'stretched out arm that divided the Red Sea. It was my pillar of cloud and fire that hath led thee ' hitherto through the trackless wilderness, nor 'shalt thou ever be abandoned, till the waves of Jordan are passed, and the shores of the Heavenly Canaan are reached. Thou hast forsaken my law it is true, forsaken my covenant, forsaken 'the fountan of living waters-yet will not I for'sake thee. I forsook for a moment even the Son ' of my love, but I did it that I might not forsake thee.'

Now, brethren, the question is-Is all this certain? Is he faithful that hath promised? I ask in return-Hath he ever failed of his word? Hath one jot or one tittle of the least of all his promises ever passed away? I ought rather to ask, "Is God a man that he should lie? or the son of man that he should repent?" Answer that question, and then doubt the gracious assurances of the text.

Such then, brethren, are the promises made to the Christian pilgrim! These are the stay and support of those whose feet are found in the narrow way that leadeth unto life. But how fearful and affecting is the consideration that these are only a remnant! Of this congregation, only a remnant! Of the occupants of each seat, only a remnant! Nay perhaps, but a single individual in each, who is walking in the right way! As it was said of the Egyptians, after their last plague, "that there was not an house where there was

not one dead "-so perhaps, of each division and subdivision in this assembly, there is not a single section in which there are not some spiritually dead.

Hearken, brethren!-Those of you who have deliberately closed your ears to every other word that has been spoken to-night, yet listen to this. Nay be not impatient-it is but a brief word. Be not indignant-it is a faithful and affectionate word. If you are not conscious of having been reclaimed from the paths of sin, and of walking under the perpetual, the valued, the solicited guidance of your Divine Saviour, your feet are taking the downward road-your paths incline to hell. As the Lord liveth, and as your soul liveth, there is but a step between you and eternal death. The next may be your last! Pause, I beseech you-" Turn ye, turn ye, for why will ye die?" Yes, Why? You need not. There yet is hope. You may be saved. be saved. You are ignorant, I know— perverse by nature-blind from your birth-but still there is hope-for thus saith the Lord, "I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them."

SERMON XVII.

REVELATIONS III. 15.

I KNOW THY WORKS, THAT THOU ART NEITHER COLD NOR HOT: I WOULD THOU WERT COLD OR HOT."

WHILST it is generally admitted that the "eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding both the evil and the good," it would be well did we remember, that they are nowhere directed with a more watchful, jealous, scrutinizing glance, than towards his church. Hence, it is said of him who "walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks," that "his eyes are as a flame of fire." And what do they behold, my brethren, not only in the universal church, but in our own particular section? Can you conceive a more important question? Imagine him, who is "the first and the last, in whose hands are the seven stars," inditing an epistle to us. What, think you,

would be its tenor? What would the Spirit say to our own individual church-to the congregation statedly assembling in this place?

Conceive that, as the angel of that church, I were this day commissioned to read the inspired roll. It is opened, and now let him that hath an ear, hearken and hear.

I know thy works!"-This is the startling declaration with which each epistle is prefaced; and observe, brethren, it is by these-by its works -that the actual state of the church is determined. It is not said, 'I know thy words-thy warmth of 'profession-thy diversities of gifts-thy acquaintance with all mysteries and all knowledge'-but "I know thy works." Do we not feel an instinctive shrinking back from such a test? Will our works bear such a scrutiny?

But why need I pursue this imaginary address any further, or call upon you to picture what would be the terms of a Divine Epistle as addressed to ourselves. Take the words of the text-and see whether they are not all too applicable to this congregation as a body, and of course, to a large proportion of its individual members. Whatever may be my fears respecting you, it is not for me to bring a railing accusation against you. I would rather say "judge now yourselves, dear brethren, that ye be not judged of the Lord," and may this our meditation on so solemn a portion of his word, be found profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for

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II. THE LIGHT IN WHICH THE GREAT HEAD OF THE CHURCH REGARDED IT.

I. It is important to observe, that the charge is brought against a church of Christ. It is not addressed to persons who did not make any profession, but to an evangelical, orderly church. And what was the offence? We read of no errors in doctrine. The Laodiceans are not accused of holding the doctrines of the Nicolaitanes, as did the church of Pergamos-or of being seduced by the false prophetess, like that of Thyatira. They are not charged with any gross iniquity, any scandalous immorality, any want of decency and order. In these respects they were possibly an ensample to others-punctual in their attendance on all the ordinances of God, both public and private-rigidly exact in the observance of all outward duties-so that neither the keen eye of envy, nor the barbed tongue of calumny, could detect or publish any palpable inconsistency. It is evident that they rested with no little selfcomplacency in such a state of things. They were possibly the most orthodox in creed, the most correct in conduct, the most sober in judgment, of all the seven churches of Asia; and they manifestly plumed themselves on the imaginary