mockery, and persecution, for the truth's sake? Was an evil world full of conspiracies against his peace, and shall we expect less? Shall we shrink from a full avowal of his doctrines where these may bring down upon us worldly contempt, worldly neglects and oppressions? Oh, no! the disciple is not above his Lord, nor the servant his master; sufficient for the disciple to be as his Lord, and the servant as his master. We cannot be of the household of Christ if we are not called Beelzebub ; but we must also suffer with Christ in his temptations. Did Satan harass and vex his righteous soul, and shall we not have to bear the buffetings of the evil one? Shall we not have to struggle through his fiery trials to resist the devil that he may flee from us? Again, we must suffer with Christ under the darkness of Divine dispensations. Had he no cup to drink? Had he no cloud to travail under, in anguish and sorrow? Yes! the cry went up, but the cup was not to pass from him. Yes! the enquiry was addressed, "My GOD! my GOD! why hast thou forsaken me ?" but no voice came from heaven-no golden glory burst over him-no dove descended-the cloud remained thick and heavy, and he sank beneath it! Justice, inexorable justice, called back the ministring angel from his earthward flight—for the debt must be paid! And do you think that you shall stand exempt from affliction and judgment—that the waters of tribula OF But, Lastly, THE EXALTATION THOSE WHO ARE AFFECTED BY THE TESTIMONY, "that we may also be glorified together." The children were to become heirs, heirs of GOD, and joint heirs with Christ; and it is here added, that they may be "glorified together," viz. together with him. It is in itself a delightful thought, that the intimacy, the union of Christ with believers on earth is to be continued, that they are to remain branches of the same heavenly vine into which we are grafted—that no separation is to take place, no distance to intervene, between the soul and the soul's object, in love and communion, in ministry and worship, but that we are to be glorified together!-Together, how full of happy privilege is this word! How much are our pleasures encreased by sympathy! What a blank were life to many present, but for the cherished hope of passing its hours together! And what a stronger impulse does it give to the endeavours of a family to obtain through Christ the felicities of a heavenly world, the persuasion, the faith, of possessing them together! And so, Christians who live with Christ, who suffer, who enjoy with Christ, who are bound up in spirit with Christ, have a sweet satisfaction and delight to think that they shall be glorified together, pass with him into the heights of his heavenly tion shall not rise upon your soul-kingdom, traverse the same boundless that there shall be no sharp flints in the way to wound, no rocks to oppose, no vallies of humiliation to pass through? No, Christians, no!-trouble and distress must come upon you-you must walk the way of Christ-there is no flinching from the rule that is laid down-there is no avoidance of the condition that is fixed-the Divine word firmament, encreasing in purity and splendour as they ascend-that they shall still be with him, and near him, through a series of joys whose progression is infinite, dwell in his adorable presence, and be changed with Him from glory to glory for ever! And the voices of how many present are there saying, these privileges shall be ours? Who of you are looking through the window of the house of affliction to the brightness and blessedness of such a reward? Who in the joy of being with Christ now, are dwelling with a holy ecstasy on the promise of being with him amidst the cloudless glories of the world to come? "With whose spirit the Spirit witnesseth that you are the children of GoD, and if children then heirs, heirs of GoD, and joint heirs with Christ." Oh! this world hath nothing to give that may enrich you. This world hath nothing to take away that may spoliate you that may be accounted a loss excite a sigh-or warrant a tear. Hold on your course unwaveringly, suffer contentedly, strive unremittingly, and a few short years shall behold you entering upon your inheritance, filled with all the fulness of GOD. But is not the prevailing voice here, if interpreted truly, this glorious consummation shall not be mine? There is no witnessing of the Spirit with my spirit that I am a child of GOD-there is no inward persuasion, no outward testimony that I am with Christ, with him in meditations upon his character through his word, with him in imitations of heavenly virtues through his life, with him in the communion of prayer through his spirit. But there is opposite and positive evidence that I am not that I am with the world, with self, with the lust and pleasures of the eye and sense, with Satan, the adversary of souls-that I am his child, that by consequence I am his heir, and the joint heir with his wicked angels. Sinner, it is not too late to hope and believe better things! This sabbath is another opening of the door of escape to you, from the evils that threaten to come upon you. There is a voice to meet you in this church, from this pulpit, "return unto the Lord your GOD, that he may have : mercy upon you, and to our GoD that he may abundantly pardon”—“ ( Israel, return unto the Lord thy GOD; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words, and turn to the Lord say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips. Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses; neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in Thee the fatherless findeth mercy." Sinner, behold the volume of the Divine word unrolling its leaf before your eyes? It is full of the same kind invitations and gentle entreaties it ever breathed—it reveals the same lessons to dissuade from sin-it makes known the same promises to allure to holiness-it presents the same just judge to arrest your steps in the evil way, and the same all-merciful Saviour to draw and attach your thoughts to those things which vitally affect your peace. In your ignorances, it opens a source of wisdom-in your iniquities, a fountain for all sin and uncleannessin your wanderings from God, the way of life-in the abandonment of your souls, the means of their restoration, and happiness, and eternal salvation. The volume is spread now that contains the title of your inheritance with the saints of light, and the preacher's finger is pointing to it with the earnestness of one who under GOD would save the guilty soul alive. But ere another sabbath—(for none can penetrate God's mysterious providences)-the volume may be closed for ever, and the ministry of reconciliation and of peace be over. Hear, therefore, and repent, and believe, and obey the Gospel-and humble yourself in the dust; lift an eye of faith to Jesus your only Redeemer and intercessor-grasp the cross as the wretched man catches at the hanging bough in the moment of his drowning, that so even in your case, though of GoD, the heir of GOD, and the the hour be the eleventh hour, the joint-heir with Christ; and that so suftestimonies of the ever-willing, ever-fering with him here, you may be glogracious, ever to be entreated Spirit, rified together with him hereafter in may be, that you are made the child his own immortality of blessedness! A Sermon DELIVERED BY THE REV. J. DOUGLAS, AT THE POULTRY CHAPEL, AFTER THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE SACRAMENT, Acts, iv. 13.-"Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perce ·ed that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus." WE seldom have our attention directed to any individual, even for a few moments, without forming some opinion as to his general character, and as to the situation which he fills in society. We are continually making mistakes in the judgment we thus form, but are not at all discouraged by that circumstance from scrutinizing the characters which pass before us. Most individuals do not excite much attention, a passing thought is all we give them; but there are many whose characters are marked, who are assuming a great authority, aiming at a high situation, pretending to great powers, and on whom, perhaps, our own character, our comfort, or interest, are in some way particularly connected-when those persons happen to cross our path we take knowledge of them. their imprisonment they were brought out, and in the presence of the Sanhedrim, Annas the high-priest, and Caiaphas, and John, ard Alexander, and many of the kindred of the highpriest, rulers, elders, scribes, those individuals in Jerusalem of most influence, who had most power, and upon whose decision, at that moment, their liberation depended-in the presence of these the Apostles plainly and boldly preached the truth of Christ. 'Be it known unto you all, and unto all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth the man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought by you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." The Apostles having been endowed with the gift of tongues, began to speak, in various languages, the wonderful works of GoD to the multitude Now when they saw the boldness of assembled, and Peter stood up with Peter and John, that they feared not John, and with great boldness, unusual, the power of men, that they had plainly peculiar plainness and point, pressed and honestly stated the truth to those upon them repentance towards GoD, in whose power they were, and to that their sins might be blotted out. whose minds that truth would be most They were soon cast into prison for unpleasant-when they saw the boldthis open, and honest, and faithfulness of Peter and John, and perceived course of conduct. The next day after that they were unlearned and ignorant There is a second principle which we carry with us in our observation of men. We class men, we connect the child with his parent, the servant with his master, the pupil with his instructor, and we form an opinion of the one whom we do not know from the other whom we do know. If a disciple, for instance, utters good sentiments, and exhibits a good life, we give credit to his teachers for having well instructed him; and if it is the contrary, we suppose that he may have been led astray by the influence of his master. If, on the other hand, the master is erroneous in his sentiments and vicious in his conduct, we are afraid that his disciples will also be the same. If the parent is eminently vicious we tremble for the child; and if the child is eminently vicious, we are apprehensive that something was wrong in the parent. Thus it is that we are connected one with another, and thus every man is forming a character and getting a name good or bad, not only for himself but for his connexions. It is absolutely impossible, in this sense of the expression, for a man to live unto himself; and it is exceedingly wicked for any Christian to forget it, because, in his case, the principles which he has