And let me especially press this exhortation upon those who have for the first time presented themselves before the Lord at a communion table. I congratulate you, my young friends, on your taking this step, so important to yourselves, and so interesting to all who love your souls. I am glad that you have thus openly enlisted under the banner of the cross-that you have renounced, in this public manner, the devil, the world, and the flesh-that you have been seen taking up the pilgrim's staff, and setting your faces Zion-ward. And I trust that you have done all this in the sincerity of your hearts-that you are not acting an inconsiderate or a hypocritical part-that the "good confession which you have witnessed before many witnesses" has come from an approving mind—and that you are indeed desirous and determined to be all that your outward service has promised. It remains for you to vindicate your own sincerity, and to maintain your own consistency, by the tenor of your future deportment. Never forget, then, the engagements which you have so solemnly contracted, but study to fulfil them with the utmost fidelity and care. Be not "of them who draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul." The evil propensities of your own wayward hearts-the allurements and vanities of a thoughtless, corrupted world-the sinful insinuations and wicked example of unchristian people-and the arts and influence of your spiritual enemies, who operate upon your minds, though unseen-all these will attempt to draw you away from the allegiance you have sworn, and from the resolutions you have formed. But in the strength of God you must resist them all; and, whatever sacrifices it may cost you, and with whatever difficulties it may be attended, you must keep your confidence in Jesus steadfast unto the end-you must hold fast your integrity, and never let it go-you must persevere, with unshaken constancy, in the path of duty and obedience. Recollect, at every step you take in life, that you are not your own-that you have given

yourselves up to God-and that you are bound by the strongest and most endearing ties, to "glorify him in your bodies and spirits, which are his." Read his blessed word, that you may grow in saving knowledge. "Remember his sabbaths to keep them holy." Never "forsake the assembling of yourselves together" in his sacred courts. Pray to him " with all prayer and supplication in the spirit." Avoid the company of such as trample on his authority and despise his ordinances; and associate with those who fear his name and keep his commandments. When the allurements of the world solicit your affections or your conformity, cast a believing recollection back upon the cross of Christ, and an eye of hope forward to the joys of heaven, and scorn the pleasures which would frustrate the purposes of your Saviour's death, or darken your anticipations of future glory. And when any peculiar temptation occurs, or when the impetuosity of youthful passion begins to break forth, or when the ridicule of unbelieving or ungodly men is threatening to conquer your holy purposes, then lift up your soul to the God of all grace, and cry for the help of his almighty arm: call to remembrance the vows and resolutions, the faith and the comforts, of a communion table; and forget not that death is fast approaching, and may come when you are not aware, to deliver you from the trials which now distress you, and to conduct you to that land of uprightness and of rest, where no sin is committed and where no sorrow is felt, and where there is fulness of joy and pleasures for

evermore.

Yes, my friends, death is approaching to all of us. And it becomes all of us to watch and to be ready. Before another communion arrive, some of us, it is probable, shall have bidden an everlasting adieu to this land of ordinances and of probation. Which of us it is to whom the summons shall be sent, we cannot tell. It may be the youngest, and the stoutest, and the most thoughtless, of us all. O then, how deeply should our minds be impressed with the shortness and uncertainty

of time; and with what diligence should we apply ourselves to the work that is given us to do! Let none of us be idle or unconcerned. Let none of us delay or trifle with preparation for eternity. Let none of us be so foolish as to put our immortal interests to the hazard of an unexpected call. Rather let us be active, and faithful, and unremitting, in the service of him to whom we are to render an account. And when we leave the house and table of the Lord, let our first step be the beginning of a more holy and heavenly course than that which we have hitherto pursued; so that, living always by faith in the Son of God, and abounding always in the duties of our Christian vocation, at whatever day or at whatever hour our Master call us away, we may receive from him this gladdening sentence, "Well done, good and faithful servants, enter ye into the joy of your Lord."

SERMON III.*

THE JOYFUL SOUND.

PSALM 1xxxix. 15.

"Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound."

THE joyful sound here mentioned primarily refers to the blowing of the silver trumpets, on certain festivals, by the sons of Aaron-an institution which God appointed for the purpose of reminding the Israelites of their being under the continued care and protection of him, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and out of the house of bondage. Considering the hardships, and dangers, and sufferings they had to encounter in the wilderness, this ceremony was calculated to give them consolation and encouragement during their pilgrimage towards the promised land. And even, after they were fully established in the privileges for which they were destined in the counsels of Heaven, it had the effect of reviving and strengthening the impression, that they were safe under the guardianship of that Being who had originally delivered them, by whom they had been hitherto guided and defended, and whose promise of unfailing regard was as faithful, as his mercy was abundant, and his power omnipotent.

Preached in St. George's Church, Edinburgh, on the evening of Sabbath, 16th May, 1830, for the Edinburgh Continental Society.

The Mosaic economy is at an end its peculiar ceremonies are abrogated: of its symbols of a present and superintending Divinity, not one is left; and the sound of the silver trumpets is heard no more. But as ancient Israel is commonly accounted and held out in Scripture as typical of true believers under the new dispensation, so particular appointments in the former may, without any violation of propriety, and with manifest advantage as to instruction and illustration, be considered as representing those features in the latter with which they are found to correspond. And, when we think of what the gospel is, and of the circumstances in which it finds us, and of the benefits which we derive from it, we are not putting a forced interpretation upon our text, when we take the "joyful sound" to mean the message of the gospel, and the declaration of the Psalmist to refer to the happiness of all those by whom

that message is known, according to its own import and purpose, and according to the will and intention of its gracious Author.

It is in this view that we propose to make the declaration contained in these words, "Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound," the subject of our remarks and meditations.

We need not occupy your time at present in shewing that blessedness is essentially connected with the gospel. The gospel is intended to make us blessed, because He, in whose will it has originated, is full of compassion, and announces that here his compassion has had its richest and most determinate exercise. It is fitted to make us blessed; for the same God, whose compassion prompted it, has also contrived all its arrangements and operations, and the infinite wisdom which belongs to him must have so adapted the means to the end, as effectually to secure whatsoever it designs. It is sure to make us blessed; its machinery being moved, and its effects being produced, by the power to which all opposition is feeble, and before which all difficulties vanish away. And it is known to make us blessed; for we have only to ap