Building up yourselves on your most holy faith....Jude, 20.

INSTEAD of going on comfortably in this work, many are questioning, I do not know whether I have got a most holy faith or not ? bring this to a point to-night. Has the ruinous fabric of nature's self-confidence, self-righteousness, self-complacency, and self-pleasing ever been pulled down? Has the Spirit convinced you of sin? Do you see yourself a lost, ruined sinner; so lost and so ruined by sin that no one but the Son of God can restore and save you? Do you believe that he came to save sinners? Is it the desire of your heart to be saved from ALL sin by him? If so, you as surely possess a holy faith as you enjoy natural life; and you will get stronger evidence and greater assurance of it, by using every blessed means to prove that you have this most holy faith, while you build up yourself on it. 1st. This will appear to be a holy faith, by. leading out your soul after a holy Saviour, to be rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith of his perfect love to you and finished salvation for you, abounding therein with thanksgiving...... Col. ii. 7. You will not live a day but praise will rise in your heart to the Father for his unspeakable gift of Christ; to the Son for giving himself for you; and to the Spirit for the gift of this most holy faith to you. 2d. As you believe sin has made you miserable; that it causes God to hide his face; clouds your views of the sun of righteousness; grieves the Holy Spirit, and damps the joys of faith; you cannot, you dare not seek happiness in the pleasures of sin: you will hate it, strive against it, that you may grow in grace and be built up in your most holy faith. 3d. As you believe that the earth and all things that are therein, are doomed to be burnt up, you cannot love the world so as to set your affections on it and seek your happiness in it. You hear the voice of the Lord, "my son give me thy heart." When tempted by the honors, riches, and pleasures of a bewitching world, you will say of all, you bid too little to purchase me: I have a holy faith; I believe that my holy God can make me infinitely more honorable, rich, and happy, than all your toys and baubles. For, THE LORD IS MY PORTION, ŝaith my soul I can say so in the confidence of my most holy faith. O christian, bless the day and bless the Lord when this holy faith was given you. Be assured a holy heaven is prepared for you, and that you shall enjoy it, so surely as if you were now in possession of it; Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your soul.".... Pet. i. 9.

The Lord directs what means to use, Christ is the sure foundation laid,
To build us up in holy faith,

Then let us daily seek and choose,
To follow after what he saith.

Be careful that on him you build, Your work shall prosper and be made, Each joy and comfort for to yield.

I go to prepare a place for you....John xiv. 2. ·

If a person, destitute of the provisions of life, had a promise from some noble lord, I will amply provide for you, I will go this day to court and get a place for you: if he believed his word and depended on his power, it would fill his heart with joy. Suppose he actually succeeded to the most desirable place, and that it was in no one's power to displace him....what then? Why this would addto his comfort: but though no one would take his place from him, yet, alas! there is one who will very soon summon him to another, the place appointed for all living. Ah! this gives a damp to every earthly enjoyment. Off hands from all quit your hold of all: for you hold all earthly possessions by a very uncertain tenure. But, hear your LORD: rejoice at his words. 1st. I GO, willingly and cheerfully through the most dreadful scenes of horror, agony and death: I Gó, to face, fight with, and conquer all the powers of earth and hell for you: such is my love to you, that rather than you shall perish in hell for your sins, I go to suffer all the torments of pain which you have deserved. Love to you willingly carries me through all, makes me cheerful in all, and causes me to triumph over all, that I may enter into heaven FOR YOU. Dear Lord, let us have a feeling of this thy precious love in our hearts to-night. 2d. To PREPARE A PLACE: I will not reign alone in my Father's kingdom, to think no more of you, nor care no more for you; but as it is his good pleasure to give you the kingdom, I will enter and take possession of it as your forerunner; there I will plead my blood shed for you, my righteousness to justify you, and my salvation to glorify you. 3d. FOR YOU. Who? What is the character of those for whom Christ prepares this place? Had they never displeased their Lord? Did they never offend him? Alas! which of them shall we fix on as a perfect character? Peter denied him with oaths and curses: all shamefully forsook him. Might they not then forfeit their place in glory? Yes, if love did not reign and grace abound in the heart of Christ over all the aboundings of sin. O, foolish thought of base unbelief, that Christ should prepare a place in heaven for those who might perish in hell! but see them described....verse 1. They had troubled hearts about Christ and believed in him. Judge yourself to-night. Do you believe in Christ? Is your heart troubled lest you should lose him? Do you long for eternal enjoyment of him? Rejoice, he has prepared a place for you: "Where he is, there shall you be also."....John xiv. 3.

O thou, who dost prepare a place,
A mansion in the sky,
For sinners, thy redeemed race;
Lord, to my soul draw nigh,

Prepare my soul, and make me meet,
To see thy face above,
That I in heaven may take my seat,
And praise thee for thy love. M.

I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also....John xiv. 3.

