theu you will awake in earnest to inquire what must we do to be saved? "Watch ye, therefore, for ye know not when the master of the house cometh; lest coming suddenly, he find you sleeping." At midnight, the cry will be made, "Behold the bridegroom cometh." Then there will be great confusion; for thousands will be deceived. "Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed."

"These things saith he that hath the seven spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works that thou hast a name that thou livest and art dead. Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die; for I have not found thy works perfect before God. Remember, therefore, how thou hast received, and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If, therefore, thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon

thee."

And now it is time-it is high time to awake, because many will be forced to awake, when suddenly they shall lift up their eyes in hell, being in torments.

SERMON II.

Sinners affectionately entreated to enter on the Christian pilgrimage.

We are journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you. Come thou with us, and we will do thee good; for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel.-NUMBERS X: 29.

THE Israelites, having been rescued, by the mighty hand of God, from Egyptian bondage, and conducted through the Red Sea, had received the law at Mount Sinai; and being organized by a divine constitution, were about to commence their journey to the promised land. Their tents were taken up,-their tribes marshalled in the prescribed order—and the silver trumpets prepared to give the signal for them to commence their march. The tidings of the departure of Moses out of Egypt, and his intended journey through the wilderness, had reached the ears of Hobab, his fatherin-law, who had come from the land of Midian to make a parting visit. At this interesting crisis, Moses affectionately addresses him in the language of the text; "We are journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you. Come thou with us, and we will do thee good, for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel." Hobab's first answer was, "I will not go; but I will depart to my own land, and to my kindred." Yet Moses could not give up the suit; but

with more urgent entreaty, he rejoined ;—" Leave us not, I pray thee, forasmuch as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and thou mayest be to us instead of eyes. And it shall be, if thou go with us, that what goodness the Lord shall do unto us, the same will he do unto thee."

These affectionate entreaties doubtless prevailed, and Hobab, afterward repented, and went; for we read of his posterity among the children of Israel, and of his sharing in the land of promise.

In all this, my brethren, we have an illustration of several things which distinguish the church of God. The whole multitude of believers have been rescued from spiritual bondage. Every Christian has been ransomed from the power of a tyrant far more cruel than Pharaoh. He has been delivered from "the prince of the power of the air”—“the Spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience"-from "the God of this world, who hath blinded the minds of them that believe not." He has been "turned from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God" —has been “recovered out of the snare of the devil,” by whom he was "taken captive at his will." He has been delivered from a servitude to masters far more cruel than the task-masters of Egypt; and a bondage far worse than theirs-the bondage of sin, Satan, and the world. And in the moment of his greatest extremity, when he gave up all for lostmountains on the one hand, and a howling wilderness on the other-destruction before, and the fell destroyer in the rear, the God of salvation appeared, and showed him a safe and easy passage out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son. "Not

by works of righteousness which we had done; but according to his mercy, he saved us, by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost." Thus redeemed from the hand of his enemies, and a new song put into his mouth, in common with the people of God, he can now show forth the praises of him who hath called him out of darkness into his marvellous light.

By the voice of God, believers are called to go out from "a world that lieth in wickedness”—to "seek a better country, even a heavenly." Enlisted under the captain of their salvation, they are marshalled as an army with banners, to take possession of the promised rest. And this day, throughout all their hosts, has the silver trumpet of the gospel been sounded, as the appointed signal for them to go forward. And the thousands of Israel are now on their march. "We are journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you," is the declaration of the whole church of God on earth. They anxiously desire, and endeavor to persuade others to leave all and accompany them. If they cannot succeed, they must bid them a painful, and solemn farewell. Such are the leading thoughts suggested by the text, which are now to be illustrated, and applied to this assembly. 1. Christians are journeying. They are styled "strangers and pilgrims on the earth"-having here 66 no continuing city." Long after God's ancient people were settled in the land of promise, the psalmist used this language in prayer to God; "We are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers." Of all the ancient worthies it is said; "These all died in faith, not having received the prom

ises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things, declare plainly that they seek a country." Peter in his epistle to Christians in general, addresses them all under this tender appellation, “Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul." A life of faith, in the sacred Scriptures, is often compared to the journey of the Israelites through the wilderness; and every Christian now on earth, may adopt the language of David, "Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears, for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were." And-" Thy statutes have been my song in the house of my pilgrimage." In heart and affections, he forsakes all. "Whosoever he be of you" says our Saviour, "that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple." The place which he leaves, is the city of destruction. "Arise ye, and depart, for this is not your rest; because it is polluted; it will destroy you with a sore destruction." By faith, the Christian sojourns in the land of promise, as in a strange country-he looketh for a "city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." Heaven is his home. His con ́versation, his heart, and his treasure are there. With the eye and the heart of a stranger, he prosecutes his journey through the wilderness of this world-"Seeking those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God." Whatever may be cumbersome, or useless, or suited to retard his progress, he will leave, or drop by the way. He will "lay aside