strength, but God's truth believed, God's voice listened to and received? What is the patient constancy with which the meek sufferer, unknown of the world, and unsuccoured save of God, bears up against successive sorrows; what is this constancy, but the word of God, applied to the individual's heart, believed as such, and triumphant as such over every discouragement?

"Stand still, and see the salvation of God!" Such a word, heard as the voice of God, produces a fortitude, which no feature of peril, however stern, can daunt or overthrow. How cruelly does unbelief often rob the Christian at once of his strength and his happiness!

III. But it remains for us to notice, thirdly,

THE GROUNDS OF THANKSGIVING, WHICH THE EXPERIENCE OF THIS EFFECTUAL POWER OF THE WORD SUGGESTED TO THE APOSTLE WHO

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WITNESSED IT. For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because when ye received the word which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but of God, which effectually worketh in you that believe."

Amidst the errors of surrounding idolatry and superstition, it was a subject of deep joy to the apostle, to witness the growth of truth and of godliness. It may indeed seem a matter of surprise to the selfish calculator of this world's gains, that a man should take so deep an in

creatures.

terest in the spiritual welfare of his fellow No man, indeed, who is not taught of God, can comprehend the nature of the joy to which the apostle alludes. But he who has measured the scanty results of human sagacity; who has sighed over the degradation and the sensuality of beings kindred in capacity with himself; and who, on the other hand, has contemplated the great remedy for all this calamity; and has thence, in the language of St. Paul, "comprehended, with all God's saints," something" of the height and length, and depth of the wondrous love of Christ;" such an one will be prepared to share the apostle's joy, that "the word of God is not bound"-that the habitual providence of God is continually deepening the traces of his truth, and giving to them that believe, the reality of those blessings which are founded on the perpetuity of his counsel of peace. There is, in fact, no spectacle so gladdening as that of an immortal being turning away from the vain speculations of his own mind, and breaking from the shackles of human opinion to take his stand amidst the promises and decisions of God. That is a decisive moment in the history of any man; a moment productive of joy even amidst the regions of heavenly felicity, when he can say to God, in the honest gratitude of his heart, "Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel." It is a moment from which he

may date his rescue from ruin, and his entrance into genuine happiness. He now receives the word as the word of God. Under a deep and affecting sense of his own ignorance, he now receives God's truth as all his salvation and desire. He sits reverently at the feet of Jesus Christ, and longs to have his whole heart brought into an entire conformity to the will of his Redeemer. What a change from the pride which rests on its own resources, and which despises "the wisdom which cometh from above!" What a change from the sickening sense of folly and of worldliness, to the sweet conviction of a Father's compassion—a Saviour's grace, training up his soul amidst the assurances of the word, and the mingled events of Providence, for that full and final rest, which remaineth to the people of God! Every other source of success and prosperity is indeed but delusive and destructive. Every human blessing, limited to this present scene, is connected with disappointment and decay. Oppose the doctrine of this world's sorrow as we may, its ravages continue and multiply around us. The effects of sin are visible in the tears, and wretchedness, and death, which, like whirlwinds, sweep evermore around us. Happy is he who understands their meaning, and who takes his.

shelter in the atonement and grace of the gospel; who receives the word as the word of

God, and who rests upon it the burden of his future expectations. Here alone is peace and tranquillity of heart.

Well, then, might the apostle rejoice, and give thanks without ceasing, that so many of the Thessalonians received the word as the word of God. Every such instance was just a clear accession to human happiness, and an additional monument erected to the wisdom and goodness of God.

But the relations of good and evil, of time and eternity, have not changed since the days of the apostle. The word of Scripture still remains the word of God-its veracity unimpeached, its promises immutable, its consolations applicable to every one who believes in their existence. Oh, my brethren, what then is your interest in this word; what is its actual worth to your souls? To those who have hitherto received it but as an external exposition of God's will, to which they have given no fixed nor.cordial attention, I would beg to offer a very few words. Imagine then, my brethren, the folly, and the guilt, and the ingratitude, of thus closing the ear against the kind and tender counsel of God: think what it is to treat with neglect or disgust an actual message from heaven: think what must be the ultimate result of trifling with a revelation which you admit to bear the stamp and seal of

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God: think what must be the terrible responsibility of living unimproved and uninfluenced by all the warnings and invitations of God! Ask yourselves whether it be wise thus to deal with the condescension of your Creator? The time, believe me, is at hand, when this folly will become apparent. God's side is the strong side and there is an hour when conscience will make an appeal to the soul too horrible to be conceived on this side the grave, where we judge alone by sight and sense. Awake, then, to the consideration of the full nature of your relations with God and eternity! Hear the voice which speaks unto you as to children, and which invites you to throw away the arms of rebellion, and to seek again the protection, and pardon, and love of your heavenly Father! Christ died for every soul which believeth on his name! He yet waits to be gracious-believe and live for ever!

But of you who have, through grace, received the word as the word of God, of you I joyfully inquire, whether its counsels have not already more than realized your former expectations? Is not this, my friends, a blessing which you want language to express, to be able daily to repose your hearts upon the promises of God? Is it not consolatory, amidst all the changes and sorrows of life, to cast your every care upon God, and to look forward to a world where you