is among the saints! What has pride profited us? or what good hath riches with our vanities brought us?"

But when the careless shall make this confession, it will not be, that anything strange has happened; it is only that, which all along the Church was faithfully telling them. The ministers of Christ, speaking in His Name, tell you over and over again that these things will be so. We intreat you to believe their reality. We forewarn you, that you will think as the Church does at the last. And what will the end of the ungodly be, but exactly that, which from the very first he was solemnly told it would prove?

The same may be said of the necessity. of receiving the Holy Communion, of the necessity of your being of a meek and quiet spirit; of your being charitable, obedient, dutiful, devout, of your avoiding the sins of uncleanness, indifference, hypocrisy; of the necessity of your being new creatures, living above the world, living to Christ, living by the power of the Holy Ghost; of your not trusting to good intentions, or to a deathbed repentance, or to any other delusive hope; when men shall find out hereafter the truth of these things, they will recognize them as the very truths they have despised, argued against, cavilled at, or disregarded, and oh! had they but

known, what the end would prove, how very differently would they have acted!

To what practical conclusion then do these considerations lead us? Is it not to this, that we should not satisfy ourselves with merely knowing that the Christian religion contains such and such truths, but should be practically influenced by their reality? Only act now, as you will wish hereafter you had done, and all will be well. Perhaps you may think—it is very natural to do so that if an angel from heaven, or one of your friends from the grave, were to come and appear visibly before you, and with impassioned. earnestness or awful calmness bid you attend to the things which belong to your peace, that then you would repent; that if thus certified of the necessity of living a godly life, you could no longer hesitate, you could no longer resist, could no longer be contented with a little religion; but would devote the remainder of your days to the service of God and the care of your souls. And yet, my brethren, what new religious truth could that angel or that friend communicate? What stronger motives could he urge? What clearer statements could he give? It is not then that you need fresh truth, but more faith. Live according to the truth you have, the truth you know, and you cannot do otherwise than live a

godly life. For in a word it may be said, that every one amongst us who does not live a godly life, who is neglecting his duty and deceiving his soul, is guilty of this folly in defiance of the truth he knows, and in contradiction to the creed he confesses. Nor can we help believing, that as he chooses to walk in darkness, although blessed with light, so if even more light were given, he would continue still the same, justifying the words of Abraham in the parable, "If they believe not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead."

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SERMON XIV.

TRUTH VINDICATED.

ZECHARIAH i. 5, 6.

“Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever? But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? and they returned and said, Like as the Lord of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways and according to our doings, so hath He dealt with us."

THE appeal made in these words to the people of God was made subsequently to their being carried away captive to Babylon. The prophet is commanded to urge them to forsake their sins and to turn to God; and to caution them against imitating the sinful conduct of their forefathers, who, to their great loss and grief, refused to hear the prophets whom God had sent to declare His will. And then the enquiry is made in the words of the text, "Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever?" And while the people are left to supply the answer to this question, God proceeds to enquire still further, "But my words and my statutes, which I commanded