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judges in some cases, they are prone to imagine they are so in all; forgetting that faith has an office, and a province, as well as sense and reason: faith adds the knowledge of God to our own; faith acquiesces in his declarations, however mysterious; and looks for the accomplishment of his promises, however improbable.

which they could not retract, concerning the certainty of her death, "he put them all out," and, as the resurrection and the life, he "took her by the hand, and called, saying, Maid, arise." When, lo! the fountain of life is warmed, the blood begins to liquify and flow, the pulse beats again; she breathes; she looks-"her spirit came again, and she arose straightway: and he commanded to give her meat." This order was to show

The reality of the miracle, by the use of her faculties.

Secondly. We observe that a serious state of mind is the best preparation for divine truth. "A scorner," says Solomon, "seeketh knowledge, and findeth it not." And no wonder: he is not in earnest in his inquiries. It evinced the perfection of the miracle; He is under the bias of his prejudices and his she was not restored to the state in which she passions. The mind and will of God are no-died-that was a state of sickness, in which thing to him: he neither regards his grace, food was rejected: but to the state she was in nor his glory. He would rather meet with before her disease; a state of health and apargument, to countenance his error. He re- petite. joices to discover any thing that can furnish materials for ridicule and reproach. He has a proud confidence in his own talents, and never thinks of asking wisdom of God. Every serious inquirer is a prayerful and practical one; and he will be sure to succeed. "The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will show them his covenant. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come into us as the rain, as the latter and former rain upon the earth."

It was also to mark the limitation of the miracle; nothing further was to be done preternaturally; but her life, which had been restored by extraordinary agency, was to be preserved as before, by ordinary means.

It also distinguished this miracle from that of the final resurrection. The resurrection will produce a spiritual body, requiring neither sleep nor food: but this damsel was raised only to a natural life, subject to the same infirmities as that of other people, and liable to die again.

But have we not here an image of the restoration of man from the death of sin to the life of righteousness?—The Lord's hand goes with his word; and he lays hold of those he calls.-We immediately arise, and spiritual motion follows spiritual life.-We "hunger and thirst after righteousness," and the food we desire is furnished: and we are nourished up unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.

But our Saviour does not indulge a bantering Pilate with an answer. He does not gratify an anxious Herod with a miracle. When he rose from the dead, he does not appear to those who had seen him work miracles, and ascribed them to Beelzebub. What is one of the reasons he assigns for speaking in parables? "Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them." What was the consequence of this mode of tuition? Those who loved the truth, and longed to be acquainted with it, applied to him for an explanation; and were in no case refused: while the obstinate and self-sufficient, the vicious and inattentive, stumbled and fell, and had only to thank themselves for their injury and But his hour was not yet come. He would ruin. So true is it that, "To him that hath furnish us with an example, not only of beshall be given; and he shall have more abun-neficence, but of humility. He would teach dantly: but from him that hath not, shall be us to be content to do good, for its own sake, taken away even that he hath." and like the sun to shine, and bless without Hence these scoffers shall not remain in noise" but he charged them that they should the room. After they had made a declaration, | tell no man what was done."

The scene must have been inexpressibly interesting.-Jesus stands in all the charms of compassion, enjoying the luxury of doing good. The child clasps the fond father and mother, and looks around with surprise and awe upon this wonderful Stranger in the room. The parents embrace her, and adore Him, giving vent alternately to the feelings of natural affection, and religious praise. "Her parents were astonished;" they seemed like men that dream; they could hardly believe the reality of their blessedness, while they broke forth in expressions of wonder, at the display of such power and kindness, such omnipotence and mildness; and were ready to run forth, and publish abroad their obligations to one who had done such great things for them.

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Let us conclude. 'If our Saviour so amazed the spectators, and honoured himself by the revival of one body newly dead; what will it be when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe: when he shall speak, and "all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation!"

Again. It is worthy of remark, that of the three persons whom our Lord raised from the dead, Lazarus was the loved and only brother of Martha and Mary; the young man was the only son of his mother; and the damsel the only daughter of Jairus: so touched is he with the feeling of our infirmities; so much regard does he show to relative affection; so well does he remember that we are dust; so perfectly does he "consider our trouble, and know our souls in adversity!"

