led to infer that "God is with us of a truth." But if any one of you, seeing that some men build mistaken views upon the doctrines contained in the text, are inclined to rest content in the idea that those promises were confined to the days of the apostles, and that believers have not now the same interest in them; let me add, in the last place, that these promises are a comfort and an encouragement of which we may not deprive any individual member of the Church of Christ. How it pleases Almighty God to fulfil them— in what manner He is present in the hearts of believers, and in those ordinances which He hath appointed for the communication of His grace, we presume not to determine: neither do we know how obedience to God's word is made efficacious in changing our wills and character. All we do know is, that as we persevere in obedience, if God's word stands sure, grace grows stronger, and inward light grows brighter, and God manifests Himself in a way which the world knows not

of. Let us not, then, seek to explain away our own privileges, and to dwindle down the glorious promises of Christ to a mere rational standard which man can comprehend; but rather let us cherish the belief that our position as members of the Church of Christ is mixed up with mysteries which we at present do not understand. One thing we know, God sees us, and is not far from every one of us, and "the Lord whom we seek shall suddenly come to His temple." Let us labour then that He may find it holy and undefiled, that we may be counted worthy to be exalted into the real presence of God. There shall be "no temple there, but the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it."* The glory of God shall pervade the universe-faith shall end in reality, and "mortality shall be swallowed up of life!"

*Rev. xxi. 22.

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SERMON VIII.

PSALM i. 1-3.

"Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in His law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper."

WHATEVER Our peculiar circumstances may be, it is a common habit of mind with us all to picture to ourselves a kind of imaginary blessedness of condition, which contains in it many things of which we are not at present possessed, and which we think would make our state

a perfect one, if we had them. Without covetously desiring what is another's, or sinfully complaining and murmuring at our own lot, this is, I repeat, a common habit with almost every one, so that we are accustomed to say, "Ah! if I had this or that thing, or if I could rid myself of this or that present trial, it would indeed be a blessed thing." And, without sinfully envying the possessions or condition of another, we often say, when we see or hear of any one who seems peculiarly favoured in his circumstances, "he must be a happy man,-his lot is indeed a blessed one!" Now holy Scripture, my brethren, is also accustomed to pronounce certain persons blessed; and the Psalmist David, speaking by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, begins begins his book of Psalms in such a manner-" Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in His law doth he

meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season: his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

We have in these words a most fruitful and profitable subject for considerationone which I trust, by God's blessing, may be of very great use to us all. We have here the descriptions of the character and habits of one, whom the Lord Almighty is pleased by the mouth of His prophet to call "blessed," and this blessedness is farther explained and set forth by a similitude and a promise.

I. Let us first consider his character: It is described, first of all, by the mention of three things which he abstains from doing.

1. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly-that is the first thing which he does not do. It was a complaint which the Lord made against the Israelites of old, that they