light of gospel splendour and gospel liberty, has his going forth from the end of the mystical heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing in the moral globe, on which he pours his vivifying, enlivening, and gladdening rays, that is hid from the heat thereof. Psalm xix. 5, 6. Spiritual strength is infused into the renewed mind; the grace of God, that bringeth salvation, is sufficient for the perfecting of the saints, for blessing the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ; and the language of the redeemed captive, now conscious that he is a new creature, and proving what is acceptable unto the Lord, is that of the spouse when she expresses her affection for him, who had looked upon her when she was black; when her mother's children were angry with her; when they made her the keeper of their vineyards; but her own vineyard had she not kept. "Draw me, we will run after thee. The King hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee; we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee." Song i. 4. The required ability having been communicated, and continued from the fountain of all spiritual might, and the believer, receiving of the fulness of the godhead, grace for grace, is freed from the sins that most easily beset him, and glorying in the cross of Christ, whereby the world is crucified unto him and he unto the world, is qualified to fight a good fight, to finish his course, to keep the faith; and henceforth to rejoice in the hope that there is laid up for him a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to him at that day; and not to him only, but unto all them that love his appearing. 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8.

The understanding, formerly darkened, is now restored to its original perspicuity-the will, formerly crooked, is now made straight-the affections, formerly earthly, are now set on things above-the views, formerly low, now reach to heaven-and the hopes, formerly as empty as the objects on which they were fixed, were worthless, are now satisfied with nothing less than "a far more exceeding, even an eternal weight of glory." The Lord has indeed been merciful, and "according to his Divine power hath thus given all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us unto glory and virtue: whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye might be partakers of the Divine nature, having escaped the corruption which is in the world through lust." 2 Peter i. 3, 4.

And having thus done all things well, and fitted us for the duties to which he has called us in the course of his providence, and which he has prepared us effectually to discharge, we are bound by ties which he himself has laid upon us, to "give diligence to make our calling and election sure, by adding to our faith, virtue; and to virtue, knowledge;

and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity; knowing, as we do, that as many as walk according to this rule, peace is pronounced on them and mercy, and upon all the Israel of God." Gal. v. 6, 7.

The exalted service on which the Christian has now entered is not en

gaged in "from constraint, but willingly." "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made him free from the law of sin and death;" and he therefore feels that his Saviour's commandments are not grievous; that "his yoke is easy, and his burden light." The Divine statutes are his songs in the house of his pilgrimage, and the pleasures which the believing observance of them imparts, are to him a reviving and sustaining foretaste of those ravishing and eternal delights with which he shall be satisfied abundantly in that land, where, as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, thy God, O thou justified sinner, shall rejoice for ever over thee. "Hosanna in the highest,"-"The Lord hath been mindful of us."

I have now finished my remarks on this passage of Scripture. I have stated plainly what I hold as truths of everlasting moment and of universal interest. I am convinced there is no other way than what has been pointed out to solid peace here, and to fulness of joy hereafter. I have directed your thoughts to the universality and deadliness of the disease, and to the only infallible and freely offered remedy. If you have been impressed by what has been said, I implore you to regard this impression as the work of the Spirit, and O be earnest in prayer that his influence may be continued till you have escaped the danger of the plain and reached the mountain of the Lord-the house of the God of Jacob-where he will teach you face to face of his ways, and you shall walk unswervingly and triumphantly in his paths for ever. The Lord has long called on you with all the importunateness and affection of a Father in Christ, willing and solicitous to save you. His hands are still stretched out to welcome, nay, to bring you from your wanderings. Be persuaded of your danger, if you have not yet seen it; and if you are in the act of escaping, and hurrying to your refuge, O look not back-stay not in all the plain. It is all doomed-not one solitary corner of it a safe resting place. "Remember Lot's wife;" and, with her dreadful fate before you as a warning, push on, slacken not, weary not. The Spirit is supporting you, and giving you strength to persevere till you have reached Mount Calvary; and the "Man of Sorrows," bleeding and dying there, will convince you by one smile of his countenance that all is well with you his chosen ones, and that he will be the strength of your hearts and your portion for ever.

SERMON VI.

RESTRAINING OF SPIRITUAL INTERCOURSE IN FAMILIES.

BY THE REV. CHARLES JOHN BROWN,

OF THE FREE NEW NORTH CHURCH, EDINBURGH,

"Exhort one another daily."—HEB. iii. 13.

THESE words, taken in their largest and widest bearing, point to the great general duty lying on the disciples of Christ to take a lively interest in each other's spiritual welfare, and to seek the advancement of it, as in other ways, so especially by stirring each other up by mutual encouragement, remembrance, and exhortation,-"Exhort one another daily." The spirit which breathes through these words is diametrically the opposite of that of the old question put by the first murderer, "Am I my brother's keeper?" They assure us, in effect, that every man is in an important sense his brother's keeper; and that, especially among the members of the body of Christ, united by ties so close and endearing, there exists a sacred obligation to the duty exemplified and commended in those words of the Prophet, "Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another; and the Lord harkened 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.”