The subject leads me to address those who are parents. You say, God only knows the anxieties you feel on behalf of your rising charge. But he does know. He inspired you with the tenderness you feel, and produced the relation in which you stand. It is not consistent with the designs of his providence, that you should regard your children as burdens and torments. Nor is it his pleasure, on the other hand, and on this side the greatest danger commonly lies, that you should idolize them. You should hold them with a loose hand, as you know not how soon your "dear delights" may be taken from you, and pierce you through with many sorrows.

Had not He who has removed your child a right to take it away? Was it not his own? Did he ever relinquish his claim to it? Did he enter your house as a robber, or as a proprietor?

Cannot he sanctify the loss, and more than make up any deficiency in creature-enjoyment, by the comforts of the Holy Ghost! So that you shall not faint in the day of adversity, but in every thing give thanks?

Is not your lamb lodged in the Shepherd's bosom? Said not the Saviour to you, as he was languishing and dying, and you wished to keep him back, "Suffer this little child to come unto me, and forbid him not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven!"

Will not the very body that is now mou! dering in the dust be changed and fashioned like the Saviour's own glorious body?

Will you not soon meet? And never part? "Wherefore comfort one another with these words."

DISCOURSE LXXVIII.

THE PROFITABLE PURSUIT.

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his

righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.-Matthew vi. 33.

"MAN that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble." To the numberless real evils of life he adds imaginary ones; and of all his afflictions, none oppresses him more than care. The heathens confess this, and Have your children been blessed with their philosophers endeavour to remove the health and strength? and are they now bloom-burden; but they could only lighten it. They ing like olive plants round about your table? Remember, the continuance of a blessing demands your praise no less than the recovery of it.

Have you been tried by seeing your chil dren, "at the point to die," and did he send his word and heal them? Have you received them back, though not from the grave, yet from the borders of the grave? Dedicate them afresh to their Deliverer. "Train them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." And let the sickness which has not been unto death, be for the glory of God.

saw the disease preying upon his vitals, and they pitied and prescribed; but they could only abate the paroxysm of the pain, while the root of the distemper continued.

Let us be thankful for Revelation. Let us sit at the feet of Jesus.-How does he enforce a freedom from anxiety? Never man spake like this man. "Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air for they sow not, neither do they But others weep for their children, and re-reap, nor gather into barns: yet your hea fuse to be comforted, because they are not.You no longer see, while repeating their morning and evening prayers, their little hands suspended on your knees. You no longer hear their broken, artless language, more affecting than all the eloquence of words. And you say, There is no Saviour now on earth or I would hasten to him, and pour out my heart before him

Yet let me ask, not unfeelingly to condemn your sorrow, but to regulate and alleviate your distress;

venly Father feedeth them.
Are ye not
much better than they? Which of you by
taking thought can add one cubit unto his
stature? And why take ye thought for rai-
ment? Consider the lilies of the field, how
they grow; they toil not, neither do they
spin: and yet I say unto you, That even Solo-
mon in all his glory was not arrayed like one
of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the
grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-
morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not
much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (for after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things." We have not time to examine the beauty and the force of this reasoning. Suffice it to observe, that in the words which I have chosen for our present meditation, he finishes his admonition by opposing care to care; he would draw us off from inferior concerns by the attractions and impressions of a superior interest-an interest which demands our principal regard, and will more than indemnify us for every sacrifice we make in the pursuit of it. "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." The words lead us to ask, and enable us to answer three questions.

poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill; that he may set him with princes, even with the princes of his people."

Let it however be observed that there is something inseparably connected with this kingdom of God. It is "the righteousness of God." There are some who, instead of proving their schemes by the Scripture, are always bringing the Scripture to their schemes. Having attached a favourite meaning to a particular word, they give the term the same signification wherever they meet with it, regardless of the connexion in which it stands, or the purpose for which it was introduced. We make no scruple to say, that the righteousness of God in this passage intends real holiness; the renovation of our nature; the sanctification of our lives. And we say not this from our disbelief of another very interesting doctrine of the Gospel, and which holds forth our justification as flowing from the merits of the Redeemer: and while we know that our obedience is defective, and feel that! "The king-in many things we all offend, and come short of the glory of God, we humbly look for the acceptance of our persons and of our services in the Beloved; and repose the confidence of our weary souls under the shadow of his cross, "not having our own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith."

