disparity of rank, of age, and of circumstances. But, as if actuated by one soul, they all engage in the same pursuits: all make it their chief study to serve and glorify God; all daily bow their knees before God the Father, and his Son Jesus Christ; all are occupied in reading and meditating on his blessed Word; all are seeking to have their evil natures sanctified, and to "grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ" their common Lord. These are their daily pursuits; these the works which they feel and avow to be of the first importance. Thus they continue to be occupied, till the day when their Lord calls them to join the family of the redeemed above.

Nor is this communion confined to their occupations. They share also in each other's joys; "joys in which a stranger intermeddleth not.”—They mutually rejoice in Christ, in the honour paid to his name, and in the increasing knowledge of his religion. They rejoice when the light of God's countenance is lifted up upon their souls, and their joy they love to communicate. They rejoice in the happiness and salvation of each other, no envy dividing the brethren in Christ. Their consolations are the same. The blessed Spirit reveals to all the same truths, and communicates the same grace to their souls.

There is, also, a communion of sorrows among the saints. "If one member" of the mystical body of Christ "suffers" the rest "suffer with it."-They who are personally strangers, yet feel a brother's interest in all who love God. They enter into their trials, for they are their own: they feel for them, while they behold them struggling with an evil nature and a sinful world. Do they see them affected with bodily pain? They have more than a stranger's compassion for them. Do they hear of their lying upon a dying bed? With the anxious solicitude of brethren, they send up fervent prayer on their behalf, and tenderly sympathize with them, while engaged in the last struggle with the ers of darkness and the body of sin.

pow

Strong also and exquisite is the communion of love between the brethren in Christ.-To what acts of compassion does not the love of Christ incite Christians? To what labours of love does it not stimulate them? What candour, what good-will, what readiness to oblige all who love their common Lord, does not the sense of his dying love produce? But, alas! how frequently do the chilling frosts of this cold and unfriendly climate check the growth of this Divine charity. The discovery of hypocrisy, the frowning aspect of the world, the lethargic state of some brethren, the declension or apostacy of others, produce disastrous changes, and separate those whom God had united. Still, however, the members of the Church of Christ, in general, enjoy an union which no ties of party, country, or even kindred, could produce; and they look forward with hope to the day when they shall love each other, even as they are now loved by their God.

They enjoy, moreover, communion with each other, by much actual intercourse and conversation in the world. They who have the same pursuits, are engaged in the same design, and are interested in the same cause, cannot be contented to remain strangers to each other. They have a communion of subjects upon which they can converse; subjects important as heaven, dear as eternal life. To each other, therefore, they will often open their hearts, and will take sweet counsel together. They will relate their trials, and describe their fears and hopes, with an interest which none except themselves can feel.

They enjoy, lastly, communion with each other in prayer. Their hearts are opened before the throne of Grace; their affections are kindled at the flame of the altar of God. Here, therefore, in sweet fellowship, the many thousands of Israel meet: here they offer up the same petitions; here they plead for each other in fervent supplication: and, while they unite in adoration and intercession, their affections are enlivened; so that, like the disciples at Emmaus, while holding commun

ion with their Lord, they say, "Did not our hearts burn within us?"—or, with Peter on the Mount, "It is good for us to be here." Thus, on this holy day, are all the servants of Christ in every country, in every climate, of every denomination and sect, however separated by distance or by varying modes of worship, united before the throne of Grace in offering up the same devout supplications, and the same animated praises.

Such, then, is the fellowship to which the Apostle in my text invited the disciples to whom he wrote. Such, also, is the fellowship to which we are called. Here, let us each say to our souls-"What is thy state, and with whom dost thou hold communion? Is it with men of a worldly spirit? Dost thou rejoice only in their pleasures, grieve only in their sorrows, engage only in their employments? Then, thou art of the world, even as they are of the world. But happy indeed art thou, if thou canst say, 'My delight is with the saints that are upon the earth, and with such as excel in virtue:' my communion is with the Father of spirits, and with his Son Jesus Christ my Redeemer, and with the angels above. I am also joined with the whole church of the faithful below: I am occupied in the same work, I possess the same comforts, I am warmed with the same love. I feel a brother's sympathy with the members of Christ. My soul unites itself to them when I approach the throne of Grace, and my heart burns within me while I converse with them upon the things of God."-My "brethren in Christ," such will be our feelings if we are actuated by the Spirit of God.

Numerous are the inferences suggested by this subject. I shall briefly touch on some of them.—In the first place, it suggests to us the necessity of being separate from the world, and of becoming "a holy and peculiar people, zealous of good works." The light of Divine Truth, and the holiness flowing from it, alone lead to that fellowship with God, and with each other, which has been described. "If we walk in the light, as God is in the light, we have fellowship with each oth

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er." But "if we say we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth." For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness, light with darkness? There can be no communion where there is no similitude. Communion arises from a similarity of disposition and pursuits.

Let this subject also be employed to excite our thankful acknowledgments. What are we, that we should be admitted to fellowship with God? Oh, how glorious is the "hope of our calling!" Let this hope support us amidst the trials of the world, and against the loss of friends, which the devout pursuit of religion may sometimes produce. Is it not enough that we are joined in fellowship with angels and archangels, with the glorious company of the apostles, the noble army of martyrs, the goodly fellowship of the prophets, the holy church universal? Such a communion should fill us with lofty ideas and feelings: the heirs of heaven should not suffer their minds to be grovelling upon earth, or their hearts to be carried away with the love of a polluted world. "Let our light shine before men." Let us live as those who have "fellowship with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ."

Let the subject inspire affection also towards real Christians. "Let our love be without dissimulation." Let us shew candour to the followers of the same Master. Are we not brethren, and shall we make each other offenders for a word? Shall those for whom Christ died be unwilling to exercise kindness to each other? Shall those, who are fellow heirs of the same promise, live as if they were strangers here? Oh let us, for Christ's sake, overlook our petty differences! Let the love of Christ be the central point in which we meet. Let it be employed to cement love between Christian brethren. Let us cultivate a sympathizing spirit. Let us abound in all the sympathies of love, in works of charity, in acts of pity and kindness for each other. Thus shall we shew that we really have fellowship with Christ: thus shall we approve ourselves to be his disciples.

SERMON XII.

ON COMMUNION WITH THE ANGELS.

Hebrews xii. 22.

Ye are come to an innumerable company of angels.

IT appears to have been a favourite practice with St. Paul, to display to the disciples the privileges and happiness which belong to the state of a real Christian. He felt that happiness, and he enjoyed those privileges, in so great a degree himself, that he earnestly desired others to be made partakers of them. He accordingly gives, in the passage from which my text is taken. a striking view of the superiority of Christian privileges to those of the Jewish Church. "Ye" Christians, he says, "are not come unto the Mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire; nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest"-things calculated only to fill the mind with terror and dismay; "but ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels; to the general assembly and church of the first-born, which are written in heaven; and to God the Judge of all; and to the spirits of just men made perfect; and to Jesus the Mediator of the New