and in all your actions, the desire to elevate that land, and to extol the glory of Him who reigns there, should have the paramount place. Shall the worldly traveller be for ever endeavouring to advance the interests of his native country, and shall the Christian pilgrim not endeavour so to live, as shall best recommend heaven? Shall the worldly traveller prefer every thing that reminds him of his home, and love every thing in proportion as it resembles that which he has left, and to which he is returning, and shall the Christian pilgrim have no thoughts, no heart, no feelings, for those occupations, persons, or enjoyments, which speak the most plainly of the land whither he is going? It cannot be; if you are really travelling heavenwards, your heart, your thoughts, your words, will not be destitute of all feeling, all mention of that blissful place. Your preference for heaven must begin on earth, your preparation for heaven must be completed

here, or you will never be amidst the number of those happy and blissful pilgrims, their journey over, their toils forgotten, who have now for ever sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

Be then increasingly earnest, in cultivating this taste, by prayer which brings you before God's throne of grace ; by meditation, which, as it were, lifts up your head above the clouds, even into his immediate presence; by the communion of saints, which warms the heart with love to God, and for his sake to every member of his family in heaven and earth. And for your comfort during the miles of your pilgrimage, which may yet remain to you, as well as to excite you to industry by the way, remember that the time is short," and that the "fashion of this world passeth away.' To some among us the journey may be well nigh over; the road we have passed can be trodden no more, and but a small portion of the pilgrimage probably

remains. The towers of the celestial city are already visible in the horizon; yet a little while, and we shall be standing at the gate, and presenting our credentials for admittance. That will

be indeed a blessed day, to all who are truly reconciled to God, by the blood of his Son, to all who shall stand before Him complete in Christ, when the everlasting doors shall be lifted up, and “ an entrance ministered abundantly," into the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The first hour in heaven, will more, infinitely more, than compensate for the longest and weariest pilgrimage ever passed on earth. You will scarcely have entered there, before the toils and the labours of the way will be forgotten, and every other thought absorbed in this one blissful feeling,Thank God, I have, at length, in safety reached my native land; I am in the presence of my Father, my Brother, my family, my friends; I am in possession

of my long-expected inheritance, no more a stranger, no more a pilgrim, but now in the land of my nativityin the house of my Father-at home for ever.

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SERMON VIII.

THE SAINTS ON EARTH.

1 COR. III. 21, 22, 23.

"ALL THINGS ARE YOUR'S; WHETHER THE WORLD, OR LIFE, OR DEATH, OR THINGS PRESENT, OR THINGS TO COME; ALL ARE YOUR'S, AND YE ARE CHRIST'S; AND CHRIST IS GOD'S."

THE privileges of a Christian form a subject intelligible only to the Christian. Speak of them to the man of the world, and they excite his astonishment or his contempt. The more you endeavour to enlighten his mind upon so mysterious a topic, the deeper you enter into its details, and dwell upon all its high, and holy, and heart-cheering realities, the greater danger do you run