one of the grand means for the support of the gracious principle, and next to this is the spirit of praise and grateful acknowledgment. GOD will have his mercy prized, and when it is really prized, it will be acknowledged. Praise is the expression of this acknowledgment. in the soul. Oh, then let there be Be much acquainted with the cross of Christ. This is the glorious medium of conveyance through which grace first floweth into the soul, and the means, by which it is afterwards sustained. The more you desire to walk with GOD, the more precious will be the atoning blood of the Saviour. Beneath the cross peace will be restored and motive strengthened. There will the heart be broken, healed-there will repentance be kept alive-faith invigorated, and love sustained. Study then the cross of the Saviour; study it on your knees, and there read the very character and heart of God. In the real knowledge of GOD, as there developed, the very life of grace in the soul shall be supported. To know the God that gave his Son to die for sinners, is to love Him; to love Him is to serve Him. Neglect not a life of Meditation it is the nourisher of grace in the heart of man. Oh, how many a child of God is kept low in his affection; low in his life; from his want of meditation. He lives in the midst of a crowd-I can only compare him to a man passing through an unknown country with all the velocity of one who travels in the utmost haste: he looks on one object after another-there will that broken heart be and it is gone; he goes on to another, and forgets that also; and after he has passed through the land he would hardly know it again. My dear brethren, there are some of GOD's people who seem to be almost lost in the bustle of religion. Oh, if they could but turn over the page of conscience for one half hour-if they were but led quietly to retire from the noise, the din, and the tumult of the world to acquaint themselves with the real state of their own souls, before a heart-searching GOD, how much of unfaithfulness would they there see, what blessings might they not derive! Let me beseech of you then, neglect not a life of meditation; meditate much on the past-the present the future. If religion be worth any thing, it is worth every thing.clines his ear unto wisdom, "Speak, Prove to me that the great concern of an immortal spirit is not to walk closely with God here, to glorify GOD upon earth, and to enjoy GOD in heaven-if you can prove that to be not the great end of an immortal spirit, I will shut up my Bible, and count it all a fable. In the ways of obedience GOD nourishes and sustains his own work Carefully listen to the least whisper of God's Holy Spirit. He is the most spiritual man, that hears me, who waits not for the thunder of God's Providence, but who listens to the least intimation of the divine will. The angels that excel in strength, hearken unto the voice of God's word. The truly spiritual man in Lord, for thy servant heareth," is his language. In this posture is the life and liveliness of grace maintained in the soul of man. My dear brethren, I have but one word more, and that is, be on the look out for glory. One grand means whereby the Holy Ghost supports his own work in the heart, is by leading the saint of GOD to be on the look out for heaven. I might, I think, easily know the real state of your souls at this moment, if I were to know how much you live in the holy anticipation of future glory? Are you occupied merely about the present week, the present hour, the present moment, or are you saying with the Apostle, “For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better." Ye shall not be losers by it, for if those things, of which I have been speaking to you, are laid more deeply upon my own heart, are more exhibited in my temper, are more influential in my secret walk with GOD, in my converse with the world and with the saints of GOD, you shall find the minister more to be a well watered garden bringing forth fruit to divine glory. May the Lord pardon and bless us, for Jesus Christ's One favour would I ask of you, pray for him who addresses you. I sake, Amen. A Sermon DELIVERED BY THE REV. H. BLUNT, TRINITY CHURCH, CHELSEA, JANUARY 1, 1833. Rev. xxi. 5. "And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold I make all things new." The first day of a new year :-there is something cheering, something delightful in the thought. We forget at the moment that this is only another milestone which we have passed on our journey; we forget that it marks the conclusion of a period which has known many trials, many sorrows, and many snares; and we are willing to hope that they are buried in the year that is gone, and that in recommencing our journey we shall have more comfort, more rest, and more peace. THERE is in the human mind a natural | aright, will demonstrate what I ant love of variety and novelty. So great asserting. and so powerful is this affection, that there are many situations in which a change, even for the worse, has been preferred to a long continuance in the present state. It has pleased our heavenly Father most wonderfully and most mercifully to meet this propensity, which was doubtless implanted, and for great and noble ends, by himself. All nature is full of novelty and variety. I need not remind you of the trite and obvious illustration, that the barrenness of winter is succeeded by the verdure of spring, and this again followed by the