world rich in faith." If we be thus enriched, what is outward poverty? Worldly distinctions will appear of very little comparative importance in our eyes. Faith will unveil the eternal treasures that are laid up for us, where neither moth nor rust corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal; and seeing those things which are invisible, we shall learn to enjoy them in somewhat the same way, though not in the same degree, as if they were present. Let us pray, therefore, daily to the Author of every good and perfect gift to strengthen and confirm our faith.

The Christian is also made rich in righteousness. He is accepted through the righteousness of God. His own righteousness, or meritorious claim, being discarded, he is clothed in the robe of the righteousness of his Redeemer. Rich, indeed, may he be accounted, who is thus arrayed! When all earthly treasures fail, this will be a never-fading possession.

The Christian is also made rich in spiritual enjoyments. He has the highest sources of happiness within his own heart. The thought of the glory that awaits him is a possession which he would not exchange for the highest temporal hopes. He has a joy and peace in believing, which he would not resign for all the treasures of an unsatisfying world. They will last when every thing else fails; and without

them all that we can possess on earth is but poverty.

Another, and a principal thing in which the Christian is made rich, is holiness and good works. Walking in the Spirit, he does not fulfil the lusts of the flesh.

Whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report, are cultivated by him. He endeavours to walk worthy of God, who hath called him unto his kingdom. That very same grace by which Christ was led to become poor that we might be rich, teaches him, that " denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, he should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present evil world." "Out of a good conversation, therefore, he shews his works with meekness of wisdom." He abounds richly in the graces and virtues of the Christian character; though knowing his own sinfulness and his inability to atone for his transgressions, or to satisfy the broken law of God, he dares not make them his boast, or place his trust in them for salvation.

Lastly, he is made rich in eternal glory and felicity. But here the highest conception must fail. Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive," those unfading riches which God hath laid up for them that love him. When time shall end, and all earthly things are for

gotten, these riches shall still be new and inexhaustible. They shall not, like temporal riches, make to themselves wings, and flee away, but shall be firm and eternal as the Divine Source from which they are derived. All that God can give, and all that the human soul can desire, is included in the riches which Christ, by his voluntary poverty, and submission to death, has procured for his faithful followers. Hence every enjoyment of heaven will exalt our love towards him by whom it was purchased; and will make us sing with new ardours of gratitude, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing."

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SERMON V.

VAIN PRAYERS.

JER. XXXVII. 1—3.

And king Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, reigned instead of Coniah, the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, made king in the land of Judah. But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, did hearken unto the words of the Lord which he spake by the prophet Jeremiah. And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal, the son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah, the son of Maaseiah the priest, to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Pray now unto the Lord our God for us.

IN reading the Scriptures for the purposes of spiritual edification, persons are not always sufficiently sensible of the value of the historical parts. Yet these were given of God as much as the more devotional, preceptive, or doctrinal portions, and were intended for the benefit of the church to the end of time. They are not to be looked upon as merely the national records of the houses of Israel and Judah; for

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they point throughout to the preparations for the coming of Him who was to die for the whole human race, and they illustrate the conduct of the Almighty towards the children of men in every age of the world. They exhibit also a most affecting view of the human heart in all its windings; and in this way are eminently instructive even to those who may not have leisure or ability to trace the whole narrative, or to understand all its parts. Thus, in the passage just read as the text, it is not absolutely necessary, before a poor and illiterate person can draw any benefit from it, that he should be minutely acquainted with all the circumstances of the history to which it relates. So far, indeed, as he has opportunity, such points are not to be neglected; but, even detached from the context, there is presented to us, on the very face of the passage, a picture which must strike every attentive reader, and ought to lead him to serious reflection upon his own religious inconsistencies;-the picture of a king, his courtiers, and his people, obstinately refusing to hearken to the voice of the Lord by his prophet, and yet, by a strange contradiction, entreating that prophet's prayers; despising the admonitions of religion, yet desirous of its benefits; careless of God in the hour of supposed security, yet hoping for his favour in the time of trouble; seeking the intercessions of