Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all

the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek

him, he will be found of thee; but if thou for-

sake him, he will cast thee off for ever. 254

SERMON XVIII.

ABRAHAM'S INTERCESSION FOR THE CITIES OF

THE PLAIN.

Gen. xviii. 23-25.—" And Abraham drew near,

and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous

with the wicked ? Peradventure there be fifty

righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy

and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that

are therein ? That be far from thee to do after

this manner, to slay the righteous with the

wicked; and that the righteous should be as the

wicked, that be far from thee: shall not the

Judge of all the earth do right?" .

270

years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and

find none : cut it down; why cumbereth it the

ground ?"

284

GARRISON SERMONS.

SERMON I.

CHRISTIAN LOYALTY.

PROVERBS xiv. 34.

Righteousness exalteth a nation : but sin is a re

proach to any people.”

That God, as being the Creator of the world, should exercise supreme dominion over the affairs of men, can be denied only by those who are ready to deny the fact of an Almighty and self-existing Being, the great and glorious Jehovah. The Almighty is indeed represented throughout the Bible as taking an ever-watchful

B

interest in the affairs of men, as ruling
supreme “ according to his will in the
army of heaven, and among the inhabi-
tants of the earth.”? And not only are
the most high and enduring rewards, even
“glory and honour and immortality,”2
offered to our acceptance and encourage-
ment in “ the way of righteousness,”—not
only are the terrors of future and eternal
wrath brought forward to deter men from
the commission of crime, from the per-
petration of all manner of sin and iniquity;
but motives of present interest, of present
honour and advantage, are brought for-
ward and urged upon the attention, to
persuade men to the observance and

practice of whatsoever things are true, honest, just, and pure.

And whether as individuals, or as members of society,—as we love our ownselves, or as we love the land of our nativity, the country whose name we bear, are exhorted to

we