OUR Lord spoke these words to disciples who had faith in him, and yet had troubled hearts. Is this your case? They are suited to all such; they are to strengthen the faith and comfort the hearts of disciples. O, this coming again of Christ will be the crowning work of all! To whom? Awful to think of! the greatest part of the world believe nothing of Christ's first coming and care nothing about his second coming: it will be a dreadful coming to them; "I will come again." A second coming implies a first: if Christ has come in the power of his Spirit to our hearts, so that we have seen his glory and believed on him, we shall look with pleasure and long with joy for his coming again: this is a sure mark that we shall "receive a crown of righteousness, if we love the appear→ ing of Christ."....2. Tim. iv. 8. Now to your hearts by faith; hereafter by sight: "I will receive you unto myself." Glory to thee, my dear Lord: O, make my heart to love and thank thee more and more, that vile, filthy, polluted and abominable as I am, thou hast received me, washed me in thy blood, justified me in thy righteousness, caused me to see thee, and hast given me the privilege of becoming a son of God. O, what a day of joy and glory will that be, when our dear Lord shall receive us unto himself! That is a sweet word, full of precious mystery, "That Christ might present it to HIMSELF, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing."....Eph. v. 27. "For he hath sanctified and cleansed us in his own blood." O, what love has Christ to us! What pains does he take with us! With what joy will he receive us! Never, never did the most affectionate bridegroom receive his bride, or the most tender parent his beloved child from the jaws of death, with that joy as Christ will receive and welcome us; "that where I am, there ye may be also." O, my soul, what words are these! enough to make my drooping spirit exult with joy under all its burdens, sorrows and difficulties. Is a sense of Christ's absence thy present pain? Is the sense of his presence now thy greatest joy? Then soon, very soon thou shalt be forever with thy Lord; for so sure as Jesus spoke these words on earth, ALL his believing members shall be with him in glory. O then, welcome pains, sickness, temptations, losses, crosses, afflictions of every kind, yea, death itself, whenever and by whatever way it comes, for ye are all but only as so many love tokens from my Lord, crying, Arise my fair one, come away,

No mortal joys are worth thy stay.

I die daily....1 Cor. xv. 31.

PAUL in a peculiar sense could say so: he was daily in danger of suffering martyrdom for Christ: he puts the most solemn oath to it, "I protest by our (not your) rejoicing, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily." It is like swearing by the Holy Ghost, the author of this joy. Happy Paul! The joy of the Lord was in his heart, the prospect of enjoying his Lord in his eye, the world under his feet, and he daily expecting his Lord's messenger to call him home; this was living indeed, in the very suburbs of glory: and pray what should hinder you and I from living as he did? Paul was the subject of the same corrupt nature, in which dwelt no good thing, as we are; we have the same Lord to look to and rejoice in, the same faith and hope to animate us, the same Holy Ghost to strengthen and comfort us, and the same place prepared by Christ for us as he had. Why should not we also die daily? Why should not we live a dying life? All do in reality: but why should not we in sweet practice, and happy experience? Plainly, we do not believe enough what our Lord hath done for us, is to us, and has promised to bestow on us; therefore do not look and pray enough to our Lord. My dear fellow-christians, I will be bold to enter this protest, from the experience of my own soul, that we cannot live comfortably, unless we die daily: as considering ourselves daily subject to the stroke of death. This hour, this moment may put a period to my existence. Why then all my busy cares, anxious thoughts, corroding fears and ardent desires after the objects of time and sense? Death will soon make me quit my hold of them; but I will be beforehand with him; I will die in heart, hope, and affection to them. Take, ye sons of earth, the riches honors, and pleasures of a perishing world: grasp them in your hand; clasp them to your heart if you can; but lo, instead of substance, you will find shadow; all are but airy bubbles that will elude your hope; I have tried them all; I die to them all; for, I have found that above, which kills my desires, hopes and affections to all below; I find a once crucified, now risen and ascended Saviour, has got possession of my heart; he dwells there by faith; Christ is in me the hope of glory; the glorious rays of my sun of righteousness extinguish all the faint light of earthly glow-worms: my Lord lives in me, that is a death to all without me; death I daily familiarize; I entertain him as my friend, converse freely and daily with him, lodge him in my breast; he has my daily thoughts. Why? Because my Lord introduces him to my heart, not with a sting to wound and kill me, but with the voice of a messenger of peace, to call me from pains and trials to peace and rest, to the full enjoyment of Jesus above, who is my chief glory and my life below....Col. iii. 4.

Honor the Lord with thy substance....Prov. iii. 9.

O, MAY this be the daily study of our hearts and the constant practice of our lives! "Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to the LORD, for the marriage of the LAMB is come."....Rev. xix. 7. He is our husband: we are espoused to him by faith. Consider the

work of honoring the Lord and the reasons for it, 1st. The work. What! Can I, a worm of the earth, honor the Lord of heaven? Yes, thou art called to it, and formed for it: this honor have all his saints it is our greatest honor on earth to honor our Lord in heaven: "All thy works shall praise thee, O LORD, and thy saints shall bless thee. They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power. To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom."....Psalm cxlv. 10, 11, 12. So they honored the Lord of old, in displaying the glory of his grace: this work you are called to, if you have seen the glory of his kingdom, felt the power of it and entered into it by faith; "Honor the Lord with thy substance." Do not put such a dry, shrivelled comment upon the word SUBSTANCE, as though it meant giving a trifle now and then to the poor. Remember, "the liberal deviseth liberal things, and by liberal things he shall stand, or be established.” Isa. xxxii. 8. Do not dispense shadow when the Lord requires substance. If thy soul is liberal, thou wilt devise liberal things. This text will not only remind you of liberally dispensing of your substance to the poor and needy; but also of honoring your Lord by the faith of your heart, the love of your soul, placing your whole affections upon him and devoting your substance, your whole spirit, soul and body unto him: you will not be content with notions without life, form without spirit, worship without the heart, religion without the soul. For, 2d. Consider the reason for this. 1st. God has put the highest honor upon you; "He has called you into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ."....I Cor. i. 9. He has blessed you with ALL spiritual blessings in him....Eph. i. 3. There is not

one blessing God has to bestow, or Christ is possessed of, but is treasured up for you in Christ, and shall be received out of the fulness of Christ. Can you walk in the fellowship of Christ and not delight to honor God with your substance? 2d. You received all this freely, therefore you ought to give freely you are a pensioner upon God, and God is as it were a petitioner to you. Can you refuse him who speaks? Can you withhold any thing from him by whom you enjoy your ALL? 3d. You have but a little while to honor your Lord: let the faith of this stir you up to exert all your might only call in, and consult faith and love, and act under their influence to God's glory.