d sharply rectified by Wesleyan discipline, which the
Courts of Law uphold, than by any mere legal action to which the Church
of England is bound.

May it please God, by His Holy Spirit, to make these Sermons effectual
for the spreading of His truth and the quickening of His people.

KNOWLES KING.

SIDMOUTH HOUSE, MALVERN,
_December_ 3, 1866.

* * * * *

_If any profit shall accrue from this publication_, _it will be given to
the religious institutions at Malvern_.

THE LIVELY STONES.
REV. W. MORLEY PUNSHON.

"Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy
priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by
Jesus Christ."--1 PETER ii. 5.

There is a manifest reference in the fourth verse to the personage
alluded to in Psalm cxviii. 22, 23: "The stone which the builders refused
is become the head stone of the corner. This is the Lord's doing; it is
marvellous in our eyes." And this passage is applied by Christ to
himself in Matthew xxi. 42: "Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in
the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become
the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in
our eyes." The Apostle therefore places the beginning of any connection
with Christianity in coming to Christ, and assures believers that in
their union with Him alone consists the fulness of their dignity and
privilege. And there is no truth that will more readily be acknowledged,
or receive a heartier acquiescence from the heart of a believer. What
could we do without Jesus? In our every necessity He is our "refuge and
strength," in our perils He compasses us about with songs of deliverance,
his life is our perfect example, his death is our perfect atonement.
Well might the Apostle interrupt the course of his argument with the
grateful apostrophe, "Unto you, therefore, which believe, He is
precious;" and exhort them "that ye should show forth the praises of Him
who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light." The text
presents us with topics of meditation worthy of our prayerful study, as
it reveals to us--

I.--THE CHARACTER.
II.--THE PRIVILEGE.
III.--THE DUTY OF BELIEVERS.

I. You observe that in the text believers are presented as a spiritual
house and a holy priesthood; two different illust