Christ hath sent us nothing that we may cast it behind us!" Let our Word be the whole Word, the whole Word of God; let no man keep back any. Not some, but all; not a part only, and that the part which searches our hearts least, and that part, moreover, misinterpreted; let not our hope stand on such weakness, but on all God's Word; so that we may ever receive Christ as He hath revealed Himself in all meekness, in all self-correction, in all thankfulness; and thus humbly begging for His aid, and following thereafter, may stay in Christ's fold, willing labourers therein.

and call, and to wallow in filthiness? Why does St. John make it the great proof of a Christian spirit, and the leading duty of one called in Jesus, that he keep the commandments of the Lord Jesus Christ?

Why are these things thus, and the whole burden of the Word thus laid upon us, but that sin may be kept down by those in covenant with Christ? This is the great labour of love, to subdue the flesh for the love of Christ; and the teacher whose teaching can turn you, in fond confidence, to labour any where but in your own heart, may not mean it very likely, but he gives you false directions, false hopes, false lights, and puts you in a way wherein, it may be, you will never see God.

Now from this carelessness in Church teaching, this undervaluing of your covenant with Christ, comes at once a false religion, and unchastened souls, unchristian minds, and presumptuous claims on Christ, most fearfully joined together. These things are to be seen in our own vineyard, and they are "wild grapes.'

My brethren, let us determine better things. Let us begin this Christian year by remembering that "the Scriptures were written for our learningf;" let us remember that the Word is, "all Holy Scriptures," not 'some Holy Scriptures;' let us then "hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them," with this recollection; let us say, "The Lord

e 1 John ii. 3, 4.

Rom. xv. 4.

2 Tim. iii. 16.

Christ hath sent us nothing that we may cast it behind us!" Let our Word be the whole Word, the whole Word of God; let no man keep back any. Not some, but all; not a part only, and that the part which searches our hearts least, and that part, moreover, misinterpreted; let not our hope stand on such weakness, but on all God's Word; so that we may ever receive Christ as He hath revealed Himself in all meekness, in all self-correction, in all thankfulness; and thus humbly begging for His aid, and following thereafter, may stay in Christ's fold, willing labourers therein.

SERMON III.

Third Sunday in Advent.

1 CORINTHIANS iv. 2.

It is required in stewards that a man be found faithful.

HE Collect for the first Sunday in Advent is

T chosen by the Church with the intention to

turn our minds to the approaching season in which she commemorates the appearance of our Lord Christ in the flesh, and it leads us to pray that our pre paration here may enable us, through the Sacrifice on the Cross, to meet our Redeemer with hope, when He shall "come again in His glorious Majesty to judge both the quick and the dead." The second Collect in Advent is a beautiful prayer, that we may make perfect that preparation by the diligent and constant study of the Holy Scriptures, and that we may derive from them that "blessed hope of everlasting life which has been given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ." The Epistles and Gospels appointed to be read after these Collects reiterate and refresh the same feelings and prayers. On the third Sunday in Advent the Church prays that this reading may be so directed and quickened by the priesthood, that

they may, by God's grace, be enabled "to turn the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just," that "at His second coming, to judge the world, we may be found an acceptable people" in the sight of the Lord. As in the services for the two Sundays which have gone before, so also in the service for this Sunday, the Epistle and Gospel point to the same holy thoughts which are contained in the Collect:-"Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful.”

The chief thing here stated in the character of a steward is that he "be found faithful." It is therefore a chief thing in the character of the priesthood, "the stewards of the mysteries of God," that they be found faithful. This, my brethren, includes much. In the first place, they must be faithful towards the Lord their Master. They must be faithful in gaining a full knowledge of His Word, a possession of it: it is, in an especial manner, their duty to know their Bible, to have the doctrines contained in God's Word fully impressed upon their minds; to be able, from the Scriptures, to maintain the truth, to put to silence gainsayers, and to admonish and convince error and unbelief. Without this preparation they cannot rightly fulfil their duty, and, in consequence, may easily fail, as not being faithful stewards. Next it is their duty to shew to their flocks, by the uprightness, the purity, and the kindness of their lives,

D