are realized in their own heart and conduct. Such men,
when assailed by ridicule and sophistry, are likely to fall; they have
no root in themselves; and let them be quite sure, that should they
fall away from the faith, it will be a slight thing at the last day to
plead that subtle arguments were used against them, that they were
altogether unprepared and ignorant, and that their seducers prevailed
over them by the display of some little cleverness and human knowledge.
The inward witness to the truth lodged in our hearts is a match for the
most learned infidel or sceptic that ever lived: though, to tell the
truth, such men are generally very shallow and weak, as well as wicked;
generally know only a little, pervert what they know, assume false
principles, and distort or suppress facts: but were they as
accomplished as the very author of evil, the humblest Christian, armed
with sling and stone, and supported by God's unseen might, is, as far
as his own faith is concerned, a match for them. And, on the other
hand, the most acute of reasoners and most profound of thinkers, the
most instructed in earthly knowledge, is nothing, except he has also
within him the presence of the Spirit of truth. Human knowledge,
though of great power when joined to a pure and humble faith, is of no
power when opposed to it, and, after ail, for the comfort of the
individual Christian, it is of little value.

May we, then, all grow in heavenly knowledge, and, with that end,
labour to improve what is already given us, be it more or be it less,
knowing that "he that is faithful in little is faithful also in much,"
and that "to him that hath, more shall be given."

[1] Cant. i. 8.

[2] John iii. 20.

[3] Rom. vii. 15, 18, 22, 23.

[4] Jer. xvii. 9.

[5] Heb. xii. 14.

[6] Gal. i. 12.

[7] John iv. 29.

[8] Mal. iii. 10.

SERMON IX.

Jeremiah, a Lesson for the Disappointed.

"_Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith
the Lord._"--Jeremiah i. 8.

The Prophets were ever ungratefully treated by the Israelites, they were
resisted, their warnings neglected, their good services forgotten. But
there was this difference between the earlier and the later Prophets; the
earlier lived and died in honour among their people,--in outward honour;
though hated and thwarted by the wicked, they were exalted to high
places, and ruled in the congregation. Moses, for instance, was in
trouble from his peop