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seek thy servant." That he did stray-that God did absolutely seek him-that he listened to the voice of his Shepherd and returned to the fold he had deserted, is a truth which he humbly acknowledges; for in the language of gratitude he declares, that God had converted and restored his soul. He was a Lamb, which had taken refuge in the fold of Christ; and when Satan, like a roaring lion, broke within the sacred enclosure, and separated him from the protecting care of the Shepherd, the Lord Jesus smote the detested monster. He awakened the mind of David to a sense of his awful wanderings, and rescued him. from the destructive grasp of the destroyer. Animated with gratitude, and humbled in the dust at the recollection. of his perverseness, he confessed his transgressions, and sought an asylum in the bosom of his offended Maker. "I have sinned," said he, "against the Lord;" and the messenger of mercy declared, "The Lord hath put away thy sin." Conducted thus in safety through life-impressed with the fullest confidence in the affection and superintendence of heaven, he declared his willingness to trust that Being in his last conflict with the king of terrors, who had preserved him during his pilgrimage; and concludes the triumphant declaration of his unshaken reliance on God, in these angelic strains: "Yea, though I walk through the valley and shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff comfort me."

It is a serious, solemn truth that we are mortal creatures. The departure of our friends, our neighbours, our connexions into eternity, proclaim our mortality. Dust we are, and unto dust we must return. We may say to the grave, thou art our mother; and to the worm, thou art my sister and my brother. The tomb, however dark and gloomy, will very 3000 receive our frail bodies; for yet a little while, and the summons of the great Omnipotent will be communicated to us all.

These truths the serious Christian frequently realizes. He calls to mind in his retired moments that solemn period, when he and all terrestrial things will part forever, when

the curtain of human life will drop, when the scene of his temporal existence will be closed; and that eternal day commence, which to the believer will know of no night. But thanks be to God, the consideration of death, however gloomy to the eye of flesh, is through the medium of the Gospel divested of all its horrors. From the mount of Christianity, he sees beyond the stream of Jordan, the city of his God; that city, in which "there is no need of sun nor of the moon to shine in it: for the glory of God lightens it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." The oracles of religion strengthen and confirm his hopes. As the fellow traveller of St. Paul, he exclaims in triumph, "Who shall separate me from the love of God? I am persuaded that neither life, nor death, nor men, nor angels, nor all the principalities and powers of darkness, shall be able to separate me from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." "Oh, death, thou hast lost thy sting! Oh, grave, where is thy victory?"

Encouraged by the views of those who have passed into eternity before him, he descends into the grave with Christian confidence, and sees inscribed upon its portal," the pilgrim's path to glory." He perceives that it is spoken of by the Psalmist as the valley and shadow of death; and, as the shadow of a serpent cannot sting-nor the shadow of a sword inflict a wound, his apprehensions vanish; and his soul swells with transport and with joy. It is the call of an affectionate father, and he obeys that call with resignation. It is the summons of the best of parents-what then should alarm or disquiet the mind of an obedient child? Does a tender babe dread the approaches of an indulgent mother? Are its fears excited when its ear is saluted with her maternal voice? As little reason, I am perfectly convinced, has the Christian to be alarmed at his approaching interview with a God of mercy and compassion.

These ideas may, by the world, be considered as the sportings of an enthusiastic mind; but may 1 not appeal to the observation of some of this auditory for the propriety and truth of my remarks? Have you not seen your friends

calm as a summer's sea, when arrived at the close of their lives? Have you not heard them express their resignation to the will of God, and their willingness to depart? Yes, with the Psalmist, they have looked back and recognized the hand of the Almighty in the different periods of their existence; they have traced in recollection his protecting goodness, through all the changing scenes through which they have passed, and, with minds full of expectation, they have said, "Though I walk through the valley and shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou, my God, art with me, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me."

To conclude. The comforts of religion, as I have presented them to your view, cannot fail of exciting in your minds a wish to realize them. If you desire to claim them as your own, you must enter into the service of God, and obey the peaceful injunctions of the Almighty. If you wish to feed in the green pastures of divine grace, and to lie down beside the still waters of comfort, you must enter into the fold of the Lord Jesus, and learn of him who was meek and lowly in heart. If you desire to pass through the valley and shadow of death in triumph, and to reach the mansions of seraphic bliss; if you wish to die the death of the righteous; you must live holy and righteous lives.

It is in vain to expect the enjoyment of religion unless you live in close communion with your Maker. The Christian cannot indulge in the sinful and thoughtless pursuits of the world, and, at the same time, keep his lamp burning in his hand. The celestial fire which warms his bosom will lose its lustre, and be at length quenched in the pestilential vapour of carnal pleasures. "Draw nigh to God, and God will draw nigh to you,"-"Cease to do evil and learn to do well; and though your sins are like scarlet they shall be as white as snow-though red like crimson they shall be as wool."

It is supposed, by those who are strangers to the subject, that religion is productive of gloom; and that the pleasures of the world can alone constitute man happy. I would

appeal at this moment to those whose minds are most absorbed in the pursuit of temporal gratification, and to those who pass from one amusement to another in search of enjoyment. I would appeal to them, and ask an honest answer to the following questions. Have the pleasures of the world afforded you that happiness which fancy presented to your view, and which you promised yourselves from an indulgence in them? Have you not found inscribed upon the walls of those apartments in which revelry and dissipation hold their empire-vanity and vexation of spirit? Have you not often returned home, not only disappointed but disgusted with yourselves at the waste of time in which you have indulged-the frippery and nonsense with which you have been surrounded? Has not conscience benevolently told you, you were wrong? Has it not remonstrated and plead with you to change your course? Listen, then, I beseech you, to the pleadings of that faithful monitor. "Seek the Lord while he may be found.” “I pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." Delay it not one moment longer-" to-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts;" "for now is the accepted time, this is the day of salvation."

SERMON II.

"Jesus answering, said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found, that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger."-ST. LUKE xvii. 17, 18.

THAT man is a sinner, guilty of ingratitude to his Maker, every individual conversant with human nature must acknowledge. It forms a principle that admits of no contradiction, a principle proven by daily experience.

If the reception of benefits, of which we are undeserving, always excited our gratitude to God, there would not be in existence a single transgressor; because there is no man who does not stand indebted to heaven for mercies received. But we find, from multiplied observation, that the goodness of God, instead of attaching man to his Creator, and exciting in his mind a sense of his dependence upon heaven, too frequently renders himself-confident, and gives rise to practices, at variance with every principle of duty and obedience.

That this is the case, will appear evident by taking into view the conduct of men in general. Is the possession of riches always productive of a life-devotedness to God? Are the dwellings of men of wealth always found to be the seat of piety and religion? Is it there that the voice of prayer and praise is most frequently heard? Does the health that we enjoy produce that return of gratitude to the Almighty, which the blessing so richly merits? Is it productive of that animated devotion, which we might rea

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