I. WHAT ARE WE TO SEEK? II. How ARE WE TO SEEK? III. WHY ARE WE TO SEEK?

I. WHAT ARE WE TO SEEK? dom of God, and his righteousness."

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The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light. If I had to propose an estate, I should easily engage your attention; how much more if I could offer a province!-a kingdom! A crown sparkles in the eye of ambition. A throne is the pinnacle of human pride. What exertions have been made, what blood has But this reliance is always accompanied been shed, to grasp a sceptre that rules a few with true holiness. The same principle that miles of territory, and soon drops from the calms the conscience always purifies the hand that wields it! But here you behold heart. A title to heaven is always attended "the kingdom of God:" a kingdom of which with a meetness for it. And to this our Sahe is the founder, the governor, the owner, viour refers. No righteousness, no kingdom! the giver; a kingdom announced by prophets, The one is essential to the other. And the established by miracles, prepared before the other is not arbitrary: it is founded in the foundation of the world; a kingdom that can- nature of things; in the nature of man; in not be shaken, but remains for ever; a king- the nature of heaven. Except a man be dom, in comparison of which, all the re- born again, he cannot see the kingdom of nowned empires of the globe vanish into God." The enjoyment is impossible. To nothing, and in the possession of which you look therefore for glory without grace, or may mourn over an Alexander as a grovel-heaven without holiness, is treason against ing worm. Scripture, and rebellion against common Grace and glory are not so much different sense. It is to make God a liar; to abolish states, as different degrees of the same state. all the distinctions which preserve the harHence Christians are even now made par-mony of the world; and to reduce the creatakers of this kingdom: but their present participation is imperfect. Here they are princes; but princes in disguise; the world knoweth them not. They are like David, anointed, but not proclaimed; and through much tribulation are entering the kingdom. Their royalties are above. There-are their robes, their crowns, their palaces; and they shall reign for ever and ever. Nothing less than this will satisfy the infinite goodness of God towards them: though they were once his foes, and by a frown he could have annihilated them, he spares them, he pardons them, he exalts them: "He raiseth up the

tion to a chaos. "What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God."

These are the blessings we are to seek.

But

II. HOW ARE WE TO SEEK THEM? First:

"seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness." First, in time: and first, in attention.

We are to seek them first, in time.

own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words."

Seek them first every day; by securing in the morning a season for the closet and the family. Such previous devotion will

Again. We are to seek them first in attention. They are to be supremely regarded, because they are supremely valuable. Many acquisitions are desirable, and some are useful, but religion is the one thing needful. It fixes its residence in the soul, and strikes its influence through eternity. If it be any thing, it is every thing: if it be important at all, it is all important. It is not therefore to be a secondary business, which is to give place to every other interest; every other interest is to give place to this; to this every other pursuit is to be rendered subordinate and subservient. Thus David, in the Old Testament, and Paul, in the New, speak of godliness as their only concern. "One thing," says the former, "have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple." And, says the latter, "This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark."

It should be the first concern in life. Here I have an opportunity to address those of you best fit you for the duties and events of the whose reason is opening, and whose affec- day. Such intercourse with God will best tions are beginning to glow. How en- prepare you for all your dealings with men. couraging is the promise: "I love them that love me, and they that seek me early shall find me! Remember therefore your Creator in the days of your youth:" hereafter you may not have time for this work: and how dreadful would the consequence of prevention be! If you die before you finish a journey you intend to take, a building you intend to rear, a connexion you intend to form, it is comparatively of little moment; you will then have done with every thing below the sun for ever. But if you die before you have secured the salvation of the soul, it would have been good for you if you had never been born: for if you are not saved, you are lost-and lost for ever! And is there no danger of this? Are any of you so young as not to have followed to the grave persons younger than yourselves? There is but a step between you and death. "For man knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare: so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them."-But godliness is as necessary for time as for eternity. If I were Are you likeminded with them? To desure of your living to the age of Methuselah, termine this, let me ask you two questions. I should still say, "Seek ye first the king- First. What are your desires? Every dom of God, and his righteousness." You man has some languid and lazy wishes. Bamust enter the world with God, if you would laam wished to "die the death of the rightpass wisely, and safely, and happily through eous," but was not concerned to live their it. And never, my young friends, will you life. Herod wished to see our Saviour work have such a favourable opportunity of know- a miracle, but he would not stir out of doors ing the things that belong to your everlasting for the purpose. Pilate asked, What is truth? peace as you now have. Of the year of life, this is the spring; of the day, this is the morning. How many are now bewailing the waste of this precious season, and vainly endeavouring to redeem the time, and repair the loss!

