Saviour at the last, when the trials of this present world shall all be over.

To believe all this-to be able even in the midst of affliction to see the hand of God working for our good-to be assured, in the midst of troubles and disappointments, that there is One above who watches over us, cares for us, and loves us-and to believe that He will in no wise cast us out from that better world where only true joys are to be found: this, I say, is the greatest happiness which we poor sinners can have on earth. It takes from affliction every sting gives to every enjoyment greater joy enables us to expect our last great change with peace and satisfaction, and to walk, without fear, through the valley of the shadow of death. This must have been the peaceful happy state of the psalmist's mind, when the words which I have taken for my text flowed from his tongue: The Lord is my Light and my Salvation, whom then shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom then shall I be afraid?

The writer of this psalm was a Jew. He lived long before our Saviour Christ had

come into the world to take upon Him our nature and to die for our sins. If he then could receive peace to his mind and comfort to his heart in thinking of God as his Light, his Salvation, and his strength, how much greater reason has every true Christian, every faithful believer and follower of Him who died upon the Cross, to put the same trust in God, and to rejoice with the same great and holy joy which filled the psalmist's soul! We know much more of the mercy and loving-kindness of our God than he did: for that greatest proof of them we have had, which to him was wanting. The only begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ the Righteous, the Lord of life and glory, has visited this world of sin and misery, in pity to our souls-despised and cast out by men. has been to take away sin by the sacrifice of Himself to be mocked, beaten, and put to a cruel death, that the anger of God, justly provoked against mankind, might be turned away, and that every sinner who repents of his wickedness and serves the Lord, might have hope and assurance of being pardoned, and be received hereafter

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into everlasting joy and glory. We then, when we call to mind all that God has done and Christ has suffered to bring us to Himself, have surely ten times greater reason than the psalmist had to cry out, in the words of my text, The Lord is our Light and our Salvation, whom then shall we fear? The Lord is the strength of our life, of whom then shall we be afraid?

Let us now shortly give our attention to the meaning of these words, and consider more particularly how every true Christian may say that God is his light, his salvation, and the strength of his life.

We are born in sin. Our parents have sinned before us: our natural inclination is to sin the world around us is sinful, and temptations to sin meet us wherever we go: yet God has told us that if we do sin we are not His children and shall not enter into His rest. It is clear, then, that if left to ourselves, surrounded by temptations, corrupt by nature, in the midst of the sins and wickednesses by which the world is filled, we should, none of us, find our way to heaven, but should all perish miserably.

Then God be praised! who in his tender mercy has vouchsafed to be our guide, and to point out to us the way of life eternal, so that if we now wander from our road and lose the glorious prize which is set before us, the fault is all our own! In His written word, the Holy Bible (but more especially in the Gospel, that part of the Bible which makes known to us the glad tidings of our Blessed Saviour's coming down to suffer for our sakes and to redeem us from the punishment due to our sins) all that our Heavenly Father requires of us in running the race that is set before us, is plainly made known: the things that we are to do, and the things which we are not to do, our duty both to God and man, all is pointed out to us: we are no longer in darkness, the word of God is a lantern unto our feet and a light unto our paths, to direct our goings in the way.

Nor is this the only light, the only guide that God hath given us. For He has mercifully promised, that, to all those whose intentions are good, who earnestly desire to serve and please their Maker, and fervently pray for help, His Holy Spirit (with

out whose assistance all our strength is weakness) will ever be near, to put into their hearts holy desires and holy thoughts, to strengthen them in all goodness, and keep them from every evil. Thus it is that the Almighty, by His holy word and by His Holy Spirit, may justly be called the Light of every Christian: since by them He both teaches us the way to everlasting life, and gives us His help that we may continue in it.

And here, my brethren, before we proceed any farther, it is most important for us all seriously to consider what use we have made of the light which we have received. Are we the better for it? if not, our condition is ten times worse than if it never had been given us. Knowing from the Bible our duty to God and man, have we kept to it? Knowing the things that are pleasing to our Maker, have we ventured to neglect them? knowing what are hateful to him, have we dared to do them? Have we encouraged His Holy Spirit to take possession of our hearts? or have we driven Him from us by our wilful sins? O