enjoyment of Christ, the lower you will be in self-abasement, and desire to be clothed with humility. You will look with the most charming complacency upon others, whose attainments in grace are less than your own, and with tenderness take them by the hand and offer them your aid. The worth and the safety of your own soul, as saved by grace, will often dictate an affectionate prayer, that others, even the most unfortunate and abandoned, may taste the sweets of redeeming love! Gratitude will inspire you with praises for the unbounded mercies of your Lord, and constrain you to every act of obedience, whether dictated by Law or Gospel. Your heart will be the seat of love in proportion to the sublimity and strength of your assurance, and from thence will issue an abhorrence of evil, and a superlative desire for the practice of virtue. Under the afflictions of life with which you may be visited, you will not say with the king of Egypt, Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice? but, you will cheerfully acquiesce in the language of your Saviour, The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it? Happy, holy assurance! May this support you under all your future sorrows! In the privileges of the sanctuary, when hearing the Gospel, or partaking of ordinances, your assurance of salvation will enable you to enjoy them, not as a slave, but as a child at home. And when the hour of your departure by death to immortality shall arrive, the virtue of your faith shall yield its thousand sweets. If to live by faith on the Son of God has been the source of your joy, you will now be convinced that God will not forsake the work of his own hand; for precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. Faith, as the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen, will yield its virtues, open to you the joys of the blessed, and create a fore-taste of them in your own breast while passing to immortality. Trust in the Lord, and wait patiently for him, and he will soon and safely convey you to the regions of immortality and glory! But, shall I close this discourse on assurance of salva→ tion without affectionately addressing those who are conscious that they have no solid hope of interest in Jesus? Living without prayer; gratifying the sinful propensities of your hearts; confiding, notwithstanding, in your sup posed merit, and neglecting the Saviour; these are suffi cient to create an assurance in your breasts, that you are not at peace with God, nor prepared for the solemnities of death and judgment.. May that dear tender-hearted Shepherd, who bled for his flock, and calls them by his grace, create in your minds a conviction of your need of his mercy, and then visit you with the joys of his salva tion! He is able to save to the uttermost, and grant you an assurance of his redeeming love. May you by faith and prayer, as on the wings of a dove, fly away to a Saviour's arms, and be at rest, while your future life shall incessantly express your gratitude and praise to the God of your salvation. THE SILENT SABBATH. PSALM 1Xxxiv. 2.. My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh crieth out for the kiving God. Quite alone, and yet not lonely, I'll converse with Christ my friend; O how blessed are the moments, Ir is a misfortune attending the best of men, in their present imperfect state, that they do not properly estimate the value of their privileges until they are deprived of them. The psalm before us was evidently written when the author was separated from the public privileges of Zion; yet he evinced the ardour of his heart for their restoration, in order to his greater communion with God, and coming before him with thanksgiving. Bishop Patrick thinks it was composed by some pious Levite in the country, when Sennacherib's army had blocked up the way to Jerusalem, and hindered them from waiting upon the service of God in the temple. But the more generally received opinion is, that it was writ ten by David, when by the providence of God, through sickness, or by the rebellion of Absolem, he was deprived of public worship. Whether under the Jewish economy, or under the Gospel dispensation, the possession of the outward forms of religion is generally found sufficient for a mere professor; but, on being deprived of them, the mask falls off, and his religion comes to an end. Not so the men of real grace: they highly prize the external privileges of God's house; there abides within them a confidence in God, and an ardent thirst for more abundant enjoyment of him, though they may be prevented from public institutions. This Lecture is intended chiefly for those families, or individuals, whom the Lord is pleased to deny the courts of his house, and cause them painfully to pass through what may not improperly be called a SILENT SABBATH; sincerely hoping the Lord of the Sabbath may grant a ray of his light into their gloomy chamber, or more gloomy heart. 1. I will first show you the reason why Christians are so solicitous to enjoy the public service of the Lord's day.” It is the day which the Lord hath made, and peculiarly honoured by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead; and is not only a day of rest from bodily labour, but designed to confer the better rest to the wearied mind. The Church, that is, an assembly of gracious people, in Scripture language, is called the house of God. Every sinner, on his conversion to God, like the returning prodigal, clothed with the best robe of Immanuel's righteousness, and having received the ring of love as a pledge of union, is indisputably entitled to his Father's house. Here numberless privileges are enjoyed, which at once cheer the heart, under the va rious sorrows incident to mortal life, and increase the soul in knowledge, faith, hope, joy, love, and every grace which can animate in prospect of future bliss! We may therefore, with David, address the Lord and say, Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple. And, in the very Psalm before us, David recog nizes the privileges of the worshippers of Jehovah. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house; they will be still prais ing thee. They go from strength to strength, every one of them appearing in Zion before God. And, from the recollection of such honours and enjoyments, he concludes, A day in thy courts is better than a thousand: I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. Happy, indeed, are those on whom the Lord bestows his grace, and whose breasts contain such sublime sentiments of the public worship of the Almighty, although, like David, they may be debarred from sharing in the felicity! I hope I am addressing myself to some in the family who know the value of the communion of saints. In the house of your God you sate under the Ministry of the Gospel with inef fable delight; in prayer, your soul drew near the Lord; and his praises resounded from every lip, while the fire of brotherly love glowed from soul to soul! But Provi dence has interrupted those sweet days, and now you mourn a silent Sabbath. Not like the slothful, worldlyminded professor of religion, who only attends the public duties of the Gospel when suiting his carnal disposition or his interest; not like such an one; your soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the Lord's courts; and your heart crieth out for the living God. Your interruption, therefore, is not of choice, but necessity. Be submissive; for if God actually deprives you of the means, he can make up the loss in the more private communication of himself. 2..I shall now name some of the causes which frequently produce our silent Sabbaths. The loss of MINISTERS, |