It is not my intention, however, to view the words in this their wider scope and application. I have selected them in connection with a great practical evil, fearfully prevalent, I believe, among the families and households of the professing Christian Church-I mean the restraining of free and confidential spiritual intercourse among the nearest relatives, on the things belonging to their everlasting peace. The following extract from the writings of an eminent divine, living among us, will show that I am not alone in my impressions about the prevalence of this evil. It is from his Lectures on the Romans, in the comment on these words, "I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ, for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh."

"Thus, by an inexplicable peculiarity of temperament, do the nearest of relatives often maintain on that topic which most nearly concerns them, a dead and immoveable silence, and which for the world they cannot break; and though posting on to eternity together, yet on all the prospects and on all the preparations of eternity their lips are sealed; and while on every other partnership, whether of interest or of feeling, there is the frankest and the easiest communication, yet, on this mightiest interest of all, each wraps himself in his own impregnable disguise, and positively dares not lay it open. It is so very singular, that it almost looks like a satanic influence-a sorcery by which the prince of darkness obstructs this sort of reciprocal interchange in families, lest his kingdom should suffer by it--a device by which he guards the very approaches of conversation; and so scares even the devout and desirous Christian away from it, that he stands speechless and awe-struck even in the presence of his own brother.”

Assuming, then, the fact of the existence of the restraint in question I am anxious to look at it with you for a little, under the following aspects of it: First, The evil and mischievous character of it; second, The causes of it; and third, The remedies for it. The Lord make our meditations on these things very profitable to us all!

I. The evil of the restraining among near relatives of free intercourse about their souls, is evident from this, first of all, (1.) That it is a breach of God's express command in the text, "Exhort one another daily." Of course, if this duty lies on professing Christians simply as such, independently of any peculiar ties existing among them, much more must it be obligatory on those united in near and endearing bonds, as husband and wife, brother and sister, parent and child. The Lord, in the text, enjoins all that belong to him, while the day of grace lasts, and in remembrance of their common weakness, and the exceeding deceitfulness of sin, to stir each other up by mutual warning, consolation, reproof, encouragement, exhortation. In the case of those living together in the same household, this duty, binding in all cases, only acquires an additional weight and emphasis of obligation analogous to what the Apostle marks with regard to temporal things, in the words, "If any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel." The restraint in question is a transgression of God's express and emphatic command. (2.) The evil of it appears in that it involves, I suspect to a very large extent, the sin and crime of being ashamed of Christ and of his words. How is it possible to avoid this conclusion? Whence that strange silence, that dread, that awe-struck air in the presence of a brother? If it were before a stranger, one might

try to account for it in different ways. It might be imagined, for instance, to spring from a fear lest he, destitute himself of the fear of God, should be injured rather than profited by any testimony of ours borne to Christ, -a plausible plea this, though often, I believe, very hollow and worthless even in that case. But this will not do among persons accustomed to open their minds freely on every other subject but this alone. Silence here at once and irresistibly suggests the idea of shame, -shame, alas! of Christ,-of Him of whom Paul exclaims, "God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and I unto the world." Ah, we shall do well, if higher motives will not move us, to remember that word of Jesus, "Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels." (3.) This restraint cuts off all the precious innumerable benefits which God intended to arise from the exhortation enjoined in the text, and which in families were all the greater, in virtue of the constant opportunities and peculiar facilities there afforded for it -it cuts them all off. What daily consolation, what instruction, what warning, what encouragement, what direction, are thus lost for ever! I have spoken of the breach of God's command. But he did not give the command as of mere authority, but for the most beneficent objects and ends connected with the church's and the world's salvation. He knew the exceeding deceitfulness of the heart and of sin. He knew our fearful proneness, even after we have tasted that he is gracious, to depart away from him. "Take heed lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God;" but, as a remedy against it, "exhort one another daily while it is called to-day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." By this strange, miserable restraint, all these precious benefits are intercepted, and cut off; and all the opposite evils against which it was intended to be a check, are left to flow in in full tide, unchecked and unrestrained. (4.) There is a specially mischievous effect produced by it on the children of a family. Of course, they lose all the benefits that might arise to their souls, directly, though gradually and insensibly, from free intercourse about spiritual things passing, among those they love, daily under their eye. But this is not what I point to. The absence of it throws a fearful stumbling block in their way. A child is able to understand how things which are nearest the heart, are not usually the farthest from the lips; how people who feel much interest about any subject, cannot easily avoid speaking of it to each other. is kept up, we shall say, morning and evening. Then God, and Christ, and heaven, and prayer, and the soul's salvation,

Well, family worship Then comes the world.