poor slaves that are working in the galleys, might just as well rejoice that they were united to their chains, as you rejoice in being united to your beloved lusts. Oh, what masters, what husbands, what awful associates, are these! Yet how often are some ready to welcome them in the most awful manner.

But what is to be done? Who am I this morning to undertake to talk of pleading the necessity of being united to Christ? Who and what am I that I speak of my Master, or utter his praise? When Abraham's servant went to find a wife for Isaac, he first began to speak of his master's riches; he opened the jewels which his master had given him; he took a bracelet, and he put it upon the wrist of the damsel; and then he began to tell her, that his master sent him to gain her heart; and he proposed the question, and asked her, “Wilt thou go with this man?" And she said, when she had heard of his riches, and of his dominions, and of his excellence, "I will go." That is all I want you to do now. I have been setting forth my Master's dignity, and speaking of my Master's dominions, and speaking of my Master's glory, and now in his presence I say, Wilt thou go with this man? Wilt thou from this day be united to this man? Wilt thou associate with the Son of God from this time? What is the purpose of thine heart? Oh, as to purposes, many a time, young man, many a time, young woman, you know that you have solemnly purposed to unite yourselves to Christ, and you have taken a pen in hand, and were just about to subscribe with your hand unto the Lord, and say, "I am the Lord's;" and lo, there was some temptation just come in the way; you dropped the pen, kept up your former union with your former lies, and to this day Christ has been entirely forgotten by you. Shall it be so for ever? You know what will be the consequence; I need not tell you, but still it is my duty to tell you, that if you die as you are, wedded to sin and to Satan, the union shall last for ever. "Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting burnings, prepared for the devil and his angels." Yet let the words of my Redeemer be the last, and the words of encouragement, too, Hearken, O daughter, and consider; forget also thine own people, and thy father's house; so shall the king greatly desire thy beauty, for he is thy Lord, and worship thou him." Amen; be it so, O Lord; and let all the people say, Amen

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THE EXPECTATION OF THE CHRISTIAN.

REV. R. C. DILLON, A.M.*

BENTINCK CHAPEL, ST. MARYLEBONE, APRIL 27, 1834.

"Thine expectation shall not be cut off."-PROVERBS, Xxiii. 18.

Ir is more than probable, that there may be some penitent and contrite spirit in this house of prayer this afternoon, for whom the text is intended, who may have come out to the sanctuary, Sunday after Sunday, month after month, and, it may be, year after year, hoping that there is some blessing in reserve for them, on the look-out for something to satisfy, wondering what the text would be, and what the sermon would be about, and yet to this hour, perhaps, unable to grasp any solid comfort. There may be also here the real believer in Christone who has been taught of God, one who has been led to see that his whole dependance must be in the atonement and righteousness of Christ, and who is yet in bondage, and, though entitled to all the privileges of the son's dispensation, is yet living and feeling as if he were under the servant's dispensation, tied and bound to the law, rather than walking in the glorious liberty of the sons of God. "Ye are no longer servants but sons;" but ye are not living up to your privileges; you have no assurance perhaps, nothing of the joy in believing which you see others possess.

Now to each of these individuals, or class of individuals, if there should be more than one-to each the text gives you a promise, of which you cannot doubt the faithfulness: "Thine expectation shall not be cut off." You may perhaps be ready to put the question to the minister, When will this expectation be realized? But it is a question which he cannot answer; he cannot give you any information of the time; all he can certify you of is the fact, that it "shall not be cut off." It may not perhaps be realized this afternoon: many of the children of God have to wait long on the Lord. The text is intended to give courage; and all the frequent exhortations you find as to the duty of waiting, seem to intimate that this waiting is a familiar part of that process, by which the sinner finds his way out of darkness into marvellous light, and out of doubt and dismay into the full assurance of faith. Therefore you are not to expect from me to tell you the time when this shall be realized; all you have to expect from me is an assurance, founded on the Word of God, that "your expectation

shall not be cut off."

Let me point out three things that appear to be suggested to our consideraation by the few words that I have read to you. First, let me shew you what is the expectation of the real Christian: then let me shew you, in the next place, the assurance which is given to him: and, in the third place, the triumphant issue of this expectation; "Thine expectation shall not be cut off."

