every moment brings him farther from heaven, and nearer to hell; he is going, and there is death and hell after him. Sinner, your sins are unrepented of; you have never come to Jesus Christ; you are going, and there is death and hell after you! Come, then, and see him, in the high road to ruin. The horse and the rider are increasing in speed; they are coming quickly on, they are getting nearer and nearer: they are overtaking him. Can you bear the sight? Come and see. If the rider overtakes that poor sinner unpardoned, and unsaved, and strikes his blow, down the sinner falls, backward he drops! There is hell behind him, and as he falls backward, he looks upward, and shrieks, lost! LOST! LOST! Time LOST; sabbaths LOST ; means LOST; soul LOST; heaven LOST. Backward he drops; all his sins seem to hang round his neck like so many millstones as he plunges into the burning abyss. Come and see. Lord, save him; O, my God, save him. Come and see.

Blessed be God, the rider has not overtaken him yet. Blessed be God, there is time and space yet, for that poor sinner; he may be saved yet; he has not dropped into hell. Come and see. The horse and the rider have not overtaken you yet; and therefore there is an accepted time, and there is a day of salvation. Come and see. There is God the Father inviting you; God the Father commanding you; God the Father swearing He has no pleasure in your death; and that He has pleasure in your life. Come and see. There is Jesus come to seek you. He travelled thirty-three years to save you; He is dying on the cross; with his out-stretched arms He says, "Come unto me, and I will give you rest.” "He that believeth on me shall never die." Jesus is looking, and He says, "Ye will not come unto me, that ye might have life." Come and see. There is a Saviour waiting to receive you.

O, my brothers, and my sisters, come and see. Here is the Spirit striving, here is the door open; here is salvation within your reach: it is the accepted time; it is the day of mercy. Come and see. The poor sinner is stopping, he is thinking, he is sighing, he is saying, "Hallelujah to God!" and the angels carry the news to glory. Come and see, one soul is saved. Salvation is come into this house; he is entering in at the straight gate, and the narrow way. I trust such will be the case with many souls to night. May the Lord grant it, and devils see it, and gnash their teeth; angels see it, and welcome the traveller; and God show He has no pleasure in death. Come and see. There is the believer; he is going on the highway to glory, from promise to promise; he plucks the promise from the tree of salvation as he goes along. Come and see. There is the believer running the race set before him; he is walking, and is not weary, for every step brings him nearer to glory. Hallelujah to God!

And, my friends is the believer at all alarmed as the horse and his rider approaches? No! Does he say, "O, mine enemy!" When grim death has lost his sting, he wears an angel's face; and he has lost his sting to a believer. When death comes upon his pale horse, he does not feel faint; his father's servant is coming; he shakes hands with all who are around him, and says, "Farewell, meet me in heaven, I will meet you at the pearly gates; I will come and welcome you. I shall see my father, my mother, my brother, my relations, and my friends, farewell!" แ 0 death, where is thy sting; O grave, where is thy victory? Thanks be unto God who giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ!" Come and see, then, the believer die; come and see his triumph over the last enemy; come and see him and the rider of the horse. There he goes from all the sorrows of time to the joys of eternity; and he

enters into the rest of the people of God, and there awaits the consummation of God's people.

I well remember the time when the pale horse and his rider approached Sammy Hick, THE VILLAGE BLACKSMITH. He was nearer to him than I thought him to be. I was with him on the Wednesday, and he died upon the following Monday. The pale horse overtook him on the Monday; there was a young man said on Sunday night, that "such a night he did not expect to see again." They were singing and praising God; and he said "the place seemed filled with the glory of God." The pale horse and his rider approached, and poor SAMMY's speech began to faulter, and his breath to fail; but glory be to God, he was not at all afraid of seeing the pale horse; no, it was joy, peace, and love. Two or three neighbours came in, and thought they would sing him over the river; they saw him wading across Jordan to the promised land; and when all the power of language failed,

"Joy beaming through his eyes did break,

And meant the thanks he could not speak." They saw his eyes sparkle: they saw the joy of his soul as he went along, and the thanks he could not speak. And just before he took his last step out of time into glory, the poor soldier waived his hand, crying, "Victory! Victory! VICTORY!" Glory be to God; if He saved him, He can save you and, therefore, let us learn that now is "the accepted time, and now is the day of salvation;" now is the moment of mercy.

May the power and presence of God rest upon every sinner's heart and mind; and may the Lord grant that every one may enter into the narrow way! May the Lord bless his word! Amen.

SERMON XII.

THE MEAT WHICH PERISHETH NOT.

BY THE REV. WM. ROBERTS, OF CHESTERFIELD.

LABOUR NOT FOR THE MEAT WHICH PERISHETH, BUT FOR THAT MEAT WHICH ENDURETH UNTO EVERLASTING LIFE, WHICH THE SON OF MAN SHALL GIVE UNTO YOU: FOR HIM HATH GOD THE FATHER SEALED."-JOHN VI. 27.

“THE natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him." His mind is entirely engrossed with the things of time: the interests of the flesh take up all his attention. He has no understanding to perceive, no heart to appreciate, nor any ear to listen to the instruction of wisdom respecting the salvation of his soul. Many an observer would have supposed when he saw the multitudes attending the ministry of the Saviour in the days of his flesh, that they were really seeking spiritual instruction. This, however, in many instances was not their object; their minds were carnal, their desires were sensual, and some earthly benefit was very often the chief object of their pursuit; a very striking instance we have in this chapter, and which called from our Lord the words of the text.

We read in the commencement of this chapter that Jesus fed five thousand with five loaves and two small fishes. This, with his other miracles, was designed to prove his character and mission; all the witnesses did not view it in that light many who partook of the loaves and fishes followed him to a distance, but He knew their motives, and He said unto them, "Verily, verily I say unto you, ye seek me not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves and were filled." "Labour not for the meat which perisheth."

Similar instances are still to

be found. Persons make a profession of religion, and unite themselves to some section of the Church of Christ for some worldly benefit, and they endeavour to ascertain which will be the most profitable section to connect themselves with. 66 Verily they have their reward." These words contain general instructions applicable to men in all ages and countries. The text is the language of direction and encouragement.

I. OF DIRECTION.

and what to pursue.

We are here directed what to avoid

1. Labour not for the meat that perisheth.-This language is highly figurative; the word meat in the former part of our text is used to express the things of the body in general, a part is put for the whole, and we may understand it as referring to all the things of this life, both the necessaries and the luxuries. These comprise the whole of what the generality of men are seeking after; their inquiry is, what shall we eat, and what shall we drink, and wherewithal shall we be clothed? There are but few who make the salvation of their souls their chief business; with the greater part of the human race, the care of the body is the only study.

This is the meat that perisheth; all earthly things are perishable. They are so in human estimation when they