_I wish you most decidedly to bear in mind thro’ the whole of this performance_, _that I write only for your sakes_—_I write not for the worldling_, _whose heart is set on the things of time and sense_, _who_, Gallio _like_, _cares for none of these things_, _except it be to pass an unpleasant sneer at us_.—_I write not for the proud Pharisee_, _or the mere Formalist_, _who have a name to live and are dead_—_I write not for Hypocrites_, _whose end will be according to their work_, _and who are a perpetual plague to the Household of Faith_—_Wolves in Sheep’s cloathing_, _who cover the vilest principles and conduct with the garb of apparent holiness_!—_but I write for those who know the plague of the heart_; _the vanity of the world_; _the emptiness of the creature_; _the danger of a form of godliness without the power_; _the spirituality of God’s most holy Law_; _the preciousness of a dear Redeemer_; _the power of the word_; _the manifestation of the atonement_. _These characters so graciously taught_, _must be under the influence of divine love_—_the remnant that shall not do iniquity_, _nor speak lies_—_neither is a deceitful tongue found in their mouths_; _but they feed on the bread of eternal life_, _and can not be satisfied without it_. _To these Characters I dedicate this book_; _and not doubting but it will procure me many foes_, _and stir up that carnal enmity which they are the slaves of_, _for them I would put up that charitable prayer of our Lord_, “_Father forgive them_;”—_and of you I would use the fine language of the blessed Apostle_—_And now_, _Brethren_, _I commend you to God_, _&c._—_Acts xx_. A SERMON. “AND DUST SHALL BE THE SERPENT’S MEAT.”—_Isaiah_ lv, 25. IT is a most undoubted truth, that, as in the planetary system one star differs from another in glory, so it is in the Church of God—though the elect are loved alike, chosen and provided for alike, and shall all be partakers of the same glory in ultimate bliss—the infant who died this day, and the mind of the apostle Paul will be alike there; yet, in the Church Militant it is not so. God the divine Spirit, is a sovereign in all his dispensations; and while some of the people of God have scarcely been known here, but through the solitary lane of life, have pursued the noiseless tenor of their way—treasures hid in the sand—a Sparrow alone—a Pelican of the Wilderness—and, as finely described by one of our Poets— Full many a gem, of purest ray serine, The dark unfathom’d caves of ocean bear: Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, And lose its sweetness in the desert air.