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a cure, had they said, No! we will try some other means of procuring relief; we will go to the physicians; we will have recourse to medicines; what must have been the consequence? They would certainly have died; for the remedy which they would thus refuse was the only one which Infinite Wisdom had provided, and which alone could heal their deadly wounds. Sin has given to every one of us the most deadly of all wounds, infinitely more dangerous than the bite of the fiery serpents,-a wound which no art, nor wisdom, nor labour of our own can heal. Christ alone can heal it, and it is only by looking to him that we can obtain a cure.

At present you may refuse to comply with this duty; you may turn away your eyes from the Saviour now; you may confine your attention for a time to the objects of this world; but there is a day fast approaching when you must look to Jesus: "For behold your King co" meth!" Even they who would willingly hide themselves in the dens and caves of the earth must behold the Ancient of days arrayed in all the terrors of vindictive justice. They must hear his

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voice pronounce the eternal doom; and then at last they must obey. O! then, let me, as a worker together with God, beseech you, brethren, by the riches of divine mercy; by the love of Christ; by the value of your never-dying souls; by the hope of glory; by the weeping and gnashing of teeth that await the wicked and slothful servant, to prefer the wiser part, to obey the voice of Jesus while it is yet all gentleness and love,-and to look to him while his countenance beams with pity and affection to man. Let not the Lord spread out his hand all the day long unto a rebellious people. Let him not say of you, "I called, but 66 ye refused." Close with his offers, and accept his gracious invitations. Think,

if
you continue to disregard them, how
it will aggravate your condemnation,
and enhance your everlasting remorse,
that such invitations were addressed to
you,
but scorned;-such a salvation pro-
vided by heaven, but neglected.

O! then, "Kiss ye the son, lest he be an66 gry, and ye perish from the way,

" when his wrath is kindled but a little. "Blessed are all they that put their "trust in him." Amen.

SERMON VI.

ON HEARING CHRIST.

MATTHEW XVII. 5.

While he yet spake, behold a bright cloud overshadowed them: and, behold, a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.

THESE

HESE words were spoken on a very remarkable occasion. Our blessed Lord having taken his three favourite disciples, Peter, James, and John, into a high mountain to pray, (to Mount Tabor, a beautiful hill in the land of Galilee,) was transfigured before them: His face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as snow. The rays of his divine glory burst forth through the veil of his human nature with a dazzling and amazing lustre; and he displayed on

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earth a specimen of the glory which he had with the Father before the world was. This splendid exhibition was, no doubt, granted to his disciples for this end, among others, to fortify their minds against the ignominy of his cross, to confirm their faith in him as the promised Messiah, and to keep them from being offended at the course of deep humiliation and suffering upon which he was about to enter, and of which he had lately forewarned them.

At this time there appeared, talking with him, Moses, the great lawgiver of God's people, and Elias, the zealous retorer of the law; these illustrious saints being sent from heaven as ambassadors to wait upon Christ and his apostles, and

to be the witnesses of this memorable event a glorious interview indeed! the law and the gospel, the church militant and the church triumphant, met together, Jesus Christ being the glorious head and bond of union between both.

Peter upon this occasion seems to have imagined that Jesus had now assumed that dignity and glory in which the Jews expected that the Messiah was to

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appear; that Elias was come according to the sense in which they understood that prediction of Malachi, and that his flourishing temporal kingdom was now begun, and would continue for ever. Wherefore, in the first hurry of his thoughts, he proposed erecting three tabernacles for Jesus and his celestial visitants, intending perhaps to bring the multitude from the plain below to participate in the glorious scene.

But, lo! while he yet spake, a cloud or pillar of light overshadowed Moses and Elias, as they ascended again to the heavenly regions: a voice is heard,not the awful voice which from Mount Sinai's top shook the earth and the heavens, and filled the congregation with terror, but the peaceful voice of approbation and love: it is the voice of the Most High which issues from the cloud, and it announces of Jesus, "This is my beloved "Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear "ye him!"

These, Christians, were the most comfortable words that ever reached the ears of fallen man,-the most acceptable news that ever came from heaven to

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