now, when faith must all along do battle with sense, but in manifestations so immediate, so direct, so adapted to our faculties of perception, that we shall literally see God, and be in contact with God; and oh then, if thought recur to the days of probation, when all that concerns us was administered through a Mediator, we shall feel that whatever is most illustrious in dignity, whatever most rapturous in enjoyment, was promised in the prophetic announcement, that, when the Son shall have delivered up the kingdom to the Father, God himself shall be all in all.

We can only add that it becomes us to examine whether we are now subjects of the mediatorial kingdom, or whether we are of those who will not that Christ should reign over them. If God is hereafter to be all in all, it behoves us to enquire what He is to us now? Can we say with the psalmist, "Whom have I in Heaven but Thee, and there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison of Thee?" How vain must be our hope of entering into Heaven, if we have no present delight in what are said to be its joys. A Christian finds his happiness in holiness. And therefore, when he looks forward to Heaven, it is the holiness of the scene, and association, on which he fastens as affording the happiness. He is not in love with an Arcadian Paradise, with the green pastures, and the flowing waters, and the minstrelsy of many harpers. He is not dreaming of a bright island, where he shall meet buried kinsfolk, and, renewing domestic charities,

live human life again in all but its cares and tears and partings. "Be ye holy, for I am holy"

We

this is the precept, attempted conformity to which is the business of a Christian's life, perfect conformity to which shall be the blessedness of Heaven. Let us therefore take heed that we deceive not ourselves. The apostle speaks of "tasting the powers of the world to come," as though Heaven were to begin on this side the grave. We may be enamoured of Heaven, because we think that "there the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest.” may be enchanted with the poetry of its descriptions, and fascinated by the brilliancy of its colourings, as the Evangelist John relates his visions, and sketches the scenery on which he was privileged to gaze. But all this does not prove us on the high road to Heaven. Again we say, that, if it be Heaven towards which we journey, it will be holiness in which we delight: for if we cannot now rejoice in having God for our portion, where is our meetness for a world in which God is to be all in all for ever and for ever?

SERMON III.

THE ADVANTAGES RESULTING FROM THE POSSESSION
OF THE SCRIPTURES.*

ROMANS III. 1, 2.

What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way; chiefly because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.

WE think it unnecessary either to examine the general argument with which St Paul was engaged when he penned these words, or to interpret the passage with reference to the Jew rather than to ourselves. It is quite evident that the force of the verses is independent on the general argument, and must have been increased, rather than diminished, as additions were made to the amount of Revelation. It was objected to the apostle that he represented Jew and Gentile as all along on the same level; but he felt that the objection was removed by reminding his opponent that the Jew had, and the Gentile had not, the sacred Scriptures. He reckoned it sufficient proof that

• A collection was made after this Sermon in support of the Old Charity Schools.

an unmeasured advantage had lain with the chosen people, that "unto them had been committed the oracles of God."

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This is a high testimony to the worth of the Bible, and deserves to be examined with the greatest attention. Of course, if the possession of but a few inspired writings gave the Jew a vast superiority over the Gentile, the possession of a volume, containing the whole of revelation, must be attended with yet greater privileges. It should however be observed, that the apostle seems to refer to more than the mere possession of the Bible; the expression which he employs marks out the Jews as the depository of revelation. Chiefly because that unto them were committed, or entrusted, the oracles of God." There may be here an intimation, that those who have the Bible are to be regarded as stewards, just as are those who have large earthly possessions. If this be correct, there are two points of view under which it will be our business to endeavour to set before you the advantageousness of possessing God's oracles. We must shew that the Bible is profitable to a nation, in the first place, because that nation may be improved by its contents; in the second place, because that nation may impart them to others.

Now it may appear so trite and acknowledged a truth, that a people is advantaged by possessing the Bible, that it were but wasting time to spend much on its exhibition. We are not however prepared to admit that the worth of the Bible is generally allowed, or adequately estimated; so that, even before such an audience as the present,

we would enlarge on the advantages which result to a nation from possessing God's oracles.

We take at first the lowest ground; for many who acknowledge gratefully the worth of Holy Writ, when man is viewed relatively to an after state of being, seem little conscious of the blessings derived from it, when he is regarded merely in reference to this earth. It were no over-bold opinion, that, if the Bible were not the word of God, and could be proved to be not the word of God, it would nevertheless be the most precious of books, and do immeasurably more for a land than the finest productions of literature and philosophy. We always recur with great delight to the testimony of a Deist, who, after publicly labouring to disprove Christianity, and to bring Scripture into contempt as a forgery, was found instructing his child from the pages of the New Testament. When taxed with the flagrant inconsistency, his only reply was, that it was necessary to teach the child morality, and that nowhere was there to be found such morality as in the Bible. We thank the Deist for the confession. Whatever our scorn of a man who could be guilty of so foul a dishonesty, seeking to sweep from the earth a volume to which, all the while, himself recurred for the principles of education, we thank him for his testimony, that the morality of Scripture is a morality not elsewhere to be found; so that, if there were no Bible, there would be comparatively no source of instruction in duties and virtues, whose neglect and decline would dislocate the happiness of human society. The Deist was