thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an appointed end." "He will be your hiding-place, he will compass you about with songs of deliverance."

Should your days be shortened, or should they be increased, he will complete his work; and having conducted you by a right course, he will, in the end, bring you into the haven where ye would be; into that haven where a portion of your future and everlasting happiness will consist of being able to look back through all the dangers, toils, and deaths of life's stormy and chequered voyage, and to see, and fully understand every mercy and providence, every prosperous and every adverse wind that blew, and every afflictive sea that beat against you; and then and there will you fully comprehend how the Lord did all things well, utterly beyond all you could here think or conceive, and then, moreover, you will be enabled, with angels, and archangels, and all the blissful company of heaven, to laud and magnify his holy name for ever and ever.

But are there any who have not yet sought the Lord, or the salvation of the soul? again I say, oh this very day, this very hour, cry unto the Saviour of sinners, even unto Christ Jesus, "Lord, save, or I perish." Let the consideration of his past mercies lead you to repentance, and give you encouragement. He has spared you in mercy thus far, and in mercy hath he brought you once more within the sound of his inviting voice. Hear him as at this time saying, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Oh, "there is mercy with him, that he may be feared." "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin." "He came to seek and to save them that are lost." There is nothing wanting but a willingness on your parts to be saved on his own terms, and to be blessed with all the blessings of his most precious salvation; and what are his terms? they are repentance towards God,

and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And he is ready and willing to give that very repentance and faith in answer to fervent prayer. Consider then your ways this very day. Your past ways were those of the ungrateful prodigal son; let the future ones be like that poor prodigal when he came to himself, and said, in the bitterness of his distress of body and of mind, "How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am not worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants." Luke xv. 17-20. And as that unhappy penitent prodigal found mercy and forgiveness, so shall you; and God the Father will have all the glory, through Jesus Christ. Amen.

"How are thy servants blest, O Lord!

How sure is their defence!

Eternal Wisdom is their guide,

Their help, Omnipotence !

"In foreign realms, and lands remote,
Supported by thy care,

Through burning climes I pass'd unhurt,
And breath'd in tainted air.

"Think, O my soul! devoutly think,
How, with affrighted eyes,
Thou saw'st the wide extended deep
In all its horrors rise.

"Confusion dwelt in every face,

And fear in every heart:

When waves on waves, and gulphs on gulphs, O'ercame the Pilot's art.

"Yet then from all my griefs, O Lord!
Thy mercy set me free;
While in the confidence of prayer,

My soul took hold of thee.

"For though in dreadful whirls we hung,
High on the broken wave,

I knew thou wert not slow to hear,
Nor impotent to save.

"The storm was laid, the winds retir'd,
Obedient to thy will:

The storm that roar'd at thy command,
At thy command stood still.

"In midst of dangers, fears, and death,
Thy goodness I'll adore;

And praise thee for thy mercies past,
And humbly hope for more."

SERMON XII.

THE BLESSINGS OF WALKING UPRIGHTLY.

PSALM LXXxiv. 11.

"The Lord God is a sun and a shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly."

WELL might the apostle say, "There are given unto us many great and precious promises!" This is truly the case as concerns the passage selected for our present consideration. In this verse we have,

First, The Lord declaring what he is in reference to a certain class of people. Secondly, Several great and precious things promised.

Thirdly, The character of those who are to receive them.

First, The Lord declares what he is in himself; namely, a sun and a shield. In

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