precious blood. Fix their inconstant affections, subdue their unhallowed passions, and kindle in them those holy graces which, cherished here by thy power, shall hereafter be rewarded by the enjoyment of thy love. And to thee, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be ascribed all honour, power, majesty, and dominion, world without end.

SERMON XXXIII.

THE SCRIPTURES THE SOURCE OF HOPE AND
CONSOLATION.

ROMANS XV. 4.

Whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.

HOWEVER varied and powerful are the attractions which bind us to the present life, and too often lead us to regard it as our abiding place, our permanent home, there are yet numerous circumstances which, happily for our virtue, force on us the conviction that it is only a transitory state of probation. Oppressed and disgusted with the errors, the sins, the disappointments, and the sorrows which embitter human pursuits and enjoyments, surely every considerate and serious person will indulge the solicitous hope, that this evanescent state may prove but the passage to that heavenly country, where all our powers and virtuous enjoyments will be purified and perfected in the bliss and glory of an immortal existence.

This blessed hope is derived only from the Scriptures of truth. The gracious declarations and dispensations of God recorded in the Old Testament, and the example of pious and holy men, and especially the luminous prophecies of the spiritual and eternal salvation of the Messiah there set forth,

are proposed by the apostle to the imitation and faith of his Christian converts, that they, in the midst of the tribulations and persecutions to which they would be exposed, might enjoy consolation, and cherish patience and hope.

This dispensation of grace and mercy through him who, the hope of his Israel, was to be a light to lighten the Gentiles, was shadowed and prefigured in the Old Testament. Gloriously was it fulfilled in the person of Christ, the end of the law, and of whom the prophets bore witness, and whose advent the church at this season celebrates; and it is proposed to our faith and hope in the record of his life and doctrines by his holy apostles.

Of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, then, containing, under different dispensations and manifestations, the same gracious scheme of redemption through the eternal Son of the Father made flesh and dwelling among us, it may be affirmed "Whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope."

The Scriptures are the source of hope:

Because they exhibit the Maker and Lord of heaven and of earth as our ever-present and almighty Guardian, our tender and compassionate Father and Benefactor:

Because they assure us of his protection and favour by the most affecting promises and animating examples:

And lastly, Because they exhibit him as ready to confer on us the blessings of that spiritual and eternal salvation in his Son Jesus Christ, which is calculated to gratify every desire, to alleviate

every sorrow, and to perfect for ever our happiness.

We are surely in the highest exercise of hope, when we can regard an Almighty Being as engaged for our welfare, when his grace and mercy are in the strongest manner assured to us, and when in- . finite and eternal bliss is the glorious prospect to which we may look forward. The illustration, therefore, of the foregoing particulars, will serve to prove that the Scriptures are the ground of the most exalted hope, the animating source of patience and consolation. Briefly to exhibit these views of the sacred writings, agreeably to the design of the apostle, for the day in which my text occurs, and not to enter into a general consideration of their numerous excellencies, is the object of this dis

course.

The Scriptures are the ground of hope, the source of patience and consolation

1. Because they present to us the Maker and Lord of heaven and of earth as our almighty Guardian, our tender and compassionate Father and Benefactor.

Frail and helpless as man is, dependent on the uncertain and capricious course of human events, unable to ward off the shock of disappointment which demolishes his best concerted plans, and exposed to cares, to sorrows, and afflictions, which alloy and blast his enjoyments, how wretched would be his condition, if he could not solace himself with the belief that he is under the discipline, guidance, and protection of an almighty and compassionate Being, whose providence orders and controls all the events of life to subserve some

infinitely wise and gracious purposes! This is the animating and consolatory truth which the sacred Scriptures present to our faith" The Lord God omnipotent reigneth; and of him, and through him, and to him are all things;" and he reigns in righteousness and mercy. Remove from the world the agency and providence of the Lord who made it, and whose goodness is as unbounded as his power is almighty-what a cloud do you cast over the condition of man! The victim of blind and unpitying chance, when sinking under care and sorrow, there is no Almighty Guardian whose protection he can implore, and on whose goodness he can rely. In his best estate, he would only flutter a while in the sunshine of prosperity, and then, sinking under the embrace of death, would descend into the darkness of the grave, into the tomb of oblivion: no gleam of consolation would enlighten his passage through the world, and fearful despair would rest upon futurity. Well may the Scriptures be styled the source of hope and consolation; for they unfold to us, sitting on the throne of the universe, an Almighty Being, the Guide of our ways, the superintending Disposer of all that befalls us, our everlasting Father and Friend: of his mercy and favour towards us, they indeed afford us the most animating assurances.

This was the second reason why the Scriptures are the ground of hope

2. Because they assure us of the mercy and favour of our Almighty Guardian and Father, by the most affecting promises and impressive examples.

There is not a page of the sacred writings which