carried; and so do you, feeble child of God. God hath given you cleaving faith, to cleave to Christ alone for righteousness; and that gave you the peace of the justified. Pray now that God would give you resigning faith, that you may trust him alone for strength-that you may yield yourself into the everlasting arms. Go you and learn what this meaneth: Jehovah our Righteousness is the same as Jehovah my Banner. Then, but not till then, will you fully know the meaning of the blessing: "O happy Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord!"

Objection. I do not see the Spirit, nor hear the Spirit, nor feel the Spirit; and how can I yield myself into his arms? Ans. This is the very Bible description of the Spirit's work: "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, or whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit." You do not see the wind, nor do you understand the machinery by which it blows, and yet you spread the sail to catch the breeze; and thus the tall vessel is borne over many a rough sea to the haven of rest. Just so lean upon the Spirit, though you understand not his working. Though now you see him not, yet believe in him, and you shall rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory; you shall be borne over the rough waves of this world to the haven of rest. Again: you do not know how the well springs up; you do not understand the machinery by which the water springs unfailingly; and yet you carry the pitcher to the well, and never come back with it empty. So depend on the unseen supply of the Spirit; get a daily supply for daily wants; go confidently to the wells of salvation, and ye shall draw water with joy. "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink." "O happy Israel: who is like unto thee!" Be of good cheer. We are confident that He which hath begun a good work in you will carry it on to the day of Christ Jesus.

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But, ah! poor Christless souls, there is no promise of the Spirit to you. All the promises are yea and amen in Christ. Out of Christ there is no promise; nothing but wrath. You have no everlasting arms underneath you. You are sensual, not having the Spirit. There is no sin into which you may not fall. The sins that make men shudder and turn pale, you may commit. God has nowhere promised to keep you from them. You have not the Spirit; you cannot love God, or do any good work; you can only sin. O poor souls! that are growing still on the stock of old Adam, you cannot but bear evil fruit; and the end will be death. Oh! that you would go away and weep over your miserable estate, and cry to God to bring you among his happy Israel, who are chosen, justified, sanctified, saved by the Lord!

St. Peter's, Jan. 29, 1837.

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SERMON LXIV.

ENTREAT ME NOT TO LEAVE THEE.

"And Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge. thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God."-Ruth i., 16.

In these two women of Moab you see the difference between nature and grace.

1. Orpah appears to have been of a most gentle, affectionate disposition. She had been a kind and loving wife for ten years to her now buried husband. She had been a kind daughter-inlaw to Naomi: "The Lord deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and with me."-Verse 8. She could not bear to part with Naomi. She first determined to go with her. Verse 6. When Naomi bade them go back, she said: "Surely we will go with thee." When Naomi again bade them return, she lifted up her voice and wept. And she kissed her mother-in-law most affectionately, and went back to her people and her gods. O how much of loveliness there is in the gentle affections of nature! Who would believe that they cover a heart as black as hell?

2. Ruth also appears to have been of a kindly, gentle disposi tion; but her heart was touched by the Spirit of God also. Naomi had not only been her mother-in-law, but the mother of her soul. She had taught her the way of salvation by the blood of the Lamb; and therefore, when the day of trial came, that she must part from her people and her gods, or part from her spiritual instructor, Ruth clave to Naomi: "And Naomi said, Behold thy sister-inlaw is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister-in-law. And Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God."-Verses 15, 16.

From these words I draw the following lessons: That we should cleave to our converted friends.

When God sent me away from you, about eighteen months ago, I think I could then number, in my own mind, more than sixty souls who, I trust, had visibly passed from death unto life during the time I had been among you. Now, I do think I could number many more, aye, twice as many more, of you who have come, by the wonderful grace of God, to choose Israel for your people, and Israel's God for your God. I trust that there is hardly a family in this church who have not some friend or relative really born again. Oh, that God would this day put Ruth's resolution into your heart, to cleave to your converted friends, and to say, "Where thou goest, I will go "_" Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God!"

I. Their God is a precious God.

1. A sin-pardoning God: "Who is a God like unto thee, who pardoneth iniquity?" Unconverted souls have no God: "Without God, and without hope in the world" or, like Orpah, they have false gods. Whatever they like best is their god. Their belly is their god, money is their god, or the god of this world is their god. But, ah! he is not sin-pardoning. Your converted friends have found a sin-pardoning God-one that washes out their sins in blood, though red as scarlet-the God and Father of Jesus-one that forgets sins: "I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions, for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins ""Thou hast put all my sins behind thy back "—one that is the prodigal's Father: "When he was yet a great way off, his Father saw him." Should you not cleave to them? They had the same sins as you-perhaps they have sinned along with you. Why should you despair, if they have found mercy? Cleave to the skirt of their garment; for God is with them.

