thanks continually for our brethren, as for ourselves, for the high privileges which, in the unsearchable riches of God's mercy, we enjoy? Or is the sincerity of our thanks manifested by the hearty and honest exertion which we make to promote the love and reverence of God in others, and to evince it in ourselves?

There is, my brethren, no greater mystery in the ordering of God's providence than this, that one man should be permitted to exercise upon another an influence which shall affect his everlasting destiny: yet such is the revealed will of God. If, then, there be any sincerity in our thanksgiving, when, for others or ourselves we laud God, for the means of grace given here, and the hope of glory held out hereafter-if there be any truth in this offering of thanks, it will appear in our daily care that no word nor action; no influence of ours, lead a weak brother astray for what a vanity is this, to thank God that we "come behind in no gift," if we practically demons

trate to those who behold our lives that we disregard the Giver!

Let us lay this to heart: and while we endeavour to imitate that spirit of love, which called forth from the Apostle thanksgivings for the spiritual advantages of his brethren, study also to give the surest proof of our regard for others, by taking heed to our ways, that we "give no offence in any thing."* And how, in this matter shall we be best secured in our duty? even by cherishing the same expectation which St. Paul notes in his Corinthian converts-"Waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."

If we would endeavour to paint the character of a faithful soldier and servant of Christ in the fewest possible words, might it not be in these? one who "waits for the coming" of his Lord! one, that is, who is "fully persuaded in his mind" that yet a little while, and He, to whom all judgment is com

* 2 Cor. vi. 3,

mitted shall appear, to weigh in the balance of the sanctuary, every act; and who draws, from the continual contemplation of rewards which are eternal, the grace and power to walk with fidelity amid things temporal. Here is the test, if a man would know, of a truth, whether he is "waiting for the Lord Jesus Christ." Apply it with sincerity to your souls, even for one hour of honest examination; and it will go far to enlighten you on your present condition in the sight of God. The privileges vouchsafed to the hearers of St. Paul were blessings, because they issued in this,-that they were "waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." Do the same privileges produce in us the same conduct?

Let every man be, for a moment, his own judge!

Were my actions, during the past week, such as they would have been had I looked for the coming of the Lord to judgment? Have my prayers to day been uttered in the same

spirit which they had breathed, had I looked for the coming of our Lord to judgment? Are the present "meditations of my heart" such as I would have them, did I look for the coming of our Lord? If in one, or all of these things, our heart condemn us, "God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things." If our heart "condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God."*

That this unspeakable blessing may be ours, let us continually look and wait for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, that "when He who is our life shall appear, we may also appear with him in glory;"† in the presence of his Father and our Father, of his God and our God.

* 1 John iii, 20-21. + Col. iii. 4.

SERMON VI

PHILIPPIANS iv. 5, 6.

"LET YOUR MODERATION BE KNOWN UNTO ALL MEN. THE LORD IS AT HAND. BE CAREFUL FOR NOTHING: BUT IN EVERY THING BY

PRAYER AND SUPPLICATION WITH THANKSGIVING LET YOUR REQUESTS BE MADE KNOWN UNTO GOD."

THERE is embodied in the text the expression of a truth, which it is the object of all the services of Advent to impress on our minds-"The Lord is at hand!"

In whatever way we understand that solemn declaration, it should be heard with reverence and deep feeling by the Christian. If we imagine ourselves for a moment, in their position, to whom the language was first addressed, it would necessarily call forth such