career, and hurried away to " dwell with devour❝ing fire?" Those likewise who are addicted to any one particular vicious habit, who are subject to the power of some domineering lust, so long as they can indulge in it, can seldom come to the resolution of entering upon a course which positively requires them to forego their favourite passion, to “lay aside the sin which so easily besets "them;" and, in general, all are backward with regard to religion till they hear the thunder of the law denounced, and conscience applying the denunciation in the words of the prophet, “Thou “art the man ;” then as one who seeing nothing but misery and distress in remaining at home, resolves to change the scene in order to amend his fortune, so is the awakened convinced sinner driven out of his strong hold, constrained to "fly "from the wrath to come;" then his inquiry is, "What shall I do to be saved? Wretched man " that I am, who shall deliver me from the body "of this death?" But then the difficulties of the journey itself are many and great, supposing the sinner fairly entered upon it; assaults from without, suggestions from within, many duties to perform, many pleasures to be given up, many mortifications to be undergone; hence many resolutions to give up the cause, to return back to the world, to return back to sin, to bid adieu to hea

ven; but the certain misery of a final relapse startles and terrifies the soul; the great all is at stake; to return is inevitable destruction, to go forward is certain happiness; persevere or be miserable. Then as one who, unsuccessful in his scheme of life, tries various methods, and adopts different plans in the hope of retrieving his circumstances, so the perplexed distressed soul flies to every quarter for relief," seeking rest, and find

ing none." What can he do, how shall he escape? In the creatures he finds no comfort, no assistance; he resolves, at last, to cast himself wholly upon the mercy of God in Christ as his ultimate refuge; he determines seriously and resolutely to pursue the christian course; as he advances the motive of conduct changes, fear subsides, hope springs up in the soul, the glorious prize is placed full in view, the rich reward which he is to receive at the end of the painful and wearisome journey, and which is sufficient greatly to overpay all the toil and fatigue he may undergo in the prosecution of it. This leads me to a

Second observation with regard to the travellers in this journey: they "ask the way to Zion;" they are careful and diligent in seeking after the means of spiritual edification and comfort; one who has been so unhappy as to mistake his road,

upon finding himself bewildered, is very anxious and earnest in his inquiries of every one he meets how he may extricate himself; and it is for the sake of wandering bewildered Zion travellers that God has been pleased to establish a standing ministry in the world; a set of men obliged by precept, and more so by example, to go before his people, saying," this is the way, walk ye in "it," to warn sinners of their danger and misery, to reclaim those who "wander, and are out of "the way," to "turn the wicked from the evil "of their way," after the example of their great Master, of whom it was foretold that he should

preach good tidings unto the meek, bind up "the broken hearted, proclaim liberty to the

captives, and the opening of the prison to them "that are bound." But I proceed to observe,

Thirdly, that they " ask the way to Zion "with their faces thitherward." The direction of a man's face toward any place, is an expression which, in common language, denotes an eager desire, a stedfast expectation of an object. One travelling on a journey, at the end of which he promises himself some signal pleasure, has his thoughts principally employed about it, is uneasy, is restless till he get forward to the possession of it grudges even the necessary interruptions for

repose and refreshment, and every moment anticipates the coming bliss: in like manner, he who by the eye of faith is enabled to survey that great and "exceeding weight of glory," which is "the end of his faith, even the salvation of his "soul," conceives with the apostle, " a desire to

depart, and to be with Christ," which is best of all, and is constantly "reaching towards the “ mark, for the prize of the high calling of God " in Christ Jesus;" the objects of time and sense will endeavour in vain to call off his attention; he sees vanity in legible characters stamped upon every sublunary enjoyment; his heart and affections are fixed upon a more enduring sub"stance," compared to which, the riches, the honours, the pleasures of this world, are as " dust

upon the scale, and as the small dust upon the "balance:" no wonder then, if the faces of the travellers to Zion are continually set upon this "great recompence of reward." This suggests to us another useful observation, which may serve as a test of their pursuing in reality the way to Zion, namely, that their faces be constantly set thitherwards. We can scarcely believe that person in earnest in his inquiries after the heavenly country, who is perpetually making digressions into the world, whose daily practice shews him to be eager in the pursuit of wealth, of fame, of power,

of pleasure: no, the traveller to Zion must learn to "crucify the flesh, with the affections and "lusts thereof;" must learn to " deny himself, "take up the cross, and follow Jesus," whithersoever he goes, through good, and through bad report, through honour and dishonour, through life and through death; he must rise with a holy contempt above both the threatenings and the allurements of the world, and say with the apostle, "None of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy." But not to dwell longer on this part of the subject: whoever wishes to see the whole christian life wrought into the most beautiful and expressive allegory, under this similitude of a journey, may see it in a book, which witlings may despise and ridicule, but which every body of true taste and real piety must admire with all its imperfections; I mean that well known performance of an illiterate man, the Pilgrim's Progress.

I proceed to another observation arising from the words of my text, namely, the wonderful effects of real religion in cementing the hearts of men one to another. Between the children of Israel and the children of Judah there was, at that time, a rooted, a national aversion, which was carried