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If then, so brief, so fleeting are all worldly incidents, what a mere moment,-a passing dream will life appear, when, standing on the brink of eternity, we look back on this transitory scene, to which we are bidding a last-an eternal farewell! and how shall we then bear the too-well merited reproof of Jesus,-" What! could ye not watch with me one hour?" Oh, my brethren, if there be any faith, any love, any reverence, any gratitude in your hearts,—now, "while it is called to day," take up your cross and follow your Redeemer : attend him in those scenes of sorrow and humiliation, through which as at this time, he passed for you: contemplate him, with humble thankfulness and pious joy, in those scenes of bliss and glory, where he is now interceding for you: and thus, in firm reliance on his powerful grace, you will meet life's bitterest trials, as the disciples of Him who was "made perfect through sufferings:"—"strong in his might," you will trample on sin's baneful allurements, as the followers of Him whose "kingdom is not of this world."

In Christ's hour of temptation, it was by the Word of God, remember, that he resisted Satan : let this then be the armour which you also put on. In his last interview with his disciples before his passion, the holy Sacrament was the pledge which he ordained, as a continual remembrance of his sufferings,-a solemn assurance of

his saving grace :-by this likewise, you (if you partake it in faith, and sincerity, and truth) will find your hearts best strengthened, and your hopes best fortified. In Christ's unparalleled agony, when “never was sorrow like unto his sorrow," he retired, as we have seen, to pour forth his overburdened soul in prayer to God: so, in all the afflictions of life,-yea, even in the dark "valley of the shadow of death," prayer, out of “a pure heart fervently," will ever be found by you, my brethren, a great, an effectual means of comfort and of grace. Like your divine Exemplar then, be earnest, be constant in prayer, and you will be able to say with the royal Psalmist, “in the multitude of the sorrows that I had in my heart, thy comforts O God, have refreshed my soul."

Impressed with an utter abhorrence of sin, and a full conviction of the lost and guilty state from which you have been rescued by the free grace and mercy of Jehovah, you may indeed be " pierced with many sorrows:"-Humbled under a deep sense of unmerited love and favour from a long-suffering God,--a God against whom you have so often, and so grievously offended, and who has repaid your baseness only with mercy and loving kindness; your eyes may sometimes gush out with water; but your tears will be those of gratitude, and reconciliation, and

joy tears, which shall soon be exchanged for that comfort and peace in the Holy Ghost,-for that holy ardour in your Saviour's cause, which, springing up within you, shall send you forth more "fervent in spirit, to serve the Lord" during the short remaining time he may yet require you to "watch." And when that time of watching and of trial shall be ended, supported by the "sure and certain hope of a resurrection to eternal life," you shall close your fading eyes in peace and while your body shall lie down in the grave, and mingle with its parent dust, your now purified spirit, freed from the shackles which bound it to its earthly tenement, shall wing to heaven its flight, and with joy "return unto the God who gave it."

SERMON XXII.

CHRIST CRUCIFIED.

FOR GOOD FRIDAY.

1 CORINTHIANS I. 23, 24.-" We preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God."

EVEN at the first preaching of Christianity, there were found not a few bold and wicked infidels, who impiously dared to brand it with the opprobrious names of weakness and foolishness. And, that this unhappy race is not yet extinct, the many open attacks which are still continually made, both upon the divinity of Christ, and the doctrines of his Gospel, alas! but too plainly prove.

Now, since the religion we profess, carries with it the strongest, the most unquestionable proofs of divine benevolence and love, since it

recommends itself to our approbation by a system of the purest, the most exalted doctrines ;— doctrines which tend to enlighten the understanding and improve the heart,—to rescue us from all uncertainty and error here, and to open to us the most cheering prospects of a blissful immortality; it is surely every man's interest to wish them to be true: for, if Christianity be a fiction, say, what is there within the compass of either ancient or modern learning, sufficient even to heal the wounds of present sufferings, much less to withdraw the envenomed sting from future apprehensions? And shall the scoffs of the infidel, or the cavils of the philosopher, when opposed to these important considerations, weigh aught but as dust in the balance? Shall such vain and delusive arguments lead men to reject and deny a faith so indispensably essential both to their temporal and eternal happiness? Alas! too wide and diffusive has been infidelity's baneful influence; and it is with the earnest hope of guarding you, my brethren, from making shipwreck of your faith, that, by the aid of that Holy Spirit, which can alone minister power to the preacher, and grace to the hearer, I will endeavour, to "put to silence the ignorance of foolish men," against the doctrine of the cross, and shew you that the plan of the Gospel Dispensation is perfectly conformable to the rules of true wisdom, and equally suitable to the

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