they often experience. How unsafe and unhappy we all sometimes feel ourselves to be. The principal thing from which, as sinners, we need a refuge, is the justice of God, which pursues us on account of our sins, and most righteously requires our blood. This is the chief danger to which we are exposed. Where shall we find safety from the pursuit? From this and from every danger, God in Christ, is the believer's refuge. He fleeth unto him, and is safe, even from his wrath. From the pursuit of justice, he flies, through the veil that was rent, into the most holy place, made accessible by the blood of Jesus-he takes hold of the mercy-seat, which that blood propitiated, and from which no soul was ever dragged to be executed. The same mercyseat is the place where conscience, no less than divine justice, beholds a perfect satisfaction. Verily, the good man has a shelter in reserve from the storms of adversity. He has an ark prepared against the deluge of fire. He has a safe spot to resort to, when the elements shall melt, and the earth be undergoing its dissolution. But,

They are happy because they love God for their sure support. "Underneath them are the everlasting arms." "How can they sink with such a prop?" What burden can be equal to this support? What weight can be laid upon them, that can countervail the strength of these everlasting arms? Under all the actual calamities of life, and possible trials of death, cannot these arms bear them up? Christian, dost thou not feel a courage to meet them all, if thou mayest have this support, these arms placed underneath thee? If thou

art an Israelite indeed, thou shalt have it. Hast thou not already had it in some measure? Hast thou not been supported beyond the strength of nature, and the power of philosophy to support thee in thy past trials? Wouldst thou not, on many occasions, have sunk, as some have, if it had not been for these everlasting arms? Well, thou shalt have the same sure support in all time to come. 66 He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee-as thy day is, so shall thy strength be―he shall deliver thee in six troubles, and in seven there shall no evil touch thee.” In view of every danger thou hast to meet, of every enemy thou hast to encounter, and of every trial thou mayest be called upon to endure, in view of pain, sickness, and bereavement, in the appalling prospect of death, and the convictions of the last day, and the tremendous judgment, he says to thee, "Fear thou not, for I am with thee, be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee; when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be harmed, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee." And thou mayest say, "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me." Happy art thou, O, Christian, "who is like thee, O, saved of the Lord."

Passing by, for brevity's sake, several considerations, illustrative of the happiness of God's people, take one

more particular. They are happy, and there are none like them, in view of what God will do for them hereafter. What will he do for them? I will tell thee what he will do for them, if thou wilt tell me what he will not do for them. What will he not do for them, having already done so much, and having done it for them when they were enemies, what will he not do for them, now that they are friends? Having exercised all bountifulness towards them, whilst there was much in them to disapprove, what will he not do for them, when they shall be objects of unmixed complacency? Having begun in such munificence, will he not only maintain it, but according to his usual method, proceed to something yet vastly greater? Is there any thing too great or too glorious to expect from that love of God, whose first fruit was the gift of his Son? What I will he not do for them in answer to the

prayers, and in remembrance of the sufferings of that Son, and for his sake? How inestimably precious must be the inheritance of the saints, if it bears any proportion to the price at which it was purchased.

We know not what God will do for his people. We know we are now the sons of God; but what we shall

be, doth not yet appear. Yet this we know, we shall be like Christ. We know that being children, we are heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ; but what the inheritance is, we know not, only that it is incorruptible, undefiled, unfading. Yes, we do know in general, that "he that overcometh, shall inherit all things." We know that God has made great preparations for those that love him; but the nature of the joys and

glories we know not. Eye hath not seen any resemblance of them; ear hath not heard any description of them; nor have they in any wise entered the heart of man. We know not what heaven is; but we know that there is no night there, no pain, no sorrow, for God shall wipe away all tears from all faces; the wicked shall cease from troubling; the weary shall be at rest; yea, more, shall drink in pleasures for ever more at God's right hand.

THE SAINT AND THE SINNER.

If Christ should say to the wicked as to the righteous, on the last day, "I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink," &c., they would not ask, "when saw we thee hungry?" &c. They would think themselves deserving of the commendation; for they always contended that they had good hearts and loved Christ. Just so it is now. His enemies most confidently and strenuously assert that they do love him, while his friends are very suspicious of themselves, often doubt whether they do love him, and are always slow to declare it, and when they do, it is always with regret that they love him so little.

Christians wonder why they should be saved. Sinners wonder why they should not be saved. The sinner asks, "What have I done?" The Christian, "What

have I not done?" The sinner says he does the best The Christian knows he does not. Who was

Was it Saul, Judas, "a perfect and an

he can. it that said, "Behold, I am vile?" or Jeroboam? No. It was Job, upright man, one that feared God and eschewed evil.”

The habits of the evangelically righteous man are holy; his sins are but occasional acts, contrary to his fixed habits; whereas, with the unregenerate, it is just the reverse. He may do good actions, but his habits. are sinful. The Christian acts out of character when he sins; but when the other sins, he acts in character. With the former, sin is a digression; with the latter, it is the main stay. The one walks in the ways of obedience, though he is guilty of occasional aberrations; the other walks in the ways of disobedience habitually. Devotion is with the Christian a habit, though he be sometimes indevout; so is trust in God, though he sometimes distrust him; so is the strictest sobriety and the severest rectitude, though he may occasionally be betrayed into acts that are opposed to these virtues.

It must be acknowledged, that if the sinners are not out of their senses, the saints are. There is madness somewhere. If Festus was not beside himself, Paul certainly was. The one party or the other is dreaming. Who is it? Paul or Festus?