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cometh as a bridegroom out of his chamber, and offers himself, without regard to persons, to every sinner that will come to him, whether he owe one talent, or is a debtor for ten thousand. He has the same language for all: "Come unto me," "for I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins." In proportion as the Spirit brings out the secrets of the heart, and shows the wondering possessor of it what he is; in proportion as he exposes his wounds, his infirmities, and his weakness, will be his inquiry after Jesus. He does not suffer it to remain a matter of doubt where search is to be made for the Lord; if his blindness is wearisome to him, he will place himself in the most frequented of his paths, he will wait for his cure like Bartimeus; if he is without strength, he will desire to be carried like the lame man, yet not to be laid as he was at the gate of the temple, but to be placed within the sanctuary itself; if he is spiritually dumb, and so unable to move his lips in prayer, he will give his physician a look of silent supplication, and the discerner of hearts will understand its meaning. Here the Saviour is known, and understood, and valued; he is sought carefully, and lo! he is found; he is delighted in as a living Saviour, and has no place amongst the dead.

Christians! I have done with the subject in

the way of argument; I have now to apply it. And oh! if this application could be exclusively confined to the encouragement of believers, my sabbath duty would be cheering indeed; for I should have little else remaining for me to do than to nourish you with the word of promise, and send you on your way rejoicing. I wish I were able to look round this congregation, on the right hand and on the left, and in the words of Balaam to say, "How goodly are thy tents, O Judah! and thy tabernacles, O Israel! As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river-side, as the trees of aloes which the Lord hath planted, cedar trees beside the waters." But if it be a part of my message not only to proclaim liberty to the captives, but vengeance to them that obey not the gospel of Christ, then must I deliver it without any regard to the comparative numbers that may be comforted or alarmed. I need not ask whether you are seeking at all, for I know by observation, and you by experience, that the thoughts and imaginations of the heart are never still; but is yours an humble, spiritual, profitable seeking? Is the Lord of life and immortality the unceasing object of your pursuit? Do you affirm him to be so? Then to what purpose is it that you are loitering so much amongst the dead? Can the mere forms and words of reli

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gion save you? Can any outward observances, however necessary it may be to maintain them? Can the law of works make you free from the law of sin? Then wherefore is it that you rest in these, and take no more pains to inquire what it really is that gives the sinner his freedom, his health, his peace, and his salvation? If your knowledge of Jesus be confined to the things which you have heard of him by the hearing of the ear; if the Spirit has communicated nothing of his love and glory to the soul, you have, indeed, the high sounding name of Christian, but you have not a Saviour. And will you let this dream continue-this dream of emptiness and folly? Open your eyes to something real and substantial! Get up by faith into the world of realities! "Arise! shine!

for your light is come." But I speak not this to you all: God has not left himself without witnesses the church has its appointed members, and the Son of God his disciples. I hope even in this little sanctuary there are sons of the Lord's adoption, and daughters in their inward adorning like the polished corners of the temple. But they had no claims of their own to be made such; whatever they are, however privileged, and loved, and chosen, every one of them will say, "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name be the praise."

I doubt not but that once their hearts were as much in the world, their consciences as unawakened, their tempers as harsh, and their lives as little godly as the most insensible hearer present; and I may add, that they gloried as little in a precious sin-bearing Saviour. But their graves have been opened, and by. grace they have attained to the first resurrection. They know at all times how to get access to the Son of man; they look for him not as they once did in the dark places of the earth, in the midst of uncleanness and corruption; they have ceased to seek the living amongst the dead.

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SERMON XII.

CHRIST THE BREAD OF LIFE.

EXODUS XVI. 15.

And Moses said unto them, this is the bread that the Lord hath given you to eat.

WHENEVER I am desirous of tracing God most clearly in the exercise of his love under the old dispensation, I have only to look at the covenant that he made with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the anxious care with which he fulfilled it. I have only to turn my eyes towards their seed, in which all the nations of the earth were to be blessed, to see the tender mercy of our God; his long-suffering, which was not to be hindered by their hardness of heart, and his compassion, which could not be abated by their rebellion. In his temporal mercies he made no difference; every tree in the vineyard was fenced and watered, whether it was a bearer of fruit, or a mere cumberer of the ground; and the same refreshing dew fell upon the tares, that were fit only for burning, and the wheat,

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