attend to the conduct of Providence to this day, and in every state of the world, we shall find the same equality of distribution still going on. A man has just what he uses and no more. With a chest full of gold, he has a desire to eat but twice or thrice a day at most. With a thousand suits of apparel in his wardrobe, he can use but one at a time. His neighbour, therefore, who has but one dinner, and one coat at once, is, upon the whole, just as rich as he. Beyond what nature requires, reason approves, and the Almighty crowns with his blessing, all is childish and fantastical.

"There is

that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty," Prov. xi. 24. If this were felt and understood as it ought, we should see less eagerness, rapacity and selfishness in one part of mankind, and less unthankfulness and discontent in another.

Sixthly. Mark the danger of giving way to a light, wanton, fanciful disposition. Even manna pleased not long. An imagination filled with the luxurious dainties of Egypt, soon spurned at it, as "light bread." There is no end to wishing and desiring. Unadulterated nature craves but little, and is not difficult to please. But once give the reins to fancy, and the wealth of Croesus, the magnificence of Solomon, the elegance of Lucullus, and the luxury of Heliogabalus, will soon stink and be despised. Men ate angels' food, and loathed it. Of what importance then must it be, to check in ourselves, and to repress in those whose virtue and happiness are entrusted to our care, the first workings of a wild and fantastical appetite. Children tannot be two simply clothed and fed. Solicit the palate by delicacies, and you kindle a fire in the imagination to which no wealth can administer a sufficient supply of fuel, which no reason can keep within bounds, which will certainly produce a thousand real evils, and render the possession of the real felicities of life tasteless and insipid. Teach young ones to value them

selves on dress and appearance, and you undermine the fabric of their true consequence. In proportion as you lead them to derive their importance from the adorning of their bodies, you strip and expose their minds.

Seventhly. The same Power which corrupted the manna on the second day, and which preserved it from corruption every seventh day, commanded a small portion to be laid up, for a memorial to future generations; and for that purpose miraculously kept it in its original state of sweetness and perfection. In this we see the absolute subjection of all things to the will of God. They grow and decay, they continue and pass away, they live and perish, just as he will, "I know that

thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living." "And I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God." No power nor skill can redeem the body from the power of the grave; the arm of an archangel is unable to confine it there.

Finally. The manna from heaven is likewise an image of better things to come. The bread of angels could not confer immortality on those who did eat it: but "the true bread which came down from heaven," communicates eternal life to all who partake of it. But the words of our Saviour himself will best explain this subject. "Jesus saith unto them, I am the bread of life; he that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread,

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he shall live for ever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day; for my flesh is meet indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: He that eateth of this bread shall live for ever," John vi. 47, &c.

Having thus finished the Course of Lectures proposed for this season,* what remains, but that with a grateful heart I first acknowledge the great goodness of Almighty God, who has graciously lent health and strength for carrying on this undertaking thus far. If any favour of divine things has been felt, or communicated; if scripture truth has, to any, been set in a new or an agreeable light; if a taste for sacred reading and meditation has been conveyed; if the connexion between the Old and New Testament has been pointed

* For the reason assigned, when these discourses were first submitted to the public eye, some of the occasional addresses from the pulpit were retained in the publication. But the Lectures of a season not corresponding exactly to the usual size of a volume, it became at length a matter of doubt, whether these addresses should be altogether suppressed, moddled into a more proper diction and station from the press, or given exactly in the order and words in which they were delivered. The doubt issued in resolving upon the last. This Lecture concluded the Course of the Spring, 1783. The course of the ensuing season commenced with that which follows. Perhaps it was unnecessary to say so much, in explanation of a matter so little important as the conclusion of one discourse and the introduction to another.

out, and impressed upon any heart; and, if the young in particular have been induced, by any thing said in this place, to think for themselves, and to compare spiritual things with spiritual; the Lecturer has gained his end, and is already in possession of his reward. The praise he cheerfully renders to Him to whom it belongs.

To you, my very dear friends, my thanks are in the next place unquestionably due, and are rendered with unfeigned gratitude. Your patient attendance and candid attention, during seven months together, I shall ever consider as a proof of attachment the most flattering and the most encouraging. Why should I conceal my feelings on the occasion? I engaged in this undertaking, at first, with fear and trembling; I proceeded with solicitude; but I conclude with heartfelt satisfaction; because the countenance I have met with encourages me to hope that my labours may have been doing some good. If there be one circumstance which gives me pain, it is the excess of that liberality and approbation which has so far over-rated and overpaid my endeavours, to convey to you useful and pleasing instruction. In return, all I can do, is to. wish and pray that your kindness may be returned a thousand fold into your bosoms, in temporal, spiritual and heavenly blessings. And now, my beloved brethren, farewell. To the grace of God I commend you all: even, "to Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy; even to the only wise God our Saviour," Jude 24, 25. That we shall never all meet again in an earthly temple, is certain. For time is hastening to silence the tongue of the preacher, and to close the hearer's ear. But we have everlasting consolation and good hope, through grace, of meeting together, and of worshipping in that temple, " which has no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it; for the glory of God doth lighten it, and

the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it; and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day; for there shall be no light there," Rev. xxi. 23, 24, 25. Let us, therefore, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord; forasmuch as we know that our labour is not in vain in the Lord," 1 Cor. xv. 58.