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could say, "Through Christ strengthening me I can do all things." He whom the Almighty assisteth must be victorious; he who taketh to himself the whole armour of God, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, and the sword of the spirit, must be able to stand in the evil day, and in the end to lay hold on a crown of life.

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No longer, then, have confidence in the arm of flesh. Trust not in your own wisdom; for it is foolishness. Confide not in your own heart; for " it is deceitful "above all things, and desperately wick"ed." Trust not in your own strength; for it is weakness: nor in your own righteousness; for it is as "filthy rags. On the Lord build with a pure and unmixed dependence. Put all your hope, and trust, and confidence in the Almighty Guardian and Shepherd of Israel. Place your soul in the keeping of Him who never slumbers nor sleeps, but watches over his flock with the most tender and affectionate regard. Pray to him to uphold you in the way that your footsteps slide not.

84 IT IS NOT IN MAN TO DIRECT HIS STEPS.

"And now, brethren, I commend you "to God, and the word of his grace." The Lord bless and keep you. you "The "Lord make his face to shine upon you, " and be gracious unto you. The Lord "lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.". Amen.

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SERMON II.

¡ON THE RICH MAN IN HELL.

LUKE XVI. 23.

And in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in

torment.

You may safely give me credit, my friends, when I assure you, that it is from no peculiar predilection that I can have for subjects of this kind, nor yet merely to excite your surprise and gratify your curiosity, that I have made choice of these awful and alarming words, as the ground of our present meditations. But hope and fear, it is well known, are strong and commanding passions in the human mind, and have a mighty influence on human conduct; and were it not necessary sometimes to employ" the

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"terrors of the Lord in order to persuade "men," I should rather beseech," by the "consolations that are in Christ, by the "comforts of love, and by the fellowship "of the Holy Ghost," than by addressing myself to your fears to endeavour to alarm your minds with the wrath and vengeance of the Almighty.

In every assembly of professing Christians, there is what is called a mixed multitude'; some who are seriously good and religious, and anxiously in quest of the way to heaven; and others, it is to be feared, not a few, who " care for none "of these things," who ridicule religion, and make a mock of sin, and who, without our being accused of judging and pronouncing 'rashly, are in the broad way that leadeth to destruction. only, therefore, discharge our duty, while we warn such of their imminent danger, while we endeavour to set before them, however unpleasant the task, the fatal consequences of their folly and depravity, and recall to their recollection that dreadful punishment which is the fruit of their own deeds, and is reserved for them beyond death and the grave.

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Whilst we do so, we are following the example of our Lord himself, who thus expostulated with the Scribes and Pharisees of his day: "Ye serpents, ye gene❝ration of vipers, how can you escape "the damnation of hell!" Those, then, who presumptuously blame their spiritual instructors for setting forth the terrors of the Lord, would do well to remember, that he who declared, that whosoever "believeth and is baptized, shall "be saved," hath also declared, that he "who believeth not, shall be damned:" that he who shall hereafter say, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the

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kingdom prepared for you," will also say," Depart ye cursed into everlast"ing fire, prepared for the devil and "his angels." Hence it is obvious, that to alarm as well as to comfort, to hold forth the threatenings no less than the promises, the judgments no less than the consolations, of the Bible, is the duty and the office of the preacher of the gospel.

The words of our text are a part of our Lord's striking and well-known parable of the rich man and Lazarus :-the

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