vidually? Does He stretch out his arms to all mankind but me? Are all besides invited to come to him, and am I alone passed by, as unworthy of his regard? "Will the Lord absent himself for ever, and will he be no more intreated? Is his mercy clean gone for ever, and his promise come utterly to an end for evermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious, and will he shut up his loving-kindness in displeasure?" Nay, surely it is but "mine own infirmity," that makes me entertain so dismal an apprehension. "Turn then unto thy rest, O my soul," for "why art thou so troubled, or why art thou so disquieted within me? O put thy trust in God, for I will yet give him thanks for the light of his countenance. Wait thou still upon God, for my hope is in him. He truly is my strength and my salvation; he is my defence, so that I shall not fall. In God is my health and my glory, the rock of my might, in God is my trust. O put your trust in him alway, ye people, pour out your hearts before him, for God is our hope."

Such ought to be the reflections of every one who feels inclined to despond, and to be disheartened on the subject of his salvation. Let him multiply the numbers, and magnify the enormity, of his sins to any extent, he will not easily exaggerate in their enumeration, or have

too vivid a perception of their odiousness. But while he does this, let him beware that he does not curtail the mercy of God, or imagine it inadequate to his own case; for He says to every man now what he said to his people of old, "I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins; return unto me, for I have redeemed thee." O be joyful in the Lord then, all ye people, serve the Lord with gladness, and come before his presence with a song. O go your way into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise, be thankful unto him, and speak good of his name. For the Lord is gracious, his mercy is everlasting, and his truth endureth from generation to generation."

Glory therefore be to the Father, &c.

SERMON XXI.

CLOSE OF THE YEAR.

ST. JAMES IV. 13, 14, 15.

Go to now, ye that say, to-day or to-morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell and get gain:

Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

For that ye ought to say, if the Lord will, we shall live, and do this or that.

THESE words are so intelligible, that they require no explanation. But men need to have the sentiments, which they express, most earnestly and frequently enforced upon their attention; for although there are no truths more obvious, or more important, yet there are few which more

commonly either escape notice, as if they lay beyond the reach of ordinary observation, or are disregarded as if they were too trivial to engage the mind.

I wish therefore to take advantage of the present season, for the purpose of exciting you to reflect on these, at once most serious, and most neglected subjects, in the hope that the very circumstance of our being nearly arrived at the conclusion of another year, (so large a portion of man's existence upon earth) may aid my remarks, and produce in some of you, a disposition favourable to the reception of deeper impressions than usual, concerning the uncertainty of human life, the great value of time, the insignificance of earthly things, and the infinite and inexpressible importance of preparing for eternity. And may God by his Holy Spirit, both now and on all other occasions, assist our meditations, and bless them to our eternal profit, and "teach us so to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto" true and heavenly "wisdom," through Jesus Christ, our Lord!

My text furnishes me with a very regular method for my discourse, and I shall observe the order of its words, by treating it according to this three-fold division; first, that there are people, who in pursuit of their worldly ends, cal