Him, have been received, and in no wise did he ever cast How foolish and how wicked, then, to reject this

any out. foundation.

But this will be more apparent, if we reflect on Jehovah's wisdom and goodness and on Christ's sufficiency to save.

This foundation is identified with the depths of infinite skill; with the boundlessness of divine love; with the unspeakable preciousness of Christ's blood. To attempt to lay another foundation is, therefore, to set at nought these perfections of Deity, and to trample under foot the blood of Jesus. It is the exaltation of self-device and self-sufficiency above God and his Son Jesus Christ.

It is, lastly, to involve the soul in remediless woe, by the rejection of the only Saviour. "Ye will not come to me that ye might have life."

He who rejects the light of life must dwell in darkness. He who rejects the one Saviour perishes necessarily by his own obstinacy and crime. There is no other Saviour-no other refuge-no other remedy. Christ is the life of the world; to reject him is to be guilty of our own soul's blood, and to go down to the pit of destruction by the stroke of our own suicidal hand. This, believe me, my dear brethren, is really the case! Learn then, the preciousness of the gospel-foundation.

Sinner, come to it; come to it without delay; come humbly, believingly, earnestly, and heartily to it; build upon it; build the superstructure of a holy life ;-do this, not in your own strength, but in the strength of Him, who is the "Rock of ages,”—and who now invites you, by me, to come to it, saying, "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden," i,e, with the burden of your sins, " and I will give you rest.”

Hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thy altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life to take it away. And he said, go forth, and stand upon the Mount before the Lord."

Thus we have seen that, alarmed at the menaces of Jezebel, Elijah retired into the wilderness, and in a fit of despondency besought God to take away his life. This need not surprise us. He was, as our text tells us, a man subject to like passions," or infirmities, "as we are ;" and we ought not to be offended, if the weakness of his nature for once gained the ascendancy over his faith. In tender compassion to his frailty, God sends an angel to strengthen him, sustains him by a miracle during a journey of forty days, and vouchsafes, in a personal conference held on Mount Horeb, (the circumstances of which are sublimely represented) to assure him, for his encouragement and consolation, that, solitary as he supposed himself to be in the profession of the true faith, there were yet left seven thousand in Israel who had not bowed the knee to Baal. And what is the moral or lesson which we should learn from the subject before us? Even the duty, importance, and value of a firm dependence on, and unwavering trust in, God's Providence, and of earnest, hearty, believing and persevering prayer,—prayer of all kinds, public prayer, private prayer, and family prayer. "Men ought always to pray," to cultivate and cherish a constant, prayerful spirit, “and not to faint," not to be careless and listless, sluggish and languid. Be their burden what it may, whether a sense of unpardoned sin, a sense of infirmity, or be it sickness, disease, or personal or domestic affliction, if they are desirous to be relieved from

it, or to be supported under it, they will pray with a degree of earnestness proportionate to that desire.

And as there is every reason to think that the late protracted unseasonable weather was sent as a punishment for our sins, individual and national, we should make it a special element of our present daily prayers, that, though we have justly deserved a much heavier punishment than has been inflicted on us, yet that God will, upon our true repentance, continue to send us such weather as that we may receive the fruits of the earth in due season; and that, having given full proof of the sincerity of our repentance, He will, by his Holy Spirit, enable us to amend our lives, and to give Him praise and glory for His great and unmerited clemency to us.

Thus earnestly praying that it would please God to pardon our past shortcomings and our backslidings, and that He would enable us to lead godly and religious lives, we may humbly yet confidently hope to please Him. But we should ever bear in mind that, whilst our purest thoughts and our holiest actions will need the cleansing blood and atoning righteousness of Jesus Christ, to render them acceptable in the sight of God; we should yet, in dependence on the blessing and aid of the Holy Spirit, strive day by day, to become more holy, more like our Divine pattern; and then, protected, defended, and supported by "the Lord our Shepherd, we can lack nothing yea, though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we shall fear no evil: for He will be with us: His rod and His staff shall sustain and comfort us: His loving-kindness shall follow us all the days of our lives, and we shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever."

SERMON XII.

1 CORINTHIANS iii. 11.

"FOR OTHER FOUNDATION CAN NO MAN LAY THAN THAT IS LAID, WHICH IS JESUS CHRIST."

There are many circumstances in operation in the visible Church, at this day, which greatly interfere with the right reception of Christ, and of his holy religion. Amongst these may be mentioned, especially, unbelief, want of love to God and man, pride of intellect, worldly-mindedness, self-sufficiency, and self-dependence, lukewarmness and apathy, and an undervaluing and neglect of the influences of the divine Spirit. Man will not come to Christ, so long as he thinks he can get to heaven. without him. And many, very many, seem quite indifferent and reckless as to what will become of them when they die.

To such persons, (if any such are now present,) we may address a remark made by our great master to the people of

his day, "ye will not come to Me that ye might have life;" intimating that life, eternal life, could be obtained only in and through Christ. Bear this in mind, and act steadily upon it through life.

I would now bespeak your serious and dispassionate attention whilst, in dependence upon the Holy Spirit, I endeavour to direct you to the true and only foundation, the Rock of ages, -Jesus Christ: and I would urge you so to build upon that foundation, that, like the house built upon a rock, you may be able to withstand the storms of life, and live in peace and security: for I tremble lest, if one immortal soul now present should perish, his or her blood may be required at my hand!

The divisions in the Christian church sprung up at Corinth. It was there that professed believers began to classify and arrange themselves under human leaders, and assume human distinctions in religion. One said, "I am of Paul;" another "I am of Apollos ;" and another, "I am of Cephas." The Apostle, in this epistle, especially in the first three chapters, strongly discountenances this course of procedure; shows its carnality; reminds them that all these are the servants of the same Lord, preach the same gospel, are not divided, much less opposed to each other: "For other foundation can no man lay," says the Apostle, " than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ."

In meditating upon these words, let us, first, consider Christ as a foundation.

The term is architectural, and refers, as most even of my younger hearers are aware, to that which is the lowest part of a building, and on which the whole superstructure rests. It is often employed, however, to denote the beginning of