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from us, this alone will support us when life and its enjoyments are at an end; to this we are indebted for the glorious hope that " this corrupti"ble shall put on incorruption, and that this "mortal shall put on immortality;" through this we are raised to "the hope of an inheritance that " is incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth "not away." Let us, therefore, " continue sted

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fast, unmoveable, always abounding in the "work of the Lord, forasmuch as we know that "our labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. "Amen."

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SERMON XXXIV.

JEREMIAH 1. 4-5.

In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go, and seek the Lord their God.

They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.

THE CHRISTIAN TRAVELLER TOWARDS ZION*.

WERE I to ask any one in this great assembly what was the ultimate object of his hopes and his desires, I am persuaded none would make any hesitation to answer, a happy immortality: every body wishes, nay, in a certain degree expects, to go to heaven, that is, to enjoy a state of happiness beyond death and the grave: how much then is it to be regretted that multitudes should be so unhappy as to mistake the road: if

*This was Dr. Hunter's first Sermon after he was admitted into South Leith church, and was preached on the 10th of January, 1766.

I knew but of one in all my audience who was so cruel to himself as obstinately to persist in the broad way that leadeth to destruction, I should feel prompted by the combined force of duty, of affection, of compassion, to go to such a person, and beseech him upon my bended knees to take pity upon himself; I should gladly incur his displeasure, his resentment, if, by any expression of earnestness and regard, I could but persuade him to think seriously what he is doing, and whither he is going: but, alas! why do I speak of one? it is no breach of charity to express an apprehension that many, that numbers, instead of seeking the way to heaven" with their faces thi"therwards," are madly, unthinkingly, hurrying on to endless misery; and under that apprehension, how do I find myself at a loss to address this assembly! I would fain suppose, and for the present shall take it for granted, that all now hearing me, of whom perhaps there is a goodly number brought hither merely from a curiosity natural upon occasions of this sort, mean and wish to be happy, and God of his infinite mercy forbid that there should be one lost soul within these walls; for your instruction then, allow me to turn the prophecy in my text, which primarily refers to the redemption of the Jewish nation from bondage, into an exhortation suited to our

particular circumstances. "Come, and let us," who live in these happy days of gospel light and knowledge," go together weeping" and making supplication," and seek the Lord our God;" let us "ask the way to Zion with our faces thitherward, and let us join ourselves to the Lord in "a perpetual covenant, that shall not be forgotten."

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I shall not, in farther discoursing from this passage of holy writ, confine myself to a method, but just offer a few observations as they occur from the words, and

First, I would observe the beautiful resemblance between the christian proceeding on his way heavenwards, and one travelling on a journey. The motive which commonly engages any one to undertake a journey, is either uneasiness at home, some pleasure and advantage to be received at the end of his course, or both these together; and this is exactly the case in the christian life: men never think of entering on " the "narrow way that leadeth unto life," till they begin to feel that all is not well at home, till they begin to apprehend the danger of continuing in sin. They who live in ease and affluence, who are unacquainted with misery, who

never experienced disappointment, are, of all others, the most backward to enter upon a course which is necessarily attended with mortification and self-denial; they endeavour, therefore, to lull conscience asleep, that they may enjoy their pleasures in quiet. Our blessed Lord gives us a representation as a proof of this, in the example of the man whose "grounds brought forth plen

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tifully," who possessed a superfluity of worldly enjoyments; lost in these, we find him thus holding discourse with himself: "Soul, thou hast "much goods laid up for many years, take thine

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ease, eat, drink, and be merry;" to such a person, what a thunder-clap must have been the dreadful sentence: "thou fool, this night shall

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thy soul be required of thee." If any such are now hearing me, I would wish to give the alarm in time; up, and be doing, say not to yourselves "Peace, peace, when there is no peace;" for God's sake, and as you love your own souls, stifle not the remonstrances of conscience when it endeavours to rouse you out of an unthinking state. Were you assured that your dwelling was to be set on fire over your head if you continued in it a day longer, you would not deliberate whether or not it was expedient for you to leave it immediately; and can you live in sin at the constant risk of being cut off in the midst of your

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