done at all? I would beseech you, for the sake of your eternal souls, to be touched with what I say: these calls of God's Church cannot be put aside without some sin.

My brethren, I do not call you; it is not I; but it is in the permission and the providence of God that His priest points out the way, prays you to renew your spirits, calls upon you to sacrifice your sin, and urges you to turn unto the Lord and to live in peace with Him. My brethren, you lose nothing but your shame and your danger, but you gain eternal peace with the Lord Jesus Christ. That peace will begin now if only you begin, my brethren. Is there a Christian who will say, 'I will not begin.' "O let your light break forth like the morning, and let your health spring forth speedilya." Much time you may have laboured with your destroyer for your own destruction, turn now unto mercy and forgivenesses, and bring back, in humble and earnest prayer, a repentant heart. In this way, day by day, you would lay down sin, and gather into your bosoms peace and hope. Searching yourselves, you will know yourselves; knowing yourselves, you will tremble at your sins; trembling, you will fly to God through Jesus Christ. These are the courses which lead you to receive the grace of God effectually, and will put down sin.

Let this course begin; let this earnest, spiritual

9 Isa. lviii. 8.

labour arise out of your worship. If you will enter into this path, your feet will be guided; you will walk safely, till you will be led, in the most grateful spirit, -thankful that Christ has mercifully deigned to renew and to lead you, you will be led to kneel down before the Table of the Lord, you will pour forth your contrite expressions, you will "cry unto the Lord" for the sake of His blessed Son "to forgive you all that is past," and the Lord shall answer, "Here I am"."

So live, my brethren, that you may be able thus to meet God whenever you are bidden of Him. If, when that time comes, you feel that you are still not ready, that you are in wilful sin, and kept back, then charge yourselves bitterly, you have cast aside another call. Remember, religion, to be rewarded, must be a work, it must be a reality; the "vineyard" which you have to till is your own heart; you must come in out of "the market-place," which is full of the vanities and traffic of the world, you must labour in your own heart, and cleanse it, else there is no reward promised of the Master.

Isa. lviii. 9.

SERMON XII.

Fifth Sunday after Epiphany.

ISAIAH lix. 11.

We look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us.

THESE words, which are taken from the first

Lesson appointed by the Church for this day, are part of a passage which informs us that the calamities, which befel the Jews, visited them on account of their sins.

Evil and calamity are very abundant in the world; they are so abundant, that it has long since become a sort of proverb that "man is born unto trouble"," and that he who looks for peace and enjoyment on this side the grave may be sure of disappointment. This opinion is, no doubt, a truth; perhaps a truth as certain as the only other truth which is certain, namely, that one day our evils will end in our death, and, it may be, will not end till death comes and cuts them short.

This abundance of evil in this life has given rise to a belief, which has prevailed always and through

a Job v. 7.

out the whole world, that there is both a great and good Spirit, the Creator and benevolent Father of the world; and also an evil spirit of great activity and power, whose business and joy it is to hurt and destroy this world as far as in him is, to mar and defeat its happiness, and to bring upon it evil of every kind. Moreover, wherever a revelation of another and an eternal life has been bestowed upon mankind, in those more enlightened nations this opinion is so strong that they believe, without exception, that this evil spirit labours, by sundry temptations, to draw mankind into divers sins and offences against the laws of the Lord God, so that their souls hereafter may, in the life to come, be eternally in pain, punishment, and anguish, and that evil and calamity may be continued to them for ever and ever.

Why this evil spirit should be permitted to exist, why he should be allowed by an all-powerful God to remain so long undestroyed, and apparently even unsubdued, has not been told us; therefore we are unable to explain the reason why evil is allowed to be busy in the world. But that the belief in the existence of an evil spirit is true does not require any laboured proof, because he is revealed to us in many parts of God's Holy Word. We are continually therein cautioned against his wiles and his power, and directed how to withstand him, namely, by a bold and determined resistance against his temptations, by great watchfulness over the move

ments of our own hearts, and by constant, anxious, and earnest prayer to God always to be with us in His Holy Spirit, guiding us and counselling us unto all good. The chapter read by order of the Church this day tells us, however, one reason why calamity is allowed to visit us. It warns us that the Jews suffered evils of many kinds by reason of their sinfulness; and so we are taught that the evil spirit is often made, in the hands of Almighty God, an instrument of punishment to the wicked.

As this is a very material point in the doctrine contained in the Lesson of this day, I wish to make it the subject of this sermon.

This doctrine shews us the power of the Lord, as well as the justice of God also, in that He compels sin to chastise sin. David prays the Lord to deliver him "from the wicked, which is Thy sword"," the instrument by which "He executeth judgment in the earth."

In the same way we see diseases follow loose or riotous modes of life, nor can we doubt but these also are ordained of God to be a punishment for sin, evil following evil deeds.

This doctrine is laid before us to-day by the mercy of Almighty God, guiding His Church by His Holy Spirit, according to the richness of His promise to her. In a world tried by many troubles and evils it is a doctrine of very great importance to us.

b Ps. xvii. 13.