SERMON XXXII. THE BENEFITS OF RELIGIOUS CONVERSE, AND THE BLESSINGS PROMISED TO THOSE WHO ENGAGE IN IT. BY THE REV. DAVID LANDSBOROUGH, STEVENSTON. "Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another; and the Lord hearkened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him."--MALACHI íii. 16, 17. THE Prophets Haggai and Zechariah had been commissioned by God to reprove the people for their slackness in rebuilding the temple of Jerusalem, after he had in his mercy brought them back from the Babylonish captivity; and Malachi, the last of the Old Testament Prophets, was sent, as we find in the context, to upbraid them for their neglect of the worship of God, after the temple was reared; and for the worldlymindedness, and the irreligious spirit which so many of them manifested. In the worst of times, however, God has a remnant that serve him; and in times of great degeneracy, the faithful become more marked and decided characters, from the very conflicts in which they are constrained to engage; and stand forth in bolder and brighter relief, from the very darkness of the background with which they are contrasted. When of old, "the words of many were stout against the LORD," " then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another, and the Lord hearkened and heard it; and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name." God's children have all a family likeness in every country and in every age: their character, in its leading features, is the same now as of old; and their God is the same for evermore. Many of you have this day,* in the most solemn manner, professed yourselves to be the children of God, and the followers of his Son. You have come into the banqueting house-you have professed, in obedience to the command of Christ, to eat of the bread which has been symbolically broken, and to drink of the wine which has been mingled for you. If you have eaten as friends, and have drunk as his beloved, then have you a holy character to sustain. You are the members of a blessed family-you are the subjects of Zion's King—you are the children of the living and true God. What, then, should be your * Preached on the evening of a Communion Sabbath. conduct? You are not left in ignorance on that point. You have the Word and the Spirit of God to instruct you. May the Spirit of God shed light on that portion of his Word which we have now read, and bring it home to our hearts in powerful demonstration ! In directing our attention to this subject, let us, in humble dependence on Divine grace, consider, I. The description which is here given of God's people. II. The benefits they derive from Christian converse. III. The blessings promised them by the Lord their God. I. The description given of them in the text. ness 1. They are described as "they that feared the Lord." Though the fear of the Lord is spoken of as the beginning of wisdom, it is at other times spoken of as comprehending the whole of religion. To fear the Lord, we must know him; and we cannot know him as he is represented in the Scriptures, without fearing him-fearing the Lord and his good-for it is not the fear which a slave has of his cruel taskmaster, but the reverential fear which a dutiful child has of the kindest and most beloved of fathers. The unrenewed man does not know the Lord, and he cannot thus fear him. In the spirit of ignorance and impiety he may say, "Who is the Lord that I should serve him, and what profit would I have were I to pray to him?" Or, conscious of his rebelliousness, he may regard him as a powerful enemy, ready to crush him, and his hatred may be proportioned to his fear. O how different is the reverential, affectionate fear of him cherished by believers, as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; the Father of mercies, the God of all consolation, the source of all our happiness, and the foundation of all our hopes ! 2. They "think on his name." The name of the Lord is often put for the Lord himself; so that they who fear the Lord are in the habit of thinking upon his nature and his attributes—the dealings of his providence and the wonders of his grace. What is it that chiefly distinguishes man from the inferior animals? It is not speech, for some of them can be taught distinctly to articulate, and to imitate the language of men. It is not thought, for they do think, and some of them are possessed of considerable sagacity. It is the power of thinking upon God. The inferior animals know nothing of God, and cannot be taught to know Him, and consequently their thoughts rise no higher than man. it is the noble distinguishing characteristic of man that he can think of God, of God who made him, who gave him rational faculties, and an immortal soul. No. 34.-SER. 32. But But, while the power of thinking upon God is granted to man alone of his creatures here below, do all men avail themselves of the power which so honourably distinguishes them? Alas! alas! there is a numerous class of whom it is written, "God is not in all their thoughts." The ungodly, the very term by which they are described, tell us that "they do not like to retain God in their knowledge;" that "they live without God in the world ;" and "walk in the way of their own heart, and in the sight of their own eyes." But, blessed be God, there is another class who love God, and fear God, and think on his name. They remember that he is Jehovah, the uncreated, the self-existing God; that he is the Almighty-possessed of all power-and that his goodness and wisdom and mercy are equal to his power. They remember with thankfulness that not only has he made himself known as Jehovah-Nissi-, the Lord my banner, but as Jehovah-Tsidkenu-the Lord our Righteousness. Is it not delightful for a God-fearing people to think on the name of the Lord, when, through Christ, they can address this good, and wise, and allpowerful God as their heavenly Father? They think on his works; and all his works praise Him: the earth, which he created out of nothing, by the word of his power-the heavens, which