GOD ALONE THE SALVATION OF HIS PEOPLE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2295, 24 February 1898, Page 54

GOD ALONE THE SALVATION OF HIS PEOPLE.

A Sermon Delivered on Sabbath Morning, May 18, IPSB, by the Kov. C. H SPur.Gi.ON, at New Park stieet Chapel, South wark. " He only is my rock and my sal vation."— Psalm lxii, 2. How noble a title. So sublime, puggestive, and overpowering. "My Rock." It is a figme so divine, that to God alone shall it ever be applied. Look on yon rocks and wonder at their antiquity, for from thtir summits a thousiud ages look down upon us. When this gigantic city was as yet unfounded they were grey with age ; when our humanity had not yet breathed the air, 'tis said that these were ancient things ; they are the children of departed ages. With awe we look upon these aged rocks, for they are among Natme's fir&t-born. You discover, embeddtd in their bowels," the remnants of unknown worlds, of which the wise may r/uess, but which, nevertheless, they must fail to Anoiu, uule&s God himself should teach them what hath been before them. You regard the lock with reverence, for you remember whatsloiies it might tell, if ith^d a voice ; of how through igneous and aqueous agency, it has been tortured into the shape it now assumes. Even so is our God pre-eminently ancient. His head and His hair are white like wool, as white as snow, for He is "the ancient of days," and we are always taught in Scripture to remember that He is "without beginning of years." Long ere creation was begotien, "Ironi everlasting to everlasting," He was God. "My rock ! " What a history the rock might give you of the storms to which it has been exposed ; of the tempests which have raged in the ocean at its base, and of the thunders which have .disturbed the skies above its head ; while it itself has stood unscathed by tempests, and unmoved by the buffetings of storms So with our God. How firm hath He stood— how steadfast hath He been— though the nations have reviled Him, and "the kings of the earth have taken counsel together!" By merely standing still He hath broken the ranks of the enemy without even stretching forth His baud ! With motionless grandeur like a rock He hath bioken the waves anrf scattered the armies of Hif. enemies, driving them back in confusion. Look a,t the rock again; see how firm and unmoved it stands ! It doth not stray from place to place, but it abideth fast for evermore. Other things have changed, is-landh have been drowned beneath the sea, and continent* have been shaken ; but see, the rock stands as steadfast as if it wete the very foundation of the whole world, aud could not move till the wreck of creation or the loosening of the bands of Nature. So with God : how faithful He is in His promises ! how unalterable in His decrees ! how unswerving ! how unchanging ! The rock ib immutable ; nought hath been worn from it. Yon old granite peak hath Gleamed in the sun or woru the white veil of winter snow —it hath sometimes worshipped Ood with baie uncovered head, and at other times the clouds furnished it with veiling wings, that like a ch»rub it m'ght adore its Maker; buj ye I itself hath stood unchanged. The frosts of winter have not destroyed it, nor have the heats of summer melted it. It is the same with God. Lo, He is my rock ; He is the same, and His kingdom shall have no end. Unchangeable He is in His being, firm in his own sufficiency ; He keeps himself immutably the same, and "therefore ye sons of J^cob are not consumed." - The ten thousand uses of the rock, moreover, are full of ideas as to what God is. You see the fortress standing on a high rock, up which the cleuds themselves can scai'cely climb, and up whose precipices the assault cannot be carried, and the armed cannot travel, for the besieged laugh at them from their eininem c. So is our God a t<ure defence, and we bhall not bs moved if He hatb "set, our feet upon rt rock, and established our goings." Many a giant rock is a source of admiration from its elevation, for on its summit we can see the world outspread below like some small map ; we mark the river or broadly- ] spreading stream as if it were a vein of silver in- | laid in emerald. We discover the nations beneath our feet, " like drops in a bucket," and the islands ! are " very little things " in the distance, while the sea itself seems but a basin of water held in the hand of a mighty giant. The mighty God is such | a rock ; we stand on Him and 