NEW YEAR'S DAY. INVOCATION. OUR Heavenly Father! we stand in this place consecrated by ten thousand gifts of grace from Thine hand. We cannot look back; our way is hedged up with mercies, and we stand upon the beginning of another period of time, desiring to take encouragement from the past and to look down into the future with full assurance of faith. Be pleased this morning, Thou that art the Head of the Church and the Father of this household; be pleased to grant that this may be a year made happy, indeed, to every one of us; may ours, we beseech Thee, be all that wealth and benefaction of mercy which is in Christ Jesus; and in the opening services of the day, may we feel that Thou art with us. May disturbing thoughts fly away that the sweet composure of faith and love may steal upon us. May we be filled with holy impulses and begin to spell that divinest name of Father. May we know that Thou art here because we are drawn out to Thee in loving aspiration and holy desire, and may Thy word begin to shine. No longer art Thou the Infant of Days. not to Thee as a babe, but as a Prince and a Saviour. We come giving gifts from heaven. Grant unto us gifts of grace to-day. Bless all the exercises of the sanctuary; help us every one to receive as from the hand of God, and so to improve as becomes the children of God. We ask it for Christ's sake. Amen. BEFORE SERMON. WE rejoice, O Thou that dwellest in heaven, that Thou art not confined in Thy wisdom, in Thy power, in Thy goodness, nor in Thine administration to the hea venly host. Throughout the whole domain, Thou art the living God, and Thy wisdom and Thy power are felt wherever Thou hast created. Nor art Thou ever weary of Thy work, and the least thing that had the sovereign touch of life remains for ever before Thee, and all the wants of all the creatures that Thou hast made rise up before Thee for perpetual supply. Thou givest liberally; Thou art inexhaustible in Thy nature and resources. We cannot, by searching, find out the nature of such an One, that dwells in unslumbering care, that knows no variableness nor shadow of change, that outlives the passing generations of men, Himself never old, for ever young; full of goodness. And yet it is not so strange that Thou shouldst be so, though we cannot understand the fulness thereof as that Thou shouldst be a God of such tender mercy, a God of such divine love. We cannot understand how Thou couldst bear us and carry us with such longing affections, and find in us reason for Thy love; how Thou canst see that which is desirable in the midst of so much pride and selfishness, so many passions, and the hurtful ways to which they give rise. This is the wonder and the love of Christ to sinful men. The mystery hid from ages is an unsolved and unfathomable wonder yet; but we rejoice in believing that it is so, and that the divine grace of love that fills the heavens is to be the salvation of the earth. This is our hope. It is not that we are strong nor wise, but that Thou art all this for us. It is Thy righteousness and not our own that surrounds us; it is Thy love to us rather than the love which we have to Thee that encourages us; it is Thy faithfulness and not our own perseverance that lays the foundation of our courage. We trust in God who is all in all, for Thou art, O Blessed One, first and last, including all between; Thou art Alpha and Omega, and the whole alphabet. All grace and mercy and truth is in Thee; and we rejoice in Thee, not in ourselves,-not in man, not in institutions. of religion, not in anything that is upon the earth. Oh, we rejoice in Thee, that art the fountain of all excellence, the Father of mercies, and the God of all grace and goodness! We have had abundant occasion to prove Thee, and have put Thee to proof, and we bear witness that Thou art He that doeth exceeding abundantly more than we ask or think. Thy promises are never so large as Thy performances, Thou art beforehand with us; and when we think that we are walking in a desolate way, behold the footstep of God is before us; Thou hast been there and prepared our way. We rejoice to find Thee on every side of us, and to find that our life is hid in Thee; the secrets of it, the duties of it, and the duration of it, are of Thee. We rejoice that we have such a friend,—so gentle, so patient, so persevering. And this is the wound and the shame of our sin, that it is a disobedience and an unwilling service to One so gracious and so full of all noble excellence. We are ashamed when we reflect how little we have requited Thy love with our love; Thy reasonable command with our filial obedience; we have sought each one his own way; we have had our own will and purpose aside from Thine and contradicting Thine. O Lord, we are unworthy of Thy name or of Thy favour; we only plead Thy grace, saying, "God be merciful to us, sinners." And now Thou hast completed the mercies and the history of another year; Thou hast advanced us to the first day of this year upon which we are entering. We would call upon our souls and all that is within us to |