he stretched forth as® a curtain, as a tabernacle in which he might dwell-the sun, which he made to rule the day, and the moon to rule the night. They think not only on his power and wisdom, manifested in the creation of man, and of the various living creatures which inhabit the earth, but they think also on the kindness of his providence in bountifully supplying the returning wants of the countless creatures he has formed. They remember that the kind care of Providence is not confined to man, nor even to the birds of the air, or the beasts of the field; but is extended to myriads of myriads of minute creatures, whether they creep on the earth, or fly in the air, or wanton in the watery element. But, above all, they delight to think on the greatest of all his great works, the work of Redemption through Jesus Christ his Son. Here mercy-the loveliest attribute of his character-shines forth. Here mercy and truth have met together, and righteousness and peace have kissed each other. In this he has magnified his law and made it honourable. By this he can be just and yet the justifier of the ungodly. Their meditation on his glorious name and blessed attributes is sweet; and it is necessary for closer communion with him and with increasing conformity to him. It would be altogether inconsistent with their character as the children of God, were they not to think on him. Would we think a son affectionate, were he never to think of his father in a foreign country, though from that distant land he were sending him many tokens of paternal kindness, and making the richest provision for his education, and for his comfortable But is the greatness of this salvation, or of the love of God in providing it, to be measured only by the greatness of the misery from which believers are ransomed? No, let us think on the happiness which God has laid up in store for those who love him, and then have we topics fitted to make our hearts to glow, and our words to burn, and our tongues to delight to speak the praises of the Lord. But even an angel's tongue could but feebly speak his praise, when the wonders of redemption form the glorious theme. When we have given our imagination full scope, how faint is the idea which we can form of the future felicity of the redeemed of the Lord! It is greater than eye hath seen, or ear heard, or heart conceived. It is a joy unspeakable; a far more exceeding, even an eternal weight of glory! Precious above the grasp of mortals must the inheritance be, when it was purchased, not with corruptible things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot! And then let us consider how sure this blood-bought inheritance is. It is promised by the Lord himself, all whose promises are yea and amen. Nay, not only is it promised, but the promise is confirmed with an oath. And, as if promise and oath had not been enough to satisfy our weak faith, when so much is at stake, he gives us a pledge, a foretaste of blessedness; for believers are sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of his glory. He gives grace; and having given grace as the pledge, he will undoubtedly give, in fulfilment of the pledge, glory, as the promised possession. For grace and glory differ not in kind, but in degree. Grace is the bud, glory is the sweet, unwithering blossom-grace is the precious seed, glory is the golden harvestgrace is the dawn, the purple streakings of the sky, the orient tints of the morning; glory is the light, the splendour, the bright effulgence of the perfect day-grace is the might, the armour, the valour in the day of battle; glory is the shout of victory, the song of triumph, the dividing of the spoil, the crowning of the conqueror, the peace and rest and blessedness that await the people of God. SERMON XXXIII. THE DIVINE COMPASSION FOR SINNERS. BY THE REV. ALEXANDER LESLIE, ARBROATH. "Why will ye die, O house of Israel!"-EZEK. Xviii, 31. THE text is brief but comprehensive, and most affecting; and the question which it contains is strikingly illustrative of the tenderness and compassion of Him who condescends in mercy to ask it. Surely there is in it something which ought to excite our admiration of Divine condescension, and to call forth from our hearts songs of grateful and adoring praise. For we not only behold God offering to the poor sinner the mercy and the love which he needs, but actually going after him, entreating him to stand and bethink, exhorting and imploring him to accept of them, when he ungratefully, and with aggravated guilt, turns his back on them as unworthy of his attention and regard. Israel, like all others, had wandered from the path of safety, and exposed themselves to that withering curse which constitutes the threatened penalty of a broken law. But, from among the nations of the earth, God, in righteous sovereignty, selected them to be his peculiar people; and, amid the darkness which brooded over their guilty souls, caused a light to shine which pointed to a coming Deliverer, and exhibited the only and divinely-appointed means of restoration to heaven's forfeited love. And might it not then have been expected, that, having thus told them of an approaching Savicur, and graciously marked out to them the pathway that conducts to glory, if they wilfully closed their eyes against this light, and persisted in treading the downward road to destruction, God would have said of them in just indignation, "They are joined to their idols, let them alone." But no! Divine condescension extended itself still further; and, mercy rejoicing over judgment, God pursued, as it were, his stiff-necked Israel, and called to them, in sympathizing compassion and most touching love, "Turn ye, turn ye, for why will ye die, O house of Israel!" Brethren, ours is a clearer light than Israel ever enjoyed, but still we have preferred the darkness to it, and have walked in the ways of sin; and surely, though not a single expostulation had been employed-though justice had long ere now taken its course against us, and sent us from a land of |