1 .ok down on the woild, counting it to be a, mean thing. AYe have climbed to Pisgah's top, from the summit of which we can see across this world of stoims aiid troubles to the bright land of spirits— that world unknown to eye or ear, but which God hath re-" vealed to us by the Holy Gho^t This mighty rock is our refuge, and it is our high observatory from which we see the unseen, and have the evidence of thingh which us yet we have not eujoyed. I need not, however, -stop to tell you all about a rock, we might preach for a week upon it; hut we give you that for your meditation during the week. "He is my rock!" How glorious a thought! How safe am I, and how secure; and how may I rejoice in the fact that when I wade through Jordan's stream He will be my rock ! I shall not walk upon a slippery foundation, but I shall tread on Him who cannot betray my feet; and I may sing when I am dying, "He is my rock, and there i« no unrighteousness in Him." We now leave the thought of the rock, and proceed to the subject of our discourse, which is this : That God alone is the salvation of His people. " He only is my rock and my Ralvition." We shall notice, first, the great doctrine, that Gocl only is our salvation ; secondly, the great experience, to knoiv and to learn that " he only is my rock and my salvation" ; and, thirdly, the great duty, which you may guess at, which is, to give all the glory and all the honour, and place ctll our faith on Him who " only ii oiir rock and our salvation " I. Tne first thing is, the great doctrine that God ' only is our rock and our ialvation." If any one should ask us what we would choose for our motto, as preachers of the go pel, we think we should reply, " God only is our salvation." The late lamented Mr Denham has put at the foot of his portrait a moat, admirable text, " Salvation" is of the Lord." Now, that is just an epitome of Calvinism ; it is the sum and the substance of it. If anyone should ask you what you mean by a Calvinist, you may reply, "He is one who says— Salvation is of the Lord." I cannot find in Scripture any other doctrine than this. It is the essence of the Bible. "He only is my rock and my salvation." Tell me anything that departs from this and it will be a heresy ; tell me a heresy and I shall find its e-sence here, that it has departed from this great, this fundamental, this rocky truth, " God is mv rock and my salvation." What in the heresy of Home but the addition of something to the perfect meiits of Je&us Christ— the biinging in of the works, of the fle»h to assist in our justification? And what is that heresy of Arrnenianism but the seciet addition of something to the complete work of the Redeemer ? You will find that every heresy, if brought to the touch&tone, will discover it&clf here— it departs from this: "He only is my rock aud my salvation." Let us now explain this doctrine fully. By the term "salvation" here, I understand not simply regeneration and conversion, but something more. I do not reckon that to be salvation which regenerates me, and then puts me in such a position that I may fall out of the covenant and be lost ; I cannot call that a bridge which o,nly goes halfway over the stream ; I cannot call that salvation which does not carry me all the way to heaven, wash me perfectly clean, and put raa among the glorified who ging constant hosannahs around the throne. By salvation, then, if I may divide it into parts, I understand deliverance, preservation continually through life, sustentation, and the gathering up of the whole in the perfecting of the saints in the person of Jesus ( ihrist at last. 1. By salvation, I understand deliver,) nee from the house of bondage, wherein by nature I am born, and being brought out into the liberty wherewith Christ makes us free, toge'her with a putting "on a rock and establishing my goings." This I understand to be wholly of God. And I

