earnest invitations and calls. "Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him." "The Spirit and the Bride say, Come; and let him that heareth say, Come; and whosoever will, let him take it.” “I will bring it." "Hearken unto me, ye that are stout-hearted and far from righteousness," says God; "I bring near my righteousness." He lays it before you; he lays it

at your feet; ay, and you cannot pass from this house this right without trampling it under foot, unless you accept it.

Waste, then,

"How," say you, are we to accept it? It is faith that accepts it. This righteousness is said to be revealed to faith. It is faith that receives it. It is unto all and upon all them that believe.' What are we to believe?" Believe that you are guilty, undone, condemned, and lost. Receive in yourselves, within your own consciences, the sentence of death, as having broken, ten thousand times over, the law. Believe that you have no righteousness of your own to plead in arrest of judgment, and that you are already unable to work out any such righteousness as the law demands. no more time in that attempt. Renounce all hope and expectation from that quarter. Believe that God Himself has, in Divine compassion and in wondrous love, provided for you such a righteousness as you need-ordained and appointed His own Son to perform it-set Him forth as a propitation, that He might accomplish it-accepted it when performed, now honestly and earnestly makes you an offer of it, and is ready, if you will but accept it, to lay it to your account, to deal with you, because of it, just as though it were your work. "He hath made Christ to be sin for us, though he knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." He has dealt with Christ as if He had been the sinner-(let the cross of Calvary be the proof)-that He might deal with you as if you were the righteous, the worker of righteousness" that you might be made the righteousness of God in Him." Believe that, and fall in with God's gracious design, and with thankful heart accept His gift. Cast yourself upon Christ. Take Him as your Saviour. Venture on His righteousness for salvation; rely upon it; make it your only trust, your habitual plea; feel convinced that you must perish if it does not save you, but equally convinced that, in relying on it, you cannot perish,

for it will save you.

And make no delay.

as you are.

There is neither time nor need for delay. Time is precious; come as you are. Were you summoned, indeed, into the royal presence, you would change your garment; you would cast off your working dress; you would wash away the marks of dusty toil, and you would put on your best; but here you have no need to change a rag, nor to wipe away a stain. God is ready to receive you as you are; come, therefore, He has provided for you, at a great price, a costly garment—a robe of righteousness-arrayed in which you will be glorious in the sight of angels, and glorious in the sight of God Himself. Why should you hang back? Why not this night accept and put it on? Great will be your deliverance: for "there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus." And great will be your peace, for this will be the commencement of a trust that will establish your heart in comfort, and the commencement of a grateful affection that will establish your heart in the love and in the habit of holiness. Are any of you, in your secret souls, resolving to continue yet a little longer as you are, and to delay the consideration of God's offer thus made to you till "a more convenient season?" Oh! remember, dear friends, that the importance of this offer

and the majesty of the God from whom it comes brook no delay. I have read in ancient history of the ambassador of a Roman power who was sent to a hostile prince to make known to him the terms upon which peace might be procured. The warlike monarch, having listened to terms, demanded some time for the consideration of a matter so weighty. When this was refused, he named a shorter period. That also was denied. He then asked that he might at least retire and consult with his chief and chosen men of state; upon which the ambassador took his rod, and drawing a circle in the sand around the place on which the monarch stood, exclaimed, "Before you overstep this bound, peace or war must be your choice." Dear friends, in God's name I put within your reach this night God's righteousness, and I draw around you that circle, and I conjure you, in God's name, not to overpass it without accepting God's offer,—ay, before you quit this house, to lay hold of God's righteousness. "Now is the accepted time, and now is the day of salvation."

LESSONS FROM THE LIFE OF HAVELOCK.

A SECOND FUNERAL SERMON TO GENERAL HAVELOCK*.

PREACHED ON SUNDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 14, 1858,

BY THE

REV. WILLIAM BROCK.

"He being dead yet speaketh."-HEBREWS Xi. 4.

So humble a man was Havelock, that at the honour which his countrymen are doing him, I believe he would have been surprised, and only one consideration would have reconciled him to the present popular and eulogistic mention of his name. If by pre senting his example before the public, his admirers can accomplish any good, then, we are sure, he would have acquiesced. If the narration of his history, or the mention of his habits, can be made subservient to the formation of sound character, and to the maintenance of upright conduct in other men, then we know he would have been content,but not else. Ostentatiousness he abhorred; vain-glory was odious to him. To flattery he was insensible, and of himself he never cared to speak. Our reverence, therefore, for his memory constrains us to learn the lessons, or to seek to learn them, which are taught by his eventful life. It would be a reflection on his name, and a practical dishonour to his reputation, to let these lessons go unlearned. Being dead and buried he speaks to us; and from that distant grave in the Alumbagh there comes his voice, reminding us of duties which we are sadly prone to neglect, and of privileges which we are very apt to forego. Let us, then, my brethren, give heed to that which he says to us to-night, reckoning that he has a claim upon our attention, inasmuch as so signally he showed his faith by his works. Being dead, then, he speaketh to us.

