stances attending it. Some situations may appear preferable in themselves to others; but we may

be sure that we can be no where better, than where we ought to be: but should any occasion bring you to England, I should be very glad to see you. I believe Miss M. is well. She is frequently at my church, but it is some time since I had an opportunity of speaking to her.

May God give us grace to live as becometh saints, and at last to die as becometh sinners, like the thief upon the cross, trusting for salvation only and wholly to the atonement and mediation of Him who loved us, and gave himself for us. I commend you to his care and blessing.

Mrs. Newton is pretty well. She thanks you for your kind re

membrance, and returns you her best wishes.

I am, dear Madam, your affectionate friend and servant,

JOHN NEWTON.

Coleman Street Buildings,
the 9th October.

P. S. You are told that sanctification is instantaneous. But our Lord compares it to the corn, which, from a small seed, springs up night and day we know not how. It is compared likewise to the light, which advances more and more to the perfect day. Having this account from the sure word of God, we need not mind what any of our fellow worms say to the contrary. To the law, and the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

SERMON ON NEW YEAR'S DAY. 1 SAM. vii. 12.

Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.

WE are now brought once more, in the providence of God, to the commencement of another year: it surely, therefore, becomes us to pause and contemplate our present situation; to endeavour suitably to impress upon our minds the manifold and great mercies which we have received, and to form corresponding resolutions with respect to our future conduct. For this purpose I have selected the words of my text. The prophet Samuel is here acknowledging the gracious deliverance which Israel had received from the hands of their enemies, when the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomfited them;-instead of erecting a monument to his own praise, or a

trophy to the honour of the victorious commander, he took a stone and set it up, and called it Ebenezer, that is, the stone of help, saying, "Hitherto hath the LORD helped us."

I would call your attention,

I. To the assistance which we have received from Almighty God; and,

II. To the returns which we ought to render.

I would call your attention, first, to the assistance which we have received from the hands of Almighty God.

Well, indeed, may we adopt the words of the Prophet, and say, "Hitherto the Lord hath helped us;" for, whether we contemplate his dispensations in providence or in grace, we must perceive his merciful dealings.

We have experienced, my brethren, innumerable providential blessings from his hands. He hath preserved us alive to the beginning of another year. When

we look back upon the year that is past, how many have fallen on the right hand and on the left! how many, who at this time last year had as fair a prospect of surviving to its close as we had, are now in the still cold grave-have been removed perhaps by a sudden stroke, or an unlooked-for accident, but have been fixed in an eternal statewhilst we are all here alive before God!

How many also have been exercised with grievous trials, with wasting sickness, with distressing poverty, with loss of friends, with blasting and disappointment of the fairest prospects, whilst we are here not only alive, but enjoying a measure of health; having been fed, and clothed, and prospered, and raised up from beds of languishing, and permitted to come forth and rejoice before our God!

But if we have experienced providential assistance from the hands of Almighty God, O how much more deeply are we indebted to him for the interpositions of his grace! Hitherto, indeed, in a spiritual point of view, "the Lord hath helped us;" for, whatever be. our actual state in the sight of God, it surely becomes us to acknowledge his inestimable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ, and in affording to us the means of grace and the hopes of glory.

Why, indeed, are we favoured with distinguishing blessings? Are we better than others? No, in no wise. It is of the Lord's mercy that we are not consumed. By his grace the plan of our redemption was contrived; that grace, that free undeserved favour, was manifested in the gift of his own dear Son to die upon the cross; in the raising him from the dead, exalting him at his own right hand in glory, and pouring the Holy Spirit down: that grace was manifested also in the sending forth of Apostles and Ministers, in communicating a written JAN, 1822.

word and a preached Gospel, in placing us in a Christian land and under a faithful ministry. Whatever, therefore, be the spiritual progress which we have made as to all these particulars, at least it must be said, "Hitherto the Lord hath helped us."

