they also owe to his intercession in the courts of heaven, they would love him, honour him, and come to him for life. You, whose conscience tells you that you have not come to Christ, do you owe him nothing? You, who are not bringing forth good fruit, through a spiritual union with him by faith, do you believe or consider what the God of truth has declared, that the axe is laid to the very root of your tree? Why has that axe not fallen in the days past of your life? Why does it not fall this very moment? Why are you not hewn down at once, and cast into the fire,- a fire that never shall be quenched? If you have forgotten, let me remind you. It is because there is One on high, who is still pleading for you,—“ Let it alone this year also." Your season of grace, be it long or short, you owe to Him who prayed for them that crucified him, and who, by his goodness, forbearance, and long-suffering, would lead you to repentance.

Beware, then, that you do not abuse his goodness; for if it has not this effect upon you, your last state will be far worse than the first. You treasure up wrath for yourself against the day of wrath, when you will call to the mountains and rocks to fall on you, and hide you, if that were possible, from the face of Him who shall then be

set on the throne of judgment, and from the wrath of the Lamb. Is he not himself that stone which, on whomsoever it shall fall, shall grind him to powder ?

Come then at once to God by Christ, that you may be accounted worthy to stand before the Son of man, and may have the benefit and unspeakable blessing of that mighty intercession whereby you shall be saved to the uttermost. As though God himself did beseech you by us, we pray you, in Christ's stead, be reconciled to God. Do not harden your heart, but hear his voice this day. Hearken diligently, and come to him. Hear, and your soul shall live, and he will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David's Lord and King.

And you who have come to God by Christ, realize it to your own souls continually, that you have an Advocate on high, specially exalted to God's right hand, to obtain and communicate to you all that he has merited, and all that belongs to your present and everlasting salvation. This intercession is the secret of your continued acceptance with your God, and you will find the remembrance of it a powerful impulse in seeking to become more like Him with whom it is your chief and glorious hope to live for ever.

I

VII.

THE INHERITORS OF BLESSING.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth."-Matt. v. 3-5.

I KNOW," said the king of Moab to Balaam, "that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed." And how came it that Balaam's words involved issues so tremendous? Thus,-God had put a word in his mouth, and what the Lord said, that he was constrained to speak: he could not reverse it. The Lord had given Balaam a charge to predict,-in the face of the hostility of Balak,--the successes of his people Israel, their victories over all enemies, and their establishment in the promised land. He could not curse the people, for they were blessed. This was Israel after the flesh.

But God has a more peculiar people, a spiritual Israel; for those who are Christ's are Abraham's seed,--partakers of his faith, and heirs according to the promise. These are Israelites indeed.

Now, as God spoke in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, so he has in these last days spoken to us by his Son. The Son of God has surveyed his people from the mount, marked them out, as it were, according to their tribes, and pronounced a blessing upon them. Surely those whom He blesses are blessed. Surely God is not a man that he should lie. Hath he said, and shall he not do it? Hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?

Brethren, these are things that essentially belong to our peace. Have you an earnest desire to ascertain what your real standing is before God? Here are eight everlasting blessings pronounced by the Son of God, and the persons described to whom they severally belong. Here you may discern, as in a glass, who they are that are blessed of the Lord who made heaven and earth. I propose to consider to-day the three first in order.

If all those who profess themselves the disciples of Christ, would but commune with their own hearts, and examine themselves candidly and honestly by the light of these tests which he has here clearly placed before them, they would soon find out whether they are his disciples indeed, and a vast amount of self-deception would be eliminated. If you can trace in your own heart

and life the features here delineated, rejoice; for they are the features of the sons of God,-of those therefore who shall inherit a blessing. Seek to get them deepened and strengthened, and to grow up into Him in all things, who is the head, even Christ. If, however, you shrink from the inquiry, you may indeed fear that matters are not well with your soul. But how much better were it to bring yourself fairly to the test, and discover the real truth in time, than to go on flattering yourself that you belong to Christ, and have an interest in his merits, when all the while you have no communion with him, and are not cleansed from your iniquity, till suddenly your sin unpardoned and unrepented of, shall find you out.

Before we proceed to consider these blessings and descriptions, let me premise, that all the benedictions here pronounced by Christ are indissolubly connected together. He who possesses one blessing possesses all; and for this reason,-that he in whom one of these graces has been wrought by the Spirit of God, has all the others also. If you are a true disciple of Christ, you may, no doubt, abound in some more than in others. But the germ of all such dispositions is to be found in every one who is taught of God.

Another matter to which I would point your