He says, for one thing, that, whatever a man's secular activities, he ought habitually to fear God, that is one of the lessons. Nothing is more common than the plea of absolute absorption in business, when the claims of religion are brought forward and enforced. It is not denied that it would be a right thing to give time to Bible reading every day. Nothing would be more suitable, it is admitted, than the allotment of a portion of one hour for private worship, and of another hour for family worship. To begin, and continue, and end every day in the grateful remembrance of our Father who is in heaven, would be simply and always right. The preacher may take his case for granted, that of Him "in whom we live, and move, and have our being," it becometh every man to be mindful; and that only as we are mindful of Him can it be well with any man living in the long run. But, then, these incessant occupations so engross us, this draft and demand upon our • Taken in shorthand by Messrs. Reed, Robeson, and Woodward, 6, Southampton-buildings, Chancery-lane

time, and upon our energy day after day, leave us no opportunity for religious action, or religious thought. Give us more leisure, and we will pay attention to our devotion with all our heart. Let us have less of this inevitable publicity, and instead of it, some goodly measure of quietness and peace, and will be Bible readers and worshippers, and observers of religious ordinances, to the very end of our day. As things are, we must be excused. We cannot be late at chambers. We must be at our office, and we must go for the important business of that office well prepared. We have undertaken to conduct that department of our concern on which every thing depends. We have the entire weight of the young business we have just established entirely resting upon ourselves. We work for a master who has no mercy upon us, who begrudges us almost the time which is absolutely necessary for our food and sleep; we are on drill, or parade, or march continually; we can call no hour of the day our own. No; godliness is confessedly neces sary, but then it is impracticable-we have not the time.

Now, what saith the man whom we all admire? Instantly will you grant to me that your secular engagements are not more absorbing than his were. Through the whole portion of his manhood he was out prominently before the world, having a good deal more than the ordinary share of harrass, and turmoil, and responsibility. There were times, no doubt, when he was comparatively at rest. But, very often, for months together he had scarcely any rest at all-his condition in Affghanistan and Oude, to wit. The condition, however, was virtually immaterial. His first duty every where was to seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness. That must be attended to, of course. To nothing, whatever, could religious duties be either subordinated or postponed; it was, indeed, being always performed, as the habit of his life. He was not, any more than you and I need to be, he was not all day long at his Bible; but he was found invariably pondering some portion of it every day. He was not continually in the outward act of prayer; but he took good care, somehow or other, to be alone with his Maker at some time or other during the day. He was not constantly at church or chapel; but he was there on the Lord's day, and not unfrequently on other days besides. If for these engagements he could not find time, he just made the time. And when so pressed, as he was at Jellahabad, he got his comrades, who were likeminded with himself, together every night, that they might join in worshipping, and in commending themselves to God. And when, in his heaviest marches, it was determined to start at some earlier hour than that which had been allotted to his devotions, he arose quite in time to have his usual fellowship with God undisturbed. He lived and he died, declaring, "Where there is a will there is a way.' What he has done may be done again. There were no resources available by him which are not available by every other man. No obligations devolved upon him that are not devolved upon every other man. And there were no purposes formed by him that ought not to be formed by every other man. "Go," saith Havelock, as you are contemplating his religiousness, sustained by his daily communion with God, and consisting in that communion with God, "go, and do likewise. When you plead the anxieties of your warehouse, remember the anxieties of my tent. When you plead the distractions of your business, remember the distractions of my profession. When you vindicate your irreligiousness, by urging the pressure of your occupations morning, noon, and night, remember the pressure of my occupations at Ghuznee and Lucknow. Through God's grace, I could live godly in Christ Jesus, all difficulties notwithstanding. Through God's grace, if you will try, you will be enabled to do just the same." Being dead, he yet speaketh.'

