such a sight; wonder at the love that gave Him; wonder at the love that brought Him; wonder at the love that revealed Him. And this will lead to admiration; just as the spouse in the Canticles admires Him, when she admires Him from head to foot, and closes the description with "He is altogether lovely." And the more Jesus is seen and known, the more He must be admired. By-and-bye He is to come “to be admired in all them that believe;" and be sure of this one thing, they will be recognized as having admired Him before. And if you see nothing in a precious Christ on earth, do not deceive yourself by expecting to admire Him in the day of judgment. There is no other ground of hope before you. He is "to be admired." Then if the soul sees enough of Him to admire Him, he will proceed to talk about Him. Something like Philip and Nathaniel after they had seen a little of Him, "We have found the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth." Something like the poor Samaritan woman at the well. She left her waterpot and ran into the city. She must talk about Him, and cried out, "Come, see a man that told me all things that ever I did." My hearers, I am quite sure, if you have had a spiritual view of Christ for yourself, you cannot help talking about Him. Nay, more; all other talk will be reckoned "small talk" by you, if His name is not introduced. "To you that believe He is precious;" and you cannot but talk of Him. But this is only one feature in the case, which I have referred to by way of illustration. An object may be wondered at, and admired, and talked about, and still be by-and-bye forgotten; or, if it is not forgotten, the wonderer, and admirer, and talker about it, may become totally indifferent to it. It may have cost him something to get a sight of it; and if he would see it again, he must pay again. But not so with a view of Christ. The effect of a sight of Christ by faith is an interest in Him, sought, claimed, and enjoyed; and I know that, if the Holy Ghost has shown you His beauty, you will never be satisfied without feeling an interest in Him, and you will seek it accordingly. In your seeking, you will meet with many who will say to you, "Don't go on so fast; you will get presumptuous. If you go on at this rapid rate, you will by-and-bye become an Antinomian." But I say, beloved, do go on. And if that will lead to your becoming an Antinomian, I pray God to make you one very shortly. Rest not short of saying, "My Lord and my God;" so as not only to have a sight of Christ as the Saviour of poor ruined sinners, but to be able to say, "He is mine." "I know whom I have believed." To claim Him, as we say on one of our cards to which we often have to refer,

"All that He is, and has, and does, I claim,
To all His promises He writes my name;
All that He suffers to be done must be,
Ruled by His everlasting love to me."

You know that in the Canticles the Church is represented as having lost sight of Him for a little while, and she runs about the streets and lanes (means of grace) to seek after Him, saying, "Saw ye Him whom my soul loveth?" By-and-bye she meets with the watchmen, "Saw ye Him whom my soul loveth?" They smite her and take away her veil-a great kindness too. They smite her and take away her veil, for her frowardness, and also that she might see Christ clearly when He did come. By-and-bye she went away; the watchmen took no notice of her. By-and-bye she found Him. What then? "She held Him fast, and

would not let Him go." Do you know, beloved, what that clinging of faith is so as to hold Christ fast? It is an old-fashioned way of dealing with God. Jacob did it, you know. "I held Him fast, and would not let Him go." Moreover, "I brought Him into my mother's house [the Church], into the chambers of her who begat me," and there she enjoyed the love of the precious Christ she regained the sight of. I want this effect produced in my own soul, and in yours; the mighty attractions of His charms to constrain us, not only to appropriate and claim all we find in Himself as our portion for ever, but in the appropriation of all that He is to enjoy a holy peace, a heavenly calm, a sacred felicity, a believing trust, together with a joyous anticipation of spending an eternity along with Him. And when the soul gets into this blessed state and standing, and really claims and enjoys this precious Christ she is gazing on, oh, how bright is her expectation! "I shall shortly be like Him, and see Him as He is." And when we see Him again, it will not be "through a glass darkly," a smutted glass such as we look at an eclipse with; but the glass shall be broken, the veil shall be taken away, and we shall be "like Him; for we shall see Him as He is."

Mark also, that when this sight of Christ is realized, objects terrene are thrown quite into the shade, trampled upon and entirely lost sight of. That is a beautiful sentiment of Watts on this subject:

"Had I a glimpse of thee, my God,

Kingdoms and men would vanish soon;
Vanish as tho' I saw them not,

As a dim candle dies at noon."