think I am right in that conclusion, because I find in Scripture that man is dead ; and howcui a dead man assist in bis own resurrection? I find that man is utterly depraved, and hates the divine change. How can a man, then, work that change which he himself hates ? I find man to be ignorant of what it is to be born again, and like Nicodemus asking the foolish question: "Howcan a man enter again into his mother's womb and be bom?" I cannot conceive that a man can do that which he does not understand, and if he does not know what it is to ha born ag-iin, he cannot make himself to be born agjin. No. I believe run a to be utterly powerless in the first work of bin salvation. He cannot break his chains, for thej be not chains of iron, but chains of his own flesh aud blood ; he must firrft bieak his own heart before lie cau break the fetters that bind him. And how should man bivak his, own heart? What; hammer is that which I can* use upon my own soul to break it, or what fire can I kindle which can dissolve it? Nay, deliverance is of God alone. The doctrine is affirmed continually in Sciipture, and he who doth not believe it doth not receive God's truth. Deliverance is of God alone; " Salvation is of the Lord." 2. Aud if we are delivered and made alive in Christ, still preset vation is of the Lord a <I oi>e If I am prayerful, God makes me prayerful ; if I have graces, God gives me c^race* ; if I have frnit«, f'orl gives me fruits ; if I hold on in a consistent life, God holds me on m a consistent life. I do nothing whatever towards my own preservation, except what God himself first dois in me. Whatever I have, all my goodness is of the Lord alone Wherein T sin. that is- my own ; but wherein I act rightly, that is of God, wholly and completely. If I have repulsed an enemy, His strength nerved my arm. Did I strike a foenian to the ground? His strength shaipent-d my sword and gave me courage to strike the blow. Do I preach his -vyord? It is not I, but grace that is in mo? Do I live to God a holy life ? It is not I, but Christ that liveth in me. Am I sanct'fitd ? I did not sanctify myself ; God's Holy Spirit sanctifies me. Am I weaned from the world ? lam weaned by God's chastisements. Do I grow in knowledge ? The great Instruct or teaches me. I find in God all I want, but I find in myself nothing. "He only is my rock and my salvation." 3. And again " susteutation " also is absolutely requisite. We need sustentatfon in providence for our bodies, and sustentalion in gnce for our souls. Providential mercies are wholly from the Lord. It is true the rain falls from Heaven, and waters the earth, and " lnaketh it bring forth and bud, that there may be seed for the sower and bread for the eater" ; but out of whose baud cometh the vain, and from whose fingers do the dewdrops distil? It is true the sun shines and makes the plants grow and bud and bring foith the blossom, and His heat ripens th- fruit upon the tiee ; but who gives the sun his light, and who scatters the genial heat fiom Him ? It is true I work and toil ; this brow sweats, these hands are weary ; I cast myself upon my bed, and there I rest, but I do not "sacrifice to mine own drag," nor do I ascribe my preservation to my own might. Who mak#B these sinews strong? Who makes these lungs like iron, and who makes thsse nerves of steel? "God only is the rock of my salvation." He only is the salvation of my body and the salvation of my soul. Do I feed on the word ? That word would be no food for me unless the Lord made it food for my soul ai.d helped me to feed up >n it. Do 1 live on the niauna which comes down from Heaven ? What is thai, tnanna but Jesus Chii-it himself incarnate, whose boily and whose blood I eat aud drink? \m I continually receiving fre«-h increas-i nf might? Where do I gather my might? My saltation is cf him : without him I can do nothing. As a branch cannot bring forth fruit except it abide in the vine, no more can I except I abide in Him. 4. Then if we gather the three thoughts in one, " the perfection " we shall soon have, when we ! shall stand yo cider, near God's throne. \*i!l be wholly of the Lora. Thai, bri-.ht crown which ! shail sparkle on our brow, like ,i coiv-tellatsion of brilliant stiT, shall have bc.-n fashioned only by our Goii. Igoto a land, bur it is a land which the plough of earth haih never upturned, though it be greener than eaith's best pastures, and though it be licher thin all her harvests- ever saw. I go to a building of more gorgeous aichitecture than man bath builded— • it is not of mortal archii tecture ; it is " a house not made with hands, eternal in The Heavens " All I shall know in | Heaven will be given by the Lord, and I shall say when at last I appear before Him : " Grace all the work shall crown Through everlasting days ; It lays iv Heaven the topmost stone, And well deserves the praise." 11. And now, beloved, we cime to the great experience The greatest of all experience, I take iK is toknow that " He only is our ro.