membrance of Him," we did thus, from time to time, purify our hearts, and dedicate ourselves, "our souls and bodies," unto God, would not the Lord be more glorified by us? I know one reason why so many turn their backs on the Holy Communion is, because they cannot as yet resolve to give up some worldly or wrong habit. Now, no doubt, there is a sort of tenderness of conscience in abstaining on this ground; a man is not wholly hardened who dreads. to bring a wilful and wicked heart to the Holy Supper of the Lord; but in what state is the man himself? What is the use of any of his religious services, as long as he determines to keep any sin in his heart? Is the Lord God any God at all to him while he chooses to set up in his own breast,-his breast which ought to be and which might be a temple of the Holy Ghost,-is the Lord any God to him who will set up in his own breast a sin above God, who will maintain the sin there, and worship and serve it, who sacrifices to it his life hour by hour, day by day? Is Christ Jesus any Saviour to that man? He has never made any such promise! This is the day when Christ was born; but to that man he is not born; that man is where the heathens were, as long as he will live like a heathen; he is "dead in trespasses and sins!"

There are many ways full of grace, but too many for the compass of a sermon, in which we are called

by the Gospels to advance the glory of God, and to labour to bring peace upon the earth. I have only touched on two. If it is common to find people faulty in these, it is too likely that they are faulty in many more. Let every man search his own heart. We stand now on a solemn point of time; the day, namely, which brought the Lord to save us, the day also which brings us close to the end of another year, and therefore so much nearer to that Day when we shall see Christ our Lord in judgment.

A long step in the lives of each of us is now gone! One more of the "threescore years and ten," if we ever reckon them, is taken away! It is, no doubt, the last some of us will ever see. My brethren, let us take these truths into our hearts. "Whatever sin most easily besets us," I would adjure you, for the welfare and peace of man, for the glory of God, for the sake of Christ, for the sake of your own souls,-I would adjure you, by wrestling with Satan, by struggling against the flesh, by repentance, by prayer,—to work together with Christ, your helper and Redeemer, to arise against your destruction and to cast it off.

SERMON VI.

First Sunday after Christmas,

OR

LAST SUNDAY IN THE YEAR.

SONG OF SOLOMON iv. 16.

Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my Beloved come into His garden, and eat His pleasant fruits.

THIS

HIS verse is one of the many beautiful likenings and similitudes in the Song of Solomon. It is a prayer from the Church that the Holy Spirit would visit her, comfort her, and nourish her; that her virtues might flow out, and that Christ her Saviour might come into her courts, and rejoice in her good fruits. In the words, "Awake, O north wind, and come, thou south," is contained the prayer for the Spirit of the Lord; in the words, "Blow upon my garden, that the spices may flow out," is the prayer that God's Spirit would render her fruitful in holiness; and in the words, "Let my Beloved come into His garden, and eat His pleasant fruits," is the prayer that Christ, when He visits His Church, may find it rich in a faithful obedience.

This is the meaning of the text, only slightly hid

den under a beautiful likeness. It is not uncommon in the Bible to find the Church described as a garden, a vineyard, a vine, and a pleasant plant, and this is one of these descriptions. The wisdom of the Lord. often speaks many things in one word; and when, my brethren, we are called a garden, we learn much from that name; if we are a garden, then are we loved as a garden is; there is One that tilleth, that laboureth, that watereth, and dresseth it; there is One that pruneth the wild branches, and grafteth in the good; there is One that plucketh up the weeds thereof, and soweth the good seed; there is One that looketh for the increase, and that One is God. When the Lord calls us His garden, His vineyard, His pleasant plant, this is what in one word He tells us that He doeth unto us.

But if this is the carefulness of the Master of the garden, what should be seen within the hedge thereof? The same word 'garden' tells us that there should be seen flourishing, and in order, plants that are sweet and plants that are beautiful, and the ground below should bear fruits sweet-scented and nourishing; the eye should be pleased with the beauty, and the smell with the odour of it, and it should bring forth abundantly things wholesome and delightful. And this is what a good man's heart is so it is watered, so it is tended and regarded, and so it bringeth forth a rich obedience, good to all mankind, and around it there seems to float a sweet and sacred sanctity; the spices of god

liness flow out a sweet-smelling savour, and we see that in that heart God is working, and man is yielding fruit. How much, my brethren, doth God often say unto us in one small word?

My brethren, we have now just kept holy the day in which Christ, the Beloved, first came in the flesh to visit us in this mortal life, and that sacred day has again brought us to the end of another closing year. Let us then, in the last service of the year, look back upon the workings of the Lord among us; let us consider some points in which God's Spirit has laboured -may I not say, has toiled-wrestled, striven with many of us, and then ask what "spices have flowed out," what "pleasant fruits" there be; or whether, in the words of the Prophet's lamentation, we "have turned the fruit of righteousness into hemlock"."

Now there is no doubt but in this year which is gone, many of you have had your troubles; difficulties and distresses have visited many, sorrows have come into some households, disappointments into all. It is God's mercy that it is so. Sorrows, we all know, are a sore burden, and "a wounded spirit who can bear?" And speaking only as a man, I could well say for you all,-May God keep every trouble from you; let it all be peace and joy, let grief depart away for ever, let tears for evermore be dried up. But a little thought tells us this would not be for our good. If every thing in this world

Amos vi. 12.

b Prov. xviii. 14.