You believing souls, tell me if this has been the result in your experience after walking in the dark, and struggling with difficulties, and fighting with the powers of darkness, and being engaged in self-crucifixion, until strength has been all exhausted? In the midst of this, when sorrows, and trials, and bereavements, and difficulties have been heaped upon you, and you have been almost at the verge of despair, has not the sun shone upon your heart? Jesus sprinkled it with His precious blood-attracted the powers of your soul-called all the graces of the Spirit into lively exercise in your experience, and you have gone forth to hold your Lord in your embrace, enjoy His lovetokens, and feast on His preciousness. What has become of your troubles? What has become of your enemies? What has become of the prince of darkness and all his fiery darts? "Oh," say you, "they are all trampled beneath my feet. My foot is in an even place. Gazing on my precious Christ, I have all I want in him; the world and all its trifles may go; it is enough that Jesus is mine." I trust hearers know something of these blessed seasons of experience, when the salvation of God is clearly understood and appropriated by them.

my

One thought more, and I will draw to a close. When all objects beside are thrown into the shade, and everything terrene is lost sight of for the time being; when faith has full scope, it seems as if they were all for awhile removed, and our heavenly felicity begun upon earth. Nearer and nearer approaching the presence of Deity, in His dear name, with salvation discovered, and looking up with joyous expectation to its consummation, a voice sweetly whispers, in language borrowed from the sacred oracles, "Now is my

salvation nearer than when I first believed." Now is my salvation about to be accomplished. Now our precious Christ has almost done His work. Satan has almost emptied the arrows from his quiver. The powers of darkness have raged till they can rage no longer. I am safe out of their gun shot. I have only to shake myself from this fruit tenement of clay and enter into the joy of my Lord. Oh, the bles sedness of living on high; having as our defence, "The munitions of rocks;" bread given, water sure, nature subdued by grace, and the one grand attainment, which I will give you in as concise a manner as I possibly can.

If you forget all I have said beside this morning, think of this, for it was very precious to my soul when the Lord suggested it to menobility embodied in humility. Let a man be counted noble, and he may become excessively proud of his nobility. Let a man but possess the nobility of the gospel, and then all that is noble in the creature, all the nobility infused by grace, will be embosomed in humility, so that while he can aspire to Jesu's presence, and expect with certainty to sit down with Him on His throne, he can lie at His feet and cry, "My soul cleaveth to the dust, quicken thou me." He can claim ali the treasures of the covenant of grace as his portion, and he can exclaim, "I am less than the least of all saints." Yea, "I am only dust and ashes, yet I have taken upon me to speak unto God."

If I judge rightly, the climax of experimental attainment on this side glory, is the embosoming of nobility in humility. You know what I mean when I speak of nobility. I mean that which the apostle related of the Bereans, when he said, that they were "more noble than those of Thessalonica, because they searched the Scriptures daily to know if the things which he stated were so." That is nobility. Then, with all that is attained by the believer, there will be seen, and known, and felt enough in Christian attainments, to lay the man of highest attainments lowest in the dust, and cause him to wonder that God should reveal so much to him, bestow so much upon him, and make so much use of him. Wonder that Infinitude can stoop to a worm of earth, a creature of a day, that is crushed before the moth. He eyes his own nothingness, while he eyes the nobility which grace imparts, and verily it is a noble life that is born of God, that can talk with God, that is taught of God, that can wear the righteousness of God, that can claim heirship and joint-heirship with the Son of God; and if time and strength allowed, I should like a little to rank my hearers among the nobility this morning; but, withal, should take great care that their nobility should centre in humility, because all that pertains to the greatness of a Christian is the gift, the free gift of God; and when I reach the realms of glory and enjoy my nobility there, I shall expect my humility to accompany it, so that I shall cast my crown at His feet and cry, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty.”

May He who claims this salvation as His own, apply it to your hearts with power Divine, and make you claim it as your own by an act of appropriating faith; and Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, our Triune and covenant God, shall have all the glory throughout eternity. Amen.

Delivered in Grove Chapel, Camberwell, Sunday Morning, Aug. 5, 1849, BY THE REV. JOSEPH IRONS.