-k aud our salvation." have been insisting upou a doctrine, but doctrine ii nothing unless proved in our experience. Most of God's doctrines are oaiy to be learned by practice — by taking them out into the world and letting them bear the wear and tear of life. If I ask any Christian in this place whether this doctrine is true, if he has had any deep experience he will reply, "Tiue? Aye, that it io ; not one woid in Goa's Bible irf inoie true than that, for indeed salvation is of God alone " "He only is my rnok and mv salvation." But, beloved, it is very hard to have such an experimental knowledge of the doctrine that we never depart from it. It is very hard to believe that "salvation is of the Lord." Theie 'are times when we put our confidence in something else but God, and sin by linking haml-in-hand with God — soinethiDg besides him. Let me now dwell a little upon the experience which will bring us to know that salvatioa is of God <tlone. The true Christian will confess that salvation is of God alone effectively— that is, that "He works in him to will and to do of His own pleasure." Looking hack on my past life, I can see j that the dawning of it all was of God — of God I effectively. I took no torch with which to light I the sun, but the sun did light me. I did not commence mv spiritual life — no, I rather kicked and stiuggled against the things of the Spirit; when He drew me, for a time, I did not run after Him : there was a natural hatred in my soul of everything holy and good. WooiDgs were lost upon me — warnings were cast to the wind — thunders were despised ; and as for the whispers of His love, they weie rejected as being less than nothing and vanity. But sure I am, I can say now, speaking on behalf of myself, and of all who know the Lord, "He only is my ualvation, and your salvation too." It was he who turned your heart, and brought you down on your kneed. You can say in veiy deed then : " Grace taught my soul to pray, Grace made my eyes o'erflow." And coming to this moment, you can say t '"Tis grace has kept me to this day And will not let me go." I remember when I was coining to the Lord I thought I was doing it all myself, and though I sought the Lord earnestly, [ ha<i no idea the Lord was seeking mo. Ido not think the young cmvert is at first aware of this. One clay when I was sitting in the House of God, I was not thinking much about the man's sermon, for I did not believe it. The thought struck me, "How did you come to be a Christian ?" I sought the Lord. " But how did you come to seek the Loid?" The thought flashed across mv mind in a moment — I should not have sought Him unless there had been some previous influence in my mind to make me seek Him lam sure you will not be many weeks a Chii^tian, certainly not many months, befoi-e you will -say, " I ascribe my change wholly to God." I debit eto make this my constant confession. I know there are some who preach one gospel in the morning and another at night; who preach a good sound gohpel in the morning because they are _ preaching to saints, but pjeaeh falsehood in the evening because they are preaching to ainners. But there is no necessity to preach tuith at one time and falsehood at another. "The woid of the Lord is pei feet, converting the soul." There is no need to ! put anything else iv it in order to bring sinners to the Saviour." But, my brothers, you muit confess that " Salvation is of the Lord." When you turn back to the past you must say, "My Lord, whatever I have thou gayest it me. Have I the wings of faith? I was a wingless creature i once. Have I the eves of faith? I was a blind creature onee — I was dead till thou madest me alivs ; blind, till tbon openedst my eyes ;my heait was a loathsome dunghill, but thou puttest pearls there, if pearls there be, for peails are not the produce of dunghills ; thou has given me all I

