and assured, that, however feeble and unworthy, our labour shall not be in vain in the Lord, do we come to you, sound in your ears the trumpet of the gospel jubilee, and cry to every one whom it may reach, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Thus must we endeavour to continue, if the fruit of our labour do not soon appear, waiting in faith and patience that time when the grace of the Holy Ghost shall commend the word of salvation to your hearts, and turn you from the power of Satan unto God. Willingly would we believe, and gladly do we hope, that he has not left himself without witness to the efficacy of his gospel, in taking away from some among you the stony heart of unbelief, and giving you a heart of flesh, to love and serve him. To whom then is the glory of success due? Surely there comes in answer a voice from the page of eternal truth, Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts. Be ye then persuaded to hear the preaching of the gospel with all humility and readiness of mind, as an ordinance sanctified by divine wisdom and love, to destroy the dominion which sin may have usurped over you, and to bring you in the holy obedience of Christian faith, beneath the mild and merciful yoke of redeeming love. So shall the ark of God be present while the sound of

his word is uttered to you. So shall he give efficacy to the preaching of the cross, "and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." So shall you experience the blessing of attendance upon the ordinances of salvation; until, the impenitent and unbelieving principles of your nature being subjugated and overthrown, by the gospel and grace of Christ, you shall become temples of the Holy Ghost, and habitations of God through the Spirit.

(2.) The righteous conduct of the Most High was also exemplified by a signal act of discriminating justice, at the taking of Jericho.

The city itself was utterly destroyed, and its inhabitants, one family alone excepted, perished to a man by the edge of the sword. Doubtless the people had indulged themselves in scornful mirth and mockery at the means adopted by the men of Israel to vanquish and subdue their city. But the limited time had no sooner expired, than the rein was given to exterminating judgment, and they died in their iniquities. When the wicked say Peace, peace, then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child, and they cannot escape. In this day of salvation, the long suffering of God waits to lead us to repentance. Six days, as it were, does he surround us, and proclaim in our ears the tidings of reconciliation, by the death

of Christ, and sanctification by his grace, and peace and hope and life eternal. But the seventh day, the sabbath of his wrath will come. Not more surely did vengeance reach the cities of the plain, when they had filled up the appointed circle of their guilt, and his forbearance -not more inevitably did the deluge overwhelm the offenders of the old world, when the hundred and twenty years of their probation had expired, than will the revelation of the righteous judgment of God be made against those who have rejected the message of his love, and the offers of his Son. "The wicked wiil then be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power." Do any of you turn a deaf ear to the solicitations of his love, in the gospel of Jesus Christ? Anticipate the day of universal retribution, when the unrepealable doom will be pronounced against every thing accursed of God; and when the final sentence of ruin passed upon Jericho will be only a type of that which the contumacious and the rebellious must undergo. Did a single inhabitant of that devoted city, the family of Rahab excepted, escape to encourage others in rebellion? Not one. As universal will be the punishment of those who obey not the gospel of truth. Vainly may they call on the rocks to fall upon them and the hills to cover

them.

The omniscient Judge will discover them, bring them before his bar, arraign them, condemn them, and deliver them over to the ministers of his wrath, to execute it, amidst the penal woes of that state, "where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." Escape then for your lives: and to-day while it is called to-day, harden not your hearts.

Turn however, from the deep shades of this gloomy picture, to contemplate the safety of those on whom the hand of God has bound the mark of deliverance. Rahab had entertained the spies, because, through the grace of faith bestowed upon her, she believed the coming triumphs of Israel, the approaching ruin of Jericho, and the necessity of having her portion with the people of God. "By faith the harlot Rahab, perished not with them that believed not, when she had received, the spies in peace." This holy faith overcame even the yearnings of love towards her country, and induced her to make a covenant with Joshua for her own deliverance, when she found that her nation was given over to ruin and extermination. Her house stood upon the walls where the first and greatest danger fell: yet when they were levelled with the earth, and the victorious tribes went every man straight

'Hebrews xi. 31.

before him and took the city, that house stood uninjured. The scarlet thread, the appointed badge of her deliverance, was hung from her window: the men of Israel beheld it, and hastened to fulfil their engagement in her favour. She, and they with her, were plucked as brands out of the burning. Nay, at length she obtained an inheritance among the chosen tribes, became a mother in Israel, and an ancestor of the Saviour of the world. This instance may surely exhibit and magnify the power of faith and the goodness of God to deliver in the day of trouble, and in the searching inquisition of judgment. Among the countless thousands whom the deluge surprised, one family alone served God. His hand shut that family into the ark, and they lived amidst the devastating flood, while all beside perished in the waters. Lot and his house were the only righteous in Sodom, and they were delivered. The Israelites in Goshen had marked their doors with the blood of the paschal Lamb; and while the angel of God went through Egypt on his errand of death, they alone were uninjured, because he acknowledged the covenanted sign of their safety. Faith alone can strengthen you to do the will of God. Faith alone can arm you to deny the affections most dear to an unrenewed and sinful heart; and to follow the call and claim of Jesus Christ, through