sowing they may, and probably will reap. They know that the hand of the diligent ordinarily maketh rich, and therefore they use the most appropriate means in the most suitable season; and will you not make the experiment, when your peace in life, your support in death, and your welfare through eternity are at stake? Will you not allow yourselves leisure, or will you not submit to the trouble of searching the scriptures, when it is declared, "in them ye think ye have eternal life?" Or through your wilful neglect will you leave their adorable Author to complain, "I have written to them the great things of my law, but they were counted a strange thing?"

Reader, hast thou found the promises precious? hast thou often felt them to be the joy, and rejoicing of thine heart? adore the Lord the Spirit for those operations by which thine eyes were opened to discern their excellence, and thy soul enabled to taste their consolations: To him thou art a debtor for all that delight which thou hast experienced in reading them, and for all that freedom which thou hast found in receiving them as they are yea, and amen in our Lord Jesus Christ. "Blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear, for many wise men, and mighty, and noble" have enjoyed the same oracles, and remained strangers to their sanctifying, and saving effect: They have sat under the shining of the same celestial lamp, without dis

cerning a ray of its glory. "But God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in your hearts to give you the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." In the humble, devout, and daily improvement of this record of thy Father's love, endeavor to make progress in grace, and in the knowledge of your dear Saviour and Lord: In proportion as you become acquainted with the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ, the more will divine peace abound in your consciences, the more will true holiness sit enthroned in your hearts, and your affections will rise and centre upon things above. "Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these ye might be partakers of a divine nature. Observe stated opportunities each day for reading portions of the scriptures, particularly the practical, and devotional parts of them with prayer to him whose grace can render them conducive to your spiritual profit: And while you read rejoice in them, as the heir rejoices in his title to a large estate, or as the child rejoices in the last will of his Father, which bequeathes a rich inheritance. Be not satisfied with hearing them read by others, or, if thou art the head of a family, with reading them to thy household at the seasons of ordinary devotions; thou hast a soul of thine own to be quickened when dead, to be animated when indolent, to be comforted when disconsolate,

therefore embrace opportunities for searching the living oracles apart by thyself. Let no business which relates to the present world, neither the cares of thy farm, or thy merchandise, or any secular employment divert thee from the stated performance of this duty. The gain of thy soul is infinitely the most interesting gain, and remember it is "to them, who by patient continuing in well doing seek for glory, and honor, and immortality, that eternal life" is promised. We ought to consider that day as lost, as a blank in our lives, in which nothing has been done for our souls, and eternity, by attention to some spiritual exercises. When, on the other hand, we are called to exchange this world for the next, those days will appear the most precious of the week, and those hours the most precious of the day, and those moments the most precious of the hour which were spent in communion with God, and making preparation for our future state. It was the solemn attestation of one* who had attained nearly the summit of human greatness, "I have surveyed the most part of that learning which is common among men, but now I find no rest for my soul except in the holy scriptures." It was the exclamation of another‡ eminent both in station, and for his talents, "I have lost a world of time, the most precious thing in the world, of which had I one year more it should be spent in reading the psalms of David, and

*The Hon. JoHN SELDEN.

SALMASIA.

the epistles of Paul." Another,† distinguished both in the church and in the world, expostulates with his friends in his last hours, "be serious in searching after the will of God in his holy word; if it is desirable to know the laws of the land, and the customs of our country, how much more to know the statutes of heaven, and the laws of eternity; to know the will of the Great Monarch, and Eternal King." He then devoutly exclaimed, "I have seen an end of all perfection, but thy commandment is exceeding broad." Such is the testimony of men who enjoyed all that support which either the wealth or honors of creation could impart; such was their testimony as they were just leaping from time to eternity, and therefore could have no interest in deceiving. I must now conclude presenting again for your imitation the example of the Bereans "who received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily." This feeble attempt to recommend the oracles of our Lord is left with your consciences until that solemn hour when we must stand together at his bar.

"And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified."-AMEN.

Sir CHRISTOPHER HUTTON.

SERMON V.

ISAIAH, LVI. 4.

For thus saith the Lord unto the Eunuchs that keep my Sabbaths.

THE promises contained in this, and the following verses of the chapter, refer immediately to the New-Testament dispensation. The inspired author, with prophetic eye, looks forward to a distant period of time; he sees the wall of partition which had long separated the Jew from the Gentile completely removed; he sees the church extending her limits beyond the narrow boundaries of Palestine, and admitting to her privileges not merely the offspring of Abraham, but men of all languages, and climes, and kindreds. "Also the sons of the stranger," the Gentile nations who had been formerly considered "as strangers, and foreigners," who were not acknowledged as a people in covenant with God, nor dignified with the peculiar privileges of his children, "these sons of the stranger that join themselves to the Lord-and take hold of my covenant: Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; for mine house shall be called a house of prayer for all people." Among the various duties to which promises are made in the different verses of this chapter, the sanctification of