have. And so, if you look at the present, if you* experience be that of a child of God, you will trace all to Him ;-not only all you have had in the past, but all you have now. H,ere you are, sitting in your pew this morning. Now, I just want.you to review where you stand. Beloved, do you think you would be where you are now if it wer« n t for divine grace ? Only think what a streng temptation you had yesterday ; they did " consult to cast you down from your excellency " — perhaps you were served like lam sometimes. The devil sometimes seems to drag me right to the edge of a precipice of sin by a kind of enchantment, making me forget the danger by the sweetness which, surrounds it; and just when ha would push me down, I see the yawning gulph- beneath me, aud some strong hand put out, and I hear a voice saying, "I will presetve him from going down into the pit; I have found a ransom." Do you not feel that ere tlrs sun goes down you will be damned, if grace does not keep you? Have you anything good in your heart that grace did not give you ? If I thought I had a grace that did not come from God, I would trample it beneath my feet, as not being a godly virtue ; 1 woukl guess it to be but a counterfeit, for it could not be right if it did not come from the mint of glory. It may look ever so much like the right thing, but it is certaiuly bad unless it came from God. Christian ! caasfc thou s.*y, of all things past and present, "He only is my rock and my salvation ? " And now look forward to the future. Man ! think how many enemies than hast ; how many rivers thou hast to cross, how many mountains to climb, how many dragons to light, how many lions teeth to escape, how many fires to pass through, how many floods to wade. What thinkest thou, man? Can thy salvation be of anythiDg except of God ? Oh !if I had not that everlesting arm to lean upon, I would cry, "Death! hull me anywhere— anywhere out of the world." If I had not that one hope, that one trust, bury me ten thousand fathomsdeep beneath creation, where my beiag might be forgotren ! Oh ! put me far away, for I am miserable if I have not God to help me all my journey through. Are you strong enough to fight with one of your enemies without your God? I trow not. A little silly maid may cast a Peter down, and cast you down too, if God do not keep you I beseech you, remember this — I hope you know it by experience in the past, but try to remember it in the future wherever you go— " Salvation is of the Lord." Do not get looking at your heart, do not get examining to see whether you h*ve anything to recommend you, but remember, " Salvation is of the Lord." "He only is my rock and my salvation." Effectively, it all comes of Go<l, and I am sure we must add meritoriouslj . We have experienced that salvation is wholly of Him. What merits have I ? If I were to scrape together all I ever had, and then come to you and beg ull you have got, I should not collect the value of a farthing among you all. We have heaid of some i Catholic who Slid that, there was a balance struck in his favour between his goo'l workd aud his bad ones, and therefore he went to Htavea But there is nothing of the sort here ; 1 have seen many people, many kinds of Christians, uud many odd Christians, but I never yet met with one who said he had any merits of his own when he came to ! close quarters. We have heard of pei feet men, and we have heard of men perfectly fo'-lish, and we have thought the characters perfectly alike. Have we any meiits of our own ? t-ure we have not, if we have been taught of God. Once we thought we had; but there came a m^n called Conviction into our house one night, and took away our gloryings. Ah ! v/e .are vile still. I don'c know whether Cowper said quite right when he said : "Since the dear hour that brought me to thy foot, Aud cut up all my follies by the root, I never trusted in au arm but Thine — Nor hoped but in Thy righteousness divine ! " 1 I think be m-\de a mistake, for most Christians get trusting in self at time*, but we are forced to own that "salvation is of the Lord " if we consider it meritoriously. My dear friends, ha,ve you experienced this in your own hearts? Can you say "amen" to that as it goes round? Can .you say, "I know that God is my helper '">. I dare say you can, most of you ; but You will not say it so well as , you will by-and-bye, if God teach you. We ! believe it when we commence the Christian life ; i we know it aftei war<ls, «nd the longer we live the ! more we find it to be the truth — " Cursed is he I that trudteth in man and makuth flesh his arm, but blessed is he who trusteth in the Lord I and whose hope the Lord is." In fact, the crown of Christian expeiiencs is to be delivered from all trust in self or man, and to be brought to rely wholly and simply on Jeans Christ. I say, Christian., thy highest and noblest experience is not to be groaniDg about thy corruption, is not to be crying about thy wanderings, but is ! to say— " With all my tan, and care, and woe, His Spirit will not let me go." "Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief." T like