spiritual sense done this, by allowing the brightness of our Christian character to be so obscured? Have we not reason to fear that by our remissness in duty, our unfaithfulness to our Lord, many souls have been wrecked for eternity, who are now, and ever will be, amidst the breakers of fire?

"For sadder sight the eye can know
Than proud bark lost, or seaman's woe,
Or battle fire, or tempest cloud,

Or prey bird's shriek, or ocean's shroud-
The shipwreck of the soul!"

Oh, resolve, disciples of Jesus, to live differently, and “hold forth the word of life!" The world expects it of you. Angels expect it of you. God the Father expects it of you. The blood of Calvary expects it of you!

SERMON DLXXXI.

BY REV. GEORGE THACHER,

PASTOR OF THE ALLEN STREET PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, NEW-YORK.

THIRSTING FOR GOD.

"As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?"-PSALM xlii. 1, 2.

ONE of the most appalling truths that ever flash on the mind of a sinner awakened to the tremendous realities of religion, is his distant and perilous estrangement from God. Answering to this, one of the most powerful attractions experienced by the convert is that which inclines him to withdraw from the reach of earthly influences, and seek that Divine Presence which before he had carefully shunned. To the truth of this remark the consciousness of every renewed soul must bear unequivocal testimony; for the very idea of conversion implies a voluntary forsaking of the world and turning unto God, or a cheerful yielding of one's self to some inviting influence emanating from God. And this influence, whatever it be, holds its subject ever after in a willing captivity, and draws him continually nearer and nearer to the Infinite One. In other words, the child of God has a conscious tendency towards his heavenly Father, an uprising of the soul towards him, which, notwithstanding all its interruptions and abatements, never wholly loses its power, and at times seems to elevate his spirit into actual communion with his Maker. "

It was under the power of this Divine attraction that the Psalmist exclaimed, in the words of our text, "As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.

My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God ?"

In the present discourse it is proposed to treat of that part of the Christian's experience which is called, in the expressive language of David,

THIRSTING FOR GOD.

This interesting theme will be sufficiently elucidated by considering

I. The causes of this spiritual thirst; and

II. The means of gratifying it.

I. Of the causes of the renewed soul's longing for God, we may name,

1. Admiration of the Divine Attributes.

The human mind unsanctified commonly, if not always, takes a repulsive view of God. This is owing to the enmity of the heart operating on the intellect, and causing it to contemplate Jehovah in a false light. Looking at God from the position of a rebel, the individual's vision is discolored by selfishness and prejudice, so that his whole conception of the Divine Being becomes not only untrue but altogether unlovely.

But the Christian loves his Maker, and hence is disposed to discover the beauty and glory which adorn his Maker's character. Consequently he does in fact behold, in all the Divine selfmanifestations, somewhat that is attractive and admirable, and by this means forms an idea of God as possessed of every quality that can render him glorious and adorable in the view of his creatures.

Now this admiration of the perfections of God, whatever its degree, naturally awakens a desire for clearer and more magnificent views of those perfections. Hence it is that the thoughtful and spiritual Christian finds himself thirsting for fuller displays of the Divine attributes, and praying, in the words of Moses, "I beseech thee, show me thy glory." Of all the beautiful and charming objects that attract his bodily or his mental eye, there is not one by any means so rich and ravishing as that sublime and perfect Being whose radiant glories shine forth from every part of his universal empire. The infinite variety of phenomena in the natural world, so valuable for their utility, and so marvellous for their beauty and grandeur, are a source of happiness to the Christian, chiefly because he here perceives the adorable attributes of nature's Author. And the complex being of man, admirable as it is in itself, is infinitely more so as a development of the power and wisdom and goodness of God. The stupendous plan of redemption, too, although unspeakably and eternally valuable to the believer for the personal benefits he derives therefrom, (as a sinner saved by grace,) and for that