short but eventful pilgrimage, that if the heaven above is the state in which all the magnificent promises are to become realized in its eternal blessedness, this is the world and this is the state of your probation, in which, by the condition of God's moral government, all your right and title is to be acquired. Heaven, it is true, is the region of glory, and the Church is there in her triumphant condition; but the arena of your conflict is this lower world, and here must the battle be fought, and here must the victory be won. If it is by the application of the blood of the atonement, and of the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ that the sinner is to be reconciled and justified, it is while he walks the path of life's probation that this application is to be made; it is here that with his humble conceptions of himself as a sinner, and his overpowering conceptions of Jesus as a Saviour, a precious Saviour, he must flee for refuge and lay hold of the hope set before him. If the language of the Scripture be true, that to the sinner's pardon and acceptance through the merits and the righteousness of Christ, there must be superadded that sanctification of the Spirit, that change of the moral constitution of the man, which brings back the perfected image of God, and makes him meet for the enjoyment of the presence of a God of purity and holiness, then must that great and mighty transformation be effected in this probationary state-"There is no intermediate world, no border country measured out by the hand of the great Judge in which you may shake off the corruptions of the flesh and clothe yourself in the vesture of righteousness." No, my friends, let the most unqualifying truth be our present companion; let the

most unhesitating faithfulness mark the path of our consideration along the track of this splendid promise. Let there be no speaking peace, peace to the heart, while there is no peace. If you would attain the transcendent realities of this epoch, then let the most complete experience of religion, in all its saving and transforming efficacy, here be realized. Here it is, if any where in the wide creation of God, that you must feel the realities of penitence, and shed tears of contrition; here it is, that while prostrate at the foot of the cross, the hand of faith must lay hold on the Lord Jesus Christ, as wisdom and righteousness; here must the prayer of faith ascend as clouds of incense before the place of his mercy-seat; here must your sins be washed away in the blood of the everlasting covenant; and here must you acquire, if ever, the tastes and habits, the qualifications which are to fit you, if ever you be fitted, for the eternal fruition of the celestial presence.

If what I have now said be true, my friends, then as the eye of faith falls from the visioned glories of heaven to the sad experienced realities of earth, what a horror of darkness, of desolation, and of death, rest upon the scene; for are the majority of men in a condition in which it were within the reach of possibility for them to inherit these glories? Why, instead of an earnest seeking of the one thing needful, of the pearl of great price, do I see, in relation to some, that they have but a name to live and are dead? I see, in relation to others, that time, precious time and opportunity, is wasted amidst the follies and the vanities of earth. I see, in relation to others, a worldly-mindedness which absolutely shuts out serious things. I see, in relation to some, carelesness

and unconcern; to others, impenitence and sin; to others, appalling defectiveness of faith; to others, dangerous, soul-ruinous delay. Shall such be pillars in the temple of my God? Shall they have on them inscribed the name of the city of my God? Shall they wear the new name of Christ? Brethren, awake from this dark dream; wake, while it is called to-day; humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God; flee to Christ for pardon; repent and be converted; fight the good fight of faith, and in the strength of the Lord and in the power of his might, come off conquerors, and more than conquerors, or all the splendours of this promise will, when the trump of the archangel sounds, be to you as utterly quenched in the night of everlasting darkness, as shall your sun, which is now setting in brightness, and your moon, which now walks in glory. I exhort you never to lose sight of the idea, that all but the conquering Christian will fail of the promise; and he who fails, will realize what Scripture only feebly portrays, the untold, the unimaginable, the eternal horrors of the second death.

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If, my friends, these are considerations fraught with melancholy and with gloom, there those which bear a more cheering aspect; and while I would caution all, from the awful possibility of deception, not rashly to suppose that they are entitled to the expectation of the promise, yet there must be some who realize the description of the conquering Christian, and to whose hearts the promise is meant to bring its cheering encouragement. To those of you who have reason to indulge a good hope through grace, that you are not altogether strangers to true religion; to those of you who are seeking, both

by your own personal advancement in the peculiarities of the life of godliness, and your efforts to do good to others, to improve the door of opportunity which is widely opened; to you who seek to walk in the faith and in the patience of Christ, and whose most earnest desire is to hold fast the beginning of your confidence firm unto the end; to you the promise, like the pillar of the cloud in the wilderness to Israel of old, presents the illuminated side. Your principles, your feelings, your conduct, every thing within and about you, has undergone a great and radical change; and the one great and paramount desire of your hearts, if I can rightly interpret, is to be found in Christ, not having your own righteousness, but the righteouness of God by faith. As you have heard of the rich and exalted blessings laid up in store for the conquering Christian, you feel them to be the very blessings which you most earnestly desire, and you feel that you could not only part with every sin, but with every comfort, to be raised a pillar in the temple of your God. But as yet, perhaps, you dare not altogether hope that your interest in them is decided and satisfactory. Lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet. I know that not only desperately wicked, but deceitful above all things is the human heart, and if there is any thing in this world to be regarded with suspicion, it is the feelings of the heart; aye, its deepest emotions are to be scrutinized as a skilful physician probes without sparing. But if such feelings as I have attempted feebly to describe are the feelings of your souls, and if over your every day conduct and conversation they pour the savour of their hea

venly fragrance, making you humble, and prayerful, and watchful, and persevering, and devoted, there is not one particular of all this splendid promise of which you may not entertain a reasonable hope. You may sometimes, it is true, in the misgivings of the heart, be called upon to weep, and your hope may be mingled with some salutary fears, because it is your lot to have foes without and foes within, who will not be unconcerned spectators of the triumph you are gaining; still let it be borne in mind, that the promise of the text is not to him who has overcome, for that, though it would give rapture to the soul in glory, suits not your probationary condition. The promise is to "him that overcometh," not to him who has completely gained the victory, but to him who is gaining it, and whose soul is in the advance. If you are but warring a good warfare, with your loins girt and your lights burning, and your armour on, the promise is yours to enjoy. Let not ignorance and unbelief rob you of the solid satisfaction to which you are entitled. Continue humbly, yet resolutely, to fight the good fight of faith; persevere in watchfulness and prayer; let a sense of your own utter weakness keep you still flying to your Almighty Saviour, and there is no danger and no enemy but which shall be trampled under feet. There will be for you but a few more years of warfare and trial, and then from the ruins of the tomb will you be taken as the noblest monuments of celestial architecture, and placed as Christ hath declared. "Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God." Yes, my friends, ye who have experienced the saving influences of religion, to you belongs the riches of the promise; and while you