2. Their God is a faithful God-faithful to them in enabling them to persevere : "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee ""He who hath begun a good work in you, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ ""Even to old age I am he."-Isa. xlvi., 4. When once he takes a brand out of the fire, he never lets it fall in again. He will let heaven and earth fall sooner than one of his own. He keeps them night and day. The souls whom God chose four years ago in this place, he has kept to this day. Often they have been ready to die: "Then the Lord sent from above; he took me, he drew me out of many waters "When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst. I the Lord will hear them: I the God of Israel will not forsake them."

Faithful in temptations: "God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." Look back, believers, on your temptations. They have been very dreadful. You have been on the brink of ruin. The Lord has delivered you.

Faithful in afflictions: "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee." Do you not see they have a refuge in the storm? Believers in this place have passed through many sore trials within these four years; yet God has been their refuge. He is a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress. Do you not see in the hour of trial what a rest they found in God, in the Saviour? how they poured out their sorrows into the ear of their High Priest? Cleave you to them.

II. Their people are a happy people.

Naomi was one of the peculiar people of Israel. It was this

people that Ruth was going to join. But converted persons amongst us have joined the true Israel, a still more peculiar people. They have been added to the Church, such as have been saved.

1. They are a pardoned people: "Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven." They have all this blessedness. Sin is the greatest curse and burden in this world. Sin makes the world groan, makes damned souls shrink, and makes hell blaze. But this people have no unpardoned sin lying upon them. They are washed whiter than snow. They are all fair, without so much as a spot on them. They are as clean in God's pure eye as Christ is. Christ carried all their sins, they carry all his righteousness. Christ has suffered all their hell. They are in the love of God. God delights in them. Are they not a happy people? Are they not happier than you, who have as much sin as would

sink a world?

2. A holy people, all born again, all have received the Holy Spirit. He dwells in them, and will never leave them. They have an old heart; still the Spirit reigns in them. They walk after the Spirit, they love in the Spirit, they pray in the Holy Ghost. Of themselves they cannot pray; but the Spirit teaches them. Heaven is begun in their hearts. They have a little of heaven now. Do you not see that they have left off your carnal pleasures? "I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God, than dwell in the tents of wickedness." Do you see no difference in their tempers, habits, lives? Are they not calmer, happier, heavenlier, than they were before? Seek what they have found.

3. All things work together for their good. Perhaps you will say they are an afflicted people. Some in poverty, some bereaved, some groaning on sick-beds. True, God dealeth with them as with sons. Often they cry, These things are against me. All for them. If we could see the end as God does, we would see that every event is for the believer. When we get to the haven, we will see that every wind was wafting us to glory.

4. In death. Even wicked Balaam said: "Let me die the death of the righteous." "Mark the perfect, and behold the upright; for the end of that man is peace." God calls upon you to mark the death-bed of his children. Sometimes it is triumphant, like Stephen: "Behold I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. Lord Jesus, receive my Spirit." Almost always peaceful. Or, if it be that the sun goes down in a cloud, O how sweet the surprise, when the believer finds himself on the other side of Jordan! at the pearly gate of the New Jerusalem! in the arms of the angels! in the smile of Jesus! "There is a rest remaining for the people of God." Will you not cleave to your godly child, parent, brother, sister, friend? You have sported together, you have sinned

together, will you not be blessed together? "Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God."

III. They want you to go with them.

It is plain that Naomi wanted Ruth to go with her; only she wanted her to go not out of mere natural affection, but out of love to Israel's God. Moses wanted Hobab, his brother-in-law, to go with him. Moses knew the value of the soul: "We are journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you. Come thou with us, and we will do thee good." Jeremiah wanted the Jews of his day to go with him: "Give glory to the Lord your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while ye look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness. But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride.”—Jer. xiii., 16, 17. Your converted friends want you to go with them. They may not have boldness to tell you so. It is easier to speak to a stranger than to a friend. Do you not see their anxiety in their eyes? Do you not see how anxious they are that you would come to the house of prayer? They pray for you in secret. Often when you are sleeping they are praying for you. They weep for you" in secret places, for your pride.' Well, if you will not go, you will be left behind. Still weep and pray, dear friends. This earth would be too like heaven if all we love were saved. Oh, what a sad company will be left!

IV. Eternal separation.

When Orpah turned back from Naomi and Ruth, she little knew she was parting for ever. They had lived together perhaps from infancy. They had played around the same palm tree; sat before the same cottage door; wandered over the same hills of Moab; now, they parted for eternity. So it is amongst us. There are, no doubt, many of us about to be separated for eternity. How strange, that two trees should grow so near-one to flower in paradise, the other to be a firebrand in hell!

Dear friends, do you not see some whom you love much, really converted and saved? Do you not see they have a peace that passeth understanding, while you are still loaded with guilt? They are growing holier, more fond of prayer, walking more humbly, riper for glory; you riper for hell, your sins getting faster hold. Oh, this separation will be for eternity! You may love them much, but you will go back to your gods. 1. You will be separated at death; they will pass into glory, into perfect day: you will lift up your eyes in hell. Besides all this, 2. You will be separated at judgment. When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, he shall separate the sheep from the goats; those on the right hand shall be solemnly acquitted, rewarded for all the good works you see them daily performing. All their prayers and