But if indeed we have been led to experience in our hearts the influence of divine grace, does it not become us seriously to meditate on the assistance we have thus experienced? Who hath made us to differ, and what have we that we have not received? Have we been quickened from the death of sin to a life of righteousness? Have we been brought to see our need of Christ, and to seek for pardoning mercy by faith in his atoning sacrifice? Have we been enabled to renounce our former sins, and to walk in newness of life? Have we been kept from falling, preserved from backsliding or bringing disgrace upon our profession, strengthened against temptation, and enabled to maintain an honourable walk and conversation? Then surely each one of us may well say,

This is the Lord's doing, and marvellous in our eyes.-Not unto us, not unto us, O Lord, but unto thy name be the praise. I had fainted, had I not believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. O taste and see how gracious the Lord is; blessed is the man that trusteth in him."

These marks may lead us to consider,

II. The returns we ought to render.

If, my brethren, we have been helped both in providence and in grace; if our lives have been preserved, our wants supplied, the means of grace continued, and the effectual influences of the Holy Spirit communicated, surely it becomes us, in the review of such mercies, thankfully to acknowledge God's goodness.

Such was the conduct of Samuel;

D

instead of setting up a place, a trophy, as Saul afterwards did, he erected a monument, a rude, an unfinished, but yet an abiding token of the deep impression which he had of God's goodness. Thus would we call upon you to record your obligations to Almighty God: meditate in secret upon his loving-kindness; consider what would have been your situation had he not interfered on your behalf; how often your own sin would have been followed by severe punishment but for his mercy; and when in secret 'your heart is affected with the recollection of his mercies, as it inevitably must be if you duly consider, then come forth, and in your families and amongst your connexions, instead of joining in the language of `murmuring and complaint, let your voice exclaim, "Praised be the Lord, who is daily loading us with benefits." -"He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities." Endeavour to testify to others of God's goodness; and let there be some monument set up, some secret record, if not some public testimony, of the deep sense which you entertain of his mercy.

God with your bodies and with your souls, which are his. And surely you ought to strive that your own conduct, and that of every member of your family, may evince the deep sense of your obligation to God, and the strength of that resolution which it becomes you, after the example of Joshua, to adopt, "As for me, and my house, we will serve the Lord."

Let

For this purpose let me call upon you with all earnestness to set up the worship of God in your house and in your family. Let no day pass without calling upon your partners, your children, and your servants, to read the word of God, and unite with you in prayer. the public services of the Lord's day especially be thus improved; and endeavour in this way to reimpress on your own minds, and on those of your relations and dependents, those truths which are proclaimed to you. in the great congregation. No means are so likely, under God's blessing, to affect the heart of the rising generation, and to perpetuate a succession of Christian people, as the improving in the private and family circle the sermons and services of the public assembly.

But while you thus acknowledge God's hand, and celebrate And as you acknowledge God's his goodness as manifested unto goodness, and devote yourselves you in times past, rest not satisfied afresh to his service, so also go with mere acknowledgment, but forth in dependence upon his aldevote yourselves afresh to his ser- mighty arm. Your warfare is not vice. Unquestionably Samuel never finished, nor your enemies subdued. intended, when he erected this pil-You have still to wrestle, not merelar, to relinquish the contest; but, ly against flesh and blood, but on the contrary, that he and his against principalities and powers. people might be animated to en- The world, the flesh, and the devil gage with renewed vigour : let this will still unite to impede your probe your determination. Let the gress, and you will therefore need recollection of past mercies stimu- strength superior to your own. But late you continually to the inquiry, fear not; you have an almighty arm What shall I render to the Lord for on which you may lean. He who all his benefits? Surely it is your hath delivered, doth deliver; and bounden duty, and your reasonable in him you may surely trust that he service, to acknowledge that you will still deliver. Learn, therefore, are no longer your own, but bought habitually to rely on him. Flee with a price, and engaged to glorify unto him in every time of difficulty.

Lay hold upon his strength, and you shall then be more than conquerors.

Come then, my brethren, with such views, such determinations, and such dependence, unto the table of the Lord. Here confess your sinfulness, unworthiness, and ingratitude. Here seek afresh for pardon through the atoning blood. Here express your humble faith and firm reliance on the Lamb of God by receiving again the tokens of his dying love; and while you feed in your hearts by faith, on his body broken and his blood poured out, renew your dedication of yourselves to him. Determine to be his and his alone, and go forth to duty or to trial, depending on his grace,

SATURDAY