some what the same forlorn condition, with those whose cause I plead; you had forsaken God the fountain of living waters, and had hewn out to yourselves broken cisterns, that could hold no water. And you remember that dark period. Your mind travelled from object to object, through all the round of created good, in search of enjoy-· ment, and "found no end in wandering mazes lost."

And there is a world of intelligent immortal beings, seen panting and weary in the same fruitless chase. It was the blessed gospel that arrested you, and saved you. Your heedless steps it guided; your dark mind it enlightened; your erring conscience it rectified; your insensibility it aroused; your hard heart it softened; your selfishness it subdued; your pride it humbled; your wayward course it changed; your covenant with death, and your agreement with hell it disannuled. And here you stand, redeemed, regenerated; your whole character changed, and your final destiny altered, through the influence of the blessed gospel. The curse is removed, you are a child of God, and an heir of glory, and shall one day see the king in his beauty and the gospel has done it. It has givyou peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, a firm hope of heaven, and the soul-reviving assurance, that all things shall work together for your good, till you rise to be where Christ is, behold his beauty, and rejoice in his love forever.

Now the question is, whether you will contrib

H

ute of your wealth, to save those who are perishing as you so lately were. I now plead with you by all that religion has been worth to you; by all the joys it has brought you, by all the woes it has cured, by all the hopes it has raised, and by all the transformation it has wrought in your character, and your condition. For what price would you return into the darkened, and dreary, and hopeless condition in which the gospel found you? For what would you barter away all the delightful prospects that open before you? and calculate on no more precious sacramental seasons? no more communion of saints? no more delightful hours in your closet? nor Pisgahviews of the fields of promise? nor fellowship with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ? At no price would you part with these? Then know how great are the blessings which you have it in your power to confer, on those who are perishing for lack of vision.

Do you say, they can purchase the privileges of the gospel as you have? No, they will not. They know not their value, and will die in their sins, ere they will give a shilling for the light of the gospel. Not the whole of India, if it would save them all from hell, would support a single missionary.

Will God send them the gospel by miracle? No, he once did thus send it to the lost, blessed be his name! but he now commands us to send it to those who are perishing for lack of vision. We know our duty, and God will require it of us. Can we meet the heathen in the judgment, if we have done nothing to redeem them?

I will plead no longer, but let me tell you in parting, that when you shall see the world on fire, your wealth all melting down, and those who have perished through your neglect, calling upon the rocks and mountains, to fall on them, and hide them from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, and shall know that you might have saved them, there will be strong sensations. If you are saved yourselves, and this is doubtful if you are not anxious to save others, you will wish a place to weep over your past neglects, before you begin your everlasting song; and if lost yourselves, then indeed there will be weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth forever. May Jehovah bless you, and dispose you to do your duty now, that you may hereafter lay hold on eternal life. Amen.

SERMON 14.

NOTHING SAFE BUT THE CHURCH.

DEUTERONOMY XXXII. 9.

"The Lord's portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance."

WHEN God exhibits himself, as the portion of his people, we feel no surprise. He can be to them all they need, can gratify all their wants, and all their hopes. But what can his people be or do for him? How can they so rise in his estimation, that he shall style them his portion, and his inheritance? The God who has built a thousand worlds, who thunders in the heavens, and holds the stars in his right hand; can he value his people above them all! And yet this precious truth is prominent in the text, and is demonstrated, by the whole course of providential events, since the creation of the world. If that is the dearest to God which cost him most, as is often the fact in our history, then indeed there is an obvious reason for the truth of the .text. Worlds took being at his word, and will perish at his bidding, but he redeemed his people with the life of his Son; hence his high regard for them. And hence a reason for all he intends to do for them in futurity. He will guide them with his counsel, and afterward receive them to glory.

Hence to God's people the text contains a very

precious truth. God has selected from the works of
his hands, as what shall stand the highest in his es-
timation, his redeemed people.
ienated his right to any thing.

Not that he has alEvery world that he

has built is his, and his foes are his. But in his church he will take peculiar pleasure. He will employ all his energies, to make his people happy, and himself happy in them. This was his purpose when he built creation, and when fully accomplished, "The heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll, and the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up."

But there is a truth implied in this text of solemn and dreadful import. It makes worthless every thing in this world, but the church of God. And what is worthless is not safe. Hence I purpose to illustrate this doctrine, There is nothing safe but the church. My intention is to look at facts ancient and modern, together with what God assures us shall transpire in future; all going to show, that while God" has always cared for his church, he never did place intrinsic value upon any thing else.

When the world was exhibited to the eye of and would seem to us But it was only holi

I. I notice ancient facts, built, it is believed to have its Maker unmingled beauty; to have had intrinsic value. ness that God valued.. Sin entered,

"Earth felt the wound, and nature from her seat, Sighing through all her works, gave signs of woe That all was lost."