tion shall be found." "Let him, therefore, who thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall; see that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise; give all diligence to make your calling and election sure; and if you are now enveloped in a sorrowful cloud, which increases your cries for the supply of heavenly light as well as the dispersion of this darkness, be not utterly cast down; there hath no temptation overtaken you but what is common to men."

The life of the just shall terminate in heavenly glory. Consider how the faint speck of morning light terminates in the blaze of the meridian sun, "in perfect day;" even so shall ye shine, faithful followers of Jesus. So Jesus proceeded through his mortal course, marking out the track in which ye should tread, and entered into his glory, that he might prepare a place for you, and in due time say unto you, "well done, good and faithful servants, enter ye into the joy of your Lord." Like the sun shall ye descend into the darkness of death, with enlarged orbit, only like him to rise with renovated splendour, that in heaven ye may shine" as suns in the firmament." This is "the perfect day" in which perfection is attained, and no cloud obscures the scene, which was prepared from eternal ages, and shall be followed by no night. Fear not, ye who are just through faith in Christ, that this height of glory is unattainable by you; ye shall proceed like the splendour of the sun, which no

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thing can extinguish, nothing can hinder in its course, till ye come to the highest pitch of holiness, joy, and glory." Before this can fail, the purpose of God must be reversed, the promise of God recalled, the blood of Christ enforcing his intercession set at nought, the work of the Spirit overturned, and the everlasting covenant be abolished.

Are ye illuminated and luminous with the light of that divine knowledge which constitutes you children of the day,-with the light of holiness in all manner of conversation,-with the light of divine love, diffusing temporal and spiritual good according to your measure throughout your sphere,— with the light of sacred joy, all of which compose a glory that encircles you and manifesteth your heavenly origin and end; are ye illuminated and luminous with this light? though but in its beginnings, "arise, shine, for your light is come." That you may so shine, let this be the chief object of your wishes when you lie down and when you rise up; beware of contentment with any attainments you may make; continually study to mortify sin, to strengthen what is weak, and to exercise what is strong in grace; cease not to implore an increase of grace suited to your need; and frequently inquire if your improvements keep pace with your privileges; in a word, "lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset you, and run with patience the race that is set before you." It is God who calls you and placeth you on this glorious

course; how then can ye fail? Will not wisdom's ways be ways of pleasantness; and are they not continually and for ever conducting you nearer God, the great model of excellence, and the inexhaustible fountain of glory and bliss? Be continually actuated by these motives, and "your light shall shine progressively, not wasting as that of a taper,” nor declining as that of the setting sun, but increasing as that of the morning, until perfected in the knowledge, holiness, and felicity of heaven." And well may this prospect enable you to review the sorrows of the past year, of your past life, with the sweetest consolation, enable you to conduct your present conflicts with courage, to support your present trials with patience, and to look forward into inscrutable time with holy confidence that all shall terminate in glory, and honour, and praise.

Is there none among you sensible that he has no title to these prospects; none trembling that he moves in another path; none in trouble of soul that one year after another finds him in the same road, only nearer its dreadful termination; none exclaiming, "how shall I become just, that my last end may be like his ?" I hope the Spirit is moving some one to put this question, and that he will carry home the answer to his heart with power,"Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ," and thou shalt be justified, thou shalt obtain an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith,'and thy path shall be "as the shining light that shineth more and more unto

the perfect day." It is Jesus who lightens every man that cometh into this course; he is the Sun of righteousness, and he is the pattern and source of divine light to all who affectionately contemplate and apply to him as such; therefore, cry mightily, that ye may with open face behold the glory of the Lord, and be changed into the same image, from glory to glory, by the Lord the Spirit.

SERMON XXIII.

REV. i. 17, 18.-" And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death."

JOHN was one of the two sons of Zebedee, the fisherman. Christ chose him in early life to be his disciple, and afterwards commissioned him to be one of his apostles: and he attached himself, with peculiar affection, to his Lord. John was a man of sublime genius and ardent temperament, which, after he was made clean by the truth, were consecrated to the service of his Master, not only in all the fervour of zeal, but in all the meekness of wisdom. He was admitted to the honourable familiarities of the beloved disciple, during the lifetime of Christ, and intrusted with the care of his mother at his death. To his pen are we indebted for that gospel which specially vindicates the divine glory of his Lord, and for those epistles that so eminently breathe the spirit of his Master, which is love. On account of his activity in promoting the kingdom of Christ, he, John, was banished to the Isle of Patmos, and compelled, it is said, to work in the mines. While the