are the contemplations which have engaged us; and the glory of his exaltation; and his appearing in the presence of God for us! From Him through his ambassadors, you have heard God's controversy with his people. "We have prayed you in Christ's stead, to be reconciled to God." "We have reproved, rebuked, exhorted with all longsuffering and doctrine." Have the things spoken profited you? Have they been heeded as God's message, though they were by man's words? Has your attention dwelt upon them? Have you felt that they concerned you, that they were connected with your peace? That without the belief of some, and the practice of others of them, your heart could not know peace? If so, "give the more earnest heed to the things which you have heard, lest at any time you let them slip." And if not, pause now, with just fear:-"lest a promise be left to you," by inattention or unbelief, or a hardened heart, "you should seem to come short of it." Pause now, duly weighing in your hearts the declaration "Whoso despiseth the Word shall be destroyed."

"The Gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation." Not the Gospel lying unopened in our homes. Not the Gospel listened to by others, whilst we forsake the assembling of ourselves

together. But the Gospel preached to us; the Gospel attended to; the Gospel studied in our retirement, when we are alone in our chambers and are still; the Gospel heeded as God's plan and condition of our salvation; the Gospel practised in our lives-exemplified in our characters-exhibited in our homes—regulating our dealings—carrying us beyond our light afflictions which are but for a moment, to look for those things which to the natural eye are not seen; the eternal and exceeding weight of glory reserved for those who through "faith and patience inherit the promises.'

"The Gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation." But as such we must acknowledge its power-be influenced by its power. to deliver from sin, and so to save.

Its power is Its power is

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to awaken to holiness, and so to save. Its power is to purge the conscience from dead works, and so to save. Its power is to renew God's marred and lost image within us, and so to save. if its power does not deliver-and not sanctify— and not cleanse-and not renew, it will not save. Its sounds may even echo around us, we may be externally conversant with all its promises and demands, it may give us light enough to know what we are to do to be saved, and we may be far from salvation still. The heart may never have

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been opened to receive its sounds. We may have the form of knowledge and yet deny the power of it. And having light enough to lead to heaven, we may, with that very light in our hands, be walking in that broad and easy way whose "paths decline to death."

"The Gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation." The power is of Him. The listening ear, and the opened heart are from Him. "Of his own will begat he us with the Word of Truth,” writes the Apostle. Of ourselves we cannot receive the Gospel in its quickening and sanctifying influences. By nature there is such darkness and deadness, and insensateness hanging upon, and frozen about our hearts, that every inlet by which light and warmth could enter is anticipated and closed. The truth may be told-the alarm may be sounded-the embassy of peace may be declared to us, but of ourselves we cannot effectually apprehend them :-"the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." But this is no discouragement. "They shall know who follow on to know." He who asketh receiveth. Pray to God to prepare your heart, and open your heart. Seek sincerely to enter into the house of God. Draw near there,

not as a cold duty, but desiring to meet God there. Enter there with humility—with an anxious world-foregoing heart; listen to what you hear, not curiously and captiously, but as heeding the things which are spoken. Pray for help to do and practise what you hear. Examine yourselves often on how the word preached profits you; and if it profit you little, seek to learn the cause; whether the fault is not in yourself?—whether there has not been something distracting and prejudicing you • which would not let you attend to the truths which you might have heard, and which would have been, through God, to your furtherance in knowledge and godliness? Give a part of the Sabbath morning to preparation at home. Seek the Lord privately before you seek him publicly-and then you will not only find God's presence when you enter his Temple, but you will find his presence going up with you. You may not feel that ardour-that zest for God's sanctuary which the Psalmist had :"One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and enquire in his Temple." perchance now you have a stronger desire than heretofore. Yet the very faintest desire is of God; if we have the feeblest inclination to listen so as to

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learn, that inclination is from Him. He gives first the will to hear, and then the ability to do. The grace he imparts to us may at first seem in small measure, but he giveth more grace. "They who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength." The light which is dim at first, "opens more and more unto the perfect day." And if we would experience more of the hearing ear, and understanding, opened heart, we must wait upon the Lord. And though, like the prophet, we may send six successive times to catch the tidings of the rain of God's blessing, and seem to send in vain, and wait in vain, yet we must not despair. The cloud will rise at length—it may be scarce discernible— and no bigger than a man's hand-but it is a harbinger of greater things, it is the forerunner of the "sound of abundance of rain." May God vouchsafe to us the dew of his blessing, and grant that on our hearts opened to receive it, "his doctrine may drop as the rain-as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass."