be received daily out of his fulness by faith! And as to my happiness in this world of misery, do I draw it out of the broken cisterns of perishing creatures, or from the unfailing and boundless ocean of divine love? Do I daily endeavour to walk with God as my God, reconciled to me, in Jesus; trusting in him for all needful blessings, to keep me safe, and render me happy; seeing all my affairs in his hands, working together for my good, and leading me forward, step by step, to his blessed presence, where there is fulness of joy and pleasures for ever more? Happy, thrice "happy is the man that is in such a case; yea, happy is that man whose God is the Lord." Ps. cxliv. 15.

How rich is the believer! He who has Christ, has all, for Christ is all. All are yours, says the apostle, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours. 1 Cor. iii. 22. The various gifts of Christian ministers are yours; the government of the world is upon the shoulders of Christ, who is "Head over all things to the church:" your lives are given you for a blessing, whether they be long or short, prosperous or adverse; death itself, the king of terrors, is disarmed of its sting? and in whatever form it comes, it comes to be your eternal gain: All present things, spiritual or temporal, comfortable or afflictive, work together for your good; every occurrence yet before us in this world is wisely adjusted by infinite love: and, to crown all in the future world, there is "an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved for you, and ready to be revealed."

On the other hand, how poor, how miserably poor, is the carnal worldling, the careless sinner, the man who lives "without Christ in the world?" He has nothing, let him possess what he may. Could he call both the Indies his own, he is "poor, and wretched, and miserable, and blind, and naked :" even now he feels an aching void, and death will soon convince him that all is vanity and vexation of spirit. O that you may be wise in time. Behold this glorious Saviour stands at the door of your hearts and sues for admission. O consider the matter well before it be too late. "Have you sins, or have you none? If you have, whither should you go, but to the Lamb of God, which

taketh away the sins of the world? Have you souls, or have you none? If you have, whither should you go, but to the Saviour of souls? Is there a life to come, or is there not? If there is, whither should you go, but to him who only hath the words of eternal life? Is there a wrath to come, or is there not? If there is, whither should you go, but to him who only can deliver from the wrath to come? And will he not receive you? If he yielded himself into the hands of them that sought his life, will he hide himself from the hearts of them that seek his mercy? If he was willing to be taken by the hand of violence, is he not much more willing to be taken by the hand of faith? O come, come, come! I charge you come. I beseech you come. Come, and he will give you life. Come, and he will give you rest. Come, and he will receive you. Come as thou art, come poor, come needy, come empty." Christ is all, and has all, and will give thee all, to make thee happy now and for ever.

To him, who is all, be all glory, now and ever. Amen.

SERMON XLIII.

APOSTACY FROM CHRIST TO BE DREADED.

John vi. 67, 68. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.

HESE words were occasioned by a remarkable fall

bers of people attended his ministry, and no wonder. The sanctity of his character, the benevolence of his heart, the amazing miracles that he wrought, and especially his sweet, heavenly, powerful manner of preaching, could not but excite great multitudes to follow him. Thousands and thousands listened to him with pleasure; and yet the number of his genuine disciples was very small.

Having performed an amazing miracle, in feeding five thousand people with five loaves, the people were satisfied that he was the Messiah, and determined to make

him a king. Our Lord withdrew, and crossed the sea. The people followed him; when he took occasion to deal very closely with them, and to point out the cause of their not coming to him for life. This gave them great offence; but it proved who were his true disciples, and that the rest were such only in pretence. The whole of his conference with them displays the faithfulness of Christ, and the fickleness of men.

The words of our text are very affecting. Many of his nominal disciples having left him, he puts the question to the twelve apostles, "Will ye also go away?" Will you follow their example; or will you abide with me? Peter, in the name of the rest, dreading the thought of apostacy, answered, "Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life;" we can never expect so much happiness from another. And he answered well: for those who forsake Christ will never mend themselves, go where they will.

The words may be usefully applied to ourselves. Let us consider Jesus as putting the same question to us; and -we may, with Peter's sincerity, make the same reply. 1. Let us consider the question, "Will ye also go away?"

This question was put to persons who had professed some regard for Christ. They had seen his miracles with admiration. They had heard his preaching with delight ; and they had crossed the lake to meet him again. The same question, therefore, as put to us, supposes a professed regard for Christ, as set before us in the Gospel: for if we have not in some sense, come to him, of course we cannot forsake him. But as the people of old followed him from false motives, and with wrong views, it may be proper for us to consider what it is that makes many among us profess to follow him. And it is plain that the little profession which some make is the mere effect of custom. They are Christians, because their parents were such, and because their neighbours are such. It is the religion of the country; and were these people in Turkey they would be Mahometans. The influence of superiors or friends sometimes brings them to hear the Gospel, and the love of novelty keeps them under it for a time. Some persons are

much struck with the fervency of a minister of Christ, who speaks in earnest and from the heart; while the seriousness, the fervour, and the singing of a lively congregation, make an additional impression. Self-interest and worldly advantage make other men professors; as the people referred to in our text followed Christ for the loaves and fishes. A few others were alarmed by sickness and the fear of death, or affected at some public calamity.

But if a person's religion has no better foundation than these afford, we wonder not at his apostacy. Sooner or later such professors will go back, and follow Christ no more. And the world abounds with temptations, which will be fatal to those who have not "the root of the matter" in them. It may be profitable to point out some of these.

Persecution frightens some. Our Lord has bid us expect opposition in following him, for "they who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." We must แ take up the cross," "if we follow him; and those who sit not down to count the cost, will be offended when the trial comes. If relations and friends are angry and frown upon them, if superiors and employers withdraw their favours, if their neighbours ridicule and laugh at them, they begin to repent of becoming religious. They regard man more than God, and resolve to be religious only so far as may consist with their worldly ease and advantage. These are the people described by our Lord in the parable of the sower, Matt. xiii. 20. "He that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it. Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while; for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended."

Worldly pleasures, worldly cares, and worldly connexions, make others forsake Christ. The Christian life is a spiritual life. Whoever is led by the Spirit, will not fulfil the lusts of the flesh, nor walk according to the flesh. "If we live after the flesh we perish; but if we, through the Spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body, we shall live." If we are Christians indeed, the world will be crucified to us, and we to the world; and though we are

in it, we shall not be of it. But if the professor forgets this, and is drawn by degrees into self-indulgence, if he gets a taste for gaiety and public amusements, if he can visit the play-house, and sit down at the card table, he will gradually lose the savour of the Gospel; and, finding a manifest contradiction between the two masters he serves, he will soon quite one of them. He cannot follow Christ and the world too.

Excessive cares are almost as dangerous. They distract the mind, and make it unfit for religious duties. They steal away the heart from Christ. Anxiety about the world perplexes the mind: and they who "will be rich," and determine, at all events, to make a fortune, usually make such compliances with that view, as are inconsistent with their pofession; they "fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition." 1 Tim. vi. 9. Thus our Lord saith, "he also that received seed among the thorns, is he that heareth the word; and the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful."

Worldly connexions ruin others. It is a precept of great importance, but too little regarded: "Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers." Christians should marry "only in the Lord." How many "have made shipwreck of faith and of a good conscience," by neglecting this rule; and by presuming upon their ability both to keep their own ground, and influence their partner also. When Lot was about to leave Sodom, the angels bid him give warning to all his relations of the destruction that was coming; accordingly "he went to his sons-in-law, who married his daughters, and said, Up! get ye out of this place, for the Lord will destroy this city; but he seemed to them as one that mocked." Thus the two daughters who had married carnal men perished, while the two who were with him at home, escaped the fire with their father. Gen. xix.

Familiarity with worldly men has a bad influence on the mind. "They that feared the Lord, in old times spake often one to another;" the primitive Christians were much together, "and continued daily in social religion; and