go to the Church but to the Holy Table. I will set as good example as I can. I will look after my children, my servants, so as to induce them to be straightforward Christians. I shall soon be dead, and oh! what a dreadful thing, after all my privileges, to be cast into outer darkness! Surely, my brethren, we may talk thus with ourselves. The hidden man of the heart may think after this fashion, and demean himself with decency and propriety as a Christian spirit. But however we act, whatever we say or do, the time is coming, when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed. The veil of futurity shall be rent in twain. Screens, and blinds, and subterfuges all, shall be taken away. In the presence of the great Searcher of Hearts, in the court of the Righteous Judge, we must make our presentments. friend is Christ! ed through great And, Oh! happy that man whose Happy that man who, having passtribulation, washed his robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, for he shall stand in the judgment; he shall be welcomed by countless angels and saints into the glorious mansion of the Father of spirits, there to spend an eternity of love to the glory of God. PREACHED IN ST. MICHAEL'S, DERBY, ON THE FIRST SUNDAY EVENING AFTER THE OPENING OF THE CHURCH, ON APRIL 8TH, 1858. GOD'S WAYS. ZECHARIAH iv. 6, 7. "Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts. Who art thou, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace, unto it." THESE words form a kind of parenthesis, or episode, in the prophetic roll. Zechariah does not seem to have understood the meaning of the vision vouchsafed to him; and the angel, as if invested with discretional power, granted an indulgence of rest, and sent a message by him to Zerubbabel, who was probably at this time in sorrowful mood of mind. Difficulties concerning the building of the temple; enemies without, and faint hearts within, the tabernacle of Judah, had, most likely, caused the mind of the prophet to be distracted with gloomy doubt and fearful apprehensions. The words of the text would serve as a spur to his resolution; Fear would relax his hold; Faith would nerve him with courage, and Zechariah and Zerubbabel would rejoice together at the gracious promises of help vouchsafed by the Almighty. Happy for after ages that "God, at sundry times and in divers manners, spake in time past, unto the fathers, by the prophets." Happy for us that He hath spoken by His Son. With such a rich legacy of sacred love bequeathed to us, by our pious ancestors, how shall we escape dreadful disgrace, and never-ending shame, if we perish through ignorance? Our privileges are immense, and our time the golden prime of the world. It is time we awoke to a sense of our responsibilities; for as century is linked to century in the mystic chain of time; as one temple gives place to another through the corrodings of decay; so the living word of inspired men shall, if rightly used, guide us to the glorious temple of eternity. I feel myself invested with peculiar responsibility. My heart heaves within me, at the novel sight I here behold. This is the first sabbath that these walls and timbers have caught the eddies of the sound of the Gospel. It was my privilege to preach one of the last three sermons in the former church. I helped to toll the passing bell of old St. Michael. We have witnessed something like a resurrection. I cannot help feeling sad, however, somehow. This fabric will survive us all. These faces, lit up with intelligence, and beaming with attention; this tongue which is now permitted for a while to hold undisputed sovreignty over the |