many things I tell you, but it is not from any defect in the letter, but from your ignorance. The third thing is, that we shall be very desirous of leading the attention of others to the Bible; this is the only book that infallibly teaches the way to eternity; the darkness, even of our own favoured land, is greater than its light; yet, thanks be to God, he has led the nation to consider the importance of the education of the young but the believer, when he looks beyond time to eternity, considers that nothing can be of greater importance to the young than leading them to the study of the Bible.'

1 Here Mr. Howels applied the subject on behalf of the Charity School of St. Martin's Parish for educating and clothing the parish children.

SERMON XXXII.

June 7, 1823.

FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN GOD AND MAN.

For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field: and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee.-JOB V. 23.

ELIPHAZ speaks here not only as an excellent divine, but as a poet. He here speaks to Job with more tenderness than his other friends ; "Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty: for he maketh sore, and bindeth up: he woundeth, and his hands make whole. He shall deliver thee in six troubles : yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee. In famine he shall redeem thee from death and in war from the power of the sword. Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh. At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh: neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth. For thou

shalt be in league with the stones of the field : and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee." 1 He leaves second causes, and ascends to the first cause. We are not to consider this language as hyperbole; many important truths of scripture are thus insulted: true it is metaphor; but the text has been literally fulfilled in many instances, though not universally. Considering the language as figurative, it comprises one of the most important of truths. Attend to the inferences to be deduced from it.

I. THE FRIENDSHIP OF THE CREATOR AND CREATURE, AND ITS BLISSFUL CONSEQUENCES.

II. THE REBELLION OF THE CREATURE AGAINST THE CREATOR, AND ITS TERRIBLE

CONSEQUENCES.

III. THE RENEWAL OF THE FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN THE CREATOR AND THE CREATURE (AS A TRANSGRESSOR) THROUGH CHRIST, IN CONNEXION WITH ITS GLORIOUS EFFECTS. "For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee;" in allusion to the stony places through which travellers are obliged to pass in Arabia, which is supposed by many to have been the country wherein Job lived: this corresponds with

1 Job v. 17-23.

other passages of scripture, "Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways." I recommend you, my young friends, to commit this Psalm to memory; it is applicable to Christ, and equally so to his church.

I. First then, I proceed to consider THE FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN THE CREATOR AND THE CREATURE, AND ITS BLISSFUL CONSEQUENCES.

Though but little is said in Scripture of the angels before they fell, or of our first parents before their fall, yet, we have in it enough to know, that they were completely happy in their friendship with their Creator; they did not possess a single wish ungratified a moment. The individual who knows what it is to possess friendship with God, may form an accurate idea of this state here, and, in Jesus, look forward to far higher blessings hereafter, than any creature can enjoy in a state of innocence. The truth I wish to insist upon, is this--that the friendship of God necessarily secures the friendship of all beings who are

1 Psalm xci. 9-11.

good. No one in his right mind can quarrel with the friend of God; it is true, Satan and wicked men quarrel with him, who is the friend of God, but no other beings would hate

Peace

or envy him. Angels in heaven must necessarily be his friends-all creatures around him in a state of innocence are his friends. and friendship with God, is peace and friendship with all good beings. Whether we consider God, as the Creator and Governor of his angels, or the God and Governor of our first parents in a state of innocence, or of his church now; still peace and friendship with God, is peace and friendship with all good

creatures.

II. I proceed, secondly, to consider THE REBELLION OF MAN AGAINST HIS CREATOR, That man

AND ITS TERRIBLE CONSEQUENCES.

should presume to sin against God, is an awful truth; and yet there are those who say that God decreed his rebellion; those who say this are lunatics in divinity; sin in no case whatever can be traced to a higher source than the creature. Peruse scripture with attention, and you will find all good is exclusively traced to God, and all evil to the creature. "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before or