sees fit. He folds up the Heavens as a gar ment, and bids them depart as a scroll. He removes the Earth from its place, brings it to nothing, and puts another in its room. But He himself knows no decay, and undergoes no change. A thousand years are with Him but as a day. His purpose remains unaltered. He speaks, and it is done. He wills, and it is performed. From everlasting to everlasting He is God; the Great "I Am,” “ with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”

Having thus considered the Representation given in the text of the Unchangeableness of our Great Redeemer, I now proceed,

II. To draw from this Consideration some plain, but important Inferences.

In the first place, how great is the security of the Church of Christ! On what a firm and stable Foundation are its safety and ultimate glory placed! Many, indeed, are its enemies; mighty are its adversaries. The Kingdom and Powers of Darkness are leagued against it. The world opposes and assaults it. Those, who here endeavour to uphold and advance it, its Friends and Advocates, are themselves weak, frail, and changeable. But the Lord, whose Church it is, who has undertaken to defend, advance, and perfect it, is Himself unchangeable. He changes

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not: and because He is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever: He will be the same. to His Church; the same Almighty Protector and Preserver of it; True to His Covenant; Faithful to His Promise; Firm in His Purposes of making it finally victorious over every Enemy. Because He liveth, it shall live. Because He is the same, the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. No weapon that is formed against it, shall propser. its Adversaries shall perish: but He, its Defender, shall remain. They shall all wax old, and come to nought, but His years shall not fail.

All

What reviving Consolation do these reflections suggest, under those gloomy and depressing apprehensions, which the state of the Church too often has a tendency to inspire! When we see it opposed, in so many ways; not only outwardly resisted by malice and enmity, but inwardly undermined by corruption and division; not only attacked by avowed opponents, but injured and wounded in the house of its Friends; suffer. ing, as it often does, from the misconduct and indiscretion, from the hypocrisy and treachery of its professed Advocates and Followers: when we see these things, we are apt to fear, that it can never withstand such united assaults; that, thus opposed, resisted, and betrayed, it never can attain to its pre

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dicted elevation of Purity and Glory; but must one day be overwhelmed, and perish for ever. At such seasons, however, and under such fears, let us call to mind the Truth under consideration. Let us remember the Unchangeableness of Christ, who will watch over His Church with His never-failing Providence, will preserve it through every danger, and, at length, bring forth the Head-stone thereof.

And let the same consideration, which thus allays our fears, excite our hopes, and invigorate our endeavours, in advancing the Kingdom of our Redeemer. Assured of the

success which awaits His cause, let us be the more active in promoting it. Knowing that our labour will not be in vain in the Lord, let us labour the more diligently, according to our means and opportunities, in bringing others to the knowledge and fear of Him, and in diffusing the savour of His name in all lands, even to the ends of the earth.

A second Inference which I shall draw from the Text, is this: How certain and dreadful must be the doom of the Impenitent and Unbelieving! Great and abundant as was the Compassion of Christ towards perishing sinners, when He was upon earth; yet, let us call to mind also, how severe was His language, how aweful were His threatenings, against the wicked: how dreadful was

the doom which He denounced upon them! What hope then can the wicked entertain, that they shall avoid these threatenings, and escape this doom? Christ himself will be their Judge. He who denounced these threatenings and this doom, will Himself come to execute them. And will He then recede from what He has said? Will He alter His purpose, or change His word? Vain, alas! and groundless, indeed, must be the expectation of those, who can build on such a presumption. Christ is unchangeable. He is the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.

He will be, in the day of Judge

ment, the same that He was upon Earth: the same decided opposer of sin; the same avowed enemy of all ungodliness, hypocrisy, and impenitence. Let sinners, then, take warning in time, and flee from the wrath to come. Are any of you ungodly, and impenitent? Are you such in your hearts and lives, as you know that Christ would have condemned on earth? Are you such, that you would have dreaded, in the days of His flesh, to have submitted yourselves, your conduct and motives, the tenor of your lives, the secrets of your souls, to His holy and heart-searching inspection? Be assured, that you have no less reason to dread His second coming in glory, and to tremble at the prospect of that aweful judgement, which

you must there undergo. You will find your Judge then, the same that He was upon earth. He will not be changed. You, my Brethren, you are the persons who must be changed. Without a change in one of the parties, it is impossible that you should stand before Him in Judgement. O, pray to Him to change your hearts, that you may be prepared for this aweful Judgement. Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out. Seek to be made new Creatures in Him ; that so, being turned from your iniquities, washed in His blood and sanctified by His Spirit, you may have confidence before Him at His appearing. But, thirdly,

While the Unchangeableness of Christ thus speaks terror to His Enemies, how rich and copious is the consolation which it vouchsafes to His humble, penitent, and believing people! The consideration, that He, who is their Friend and Saviour, changeth not, is to them the source of the purest joy, and most heart-felt satisfaction. Living in a changeable world, in which every thing around them is unstable and fluctuating; what cause have they for rejoicing and thankfulness, that there is one spot, on which they can plant their foot, and that the spot in which they are most intimately concerned; - one spot, which partakes not of the general character that marks every other object around