sunshine of summer, to be crowned in turn with the fruits of autumn. I need not remind you of the constant interchange of day and night, of light and darkness. The season at which I am now addressing you may suggest these illustrations, and, if studied This division of time into days and years is not any arbitrary or fanciful arrangement of man, but by the will of GOD himself. He made "the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night." This at once demonstrated, that while the earth remains these changes should their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away." continue that what would otherwise | with them and be their GOD. And be the dull uniformity of existence | GOD shall wipe away all tears from should thus enliven us. But there was surely some higher and weightier reason for presenting this succession of novelties to man, than for the mere purpose of rejoicing him with the return of a joyous hour. Yes, there can be no doubt, brethren, that the perpetual system of renovation for ever going on around us, about us, and within us, is for a blessed design, keeping strong in our memories, and fixing deeply on our thoughts the great truth in our text, " He that sitteth upon the throne saith, Behold I make all things new." Brethren, what a blessed description is this of the heavenly state which awaits us. You are fond of novelty, you hail with pleasure the first day of the year. Do you feel any sensations of delight at the prospect of these new heavens and this new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness? Have you good and scriptural grounds for hoping that this is the country of which you are citizens? Let us examine a little closer the character of this state, that we may see a little more plainly whether we shall our The world in which we live was, when it came forth out of its Creator's hand, in itself perfection, overflowing with a beauty and happiness which no heart can conceive. Equally beau-selves be partakers of it. tiful, and holy, and happy, were all that were in it. How long they remained thus we know not, certainly long enough for the devil to destroy it. From that fatal hour the promise of GOD has been placed before the eyes of his church; he has declared | that the present scene of Satan's momentary triumph shall not continue for ever that he will make all things | new-that instead of the present miserable state of banishment from GOD of his faithful people, (for St. Paul says, "We walk by faith, not by sight,") it shall come to pass that the new Jerusalem, that is the church of GOD in its new and perfect state, shall appear as a bride adorned for her husband, beautified with all the perfection of wisdom and holiness, and fitted for the full fruition of the Lord Jesus Christ, shall see him face to face, and know him even as she is known, and the great visible church shall say, “Behold the tabernacle of GOD is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and GOD himself shall be "I will make all things new," is the declaration of the text. Yes, nothing of any thing sensible, no taint of the old leaven of earth shall enter there. They that shall he partakers of that state shall have a new name written, "which no man knoweth, save he that receiveth it;” and they shall sing a new song, "which no man can learn but they which are redeemed from the earth." Here, then, are two remarkable features of this approaching state to which I would this morning confine your attention,-the new name and the new song. First, THE NEW NAME. "To him that overcometh," saith the word of GOD, "will I give a white stone, and on the stone a new name, which no man knoweth save he that receiveth it." To the Christian, even while on earth, this promise is partially fulfilled, for the Spirit of GOD has declared by the mouth of St. John— "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of GOD." Even now that is the new name bestowed upon the people of GoD, and with that new name there is a new joy bestowed, with which a stranger intermeddleth not. "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him: and he will show them his covenant." It is a wonderful and unspeakable truth, that the love of Christ in all its lengths, and breadths, and depths, and heights, surpasses knowledge: we know it not; all of it which we enjoy here below is a mere glimpse of that boundless prospect. All that now finds its way to the Christian heart is but a mere single ray from that sun. But the new name which shall be written on the white stone that is to be put into the hands of every glorified being, and shall be in characters which none but he that receiveth it can read, will bring with it blessings and privileges, and glories, and honors, and joys, which eye hath not seen, nor heart imagined. Conceive only of a state before which all the glory of the Godhead will be displayed, and to whom all the wonders of redeeming love shall be revealed, and into whose bosom all the fulness of God will be poured, and who shall estimate the joy of that soul? The conception that any finite being can form of such bliss would fall as far beneath the reality, as a glow-worm before the splendour of the noonday sun. Yet there is infinitely more than this by the bestowment of that new name, in the day when the text shall receive its fullest accomplishment, and He that sits on the throne shall have made all things new. We have said that, even while on earth, the