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of grace and truth? Has not God, who " was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself," granted us to know him as eternal, infinite Love? And since we have become the children of God through faith in Christ, can we not call him our Father, our Father in heaven, even as the Redeemer called him his Father? And as when we say, "If the Lord will," we must immediately think of Him who is certainly our Lord, since he has bought us with his blood; but who also became our Brother, and to whom, as he appeared under the lowly form of a servant, the weary and heavy-laden are irresistibly drawn, shall we not find that the Father and the Son are one to us? shall we not see the Father in the Son, so that with undoubting trust and boundless confidence, we may repose in God's paternal arms, and expect from him nothing but good? If the Spirit of Jesus testifies to our spirits that we are the children of God, can we not always look up and cry, Abba, Father? Do those groanings that cannot be uttered, with which the Spirit intercedes for us with God, signify anything else than Abba, Father? Rom. viii. 15, 16. Do we not know that if we now stand in the love of God, all things must work together for our good? that if God be for us, nothing or no one can be against us? that in all things we shall be more than conquerors through Him that hath loved us? that nothing shall separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord? Let us take courage then; this is the God who controls all things, on this God we depend with

all our plans and undertakings. True it is, we know not what shall be on the morrow, but He knows in whose fatherly hand both to-day and to-morrow are placed.

True it is, our life is a vapour, that appeareth a little time and then vanisheth away;" but the eternal God has called us to another life, to a higher and more blessed life; his only begotten Son has brought life and immortality to light for us, 2 Tim. i. 10. With the certain assurance in our hearts of this nobler, richer, and more glorious life, we may find rest through every day and in every vicissitude of our earthly life; and whether we enter in or go out, whether to-day or to-morrow, whether in this or that city, whether we stay and traffic a year, or more or less, and whether we gain little or much, we shall receive what is allotted to us by God, by our God, in the spirit of faith and obedience, trusting in his power and grace. And thus all anxiety is laid to rest, for we know who careth for us; we know from whom cometh our help; who it is that guards our going out and coming in;

and on whom we daily and This is the secret of being

hourly cast all our care. able to " rejoice evermore," 1 Thess. v. 16; for in the breast of a christian a perennial fountain of joy springs up. This is the secret of "praying without ceasing;" the quiet and often silent communion of our heart with God is constantly maintained. This is the secret of "giving thanks in every thing;" for purely good and perfect gifts will come to us from above, from the

Father of lights, if we walk in his light and in his love. And thus we may live unanxious and joyful, devout, and thankful from day to day, and from one year to another, till we arrive at the dark valley, and even there we shall not be afraid, for God will be with us. This, my friends, gives the soul a peace, this spreads over the whole life a security far higher than that which the mere deductions of reason, and any natural grounds of confidence can impart. The uncertainty of earthly things, their unsteadiness and changeableness, no longer harass and perplex the mind; but the believer, satisfied with what God appoints, if it only leads to heaven, and if he still continues united to his Saviour, looks on the future with no other thought in his heart, and no other words on his lips, than "If the Lord will."

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Let us recollect, my friends, those words of the Redeemer," Blessed is that servant, whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing," Luke xii. 43; which were spoken in immediate reference to his second coming. But will not the Lord come to each of us in our last hour, when he calls us from our earthly day's work? Oh, happy those whom he shall then find in such a condition and state of mind! For he who has passed through life in that high security and confidence which only faith in Christ can give, who, under all the changes of temporal things, has learned to glorify God, will be enabled to meet death also with the same composure, since he knows that the one supreme Lawgiver has death, as well as all

other things, under his control; and the sting of death, which, to the natural man, is the wages of sin, has been taken away by Him who himself once passed through the dark valley. Life may pass away as a vapour; but there is something that passes not away, something that remains for us through eternity, even fellowship with Jesus, who is seated at the right hand of God. It may be uncertain how long we shall live here, how soon we shall die; but one thing we know, "If we live, we live to the Lord; if we die, we die to the Lord; living and dying, we are the Lord's." Let us, then, continually cleave to him more closely; let us continually enter more and more into his holy life, so that when he comes to take us home, we may be able to say with confidence in death itself, Yes, Lord, as thou wilt. Amen.

LECTURE XVI.

JAMES V. 1-8.

Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you. Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.

You will be at no loss, my friends, to apprehend the general scope and meaning of the passage I have just read. It is a description, in the elevated style of the ancient Jewish prophets, of the future destiny of the rich who were guilty of oppressing the poor, and of the pious poor who were the victims of their

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