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people said unto Joshua, Nay, but we will serve the Lord. And Joshua said unto the people, Ye are witnesses against yourselves that ye have chosen you the Lord, to serve him. And they said, We are witnesses. Now therefore put away, said he, the strange gods which are among you, and incline your heart unto the Lord God of Israel. And the people said unto Joshua, The Lord our God will we serve, and his voice will we obey. So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day; and he wrote these words in the book of the law of God, and took a great stone, and set it up there under an oak, that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. And he said unto all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness; for it hath heard all the words of the Lord, which he spake unto us: it shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God."* How affecting was the rite-how speaking was the memorial!

And now for yourselves. You will consecrate your service this day unto the Lord. Let your determination be formed under an enlightened sense of the obligations you incur, and the awful majesty of the Being to whom you engage: -remember-" God will not be mocked!"-And still you are resolved. Then make your covenant, and surrender your hearts; and prepare to enter into visible union with the redeemed church, and let the body and blood of Jesus be

* Joshua xxiv. 14-27.

made the seal of the devotion which heaven, earth, and hell shall know. Ere you leave the house of God this day, your own lips shall utter that henceforth you are the Lord's. I pronounce the words of self-consecration-and may the eternal Spirit enable you sincerely to follow, and amply to fulfil them!-

HERE IN THY COURTS I LEAVE MY VOw,
AND THY RICH GRACE RECORD;

WITNESS, YE SAINTS, THAT HEAR ME NOW,
IF I FORSAKE THE LORD!

SERMON XVI.

MATTHEW xx. 6.*

-The eleventh hour.

THESE words occur in a memorable parable, pronounced by Him who spake as "never man spake." It is to the following effect. "The kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a-day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the market-place, and said unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, I will give you. And they went their way. Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive." -The subsequent part of the narrative states, * Addressed to the aged.

that at the conclusion of the day, the labourers who had begun their work the last, received their reward the first; that their recompence was equal to the amount with which those were remunerated who had "borne the burden and heat of the day;" that against the discontent of the latter, the "good man of the house" asserted his right to make his own distribution; and that the arrangement acted upon, was unaltered and was final.

You will perceive, from the remark at the close of the relation, that this parable was intended to illustrate the significant maxim which preceded it," Many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first." The specific principle to which both the maxim and the parable applied, was, that the Jews were not to be sole possessors of the promise of honour and éverlasting life previously announced, but that the Gentiles, who had long been alienated from God, were about to be visited by the tidings, and introduced to the blessings, of mercy, and that while the Jews, by their obdurate unbelief, were about to lose their national pre-eminence, and to be visited by desolating judgments, the Gentiles were to occupy their place in the aboundings of privilege, and to be admitted in innumerable multitudes to the felicities of the future world.

While stating this to be the primary object of

the Saviour's narrative, we cannot but observe, that circumstances connected with the lives and spiritual position of individuals, may be in some respects analogous to what it records, with this public and general view, respecting the labourers. To say that it applies directly and originally to individuals, and on that principle uniformly, and in every part, to expound it, would be a mistake by no means trivial; but still, there seems no possible impropriety in founding upon it those remarks which are suggested by resemblances, and which, in themselves true and important, cannot be stated and urged without promoting the best interests of immortal souls. I now venture, from the motto selected and read, to advance and enforce some remarks of this nature, the particular application of which will be to a class you will at once identify, when we name the following topics of our discourse : -That the time mentioned, may represent an advanced period in human life, -That men are to be found in this period, inattentive to the concerns of true .. religion, That they who are found inattentive in this period, are involved in peculiar perils, — And that divine grace sometimes displays itself, by making this period to be one of true and saving conversion. Let those on whom years have multiplied, render to these remarks their most devout and serious regard; but let none be unconcerned or careless, -let all seek to deduce the improvement which may prepare them for their own eternity.

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