promise receives its partial accomplishment, but we must say more than this; we must assert, that where this promise is not partially fulfilled on earth, it will never receive its full accomplishment in heaven; that is, unless you receive the new name given by the spirit of adoption here below; unless you become even here the children of GoD, you never may expect to belong to the blessed number which shall receive the new name, and assemble round their Father's table in the eternal kingdom. Surely I need not stay to prove you this from the word of GOD. I need not remind you of the declaration— "unless a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of GOD." I need not impress on you the great truth of the Gospel, “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are past away, behold all things are become new. And all things are of GOD, who hath reconciled us unto himself by Jesus Christ." You know that these are great undeniable truths. Those to whom the sound of the Gospel has never come may reject the truth of them: you must acknowledge their weight and importance. Will it then be an unprofitable consideration with which to occupy the first hours of this year, to inquire each of his own heart, whether he hath good reason to believe that he is, through grace, made a partaker of this first, this inestimable benefit. Would that such a question were unnecessary in a Christian congregation! Would to GOD we might hope that all who are now present have been made partakers of this first this great gift of the Most High, and had indeed received that new name here on earth, which is a new and certain pledge of the new name in heaven. But we are unable to believe this! Amidst much profession, many troops enter into the Lord's army who never have been enlisted by the Lord himself. They stand in the line, and make their appearance on the parade, but in the hour of battle they were not at their post; there fore in the victory they shall not be found, when the great Captain of our salvation shall distribute the crowns. Earnestly, then, would I beseech you to see that you are not among this number. Earnestly would I pray, that, whether young or old, rich or poor, all who assemble here, may be led to look well to your Christian health, to examine yourselves this day as the apostle advises you, "whether ye be in the faith." I can truly say of each of you, from the bottom of my heart, as Paul said of his hearers, ¦ "I travail in birth until Christ be formed in you." In the day I endeavour, so far as my strength permits, to labour for you; in the night watches I endeavour to pray for you. It does not satisfy me to see you devout and unremitting at all the means of grace, ordinary and extraordinary. I would pray, and labour, and preach, and strive, that there might not be one, no, not my bitterest and most malignant opponent, amongst those committed to my charge, who should not be partakers of this change of heart, that he be not absent when all shall be renewed in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit upon the throne of his glory. Let me then urge you to ask yourselves, have you realized that old things have passed away, that all things have become new, and that all things are of GOD, who hath reconciled all things to himself by Jesus Christ? For, remember, this is the peculiarity, that it is only he who sits on the throne can say, "I make all things new." These things are "of God." Teachers cannot do this, parents cannot do this, ministers cannot do this; it is GOD, and GOD alone who can do it. It is he alone who can bestow the new heart, and the new principle of grace, and the new righteousness in which to clothe your guilty | | souls, and the new spirit, by which to cleanse and sanctify the polluted heart. But then he has promised it freelyoh, how freely, in the Son of his love! Where is the individual who ever sought it earnestly, perseveringly, faithfully sought it and obtained it not? Ask all the generations of men, from Adam to the present hour, and you shall not find a single individual who ever brought such a request to Him that sitteth upon the throne in his dear Son's name, and yet was rejected? Will you then continue doubtful? Is there one among you who will be satisfied with being only in name a Christian, when you might become one in heart and in soul? Is there one content to remain a bondsman of Satan, when you might become an heir of GOD, and a joint heir with Jesus Christ? Oh, may it please a merciful GOD, that the year which we have this day entered may witness a great and visible and soul encouraging change in this congregation! May it please him that many of you now walking in the paths of the destroyer may be turned into the way of life-that many a one now settling down in formality and indifference may be pricked in the heart and compelled to say from his very soul, what shall I do to be saved-that many a one who although seeking has not yet found the pearl of great price, may ere this year draw to a close, have received a new name which none can read save he that receiveth it, and which alone is our own when the Spirit of GOD bears witness with our spirits that we are the sons of God. Now I turn in conclusion from the new name to THE NEW SONG, of which we are told, "And they sung, as it were, a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts and the elders; and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and |