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was no more sea." Not only shall there be no inward storm of the soul, no turbulent swellings and roarings of sinful people and nations, such as we behold upon earth, but an angelical abode for angelical spirits, in which sun and moon shall be succeeded by the uncreated light, God himself. The turbulent, unresting elements of our present home shall be replaced by a perfect joy and beauty.

So that not only the souls of the saints shall rejoice, but the very world they dwell in shall seem to be glad and bless its Maker, and thank Him for the garment of peace and glory in which He hath clothed it! Even now the holy psalmist would fain call on the elements, the untamed sea itself, to join: "Let the sea make a noise, and all that therein is; the round world and they that dwell therein. Let the floods clap their hands, and let the hills be joyful together before the Lord; for He cometh to judge the earth!" New heaven and a new earth, and new souls, and new bodies, and all

in love and peace! What a prize to struggle for! to wrestle so that we may obtain. And we shall obtain it, if so be we keep in faith and love close to Him who is ever with us in this changing and stormy world,-who needeth none to wake Him or to tell Him that without Him we perish! For He knoweth already, and hath taken us with all his saints into the ark with Him, the ark of his church; He who, in pain and sorrow, and death and judgment, will rebuke our enemies, and say, as He said to the waves of Gennesareth, "Peace, be still."

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SERMON X.

DANIEL iii. 16-18.-" Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter! If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O king! But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up."

IT is the duty of the preacher to enlarge upon and enforce the precepts and narratives of scripture. Yet there are some passages in holy writ which are in themselves so exceedingly impressive, which tell their own story so distinctly, and are so constructed to strike home upon the hearts

and souls of those who hear or read them, that he is afraid, even for the most solemn purposes of exhortation, so much as to touch them. They are like a building, framed by some great and wise architect, wherein every stone lies in its own place; and you can neither add nor diminish without marring the beauty or grandeur of the whole.

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This narrative of the King of Babylon's golden image, and the grand martyr souls and more than heroism of the three Jewish children, is one of these. The impression it produces when we wish to convey to others the awful lesson it inculcates, and the sublime spirit that moves as a living breath within it, is this! Why or how should I enforce such a noble scripture as this, if the heart and soul are not penetrated by the power of the inspired narrative itself? The words ought to burn like fire within them that hear them, and transfer, by a holy contagion, something of the faith, and love, and holy courage which they describe,

into them! All commentary upon them must be idle. If the sword of the Spirit, framed and tempered of heavenly steel, pierces not, of what avail can the preacher's own words be, which are but as a feeble rush in a child's hand in comparison?" I have often, when the lesson of to-day has come round, intended to address you on it, but I have always, for this reason, given up the thought!

But so it is, indeed, in a greater or less degree, with all the word of God! The most eloquent and spirit-stirring words which ever flowed from men's lips are but as inarticulate sounds, a hollow, tinkling cymbal, compared with the depth, the heart-searchingness, the vivid in working might which is enfolded in God's word! Only let it come vehemently enough in collision with men's souls, and, as you see in the stricken flint and steel, the hidden fire will come flashing out of it.

Why is it, then, that all this power is thrown away? that the word of God is for

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