what Lu-her says : " I would run into Christ's I arms if he had a drawn sword in his hands." | That is called venturesome believing; but las an old divine say*; there is no such j thing as venturesome believing ; we cannot I venture on Christ ; it is no venture at all, there is no haphazard in the least degree. It is a holy and heavenly experience when we can go to Christ, amid the storm and say, " Oh ! Jesus, I believe I am covered by Thy blood"; when we can feel ourselves to be all over rags, and y«-t can say, " Lord. I believe that through Christ Jeius, ragged though I am, I am fully absolved." A saint's faith is little faith when he believes as a saintj but a sinner's faith is true faith \vhen he believes as a sinner. The faith, not of a sinless being, but the faith of a sinful creature — that is the faith, which delights God. Go then, Christian, ask that this may be thy experience— to learn each day, "He only is my rock and my salvation." 111. Atid now, in the third place, we speak of THE great DUTr. We have had the. great experience ; now we must have the great duty. The great duty is— if God only be our rock, and we know it, are we not bound to put all our trust in God, to give all our love to God, to set all our hope upon God, to spend all our life for God, and to devote our whole being to God? If God be all I have, sure all I have shall be God's If God alona is my hope, sure I will put all my hope upon God ; if the love of GoJ is alone that which saves, sure He shall have my love alone. Come, let me talk to thee, Christian, for a little while, I want to warn thee not to have two Gods, two Christs, two friends, two husbands, two great -Fathers ; not to have two fountains, two rivers, two suns, or two heavens, but to have only one. I want to bid thee now, as God hath put all salvation in Himself, to bring all thyself unto God. Come, let me talk to thee ! In the fiMt place, Christian, never join anything with Chiist. WoulrLst thou stitch thy old rags into the new garment Ha giveth ? Wouldest thou put nevy wine into old bottles? Wouldst thou put Christ and self together? Thou mightest as well yoke an elephant and an emmet ; they could never plough together? What! wouldst thou put an archangel in the same harness with a, worm, and hopethat they would dragthee through, the sky ! How inconsistent ! how foolish ! What 1 thyself and Christ? Sure, Christ would smile — nay, Chrict would weep to think of such a thing. Christ and man together ? Christ ano CO. ? No, j it never shall be ; He will have nothing of the i sort— He must be all. Note how inconsistent it \ would be to put anything el<e witk Him ; and note again how wrong it wouid be. Christ will never bear to have anything else placed with Him. He calls them adulterers and fornicators that love anything else but Him ; He will have thy whole heart to trust in Him, thy whole soul to love Him, and thy whole life to honour Him. He will not come into thy house till thou puttest all the keys at His girdle ; He will not allow thee to give Him ail the keys but one ; He will not come till thou givest Him garret, parlour, drawing room, and cellar too. He will make thee sing : j "Yet if I might make some reserve, And duty did not call, I love my God with zeal so great That I should give him all." | Mark thee, Christian, it is a sin to keep anything from God. Again. Christ is very grieved if you do it. Assuredly you do not desire to grieve Him who shed His blood for you. Surely there is not one child of God here who would like to vex bis

blessed elder Brother. There cannot be one soul redeemed by blood who would like to see those sweet blessed eyes of our best beloved bedewed with tears. I know ye will not giieve your Lord, ■ will ye? But I tell you ye will vex His noble M-uit if ye love aught but Him ; for He is so fond of you that He is jealous of your love. It is said, roncerning His Jfather, that He is "a jealous God," and He is a jealous Christ you have to deal "with; therefore, put? not your trust in^ chariots, stay not yourselves in horses, but say, "He only is my rock and my 'salvation." I beg thee mark also one reason why thou s-h >uMst not look at anything else, and that is, i r thou lookest at anything el->ethou canst not see f»h-istso well. "On," thou sayest, "I can see Christ in His mercies," but thou «'anst not see him mi well there a-i if you viewed His peison. No jinn can look at two objects at the same time and i-ee both distinctly. You