That is one of the lessons which he thus declares. "Though dead he speaketh." And he says, that whatever a man's unavoidable business from home, he ought assiduously to cherish affectionate attachment for those who constitute his home. It is a peculiarity of the times in which we live that the husband and the father is found very often away from the domestic circle; more a good deal than formerly our households are broken up or dispersed. Business necessitates this; travel occasions it; the manifold means of locomotion encourage it. Hence arises danger. Men may let the conjugal and parentalties gradually loosen until they have lost all their power. Away from those whom they ought to love, and meeting with those whom they ought not to love, there may be serious--virtual violations at least of solemn vows. Resist the temptation is the demand, not of religion only, but of common honour and of self-interest as well. "It is a terrible ordeal," is the reply; "I could resist it if I were in the midst of the salutary associations of a virtuous home; but how can any man resist here?"

Now, what saith he whom we all admire? It was his lot to be separated for a long time together from his wife and children. A sense of duty left him no alternative.

Circumstances necessitated their absence one from another. But mutual attachment was cultivated with the most congenial assiduity. The interchange of sympathy between Bombay and Bohn was uninterrupted. The father in his solitariness on the Ganges or the Jumna, and the mother with her children on the Rhine, maintained a right sacred fellowship of heart and soul. Letters by almost every mail were both the evidence of well sustained affection and the generous aliment by which the affection was increased. No matter how heavy the pressure of his occupations, at one time or other, or how agreeable his relaxation. at another time, Havelock must keep up his correspondence with home. None so dear to him on earth as its precious inmates. Nothing in his esteem comparable with the honest reciprocation of their irrepressible and their yearning love. He lived and he died, evincing the imperativeness and the possibility of maintaining the conjugal and the parental responsibilities untarnished and intact. What has been done may be done again. A sense of the Divine presence may be carefully cherished; the pledges which have been given may be borne gratefully in mind; the assurances which are repeated by every mail of inviolable devotion may be responded to accordingly. To the children messages may be sent through the mother; and at other times pleasant letters may be forwarded to the children themselves. And this will do wonders in keeping any man right, both in heart and in conduct too. "Go," saith Havelock, as you are contemplating his virtuous and honourable married life, " go and do likewise. Repel the intrusion of the wrong by pre-occupying your sensibilities with the right. Preclude the operation of the evil by surcharging your sympathies with the good. Turn off your eyes from beholding vanity, by keeping ever before you the images of darling children, fondly listening as they are told about their absent father by your real-hearted, loving wife. Through God's grace I resisted somewhat violent temptation; so, if you trust in that grace, you will be enabled to resist it, too. "He being dead yet speaketh." And this is another of the lessons which he declares. He speaks, and he says that whatever a man's virtues, he ought to trust for his salvation exclusively to Christ. Men resent the imputation that their good works are unavailing for their acceptance with God. To expect them to acknowledge that they are exposed to everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power, is, they say, unreasonable. To affirm that whatever they really may need, in order to forgiveness, they cannot themselves supply it, is fanatical and absurd. Are they not upright and truth-telling? Have they not won the good opinion of all who are around them? Is it not well-nigh proverbial, through the circle of their acquaintance, that if you want kindness or co-operation, you must needs apply to them? There is no denying this. Then why deal with them as though they were guilty before God? They demur to the imputation altogether. Virtuous and reputable as they are,

God will never condemn them.

What saith the man whom we all admire? That he was virtuous and reputable is beyond doubt. To a long and most eventful life the reference may be made in confirmation. He was patriotic; he was unselfish; he was forgiving; he was veracious; he was temperate; he was pious. Not many of us should be found to surpass him, if investigation were to be made into our duties towards God or man; and by a large majority, both in England and in India, should we by the comparison be found to fall manifestly short. He was a sound-minded, right-hearted, and a good living man; but he held himself to be personally unworthy of the Divine mercy. By his reading of Holy Scripture, he "concluded " himself "under sin." Give him that which he had merited, and he must perish; but that would not be given him, if so be he would believe in Christ as the sacrifice and propitiation for sin; there would be no condemnation then, but rather justification unto everlasting life. He did believe in Christ; he received the atonement; he submitted himself to the righteousness of God, and, with a grateful heart, he closed with the proffers of free grace. No obstacle intervening, he was at once delivered from the power of darkness, and translated into the kingdom of God's dear Son; he was accepted in the Beloved; his sins were forgiven him; he became complete in Christ. What has been done may be done again. Consciousness of one's need of salvation may be induced on the one hand, and there may be full assurance induced on the other, of the provision of salvation that has been made by Christ. Reflection upon our own unworthiness will lead us to feel that we are sinners; examination of our Bibles will convince us that Christ came down from heaven that he might save us. The means of which the departed general made such use, are all within our reach; the means for rejoicing in Christ Jesus whilst we have no confidence in the flesh. "Go," saith Havelock, as you are contemplating his quiet confidence in the intercession of our great High Priest, "go and do likewise." Put no trust in your virtues; for what, after all, do