Christ and all his excellencies, and all his blessings, the inviolable property of the believer, John i. 12 ; and faith conveys into the soul all the purity and love, all the joy and consolation that flow into the soul living upon him, Gal. ii. 20. Unbelief is the great instrument of Satan, to blind unhappy men to the glories of Christ, and to deprive them of the bliss connected with seeing him, 2 Cor. iv. 4. Unbelief gilds things seen and temporal, that it may conceal their native deformity and emptiness, and procure them a preference to things eternal. And, unbelief, by inducing to reject Christ, the unspeakable gift of God, subjects to his tremendous and eternal wrath, John iii. 36.

Is

3d, Christ is precious to some, but is he precious to all of you? Is he, indeed, your only ground of hope towards an offended God? Are your thoughts of him frequent, and your meditations sweet? he more precious to you than all earthly good? Heb. xi. 6; Matth. x. 37; more precious than every other means of spiritual advantage, Phil. iii. 8; Prov. iii. 13-15; more precious than life itself, if his service require it? Acts xx. 24. Do ye regulate your esteem of all other persons and things by their relation to Christ? Do ye reverence the Spirit, as his gracious representative? John xvi. 17; Eph. iv. 30. Do ye love his people, and care for the poor, as the objects of his love and care? Ps. xvi. 2; Matth. xxv. 40. Are his ordinances and day very dear to you, as the memorials of his

love, and the means of communion with him? Luke xxii. 19; Rev. i. 10; Matth. xviii. 20. Do ye study and obey his commandments with delight, because this is a decisive evidence of your love to him? John xiv. 21; Luke vi. 46. Are the honour of his name, and the interests of his kingdom, considered as your own highest interest and honour ? And do ye cherish a prevalent desire of greater, and nearer, and more full enjoyment of him?

4th, If Christ is not thus precious to you, which of those things that ye esteem precious can be compared with him? What beauty so great, so wonderful, as that of him who is "the fairest among ten thousand ?" What honour so ennobling as that which he confers, who exalts a worm of the dust to sit with him on the imperial throne of heaven? Rom. xvi. 14; Is. xxv. 5; Luke ii. 32. What gain so profitable as he who makes all things the property of his people? 1 Cor. iii. 22, 23. What pleasure so delightful as he who fills his believing people "with joy unspeakable and full of glory?" 1 Pet. i. 8. And what good so excellent, so suitable, so satisfactory, so eternal, as God over all, and blessed for ever, manifested in the flesh, as the portion of rational and immortal creatures? This is the foundation of human happiness laid by God; reject this Stone, stumble at it through unbelief, and ye will dash yourselves to pieces; or, falling on you, it will grind you to powder. Build on any other foundation, and, amid the storms of life, or

of divine wrath, it will slide from under you like sand, and your proud superstructure will bury you in its ruins, Matt. vii. 24, 27. Why not come and build on Christ, as the foundation laid by God? Why hath he laid it, but that sinners may build on it? Who hath ever come to him, and been rejected? How many have come, once distant, and graceless, and hopeless as any of you can be? And which of all these has not found him "the chief corner-stone, chosen of God, and precious?" If ye perish, your blood will be on your own head. Hear his words to you: "Ye will not come unto me, that ye might

have life."

5th, Is Christ less precious to some of you than he ought to be, and than you wish him to be? Are your views of his glories dim, your thoughts of him low, your love and zeal for him languid, your labours in his service slothful and unequal, and your sense of all these defects feeble and powerless? But is this a state which ye condemn, in which ye go mourning, from which ye desire and pray to be delivered? Then take the following directions: Turn away your eyes from those vanities that have alienated your heart, Ps. cxix. 37. Let them not remain always fixed on yourselves, lest ye sink into despair. Contemplate the excellency and fulness of Christ more frequently and more seriously, Heb. xii. 2. Prepare for and frequent his ordinances, in which his people see him " with open face as in a glass, and are changed into the same image, from

glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord," 2 Cor. iii. 18, Ps. lxiii. 1. Commune one with another about him, in joy and in sorrow; and he may draw near and commune with you, till your hearts burn within you, Luke xxiv. 20, &c. Implore the Holy Spirit to take of the things of Christ, and show them unto you in their reality and beauty, John xvi. 14. Beseech Christ to manifest himself unto you in that other way than he does unto the world, and to increase your faith, Luke xvii. 5; and bring all your diseases, all your complaints unto him. Frequent communion with him, and frequent experience of his grace, and power, and faithfulness, will quicken your sense of his preciousness, and exalt him in your affectionate esteem. Amen and Amen!

SERMON VI.

JOHN xiv. İ—3.—"Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be

also."

"MANY are the afflictions of the righteous, but at length the Lord delivereth him out of them all;" and while his servant journeyeth in this valley of tears, the same beneficent Master strengthens him with the bread and with the water of life; sometimes "fills him with peace and joy in believing," in the hope of this day of salvation.

The conduct of our Lord to his disciples, in that dread night in which he was betrayed, confirms the truth of these remarks. In that night their troubles were awfully increased. They were about to be separated from their beloved Lord in a most fearful manner. Darkness, black as the gloom of the grave, conceals futurity from their view, and augments their perplexity and dismay. In that dreadful night their troubles were increased; but in that same night Jesus appointed the sacrament of the Supper as a memorial and a pledge of his unalterable love, and revealed to them the mansions of bliss, secured