may afford a wink for the world and a wink for Christ, but you cannot give Christ a whole look and a whole tye and +he ■w orld half an eye too. I bese eh thee, Chi'istian, do i.ot try it. If thou looke&t on the world, it ■will be a speck in thine eye; if thou trusted in anythiup; but Him— betwixt two stools thou wilt come to the ptouad, ana a fearful fall wilt thou have. Therefore, Christian, look thou only on Him. "He only is ruy rock and my salvation. " Mark thee again, Christian, I would bid thee never pn* am thing else with Obiist ; for a^ sure a=! ever thou dost, thou wilt have the whip for it. There never was & child of God who harboured one <f (he Lorn's traitors in his heart but he always had a chaige laid against him. God has sent out a. search warrant against all of us, aud do you know what He has told His officers to search for? He has told them ro search, for all our lovers, all our treasures, and all our helper?. G>d care s less about our sins as sins than he does about our sins, or even our virtues, as usurpers of His throne. I tell thee, there is nothing in the world thou settesl thy heart upon that shall not be hung upon a gallows higher than Hainan's. If thou love.st anything but Christ, He will make it to do penai-ce; if thou lovest thy house better than Chiist, He will make it a prison to thee ; if thou lovest thy child better than Christ. lie will make it an adder in thy bteast to sting thee ; if thou Invest thy daily provisions better than Christ He will make thy drink bitter and thy food like gravel stonrs in thy mouth, til thou coruest to live ■wholly on Him. There is nothing which thou ha->t which He cannot turn into a rod, if thou loyi sfc it better than Him ; and re st assured He ■will do so, if thou inakebl it anything to rob thy Chiist. Aud mark thee once again, if thou looke-t at anything save God, thou wilt soon go into sinTi.ere was never a man who kept his eye on anythiog save Christ who did not go wrong If the mariner will s r eer by the pole-Ktar he phall go to the north, but if he steers sometimes by the polestar, and sometimes by another conprellaii n, he knoweth not where he shall go If ihou dost not keep thine eye wholly on Christ, thou wilt soon be wrong. If thou ever dost, give up the secret of thy strength — camely, thy tiubt in Christ ; if thou ever ds»llie-st with the Delilah of the world, and lovest thyself more than Christ, the Philistines will ba upon thee aud >=he'»r thy locks, and tak*- thee out to grind at the mill, till thy God give thee deliverance by means of thy hair growing once more and bringing thee to trust wholly in the Savoiur. Keep thine eye, then, fixed on Jesus ; for if thou dost turn away from him, how ill wilt thou fire ! I bid tbe< j , Christian, beware of thy traces, beware of thy virtuts, beware of thy experience, bewars o f thy piayer-, beware of thy hope, beware of thy humility. There" ,is not one of thy graces which may not damn thee if they are left alone to therm elves. OW B r ookssaith, when a woman hath a husband, and that husband giveih unto her some choice rings, she pu-teth them on her finders and if she should be so foolish as to love the rings better than her husband, if she should care only for the jewels and forget him who gave them, how Angry ■would the husband be, and how foolish she would brf herself ! Christian ! I warn thee, be ware of thy graces, for they miy prove more dangerous to thee than thy sins I warn thee of everything in this world, tor everything has this tendency, espf cially a high estate. If we have a comfortable maintenance, we are most likely not to look so much to l»od. Ah, Christian, with an independent fortune, take care of tliy money— beware of thy gold and silver, it will curse Thee if it comes between tkee and thy God. Always keep thine eye to the cloud and not to the rim—t o the river and not to the ship that flouteth on ita bosom. Look thee not to the sunbeam, but to the sun ; trace thy mercies to God, and say perpetually, "He only is my reck and my sxlvation." Lastly, I bid thee once more to keep thine eye wholly on God, aud on nothing in thyself, becausewhat art thou now, and what wast thou aver, but a poor damned sinner if thou wert our of Chiist ! I had been preachiDg the other day all the former iMrb of the sermon a3 a ministei ; presently I thought I was a poor sinner, and then how differently I began to speak! The best s^rmonb lever preach are those I preach, not in my ministerial