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Both of these states are now presented to you. Choose, and choose instantly, my brethren, between them. "Halt not between two opinions." If the things at the right hand of God are the only objects worth pursuing, seek them; seek them at once, and with all your heart; seek them as men who, if they lose these, lose all; seek them as men who may not have an hour between them and eternity! "Work while it is called to-day, for the hour cometh in which no man can work."

2. In the next and last place, let me address myself to those who, though deeply impressed with the necessity of seeking that spiritual frame of mind on the necessity of which we have been insisting, feel themselves, up to the present moment, disappointed in their endeavours to attain it.Such persons I would remind of an expression of the text, as yet almost unnoticed, but which is full of encouragement to the lowly and devout follower of the Cross. The language of the Apostle is, "Seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth, at the right hand of God." And what can those, really assured

of the willingness and power of the Son of God to assist his creatures, need more, for the assurance of their souls in every legitimate undertaking, than that He is thus seated at the right hand of the Father? Is it asked, why he has thus ascended, and for what purpose he continues to occupy that seat of dignity and power? Let the Psalmist reply: "He hath ascended up on high, he hath led captivity captive: he hath received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also." And the promise of our Lord himself to his church is, "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you :" If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what y will, and it shall be done unto you.'

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But what ought to be the practical inference from such a statement? If a man, my Christian brethren, has a powerful advocate at a mere human tribunal, how anxiously does he avail himself of his mediation for the advancement of his own interest or safety! And shall not the servant of God also endeavour to avail himself of the Friend and Advocate with whom an infinitely merciful God has provided

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him? Shall he not employ the "one Mediator" between Heaven and earth? Shall he not remember, for the encouragement of his soul, that, if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous?" To this great Intercessor we owe it, that, when cumbering the ground like unprofitable plants, we were not "cut down," and cast into the burning. A thousand and a thousand times has he already stood between us and the just judgments of God Almighty. Let, then, the past mercies of the Lord; let the goodness which has so long preceded and followed us; let the many memorials of love which are scattered over every step of our earthly pilgrimage, encourage us to believe that He will "never leave us nor forsake us," and that those astonishing promises shall be fulfilled; "The Lord will create upon every dwellingplace of Mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for upon all the glory shall be a Defence." May that defence be yours, my Christian brethren! May it be to you a "shadow in the day

time from the heat, and for a place of refuge and for a covert from the storms" of life; and may it never be withdrawn, till you find yourself in that Glorious Presence, where fear cannot be felt, because danger never comes !

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SERMON V.

THE QUESTION WHAT IS SIN?'ANSWERed.

1 JOHN iii. 4.

Sin is the transgression of the law.

FEW persons

would be found to maintain that a man is at liberty to combine a life of sin with a state of perfect fearlessness. as to the judgment to come; and yet, is it not the fact, that multitudes are living from hour to hour in the commission of what is described in the Scriptures as sin, who are nevertheless altogether free from such alarms?

If the cause be asked of this wide opposition between the practice and principle of so large a portion of mankind, Ι should not hesitate to ascribe it, in part at least, to false conceptions of the real nature of sin. Multitudes agree to condemn

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