* For the Bentinck Chapel Day Schools.

Now let us, in the first place, inquire, WHAT IS THE EXPECTATION OF THE CHRISTIAN. The Psalmist will tell us what it is in Psalm lxii.: "My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation." If then, my dear brethren, your expectation ever has been from the preacher, or the place, or the sermon, or the book, apart from God, it shall be cut off: if our expectations in religion are to be realized, they must every one of them centre in God.

Let me remark to you, then, that the real Christian is in expectation of three things. He is in expectation, first, of the enjoyment which true believers have: he is in expectation, secondly, of the rich treasures which true believers possess: and he is in expectation, thirdly, of the free, the full, and the eternal salvation to which true believers are entitled. These are the three sources of his expectation; let us just glance at these.

He is, in the first place, in expectation of the enjoyment which truc believers possess And these arise out of a sense of forgiveness, a humble assurance that God has blotted out their sins, and sees them righteous in the merits of his Son; aye, and sees them as righteous as he sees his Son. In the hearing of some of you, that may seem to be a strange and strong remark; but I beseech you to consider it, and examine whether it be a true or a false one. If I stand in the presence of God in my own righteousness, I am not as innocent and righteous as his Son; but if I stand (and every believer must stand) in the righteousness of his Son, I see not how God can look on me otherwise than as righteous as his Son, because there is nothing in me but in his Son. If he looks at me in myself, he sees nothing but pollution, and guilt, and misery; but when he looks at me, I cast aside all my self-righteousness, and by faith I put on the garment of salvation, that rich mantle of righteousness which my Lord wrought out for me; and I sit down fearlessly in that marriage supper of the Lamb: God never can say to me, "Friend, how camest thou in hither?" He sees me in his only beloved Son, and he accepts me in the Beloved, not in myself. This then is the nature of the blessing and privileges which believers enjoy.

Then they have also not only this freedom of pardon and this justifying righteousness, but they have adoption privileges. I need not tell you what they are. We are not naturally children of God, we are children of wrath: but we become his children by a second birth: a spiritual birth, passing upon our characters, makes us children of God. This second birth admits us into his family; not merely into his house, and not merely as servants and domestics, but as We have liberty of access to the table of the Master; we are fed with the finest of the wheat flour; we sit down with him, we are fed from his hands; we have liberty of access at all times to the presence chamber of our Father who is in heaven. These are the enjoyments that the believing, penitent, humble soul is in expectation of.

sons.

Then they

In addition to this they enjoy also strength for holy obedience. also have comfort in death; I do not say joy in death; although some believers have joy in death; but I do say that all believers have comfort in death, though they may not have joy: for this may be, as you know, yo that have followed to the grave many a beloved friend or relation, you know that there may be in the very nature of their disorder, much to prevent that buoyancy of mind which is the necessary attendant on joy. But peace shall be their portion: "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace”— calm repose on the bosom of his Redeemer.

Then he has also glory in eternity. They who are made "free from sin have their fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life."

Now, dear brethren, is any part of this your expectation? Have you been led at any time in the course of your personal history, to feel that you are yourselves nothing, but Christ must be all? And are you expecting full justification, adoption, and all the spiritual blessings entirely from God on account of your spiritual relationship to Christ? Then "your expectation shall not be cut off.” We remark again, that there is included also in this expectation, the treasures of which believers are in possession. They are "rich in faith, and are heirs of the kingdom." Every child is an heir. Here is the advantage of spiritual things over things that are temporal. In temporal matters it is only the eldest born of a family that takes the inheritance; but in the family of the Lord God Almighty every child is an heir. It is not the child of such an age, or the child of such an attainment; but "if children," is the beautiful declaration of the Apostle, "if children, then heirs," (aye, the poorest child in the house, the youngest child, is an heir); "heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ." Well, then, if Christ is entitled (and he is entitled) to all that his Father can bestow, if I am a joint-heir I am entitled to it also: "For if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ."

