Lord for ever;-and dwell, not, as here, in the porch of the temple, but in its deep, and safe, and bright recesses; not beside the throne of clouds, but the throne of glory; not in a world of probation, but of triumph, and of unmixed and unchanging joy. There our intercourse with God will no longer be capricious and transient. The spirit of devotion will never flag, or the light of love grow dim, or the sun of the Divine Presence go down.-O, my Christian brethren, what a prospect to contemplate, and what a world to live for! May the Lord of all power and might make us meet for this bright inheritance !-Come, thou "Desire of all nations," Thou in whom all the desires of thy people begin and terminate; come, and lift up our grovelling and reluctant souls to the world where Thou dwellest. Throw wide to us the doors of the house of many mansions; so that even here we may obtain a view of its happy chambers, and may finally take possession of them for ever. Plead for us at the Throne of Love, Thou who "alone art worthy." Clothe us in thy own merits, and "present us faultless before the presence of his glory." Help us, Thou "mighty to save," to "overcome," and to sit down with thee in thy Throne, as thou hast overcome, and art set down on the throne of thy Father.

SERMON XXII.

THE PRISONER OF HOPE.

ZECH. ix. 12.

Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope.

Ir is the general assumption of the passage with which the text is connected, and of the text itself, that the multitudes in this fallen world need some other place of refuge than that which they have already discovered. If they had already found peace and security, there could be no necessity for directing them to "turn” to any new strong hold, or place of defence. And does not such a supposition find too strong a warrant in the actual circumstances of society? Is it not the fact, that large numbers are wandering over the face of the world, who, like the bird of Noah when dismissed from the ark, find no resting-place for the sole of their feet? Are not multitudes rather in quest of happiness, than actually happy; rather grasping at something they do not possess, than satisfied with their present acquisitions?

This being the case, let us enter, in dependence upon the Divine blessing, on the consideration of the text, which, though especially applicable to persons so circumstanced, will be found, I think, not without importance to every individual among us.

It will be my endeavour to examine,

I. THE FIGURE UNDER WHICH THE TEXT DE

SCRIBES THE GREAT MASS OF MANKIND. II. THE COUNSEL WHICH IT GIVES THEM.

I. We are to consider, in the first place, THE

FIGURE UNDER WHICH THE TEXT DESCRIBES THE GREAT MASS OF MANKIND.

1. And, first, it addresses them as "prisoners."And surely, my Christian brethren, no title can describe with more precision the circumstances of the children of men. Even the real servant of God finds much to remind him that he has not yet reached the region of perfect liberty. Many are the infirmities which hang about him, and convince him that the chain of his sins, if weakened, is not yet effectually broken. He still feels himself fettered in prayer, in faith, in love, in obedience. When his affections should rise to God, he discovers them too often to be fastened to earth. He finds the wings of his devotion clipped; his path to glory obstructed; and, as one barrier is surmounted, another presenting itself, which checks his progress, and limits his approaches to the fountain of his hopes and happiness.

And as to the man of the world, he is altogether a prisoner. Who, in fact, are such absolute slaves, as those obsequious followers of the world who boast the most loudly of their freedom? What! a freeman, and the slave of lust, temper, and appetite? Is your understanding free from prejudice? Is your conscience free to follow its own dictates? Are your affections free to rise to the Supreme Source of all purity and joy? Are your hands at liberty to labour for God? Are your feet at liberty to walk in the path of duty? Are you not for the present a slave to vanity or ambition, to the despotism of custom or of fashion? Dare you think for yourself, speak for yourself, act for yourself? How desperate is that perversion of language which calls it liberty to be thus dragged at the chariot

wheel of our corruptions; to be thus lashed on, as by some invisible hand, to do every day what the conscience condemns; to lift the standard of rebellion against the Being whose boundless power and unchanging holiness we see, and acknowledge, and feel! Free! Thou poor deluded creature! thine is the most horrible of all bondage. The world is thy dungeon; the great enemy of souls thy jailor; the first link of thy chains is in his hand; and he who sinks to the grave under this terrible grasp, shall find himself consigned to the pit whose smoke ascendeth for ever and ever. Thine is indeed a slavery with which no other may be compared. In the very depth of other slavery the mind may be free: the fetter and the scourge cannot subdue the soul: but in this case, the iron has, as it were, entered into the soul-the mind is in bondage, and is "led captive by the devil at his will."

2. But, secondly under this head; mankind are addressed in the text as the "prisoners of hope."-In other words, though addressed as prisoners, it is not as prisoners without hope, as prisoners bound with chains too strong, under any possible circumstances, to be broken.

There are, indeed, my Christian brethren, prisoners without hope. Such, for instance, are those wretched spirits who are said to be "reserved in chains" for the darkness and anguish of the last day;-offenders for whom no means of escape have been devised, and who are shut out, as far as we know, for ever, from the covenant of grace, and the family and presence of God. In the horrid dungeon designed for their abode, hope never comes, that comes to all.'

Such prisoners, also, are those, belonging to the family of man, who have gone down impenitent to that grave in which "there is no repentance;" who have wasted the day of grace; who have trampled on the offers of mercy; who have shut their eyes upon the truth, till the darkness of eternal death has enveloped

them.-Oh, what would not either of these miserable classes sacrifice, to be once more addressed as the "prisoners of hope ?"-as prisoners who might be allowed to anticipate some termination to their wo-as prisoners placed within the possibilities of salvation! But, alas! Scripture opens for them no one avenue by which peace may enter, or by which brighter anticipations may break in upon the gloom and wretchedness of their minds.

But, my brethren, with the exception of these two classes, all ranks and divisions of created beings, who have fallen from God, are to be considered as "prisoners of hope." They are prisoners, that is, with the possibility of escaping from their dungeon, and obtaining the freedom and the privileges of the children of God.

Need I speak, for instance, of the hopes which are encouraged in the real believer in Christ? Let his remaining bonds be what they will, how cheering are the offers and promises which are made to him! For him are spread wide the gates to present peace and future glory to the seat of mercy here, and the throne of joy hereafter. To him it is said, "Let Israel hope in the Lord; for in the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption:" "Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God." And it is such prisoners who are able to answer, "And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee"-" the hope of Israel, the Saviour thereof in time of trouble." To such persons, in fact, Hope is every where present; shedding, from her large and liberal hand, a ray of light over the darkest prospects; giving them a thousand consolations, unknown to all but themselves; healing that sickness of the soul under which others suffer from the delay of their wishes; cheering them in life, sustaining them in death, and never quitting them till, at the gate of heaven, she delivers them over into the hands of Joy, with whom they dwell for evermore,

VOL. II.

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