light. We proceed, then, with this view to examine what is implied by the existence of such a petition in the Christian's daily prayer-" Thy kingdom come."

If we ask for bread, it surely implies that we are without it. If we ask a kingdom, it surely implies that we feel our need, and the need of all the children of men, for the setting up of this blessed kingdom. It is no objection to this view to say, that it must be partially established in our own hearts before we can have grace or strength enough to pray for it. It may be so; but where lives that true and sincere follower of Christ, who would not, who does not from his very soul desire more grace, more light, more knowledge, more love? And when he looks upon the darkened state, the sin and ignorance of the men around him, where is the true believer who does not feel that his petition is as yet almost entirely unanswered; that another kingdom is prevailing; that another king is ruling, who is leading by far the larger portion of mankind captive at bis will—that kingdom to which the apostle so obviously alludes, when he says, Giving thanks to the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son."

The petition before us, then, implies, that until this kingdom comes universally, the whole world lieth in wickedness, and is in bondage to God's arch enemy, the ruler of the kingdom of darkness. That, again, until this kingdom comes individually, every person born into the world is the bond slave of Satan, a resident and citizen of his accursed kingdom. You, my brethren, who have probably prayed every day for a long series of years, "Thy kingdom come," in one sense must feel that your petition has never yet been granted: but I would ask you, have you ever felt that it has in any sense been fulfilled? Have you ever felt any real anxiety that it should be? Have you ever devoted one hour in your whole life earnestly to gain, as regards your own soul, a fulfilment of this ten thousand times reiterated petition? If not, do you imagine this is prayer? Did you ever seek any worldly good so coldly, so indifferently, so perfectly careless whether it was denied or granted? And yet no earthly good you ever sought approached this invaluable boon. Let us, then, if we have never yet been fully and entirely in earnest in the petition, endeavour this morning to find from the petition before us some subject of self-examination, to aid us in preparing for that blessed ordinance to which we have this day been invited.

We would commence, then, by urging each of you to make the inquiry— What reason have I for thinking that the kingdom of which we have been speaking has been established in my own heart? And be assured, you never set yourselves to answer a question on which the fate of your immortal soul more completely and more entirely depended. Perhaps you may reply, that you are assured upon this subject, not by any one particular, but by a combination of circumstances. You regularly attend the means of grace, and study God's word. It is well; but, brethren, you know that the means of grace are not the kingdom of grace: this would, indeed, in a remarkable manner be mistaking the means for the end. We can imagine many of the Jews attending our Lord's whole ministry, and at last being among the crowd who cried "Crucify him! Crucify him!" We know that Herod heard the preaching of John gladly, and yet was ultimately a murderer. So little are the means of grace and the kingdom of grace convertible terms.

But you, perhaps, have done something more than giving a mere attendance on the means of grace. You have felt something of compunction for sin. something of an awakening of conscience, something of self-condemnation for your words and works of evil. Will this, then, establish the point? No, brethren, this alone is no proof that the kingdom of God is come. Did not Pharaoh and Judas feel the same? Did not the first exclaim, "Now, therefore, forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this once," and did he not turn back again to folly and perish by his stubbornness and rebellion? Did not Judas repent himself, and yet die the death of a suicide and a reprobate? It is evident, then, that feelings such as these are insufficient to establish the fact.

Do you ask, why they are so? What are their defects? We reply, their defect is, if they stand alone, that they want a right foundation. No sinner ever yet felt himself lost-that is, had a real saving conviction of sin-without Christ. It is not until he has been presented to the soul by the Spirit of God as the great remedy for sin, that sin is ever truly, scripturally, savingly felt and deplored and renounced. There are many convictions of sin without Christ, but they are all transitory, all worthless. Your convictions of sin may in fact be natural; you may discern so much of iniquity in your past conduct, that you are unable to close your eyes to the reality of its guilt. This, then, will produce convictions; but you may be endeavouring to stifle these convic tions, you may be endeavouring to drown them in company, or in occupations in resisting every impression. As we have read of the deer who runs till he shakes out the arrow that has pierced him, or the convicted felon who files off the fetters that confine him; the whole bent and purpose of your mind may be to get rid of these convictions, to shake off these impressions, and to escape. Therefore they cannot necessarily prove that the kingdom of grace has come into your heart. They may, indeed, be the blossoms; but then we are all aware that blossoms are often blown off before the fruit is set.

