Earnestly then, may we implore you, the youngest not least, that you try steadily to impress on your minds your christian privileges and responsibilities; for the two ever go together. Each one of you is called by Christ himself, to come unto God through him; not to look out for another to stand between you and Christ. The aid of Christian ministers is variously granted: it may well happen that some of those who hear me may, in the events of life, be placed in situations where this aid may be denied them; they may either be out of the reach of any minister, as has been the case sometimes abroad, or circumstances may hinder them from deriving any benefit from him. But remember, that wherever Christian ministers may be, you are never without God, and never without your great High Priest, through whom, every day and every hour, you may have access to God. Prayer is yours, and yours is the promise of the Spirit, and yours is the blood of the covenant; and what do you need more? These are yours to use for your salvation, or to forfeit for your ruin you may not decline the trust committed to you, for God has given you his own Son to be your priest and mediator, and he will not have you, like the idolaters of old, seek after one of man's devising.

SERMON XII.

CERTAINTY OF CHRIST'S RESURRECTION.

LUKE XXIV. 34.

The Lord is risen indeed.

THIS truth, which was received by those who first heard it with wonder at least equal to their joy, has been repeated to us so often, from our earliest childhood, that we hear it without its exciting in us any strong sensation whatever. It rests, as it were, quietly in our minds, neither disputed nor doubted, nor yet truly believed. It is like a fact of common history; a part of our knowledge when we are reminded of it, but one which we rarely have occasion to draw forth from the storehouse of our memory. We are not aware of its importance, of how much is wrapped up in it, to perish if this corner-stone of our faith could by any means be moved. We have not noticed the peculiar manner in which it is spoken of by

the apostles; and how different it is from all the other miracles recorded in Scripture. For they might stand or fall with no consequence to our eternal hopes, so long as this single one remained sure; but if this one could fail us, all the rest would profit us nothing. If Christ be not risen, our faith is vain, we are yet in our sins; and they who have died in the faith of Christians, have ventured their souls upon nothing, and have died to rise again no more.

The importance of the resurrection of Christ is a thing which we must each learn for ourselves; it will not be felt by our being assured by others that it is important. But few persons of any education reach the age of manhood without having an opportunity to learn it, whether they choose to avail themselves of it, or to neglect it. I mean that there is a time, even before we commence the active business of life, when we are led to hold question with ourselves, and to ask what we are living for, and to what are we tending. It need not be either sickness, or any great calamity, which will lead us to this state; the same effect may be produced by happiness of an unusual kind, as well as by suffering. Nay, it need not be produced by either, nor by any remarkable outward circumstances; it may be merely the

natural effect of our own minds, feeling their powers, and keenly alive to the wonderful aspect which life wears, even when regarded in its common course of events. But be the exciting cause what it may, the effect is almost sure to occur: we commune with our own hearts, and think of life and death, and ask ourselves what will be our condition when sixty years are over; whether, indeed, we shall then have died for ever, or whether we shall but have fallen asleep in Christ, to be awakened by him when the number of his redeemed is full.

It is then that the words of my text assume a very different character to our ears; then it seems no slight, no ordinary blessing to be assured that the Lord is risen indeed. That vague belief in our immortality, with the expression of which we are so familiar, will do well enough for our careless and prosperous hours, when nothing assails it; but it is too weak for a season of real trial. It has been truly observed, that those ancient writers who have written most eloquently and beautifully of their hope of an eternal life, appear to have found little real comfort from it, when the evils of this world pressed them hardly. And this seems to me no other than what might have

been expected; for the natural arguments in favour of an eternal existence may be met with by other reasons on the contrary side; and in a matter of such moment, when we practically feel its importance, a mere preponderance of probability on one side more than on the other, is far from sufficient to satisfy us. What we see outweighs so hesitating a decision of our reason; if we have ever witnessed death, or still more, if we have witnessed that distressing decay of body and mind together, which often accompanies old age, we shall find, that abstract language about our immortal and imperishable minds will ill stand its ground against positive experience. We see that the mind does suffer from the decay of the body; it appears before us returned to the same helpless and powerless state from which it first started in infancy; so that it may seem to have run its full course, to have done its appointed work, and to be ready now to become extinct for ever. But the word of Jesus, confirmed by his deeds, sets our anxiety to rest. He was dead and is alive, and he has promised that they who live and believe in him, shall be with him where he is, that they may see and partake his glory.

Therefore it may be useful to furnish ourselves