adopted, and the master whom he has professed to serve, are most closely connected with his general course of conduct. He himself is honoured or despised in the world, and his good or evil name is reflected in the master whom he professes to serve. “They took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus." They judged of the disciples by their master; or not knowing the master, and seeing the disciples, they judged of the master by the disciples. If these Jews had indeed been unacquainted with Christ, had never heard, never seen him, had known nothing of his character, they would now, from the boldness, and decision, and integrity of his followers, and the good opinion they must have been constrained to form of the principles which entered into the formation of their character, which were essential to their formation, and without which their character could not have been formed, they would have also judged favourably of their master; and if they had known Jesus Christ before, and had never seen these disciples until then, they would have judged, as they in fact did, that "they had been with Jesus." No man liveth to himself-we are connected, individuals are united together, and our good or our evil name has its influence on those around us. There is another principle which we carry into our estimates of human character: we judge of a man by his avowed principles, just as we judge of a man's principles by his general conduct. We may know nothing of an individual, but we can estimate the doctrine which he has adopted, and we expect that these doctrines will produce their corresponding traits of moral character on each individual, just in proportion as he believes them; if they are good, we expect that they will have a good influence, and if bad, the contrary. We may know nothing about the principles, as is the case with the unconverted world, as far as experience but we can observe the conduct of those who profess to act under the influence of those principles. goes, of the principles of true piety, | bright and holy principles for the rule of his life. They are peculiarly high and holy, and the world will not profess to be under their influence; but if any man steps out and declares that he will take these rules, then are all eyes set upon him; they take knowledge of him that at the table of the Lord he was with Jesus, and they observe whether he sustains that profession. Now, we shall form our opinion of these principles by the conduct of those who profess them. If those principles are peculiar, if they are found, as insisted upon, of so much importance, so important that a man cannot become holy without them, then we have only to examine the conduct of the professor, to ascertain the efficacy of the principles by making him holy in his life and conversation. Thus we judge men by the principles which they adopt; consequently, as soon as an individual publicly professes to believe and to adopt, as the rule of his life, the principles of the word of GOD, immediately the test of his character becomes stricter, more high and holy than it was before. We judge of the man's principles, and we also form our estimate as to the man's conduct. We compare his principles with his conduct, and we determine not only what he is, but what he ought to be. We are sometimes disposed to complain that the world observes us too closely. Now be it so, that the observation of the world is especially directed and turned upon us, we cannot be more scrutinized by the world than we ought to be by ourselves, or than we are by Him who will finally sit in judgment on our souls. And the recollection, my dear brethren, that we have excited their observation-that the eye of public remark is turned upon us, in public and private, should assist us in maintaining good works, in exercising selfdenial, in being more watchful and prayerful, and attentive to our conversation, and spirit, and conduct, every where, and at all times. Thus it will be happy for us to have attracted their observation. The world takes knowledge of us and forms an estimate of our principles and conduct. If they have looked to the principles which we profess to adopt, then they expect great things from us, because those principles are When, then, an individual has come out from the ungodly world, and declared that he will follow after holiness-that he will aim at great attainments in a life of godliness-that he will take Christ for his example and the word of God for his rule and guide; then that individual, instead of being more kindly and more consider-high and holy and peculiar-if they ately observed-instead of having look at our conduct, then they form greater allowance made for his short an opinion of the principles which we comings instead of it being considered profess to adopt according to their in his case according to the heathen opinion of that conduct. The tree is maxim, that in great things it is suffi-judged of by its fruits, and if the lives cient for a man to have made an effort of Christians are trifling and careless, -instead of this, his failures are and in the general spirit little above sooner seen, more severely dwelt upon, that of the ungodly world, then it is and more widely published than those natural to affirm, on the part of the of other men. This is, indeed, to be ungodly world, that religion is a fable expected; and never would have been-they take knowledge of them in their the case, but for his adopting these general demeanour and deportment |