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Ch, then, put the question solemnly to your heart, Is this portion mine? I do not mean, Have you been outwardly baptized, or have you attended the ordinances of the Church? for thus it has been with many; but, Is Christ Jesus yours? If you have this possession, you cannot be ignorant of it. Think you not, if a great and noble visitor were in your house, you would know, that he was there? Much more if Christ is in your heart,-if you have indeed come to him, laid hold of him, chosen him as your portion, your all in all?

Should there then remain a doubt upon this subject, O let not that doubt continue; but now close with the offer of his mercy! It is this which makes the Lord Jesus so invaluable a gift that it requires no long process of previous preparation. These are the words of our Lord: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me."* As soon as you hear of the one thing need

* Rev. iii. 20.

ful, you are welcome to choose that good part which never can be taken from you. Oh then make no delay; but now, whilst your heart is softened, decide at once; say, as one has said:

"Oh, happy day, that fixed my choice
On thee, my Saviour and my God,
Well may this glowing heart rejoice,
And tell thy goodness all abroad!"

I speak more especially to the young who are present: and never have I more pleasure, than in addressing them; for I know from experience that it is from the young the Lord generally selects his people; I know also, that the most happy as well as the most honoured Christians, are they who, like Mary, in early life choose that good part which never can be taken from them; but I address you more particularly this morning; since this is the season at which many of you are returning to your friends, or are leaving us for a time to visit the country with your parents. I know not, my dear young friends, that I can offer you

a more suitable text, or give you

better counsel, than to adopt this day, if not before done, Mary's posture: sit at the feet of Jesus and hear his word, and like her "choose that good part which never shall be taken from you."

Oh that your heavenly Father-that gracious God who works in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure-may thus incline your hearts!

And do you, who by divine grace have made the choice, manifest that his loving kindness in choosing you, and his promise for ever to keep you, most deeply affect your heart? Let it be your great desire to receive the Saviour into your house; so that whilst you shew your love to his public ordinances by a punctual and diligent attendance upon them, your dwelling place shall be consecrated to the Saviour.

Let the arrangement of your family, the society of which you willingly partake, and the tone and spirit in which your domestic life is conducted, be that which shall mark your house to be one of those happy dwell

ings to which the Saviour often resorts; so that when we are speaking of a Christian family, or a house where the head and the members adorn the doctrine of God our refer to yours-may say:

Saviour-we may

How sweet, how heavenly, is the sight,
When they who love the Lord
In one another's peace delight,

And so fulfil his word!

When each can feel his brother's sigh,
And with him bear a part;

When sorrow flows from eye to eye,
And joy from heart to heart;
When love, in one delightful stream,
Through every bosom flows;

When union sweet, and kind esteem,
In every action glows.

Come, then, and crown thy work of grace,
Immortal, Heav'nly Dove:

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LECTURE III.

JOHN vi. 1, 2.

"Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick."

ON the last Sabbath, with a view to obtaining your prayers for the aid of the Holy Spirit the glorifier of the Lord Jesus, as well as the guide into all truth, I mentioned that it was my intention, if the Lord permitted, to bring before you the history of this interesting family. I have selected it, my beloved friends, from a belief that it is a portion of the word of God peculiarly calculated, by the Divine blessing, to strengthen our faith, to promote patience under sufferings, to fortify us against future trials, to enlarge our views

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