Among the riches which believers possess, are the riches of humility. They are rich in holiness; they are rich in love; they are rich in grace, and they will, in due time, be rich in glory. Nothing, in short, will satisfy the expectation of the believer, but all the riches in glory by Christ Jesus; and if he be an heir of God, he shall be entitled, and shall inherit, all the riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Then the third thing included in the believer's expectation, is a full, free, eternal salvation, devised by God the Father, accomplished by God the Son, and applied by God the Holy Spirit. Now, brethren, is this your expectation? Are you humbly and earnestly expecting the privileges which believers possess? Are you looking for the treasures to which they are entitled? And are you, above all, fixing your hopes and wishes on that full and eternal salvation which is in Christ?

In order to that, I must beg you to ask yourselves a previous question-Have you felt your need of such a salvation? For if I am addressing any individual who has not felt himself poor, it is quite in vain for me to direct him to treasures, where there are riches in glory by Christ Jesus. If I am addressing any individual who is blind, and who is not conscious of his blindness, it is in vain for me to direct him to Him who only can restore the blind eyes. And it is in vain for any individual to say, that he is depending on the salvation that is in Christ, if he has not first seen and felt his own danger, ruin, and weakness. What would you think of me, in looking over any given landscape, if, at the time that I was looking at that landscape, it was overspread by a thick haziness, through which I could not at all see any objects—what would you think of me, if, when it was physically impossible to see the objects that were near, I should yet point out to you, and tell you, I could very distinctly see the cottages and the spires in the distance? Why you would say, "It is impossible for you to see things at a distance, for you cannot see those that are near." Well, now, my dear brethren, so it is precisely in the divine truths that are spread before us in the Bible: in that wide and beauteous moral panorama of glorious discoveries spread before us in the Bible, there are two grand leading objects

upon which to point our attention; and these are, man's nothingness, and the Saviour's fulness. Now, if a man tells me he sees that which is distant, and does not see that which is near, what should I think of him? What should you think of me if I were to tell you so? I need not use much argument to shew you, that that which is in my character, that that which is in me, is nearer to me than that which is in God. Then, if I do not see that vile, wretched object that is in myself, if there is such a mist over my eyes, such a bandage fastened thereon, that I cannot see myself, it is in vain to say I see my Redeemer. I must see the object that is near, before I can see object at a distance. I must first, in plain terms, have a full and overwhelming sense of my own indigence and nothingness in salvation, before I can ever see the Redeemer's fulness, and apply to him to give me grace out of that fulness which is treasured up in him for all his ransomed children.

Then, in order to satisfy yourself whether you have the salvation that is in Christ, whether you see the object that is in the distance, you must first ask, do you see the objects that are near? Have you seen your own poverty? If not, you will never see the riches that are in Christ. Have you seen your own ignorance? Have you seen your own pollution? If not, you will never see the righteousness and sanctification that are in Christ. You must first go down (I know it is an unpleasant task) and you must probe into the wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores of your own heart, before you will ever value that great Physician, who knows only the mode and the remedy suited to your peculiar moral disease.

Let me shew, in the second place, THE ASSURANCE: "Thine expectation shall not be cut off." 66 Oh," say you, "I should like to know the reason of that assurance. I have been looking for pardon and forgiveness, for acceptance, and for all the blessings in Christ; and I am now very anxious to know how the minister will establish his second point."

I will give you three reasons for your assurance: the first is, that an earnest is given to you: the second is, that all the persons of the Deity are not only pledged to you, but to one another, that your expectation shall not be cut off : and you have, in the third place, the positive promise of God, that your expectation shall not be cut off.

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First, let me shew you, that your expectation shall not be cut off, because the earnest is given into your heart. "How do I know that?" say you. I know indeed, there are many of the Lord's family, in whom a good work is really begun, who hardly know that it is begun; they are ignorant, and they are weak; in fact, they are what the Apostle beautifully styles them—“ babes in Christ." They know nothing yet as they ought to know. Nevertheless, my brother, though thy spiritual vision may at the present hour be so indistinct, that you can only see men as trees walking," in religion, never heless, if thine expectation of pardon, adoption, and justification, be in Christ alone—if you have, in no point, any dependance on yourself-then you have the earnest, the first-fruits of the Spirit, and your expectation shall not be cut off. For these feelings are not the produce of your own mind; you have not given birth to these feelings; they grew not in nature's garden: these feelings of selfabhorrence, and desire of the Saviour, are the work of the Spirit. And let me say to any here this afternoon, who may be sometimes in doubt as to whether their names are written in the Book of Life, that we are always in the