But, again, your convictions may have gone still further: they have not evaporated as soon as they were formed; they have led to action; they have been followed by some degree of reformation and a renunciation of those sins to which you were once devoted; and you ask, are not these unquestionably the coming of the kingdom of grace? Alas, we are compelled again to reply, not necessarily so; you may truly have forsaken your sins, but you may have done so from many an unworthy motive. The fear of God's punishment for sin, the love of the world's approbation, the desire to stand well in society, the injury of your health or your business, may have deterred you from your past transgressions. Or you may have outgrown one kind of sin, and while you are imagining you are in the kingdom of grace, you may be only exchanging one sin for another that is better fitted for your present taste, your present occupa tion. As the adder changes his skin every year of his life, but under every suck change he keeps his poison; so the unconverted sinner, under every partia. reformation, under every change of outward circumstances keeps his corrupt unaltered heart, and is the unconverted sinner still.

Shall we then say we must conclude that the petition of the text must be for ever offered, and yet no light be given, no means by which to ascertain if it be ever granted? By no means, my brethren; only be honest in the inquiry, only be faithful to your own souls, and you shall never be left in doubt, whether, as egards yourself, the kingdom of grace be come. We would say, then, that you ay take encouragement upon this subject if you feel a desire, not for a partial

reformation, but an entire one; not the giving up some, but every sin; not by the fulfilling some of the Lord's commandments, but all of them, however difficult, or however contrary to our natural inclinations; and, together with these, an increasing knowledge and love, and desire to please God in Christ Jesus; if the Saviour is increasingly precious, and sin increasingly hateful to your souls. We say increasingly, for we would lay much stress on these being progressive works. The kingdom of grace consists in no sudden impulse: it is manifest in the gradual change of the whole man; the gradual developement of the whole Christian character; the gradual subjugation of every temper and lust, and passion, and thought to the obedience of Christ. Do we see the drunkard become sober; the licentious, chaste; the proud, humble; the worldly, spiritual; the irritable, meek? and do we behold these outward reformations going hand in hand with inward improvement, with secret prayer, with private searching of God's word, with a humble, child-like reliance upon the blood, and righteousness, and strength of a crucified Redeemer; and have we any doubt of the establishment of God's kingdom in those hearts? Can it admit of a question? No, blessed be God! Of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of the bramble do they gather grapes. We may say without fear of mistake here, the God of heaven is setting up a kingdom which shall never be removed, but standeth fast for ever: this is God's work, and marvellous in our eyes. Blessed is every mother's son who can find these things in his soul: he carries a kingdom within him, and that kingdom of grace shall be unquestionably succeeded by the kingdom of glory. One word only in conclusion to trembling, doubting, and yet believing and obeying souls. You inquire, can you, without presumption, take to yourselves these exceeding great and precious promises-a life of holiness, a peaceful death, and a glorious eternity. You say that the kingdom of grace has never really found an entrance into your heart; but why do you imagine this? Because you cannot discern it? How many a poor doubting child of God had the kingdom of grace in his heart long before he ever thought or saw it there? The cup of gold was in Benjamin's sack, yet he knew it not. Jacob wept during many a year of his declining life for Joseph's death, whilst Joseph was at that very time riding in the second chariot of Egypt. You may be ignorant of the existence of grace in your heart, you may deplore its absence, and you may even weep for it, while it is there securely, there for ever.

