and, furthermore, you will have reason to rejoice at having promoted the highest interest of your Country, by securing the protection and favour of Him who has declared "they that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed but abideth for ever! As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about His people from henceforth.”

Think not that national security is to be found in the mere possession of wealth which perishes, -of fleets which the storm may shatter or destroy, of armies, whose ranks may melt away beneath disease or the force of untoward events, -or of subtle statemanship which is often foiled by the interposition of a Higher Power! Not in these, nor in any other earthly possession, can a nation find real security! a people is only really great, prosperous, and secure, just as an individual is only truly happy, when the favor of God has been vouchsafed to a trusting piety.

"Then draw we nearer, day by day,

Each to his brethren, all to God;
Let the world take us as she may,
We must not change our road."

G2

SERMON IX.

THE WITHERED GRASS AND FADED FLOWER. ISAIAH xl., 7.

"The grass withereth-the flower fadeth."

The seasons, as they come and go, present to a thoughtful mind-in their changeful effects upon the face of nature-in the gradual growth of all that gives to this world of ours its loveliness, and to its products their usefulness, and to its inhabitants their means of sustenance, and in the periodical decay, also, of what for a while had beautified, and in the dissolution of all that had animated for a brief term, the scenes of earth-many a needful lessonmany an impressive warning-many a cheering hope-many a solemn invitation to commune devoutly with our Maker, who reveals Himself to us in the majesty and power and love and goodness and equity that inspire the Providence beneath which we live and move, and have our being!"

"From dearth to plenty, and from death to life Is nature's progress when she lectures man In heavenly truth, evincing, as she makes The grand, transition, that there lives and works A soul in all things, and that soul is God!" There is a sort of Divine Scripture traced on the changes of the material world. The finger of God has inscribed on its mysteries of life and death-of formation, sustenance, and decomposition, and re-production-a teaching which we ought to reverence as well as accept. Wherefore, St. Paul, when alluding to the wilfulness of impenitent sinners, in refusing the knowledge of the things of God, exclaims, "That which may be known of God is manifest to them; for God hath showed it unto them; for the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen."

The voice of God in nature must ever be a godly man's monitor. "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech, nor language, where their voice is not heard:" so that, at every step we take through life, we may, if we will, discover some fresh token in the world around us (not only of the

Divine presence "compassing our path," and of the Divine providence "besetting us behind and before, and laying a hand upon us" but also) of the nature of the trial-scene through which it is the will of God that they, who love His Word, shall pass to an immortality of Heavenly bliss. No wonder that the Patriarch Isaac loved to wander forth "into the fields to meditate at even-tide!" No wonder that the Divine exemplar of all believers, Jesus Christ our Lord, so often retired to the lone mountain-side or seashore, where no intrusion of human turmoil would mar the blessed enjoyment of contemplation upon His Heavenly Father's attributes, or interrupt His Divine reflections upon the destinies of men! "This rolling earth is full of Thee, O God!" Each change of time and season, marking with its vicissitudes the face of nature, bears from Thee a voice of practical instruction, and a call to worship for observant man! And, among them all, none more impressively illustrates Thy Divine will and purposes, or enforces more touchingly upon our heed the blessed Scriptures, wherein "life and immortality are brought to light" for us, than the present season of the year!

May we be guided by the Spirit from above,

while we seriously reflect upon and endeavour rightly to apply, on this occasion, some of the solemn lessons which the fall of the year suggests!

I. Consider the general decay which it involves, "The grass withereth:-the flower fadeth!" But a little while since, all nature appeared charming in the gay luxuriance of its summer clothing. A short time has elapsed since the fields presented the lovely aspect of waving crops, blooming flowers, and shady foliage. Where are these now? Oh! let not the moral of their withered stalks and yellow leaves be either unheeded now or forgotten hereafter. Amid the various various temptations, pleasures, and occupations of this life, let the voice of God be heard, proclaiming, "All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass; the grass withereth, and the flower thereof fadeth away"! Painfully our experience gives echo to the truth. In our

daily business we now miss the intercourse of many with whom we once were associated. We enter the Sanctuary, and, as heretofore, loud and solemn are the congregation's prayers and praises to their God; but we miss many a familiar face-many a well known voice! We return to our homes; and the family circle