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dience to God. Faith, in Abraham, was the secret of his going forth, he knew not whither, in obedience to the mandate of God. And the reason why faith is ever so holy in its fruits is, that the same faith that believes in the Saviour's atoning blood, believes in the necessity and the promise and the possession of the Holy Spirit's sanctifying virtue. The same heart that is open to receive Christ as an atonement, is in that opening made ready to receive the Holy Spirit as a Sanctifier. No true Christian believes that Christ came to canonize the works of the devil, but every true Christian believes that Christ came to destroy the works of the devil. The highest grace saves us, not in our sins, but from our sins, - their curse, their condemnation, and their power. Read the roll call of the illustrious dead in the eleventh chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews, every one of whose names is like a trumpet sound, stirring and full of power, and you will find that it was those who were signalized by the most childlike faith who were also characterized by the most beautiful and ennobling traits of the Christian character, as that character is portrayed in the word of God. Thus we see how consistent it is, that one who by faith believed God's testimony, did, through the inspiration of that faith, all that God had commanded him.

There is another reason, I may state, why faith is so very precious. It is that grace which turns constantly to God, leans on him, watches for the expression of his will, sits at his feet, and is ever ready to go forth and do what he bids. This faith is the leaning of weakness upon Omnipotence, of the finite upon the infinite, of ignorance upon wisdom, and of sin upon the rich mercy that is pledged and promised to wash it all away. Faith is to the Christian the attraction that draws him constantly to God, the vital chord along which God's love comes down to us, and in the enjoyment of which, therefore, we are replaced and reinstated in that

union and communion with God which was lost by sin and is restored only in the gospel.

It is a very beautiful arrangement and very delightful to us, that this faith is the creature's resting not upon any thing beneath it. If our faith be in a man, in a king, in a priest, in a saint, it is in something not higher than ourselves; but the grand provision of the gospel is, that our trust shall be exercised in One who is higher, holier, better, infinitely than we; that we shall approximate to One who is infinitely distant, but infinitely grand; that we shall lean upon One who is greater than all, and leaning upon whom we are increasingly ennobled, dignified, strengthened. Were the tree of a hundred years, or two or three hundred years, to lean upon a plant of two or three years, it would be absurd. It is the weak plant that leans upon the stronger of many centuries. A Christian is the parasite of the Tree of Life — he leans upon it, derives his nutriment from it, and is strong, not in his own strength, but in its strength; and is sheltered, not by his own leaves, but by its branches: so that in his safety, in his nutriment, in his leaning, in his direction, Christ the Tree of Life is all and in all. Wherever there is simple faith, there there is the most active obedience, the greatest dignity, direction, progress, and happiness.

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We read next, that on account of Noah's faith all his family were blessed. What an interesting and instructive lesson is in this simple fact, that our families are blessed in the ratio in which the heads of them lean on and take direction from God! It is a law impressed upon the history of the world, that when the heads of nations do what is lawful and right, the meanest subjects of those nations share in the Divine benedictions. It is the law of the domestic circle, that the parent living unto God, and receiving direction from him, like a divine conductor, brings down blessings from the skies upon all that are around and beneath him.

"Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee". not thee and all thy house have I seen, but "thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation." What an inducement, then, is this to all who are in authority, to all who have great power, to seek to be, and to be sure that they are, inspired and directed by Almighty grace! Whether we approve of it or not, it is the law of nations, it is the testimony of God, that peoples and families are blessed when their heads and governors live in the fear of Him by whom kings reign and princes decree justice.

Coming years may be to us, writer and reader, like the waters of the Flood to the antediluvian race, a new and awful baptism. Not a year that comes can be a pledge that the next will be one of national, or universal, or European prosperity, progress, happiness, and peace. Review the last six, or seven, or ten years: every year in succession has been an epoch - some striking phenomenon has characterized it; and what these have been, the coming years will be still; for as the time gets shorter events will be crowded into them the more; and those events will strike and tell with more startling momentum upon the nations and the history of mankind. Perhaps in another year or two the whole fountains of our social system may be broken up; the great deeps of society, stirred by all strange elements; and the highest pinnacles and mountain crags of human grandeur and human greatness, may be overflowed by a more terrific flood than has ever swept the earth. 1853 will only be another stage in that progression in which we are now rushing. Are we, in the prospect of these things, in the true Ark? Have we entered by faith into the Son of God? It is not calculating what may be, or guessing what may be, or even acquaintance with unfulfilled prophecy, however valuable, that will shield and save us. Our safety is in the Ark, our shelter is in the Son of God. And

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if we, by living, personal, individual trust, are his day looking to his precious blood as the only absolution from our sins, and to his Holy Spirit as the only Sanctifier and Comforter, then come flood, come fire, come the breaking up of all ancient settlements, come the crashing and overturning of all great dynasties, let the windows of heaven pour down judgments, and the responsive deeps of society break up and pour forth their contents, yet we have "a river, the streams whereof make glad the city of our God. God is our refuge and our strength." We hear now what we shall try to realize then, "Come, my people, in the prospect of 1853, 1854, and their dire or welcome phenomcome, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, shut thy doors; wait a little moment until the indignation be overpast." Is this your shelter? Is this your refuge? Let every man examine himself; let us try ourselves, let us ascertain where our trust is, what is our dependence at this moment, and, in the prospect of the future, where we stand now in the present. Noah preached to thousands who would not hear him; let not the ministers of the gospel preach to you, and find you also equally sceptical. They preached temporally; we perish, by neglecting the great salvation, eternally. Christ himself preaches to us, "Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." And if we are in that Ark, however poor, however minute, however insignificant in the social scale, God can no more forget us than he can forget himself. What a blessed thought is it, that he who remembered Noah in the ark, watched every wave, meted out every wind, shaped its course, and landed it on Ararat, is as truly taking care of the poorest Christian orphan or widow, as if that orphan or widow were the only being in the whole uni verse! A mother may forget her son, that she should not have compassion on the child of her womb; yet will God

not forget thee. He has graven thee upon the palms of his hands, he holds thee in everlasting remembrance. "For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord, that hath mercy on thee. O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colors, and lay thy foundations with sapphires." Again, reader, let me ask, are you in Christ, the true Ark? Do you trust in him for eternal things, for spiritual things, as much as the soldier trusts in his colonel, as the merchant trusts in his correspondent, as the sailor trusts in the captain of the vessel? Do you trust truly, really, enthusiastically, in reference to the soul's safety and happiness, in Christ Jesus, the only one who can save, sanctify, and preserve it? It is a simple question; it is a vital one; and we beseech you, in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God; for he hath made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God by him.

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