shame, will only bring him to honour, and make his righteousness plain to be seen by all, that God may be glorified in His people. Let the coming year be what it may; to the holy, the humble, the upright, the godly, it will be a blessed year, fulfilling the blessed promises of the Lord, that those who trust in Him shall never be confounded. Oh, my friends, consider but this one thing, that the Almighty God, who made all heaven and earth, has bid us trust in Him. And when He bids us, is it not a sin, an insult to Him, not to trust Him—not to believe His words to us? “Put thou thy trust in the Lord, and be doing good; dwell in the land,” working where He has set thee, “and verily thou shalt be fed.” “Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flieth by day. A thousand shall fall by thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand: but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. Because thou hast made the Lord thy refuge, no plague shall come nigh thy dwelling. Thou shalt call upon me, I will answer thee. Because thou hast set thy love on me, I will deliver thee; with long life will I satisfy thee, and show thee my salvation.” My friends, these words are in the book of Psalms. Either they are the most cruel words that ever were spoken on earth to tempt poor wretches into vain security and fearful disappointment, or they are—what are they?—the sure and everlasting promise of our Father in heaven to us His children. We have only to ask for them, and we shall receive them; to claim them, and they will be fulfilled to us. “For He who spared not His own Son, but freely gave Him for us, will He not with Him likewise freely give us all things,” and make, by His fatherly care, and providence, and education, all our new years blessed new years, whether or not they are happy ones? XXXVI. THE DELUGE. My spirit shall not always strive with man.—GENESIS vi. 3. LAST Sunday we read in the first lesson of the fall. This Sunday we read of the flood, the first-fruits of the fall. It is an awful and a fearful story. And yet, if we will look at it by faith in God, it is a most cheerful and hopeful story—a gospel—a good news of salvation—like every other word in the Bible, from beginning to end. Ay, and to my mind, the most hopeful words of all in it, are the very ones which at first sight look most terrible, the words with which my text begins: “And the Lord said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man.”