none excluded, none despised. So full, so liberal, so free, so general are the invitations of the Gospel, that God "calls upon all men everywhere to repent."

2. Those privileges are to be obtained in the Church. God says, in mine house, and within my walls. If you intend joining the family in heaven, you must first join it on earth. Out of the Church there is no salvation. There is but one way to heaven, and that way passes through Christ's Church upon earth.

I do not profess to tell you, with the presumption of infallibility, in which department of the house you must choose to dwell. If you be within the Catholic Church, you may choose your own section. Should you be a Roman Catholic you may be right, but be not too superstitious. Should you belong to the Church of England you may be right, but be not too formal. Should you be a Dissenter you may be right, but be not too political. Such distinction of names will not be known in heaven. It would be well if they were less known upon earth. The true Church of Christ, however, is not confined to either section. Some of its members are found amongst all, but none without any. It is in His house, and within His walls, God gives His people the better name.

3. The privileges of God's house are to be eternal. "An everlasting name, that shall not be cut off."

The names of earth, however highly they may sound for a time, shall soon perish and be forgotten. The names of kings and warriors that once struck terror into the hearts of millions shall be buried in endless oblivion. The names of philosophers and poets that for a season win the admiration. of the masses shall soon no more be known. The names of those who are now renowned for deeds of art, of science, or of commerce, shall ere long never be remembered. Those names that are emblazoned on escutcheons of heraldic chivalry shall one day sink with the houses which they represent. Not so the names of the sons and of the daughters of God. Theirs is an everlasting name which shall not be cut off." It shall last on earth, it shall last in heaven. It shall last

through time; it shall last through eternity, when time shall be no more. It is engraven, not only on the palms of God's hands, but on the tablet of God's heart. So long as God will endure shall this name endure.

If it be ours, brethren, we are more highly privileged than if we possessed the names, or occupied the highest stations upon earth. We need envy none who have no claim to it, and none have but those who are within the walls of God's house. However honourable their position in life, however extended their influence on earth, they must be miserable at last; for they, with their names, shall perish. Oh, how highly exalted is the position of those who are in the house. It is a place of shelter, a place of safety, a place of comfort, a place of communion, a place of enjoyment. Here Christ honours them with His presence, with His fellowship, and with the choicest of His blessings. Here He will sup with them and they with Him. He will abide with them and they with Him.

Let us, then, exert all our powers in prayer and supplication for God's Spirit to bestow upon us the name of His sons and daughters and let us not rest until we feel the assurance of possessing a place in His house and within His walls, not merely outwardly, but inwardly, sincerely, eternally.

135

The Sunday called Septuagesima.

MORNING SERVICE.-First Lesson: Gen. i.

Verse 1.-" In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."

MAN's mind has been constituted for reflection. It is never at rest, but constantly acts upon one or the other of the numerous subjects which occupy its attention. When the body is at rest the mind is in motion; even when the body is asleep there is continual action going on in the mind. Being thus active, it requires a supply of proper materials to act upon. In its present corrupt state it will operate upon pernicious and degrading subjects, unless furnished with those materials which tend to its health and its improvement. We never need be at a loss for proper subjects of contemplation. The works of God in creation, in providence, and in grace give us an ample supply at all times and under all circumstances. The works of creation alone afford a spacious field, over which the mind can roam at will. Here it can find an inexhaustible store of the richest gems, which will furnish it with subjects of the most improving tendency, especially when the study of nature leads to nature's God.

The text gives us a clue to this study. It gives us the first end of a series of thoughts which may occupy a period as long as eternity itself. It may be regarded as an introduction or preface to the whole Bible, as its whole contents represent subsequent operations which originated in the fact that, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”

There are four things brought before us here which we shall consider separately. First, The Actor; Secondly, The act; Thirdly, The objects; and Fourthly, The time. In contemplating these comprehensive subjects we can make but a few

remarks upon each, suggesting a train of thoughts for future reflection.

We notice

I. The Actor: God.

The existence of God is the basis of religion. When we prove to ourselves the existence of a God, or, in other words, of a Being by whom we were created, and by whom the universe is governed, to such a Being we and the universe must sustain important relations, which involve a variety of duties immediately due to Him. The existence of God admits of no doubt, therefore our obligations to Him admit of no excuse.

In the text the existence of God is taken for granted, for inasmuch as the heaven and the earth were brought into existence in the beginning, there must have been a Being before the beginning to originate those objects.

Taking then for granted the eternal existence of God, we may notice the peculiar properties which He absolutely possesses to render Him superior to all other beings.

1. He is plainly self-existent. The existence of all other beings is derivative; they could not be if they had not derived their being from another source. Man can trace his existence from son to father retrospectively from one generation to another, until he arrives at Adam, who is solemnly declared to have derived his existence from God. Although we cannot trace the origin of angels, yet, since they are finite beings, they must have had a beginning, and if they had a beginning, it must have been derived from an external source. The same may be said of all other beings except God; He only possesses underived existence. Hence He truly says, "I am, and there is none beside me."

2. He is omnipotent. The power which gives existence and supports in existence can know no limits. The power which is necessary to move a single world is beyond finite comprehension, yet God moves the great world which we inhabit faster than the swiftest motion of a cannon ball. In

addition to that He moves, at the same time, the whole system of which our world forms but an integral part. The sun, the planets, the stars forming innumerable worlds, of which we know nothing, are moved by Him with inconceivable velocity. All those He has continued to move without intermission from the first moment of their existence, and yet "he fainteth not, neither is weary."

This is not all. In every atom in each globe he continues to exercise His amazing agency. He conducts every particle of matter, and regulates every action of mind, so that nothing exists but as it is actuated by His Almighty power.

3. He possesses infinite wisdom and knowledge. Such were necessary to construct, and such are necessary to govern, the vast empire of which He is the independent Sovereign. In the contrivance of the attributes and operations of these things is to be seen a stupendous display of His unmeasurable wisdom and knowledge. What, may we ask, must be the knowledge of Him from whom all created minds derived both their power of knowing and the innumerable objects. of their knowledge? What, may we ask, must be the wisdom of Him from whom all other intelligent beings derive their wisdom? The seraph and the saint, the sage and the prophet, as well as less exalted beings, receive their treasures of knowledge and wisdom from this one source. We are astonished at the display of wisdom in the creature; what must be the amount in the great Creator Himself? If we admire the skill of the bee and the swallow in providing, without error, their food and habitation,-if we admire especially the genius of man in inventing and constructing objects of ingenuity,-how much more should we admire the wisdom of Him whose depth of mind the highest seraph can never fathom.

4. Omnipresence is a property which belongs to Him alone. Matter requires space for existence, finite spiritual intelligencies require motion to exist in different places. In their case to be present in one place is to be absent from another. God