"Exalt ye the Lord our God, and worship at His footstool; for He is holy."-Psalm xcix. 5.

THE grand distinction between real godliness and every description of its counterfeit, lies in this one point; all counterfeit professions tend to exalt the creature, and all real godliness aims at exalting God alone. My hearers may bring their religion to the test by this one criterion. Do not be afraid of the touchstone. It will shortly be proved, I hope to your satisfaction, whether your Christianity be of God or not. the creature is to be exalted, God is rejected. If God is to be exalted, the creature must keep at His footstool, as the language of my text

states.

If

The

Do observe in the phraseology of my text how essential the claim of relationship is to proper acts of worship. "The Lord our God." Never pass over this little appropriating "our," without diligently "The Lord our God." examining whether you are entitled to it. The God we adore. The God we trust. The God we honour in distinct personalities, and united, Divine, indivisible essence. God we own, by familiar intercourse and fellowship. The God we know in His word-in our closets-in His house-in His providence, as well as in the communications of His grace. "Our God." But observe the form of exhortation. "Exalt ye." Ye ministers of my God, if I have such before me this morning, exalt Him. Seek not to exalt talent. Seek not to exalt personal influence. Seek not to exalt temporal interests. Leave all that to God. Seek to exalt Him, as good old Matthew Henry says to his brethren in the ministry, "Let Published in Weekly Nos., 1d., and Monthly Parts, 5d.

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us mind our Master's business, and leave Him to mind ours." Ye ser vants of God, who take a prominent standing in His Church on earth, "exalt ye the Lord our God" in the circumstances in which you move -in the spheres in which you are called. Continue to be witnesses for Him. Exalt our God, ye people of God, high or low, rich or poor, young or old, male or female, however obscure may be your position in society; "exalt ye the Lord our God" in your lives, in your spirits, in your conversation, in your devotedness, in your purity, in your holiness, in your consistency, in your constancy in the means of grace, as well as in all the activity that can be put forth in the little circles in which you move, whereby Jesus can be honoured.

"He is holy."

"Exalt ye the Lord our God." But why? There is a derived holiness which His saints possess, but His is underived. He is essentially holy. Let us cherish the thought for a few moments before we enter immediately upon the subject. Take only this one attribute, "He is holy." Surely we shall stand in silent awe and ask wherewith shall I come before this "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty?" A sinful, polluted worm of earth to have dealings with a holy being! Oh, for power from on high to awe my spirit, and to awe your spirits while we attempt to worship Him. Beloved, bear in mind that you are not come hither to be religiously amused, that you are not come hither to catch some sentence as a matter of criticism; that you are not come hither merely to pass an opinion, whether the preacher is right or wrong; for your opinion is not worth a straw when you have given it. You have not come hither to find out whether the preacher corroborates your own pre-conceived notions. These may be altogether wrong. If you have come aright, your object is to worship God. "Worship at His footstool." Do not mistake the place. Lying prostrate, humbled before Him, assuming the very character and manner that the old patriarch did when he said, “Behold, now, I am but dust and ashes [there he is at the footstool] yet have taken upon me to speak unto God."

Now, when I contemplate, for a moment, these few leading particulars of the verse I have just read, I am ready to cry out, Lord God, who shall comprehend the heights and depths, the lengths and breadths of the great truths contained in this short text? Let us attempt to enter upon them as far as power shall be given, and liberty bestowed. First of all, let us glance at the first principle of Christianity. And this I conceive to be set forth from the words, "Exalt the Lord our God." The command is to exalt God, and not the creature. Let us glance, then, at the order appointed for Divine worship-to "worship at His footstool." And then, thirdly, at the reason assigned for both -for "He is holy."

I.-Now according to this order, let us glance first of all at the first principle of Christianity (for I like to get at first principles). It is the exalting of Jehovah. Mark, formalists, hypocrites, carnally-minded men, when they have meddled with Christianity at all, it is to exalt themselves and one another; to exalt priests and bishops, cardinals, popes, and monks, under the name of Christians—not at all like Bible godliness-not a shadow of it-as completely the reverse of it as anything that Satan ever could invent. Why, I do not think with all his serpent-like ingenuity he could invent such another black devilish piece of iniquity as Popery. It is his very master piece of Satanic