goodness before; but till now they knew not how much he could love, especially such unlovely objects. To whom am I going when I pray ? Not to an enemy, not to a stranger, but to my friend, my best friend, who has proved himself such. I ask pardon, holiness, heaven from him who spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all. This makes faith strong and powerful. True, I approach him through the Mediator, but he is of his own appointing by a sacrifice, but it is offered by himself.

Finally, while we see the foundation, it teaches the need of building on it. What use without a superstructure ? How foolish would a man look who laid a foundation only? And what fools are we in the sight of God and of angels if, while we talk of the cross, &c., we go no farther-make no application to it-erect no building upon it-apply not for the all things. These are with Christ when you feel convinced, accept of Christ. - Lose no time then with him God gives pardon, and holiness, and heaven-without him, nothing; with him, anything. Believe, then, on him.-Trust yourselves in his hands.

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SERMON LII.

THE STRONG HOLD.

Zechariah, ix., 12.-Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope; even to-day do I declare that I will render double unto thee.

THE language of the prophet is beautifully lofty. Expatiate on this. - He addresses the Church of God as then established on earth under the beautiful feminine appellation of daughter of Zion: "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion : shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy king cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass." "He is just;" emphatically so; not more just, but just in the abstract; there is no justice but with God. -Neighbouring gov. ernors were not just; or if at times just, not so always; but he is always just; therefore fear not, but rejoice. Whenever the king makes his approach, the people rejoice because of the honour-" and having salvation;" the two kinds of salvation from the guilt and power of sin, for Christ's king. dom is the kingdom of heaven, and this is the prerogative.Again, alluding to other kings, conquerors who brought their trophies with them. --But his salvation is not of a temporal only, but of a much more important one; he comes, and salvation comes with him! "Oh! that with yonder sacred throng." * * * Hosanna.

But if the prophet had ceased his description here, the daughter of Zion might have feared to look on him because of his great glory. Had he described him as coming like an earthly monarch, with all the appendages of pomp and show, it is true they might have rejoiced, but they could not have hoped to be on familiar intercourse with him; he therefore adds, he is lowly, contrasting him herein with all earthly monarchs.

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Contrast his great humility, and show how repugnant is pride to Deity. * * * "And riding upon an ass" to show that he is familiar with his people, and free of access to all, however poor.

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Having given this sublime imagery of his person and manner of entrance among them, the prophet proceeds to show what kind of sovereignty he will exercise, differing herein from all earthly monarchs. "I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle-bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace to the heathen; and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth." He comes not ushered in by the battle-bow or the war-whoop, &c., and refuses any warlike weapon to aid him; the clashing of sabres or the roar of war, the Indian yell or the more refined thunder of the cannon, are his disgust. "Art thou a king then?" "My kingdom is not of this world." But he shall speak peace; he conquers by all-powerful love; he uses no other weapon, but by this makes them yield to his love's most gracious power, &c.; and by this means only, his dominion shall at last extend from sea to sea; it shall spread over the earth, and by this gentle, godlike means, all nations shall be subdued, and righteousness "shall cover the earth, as the waters cover the sea." What a glorious promise! Lord, accomplish it!

I. What the prophet means by " prisoners of hope."
II. What by "the strong hold."

III. What by "rendering double unto thee."

IV. The time when he will do all this "To-day."

The subject is of the highest importance. It concerns our everlasting salvation. Hear, then, for eternity!

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I. What the prophet means by "prisoners of hope." The whole passage is highly figurative. We can know nothing of our own state or of the other state of existence in a world of spirits without figures of earthly things. Hence, with regard to ourselves, the Scriptures make use of a language of figures borrowed from the most loathsome diseases and imperfections of our bodies, to express the far more loathsome state of our spiritual maladies: "The dead hear, the deaf hear, the dumb speak, the lepers are cleansed," &c., &c.-And elevated as these metaphors are, they come far short of conveying a perfect idea of our guilt and misery

But in our text he introduces another chain of metaphors highly figurative, and represents men as prisoners. In the 11th verse he says: "I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water." The weary traveller, spent with fatigue and benighted in his journey, seeks about for the cooling stream to allay his parching thirst, and all in vain; and in his wanderings falls into a pit, out of which it is impossible to escape; and to add to his misery, the pit is dry, and in this miserable condition he is almost frantic by torture and despair. This figure has a retrospective and prospective meaning. It is just the state of the sinner here; he wanders about in this strange country, which he is obliged to own is not his home, thirsting after pleasure, and finding nothing to allay that desire, he plunges into the pit of sin, where this thirst cannot be supplied: but it has an awful prospective to that pit where there is, indeed, no water.Dives * * * and is just consonant with the New Testament. In the words of our text, the prophet changes the figure as to their state, but still continues the appellation of prisoners, but calls them prisoners of hope.

*** Mankind are called prisoners, and when our Lord preached his first sermon at Nazareth he took for his text those words of the prophet, "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound." We are by nature in the prison of sin, and Peter's state is no bad analogy to ours: he was bound with chains; and not only so, but had two to guard him, and he was asleep. The sinner is the same, and he is guarded by the infernal agency, who endeavour to keep him asleep lest he should see his situation. The word of God says we are led captive by the devil at his will. And as Isaiah says, the poor prisoners sit in darkness! See the marginal passages. But we are prisoners of hope,

1. Because we are out of hell; and so long as we are, there is hope.

2. Because Christ's Spirit has not ceased striving with us, and therefore there is yet hope of us; we may yet close in with the offers of mercy, and consent to be saved by grace.

3. Because Christ has not ceased to intercede for us in heaven, and the power of his prevailing prayer may not be ineffectual for us.

But even believers are in a sense prisoners of hope"And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope; but hope that is seen is not hope; for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for ?"* We groan for the redemption of the body, for we are saved by hope; it is Heaven's gift to cheer us in this mortal vale, and buoys our fainting spirits up. All such are encour

* Turn to your strong hold." This is Christ Jesus; for in the 11th verse he says that it is " by the blood of the covenant that the prisoners are sent forth." "On this rock I will build my church," and all the art of man, nay, all "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." It is called a strong hold; it is not built on a sandy foundation, against which the floods shall prevail, but it is on the rock of ages! Turning to it implies,

1. Turning your back on the world and sin, for you cannot turn round to this strong hold until you do this.

2. It implies that you consider it-take a survey of and examine it.-God does not require you to adopt his religion before you have examined it; he says himself, "Come and let us reason together." Bring forth all your arguments; and the result of our reasoning will be, that you will find that "though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." His blood can wash out every stain. It implies that you consider its security-whether it is the "strong hold" that you want.

3. It implies that you survey its spaciousness; take a look at its hiding-places and coverts from the storm; its battlements and towers, its buttresses and bulwarks, and therein you will find that there is enough for all, enough for each, enough for evermore.

4. Having satisfied yourselves on the survey, it requires you to turn into this strong hold; for of what importance is it to ascertain its use unless you avail yourselves of its benefits? Go into your capital, your city of refuge, and there lay hold on the horns of the altar, and find security and protection. (An enemy has you in his power, but not far distant is a strong hold, which if you will venture to attain, you will therein find ample security. Make the effort, then, ye prisoners of hope; rally into it; you are unsafe out of it.

May not this apply to tempted souls; not to fight the enemy out of this citadel; not to venture on his ground, but to run to your hiding-place when attacked; he cannot follow you there.)

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