capacity, but as a poor sinner preaching to sinner*. J nad there is ! othing like a minister recollecting that he is nothi&g but a poor f inner after all. It is <-aid of the peacock that all hough he has flue j .feathers he is ashamed of his black feet ; lam sure that we ought to be ashamed of ours. However gay our feathers may appear at times, we ought to think of what we should be if grace did not help us. Oh! Christian, keep thine eye on Christ, for out of Him thou art no better than the damned in hell ; there is not a demon in the pit but might put thee to the blush if thou art out of Christ. Oh, that thou wou'dst be hum Me! Recollect whac an evil heart thou hast; within thee, even when grace is there. Thou bast grac<; — tiod loves thee ; but recollect thou hast a foul cancer in thy heart still. Goi has removed much of thy sin, but still the corruption remains. We feel that titough the old man is somewhat choked and the fire somewhat damped by the sweet wateis of the Holy Spirit's influence, yet it would hUzi up worse than before if Gort did not keep it, under. Let us not -glory in ourselves, then. The slava need not be pioud of his descent; he ha- the lwand-mark u;ion his hand. Out upon pride! Away with it ! Lee us rest wholly and solely upon Jtsus Christ. Now, just one word to the ungodly — you who do not know Chript. You have.heard what I have tod you, that s?lyaiion is of Christ alone. Is not tb'at a good doctrine for you? For you" have not got anything, have you ? You are a poor, 10-it, ruined sinner. Hear this, then, sinner— thou hast nothing, and thou dusfc not want anything, for Ghrisst has all. " Oh ! " sayest thou, " I aua a bond slave." Ah, but he has got the redemption. "Nay," sayest thou, "I am a black sinner." Aye, but he has got the bath that can wash thee white Siyest thou, "I am leprous " ? Ve j , but the good Physician can take thy leprosy away, gayest thou, "I am condemned"? Aye, but He has got the acquital-warrant Mgned and sealed, if thou dost "believe in Him. Sayest thou, " But lam dead " ? Aye, but Christ has life, aud He can give thee life. Thou wantest nothing of thine own — nothing to rely on but Christ ; and if there be a man, woman, \ or child hers who is prepared to say solemnly after me, with hrs or her heart, " I take Christ to be my Saviour, with no powers and no merits of my own to trust in ; I see my sinp, but I see that Christ is higher than my sins ; I see my guilt, but I believe that Christ is mightier than my guilt" ; — I say, if any one of you cau say that, you may go away and rejoice, for you are heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven. 1 must tell you a singular story, which was related at our church meeting, because there may be some very poor people here who may understand the way of talvation by it. One of the friends bad been to see a person who was about to join the church, and he Slid to him, "Can you tell me what you would say to a poor sinner who came to ask you the way of salvation 1" "Well," said he, "1 do not know — I think I can hardly tell you ; >but it so happened that a case of this sort did occur yesterday. A poor woman came iuto my, shop, and I told her the way ; but it was in such a homely manner that I don't like to tell you." " Oh, yes, tell me ; I should like to hear it." Well, she is a poor worn in who is always pawning her thiDga, and by-and-bye she redeems them again. I did not know how to tell her better than this. I said to her : ' Look here, your toul is in pawn to the devil; Christ has paid the redemption monov — yon 1 lira faith for your ticket, .uirt so /on mil /et youi soul out of p%wn.' " Now, i'i*t wa>, tho ?\< <j Simple but the mist exct'llei-t way of nup.-jling knowledge of salvation to th'« 'vm ,:<u. jfci, tun our b«hil>» ara Tmvaed to AlmikWy /v aeon ", , \>, o

were poor, and could not pay the redemption money ; but Christ came and paid it all, and f^ith is the ticket which we use to get our souls out of pawn. "We need not take a single penny with vs — we have only to say, " Here, Lurd, I believe iv Jesus Christ. 1 have brought uo money to pay for my soul, for there is the ticket ; the money ha« been paid long ago. This is wiitten in Tby woid: 'The blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin.'" If thuu takeat that, ticket, Ihou wilt get thysoulout of pawn, and thou wilt say, " I'm forfjiven, I'm forgiven, I'm. a rnimcle of grace." May Uod bless you, my friends, for Christ's sake.