is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you."

Ye who Enoch-like, are now walking with God, we are not warranted to promise you, as a part of your happiness for your steadfast adherence to the cause of God, exemption from the pangs and convulsions of mortal dissolution, and a visible translation into heaven like Elijah, and probably Enoch, in "chariots of fire and horses of fire." Such distinguished honours as these are not the lot of mortals, nor to be looked for in a world where the ordinary and appointed exit of man from the present scene of existence, is by the gates of death. Enough for you to know, that the promise of Him who cannot lie, is pledged to secure you an entrance into the mansions of the blessed; and that the toils and troubles and mortal pangs through which you have to pass in your journey to the grave, will prepare you more and more for that "fulness of joy" which awaits the faithful when time shall be no more.

To urge you forward with increasing ardour, constancy, and zeal in your Christian course, with a view to the increase of your happiness in heaven, remember there are different degrees of glory and happiness provided hereafter, for every different degree of attainment in religion and godliness here on earth, so that the greater your attainments are now, and the more eminent your progress in grace and holiness, the more enlarged will be your measure of happiness in a future world; for as one star differeth from another in glory, so will the condition of the saints be, after the resurrection, in the kingdom of their heavenly Father.

Have you, on the present solemn occasion, given your consent to the supreme dominion and glory of Christ as your Head and Sovereign? Forget not, then, the loyalty and obedience so justly due to Him from the subjects of his Crown, and which you, in the presence of God, of angels, and of men, have so solemnly sworn to yield. Leave it to others to disobey and dishonour him, but let him not be disobeyed and dishonoured by you. Let not those eyes, that have beheld with wonder the holy mysteries, be ever turned aside to view vanity with pleasure. Let not the hands that have touched the sacred symbols, be ever polluted with base and dishonourable practices. Let not the same tongue bless God and curse man; renounce the devil this day, and invoke him to-morrow, by oaths and imprecations against your neighbour. Let not the soul which has had its bands loosed, and been set free from the thraldom of sinful passions, be ever drawn aside and entangled through the deceitfulness of sin. "Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage."

If you have sat down under the shade of the tree of life with great delight, and if its fruit has been sweet to your taste, affording you life from above, and peace and joy in believing-if Christ has admitted you to a royal banquet of kings and priests, and if his banner over you has been love-if he has given you his flesh to eat and his blood to drink—O never, never, let it be said of any of you, that his own "familiar friend

which did eat of his bread, hath lifted up his heel against him."

Under all your future trials and manifold temptations, from a consciousness of your own insufficiency and weakness, lift up your eyes by faith to the sight of the everlasting hills whence cometh your aid; and cast your burden on the Lord who has promised to sustain you. Think not to stand in your own strength, or make progress in your own strength, but be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Daily and earnestly seek after God who "giveth liberally and upbraideth not," who out of weakness can perfect strength, until he hath fulfilled in you all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power. And may the Lord Jesus Christ, and his, and our heavenly Father, who hath loved you, and given you consolation and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts, and establish you in every good word and work. Amen.

SERMON IV.

OUR SAVIOUR'S BURIAL.

BY THE

REV. R. B. THOMSON,

MINISTER OF SPOTT.

LUKE Xxiii. 50-54.

"And, behold, there was a man named Joseph, a counsellor; and he was a good man, and a just: (the same had not consented to the counsel and deed of them :) he was of Arimathea, a city of the Jews; who also himself waited for the kingdom of God. This man went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid."

D

The verses now read, my friends, naturally direct our thoughts to a subject of the very deepest interest, the burial of our Saviour. Having finished the work which his Father had given him to do; having accomplished the redemption of his people; his toils, and sorrows, and sufferings, had for ever come to a close. Often had he been exhausted in performing his unwearied errands of mercy: often had he endured hunger and thirst as he journeyed from village to village preaching to poor sinners the glad tidings of salvation, frequently not knowing where at night he was to lay his head. But great as were the privations and fatigues which the Saviour patiently endured in behalf of our fallen race, they were as nothing compared with what he met with at the hands of his enemies. Cruelly, indeed, was he used: most wanton and unprovoked was the insult with which he was assailed. In mockery they arrayed him in a purple robe; they mangled his temples with a crown of thorns; they spit in his face; with nails they transfixed his hands and his feet; they pierced his side; they hung him upon a cross between heaven and earth as being unworthy of either. To his last breath they continued to taunt and revile him. But 'twas all over now. The loud cry, 'Tis finished! instantly followed by the drooping of his head, proclaimed that the sufferings of the Saviour had closed in death. His enemies having exhausted against him their utmost malice; having accomplished, as they conceived, his complete destruction, his lifeless body is allowed in peace to be committed to the grave. Let me, then, my friends,