But you doubt the existence of this kingdom, because the kingdom of sin is still so strong within you in hardness of heart and the remains of corruption. You may, even when the stony heart has been taken away, and the heart of flesh has been given you, you may have much remaining hardness of heart. But this is evidently different from having a hard heart. The best wheat field you ever saw in your life was not free from weeds; but you would have thought it strange to hear that field called a field of weeds. You may have many corruptions striving within your hearts; yet your knowledge of them, and grief for them, and striving against them, may be the impress and marks of the presence of the kingdom of which we speak within you, as the nonexistence is of its absence. Only mark this: Is the continual frame and demeanour of your souls a holy frame? Do you ever allow yourselves conentedly in sin? Are you continually following hard after God, and seeking aim in his own appointed way, through Jesus Christ. Are you often thinking of God? So often you can say with David, "How precious are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count

them they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee" -or my waking thoughts are still with thee." If you can but find these things in your souls, then take courage; be assured that the kingdom of God is within you, that kingdom which he hath himself pronounced to be righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost; that kingdom whose builder and maker is God. What more would you desire? An assurance of an entrance into the heavenly kingdom? Do not for a moment doubt it. God does not educate his children for hell; such training, such teaching, such chastening as yours, can never be wasted. "As for God," as the Psalmist way is perfect." He has of his own sovereign will established the kingdom of grace in your heart on earth; he shall not hold his hand until he has established you in his kingdom of glory in heaven.

say,

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Oh, then, brethren, when we Thy kingdom come," let all that is within us praise his holy name. May it now be our delight, our joy, our strong consolation, to live as the citizens of that blessed kingdom of God; and then shall it for ever and ever be our exceeding great reward to dwell within its precincts, to mingle with its inhabitants, to take part in its occupations, to stand around its throne, to behold the glory of the eternal Jehovah whom we love, throughout the ages of eternity.

THE FIRST PRINCIPLES OF RELIGION.

REV. J. LEIfchild,

CRAVEN CHAPEL, SUNDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 24, 1833.

"He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him."-Hebrews xi. 6.

Ir is well, sometimes, to look back to the first principles of religion. It is well to show to infidel and sceptical men, that we are not ashamed of having the various dogmas of our religion probed to their deepest recesses, and their foundations scrutinized and examined. It is well to show men, who are slow of heart and reluctant to believe, that there is no foundation whatever for that reluctance, and that it is perfectly unjustifiable. Finally, it is well to show believers themselves, that their principles are so firmly grounded in the nature and constitution of things, as to warrant their absolute confidence in them for time and for eternity.

Now, the first principles of religion are such as these:-That there is a God: that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are a true revelation from him of his character and his designs: that this revelation was designed to have a supreme influence on human minds and characters: that momentous consequences are suspended upon its having its due influence, or our failing through apathy or neglect to attend to it. Some such principles as these are alluded to in the text:-" He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him."

First.

THERE IS A GOD. This lies at the foundation of all truth. Now, to prove this to those who deny it, or attempt to deny it, it would not be sufficient to say that the Scriptures assert it, since they pretend to deny the truth of the Scriptures. It must, therefore, be proved to them on their own principles, on principles which no man can refuse to admit, without denying himself to be a man. This can be done; and it must be gratifying to believers to know that it can be done, and to be assured that, in doing it, the being and attributes of God are demonstrable by human methods.

The admission of any thing, followed out by a process of legitimate reasoning, necessarily conducts to the being of a God; for either that thing must have been produced by some other, or it must have produced itself. Now, nothing can produce itself, since this were to suppose that it existed as a producing cause before it had a being; it were to suppose that a thing might be and might not be at the same time-that it might be able to produce, and that it might not be produced-which is an absolute contradiction. Nothing can produce itself; it therefore must have been produced; and that which produced it, must either have been itself produced, or have been unproduced and existing from eternity. Thus we must go back from one to another, until we necessarily arrive at a first