What applies to youth, falls with redoubled force upon age. Have you, my aged friend, been criminal enough to neglect this concern till now? Surely you have no time to lose. Let it be your next concern. It should have been your care sixty, seventy years ago. Every thing now cries with a voice louder than thunder, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness."

What has been said, respecting time at large, will apply to every period of it in particular.

and stayed not for the answer. If a few
powerless, inoperative wishes would carry
persons to heaven, none would ever be turn-
ed into hell. But if you are in earnest, your
desires accord with the strong language of
Revelation; you "hunger and thirst after
righteousness:" you wait for the Lord
more than they that watch for the morning"
"your soul breaketh for the longing it hath
unto God's judgments at all times." And
upon a review of your anxieties, you will be
able to say,

"Give me thy counsel for my guide,
And then receive me to thy bliss;
All my desires and hopes beside,

Are faint and cold compared with this." Secondly. What are your exertions? For something in this case will necessarily Seek the kingdom of God and his right- be done. This in the Scripture is held forth eousness first every week; by sanctifying by "pressing into the kingdom of God," the first day of the week; "calling the sab "taking the kingdom of heaven by violence," bath a delight; the holy of the Lord, ho-"fighting the good fight of faith," "running nourable; and honouring him, not doing thine the race that is set before us," "labouring to

enter into his rest." Now explain these ex- possibility, but probability; we have not only pressions as you please, deduct from them probability, but certainty to actuate us-a far more than the laws of metaphorical lan- certainty derived from the promise of God, guage require; yet, will not the remainder who cannot lie; from the gift of his own be more than enough to condemn thousands Son; from the experience of all his people. who assume the name of Christian? Will Here is no peradventure" Ask, and it shall it not imply much more than that specula- be given to you; seek, and ye shall find; tive, indolent, formal, time-serving, costless knock, and it shall be opened unto you. religion, which satisfies many of our modern They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. professors; a religion that requires of them He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing no sacrifices, and allows the retention of precious seed, shall doubtless come again every worldly passion and indulgence? with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. They that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee."

Secondly. Besides gaining this kingdom and righteousness, all other things shall be added unto us. This is designed to meet an objection, by no means unusual, in the experience of Christians. It arises from their natural and civil condition in the world; from their businesses; their families; their children; their bodies. They cannot be entirely dead to those things. If they wish not to

What then are you doing? What is your prevailing and habitual course of action? Are you applying the Sabbath to the purposes for which it was consecrated? Do you read in the Scripture and hear the Gospel with reverence and attention? Do you take pains to go to the house of God with constancy, and to worship him when you are there, "in spirit and in truth?" Do you pray without ceasing? And in every thing give thanks?-You toil for the meat that perisheth-do you labour for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life? You forego ease, you give up your time, you make provision for the flesh, to fulfil the "rise early and sit up late, and eat the bread lusts thereof;" its wants must be relieved; of carefulness," to please the world, to gain a and the honour of their profession is conname, to increase your hoard of shining dust cerned in their "providing things honest in -are you laying up treasure in heaven? the sight of all men." They often find it Do you deny yourselves, and take up your harder to trust God in their temporal, than in cross and follow the Saviour, in obeying his their spiritual interests. This thought will, commands, in imbibing his spirit, in copying sometimes at least, enter their minds, though his example? Are you, by patient continu- it be not lodged and entertained there; “If ance in well-doing, seeking for glory, honour, I always make religion my first concern, may and immortality? Are you steadfast, un-I not be a loser by it? Will it not frequently moveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord?-But

III. WHY ARE WE THUS TO SEEK THESE BLESSINGS? Here are two motives to animate and encourage us: the one implied; the other expressed. We shall succeed in our principal aim, which is to secure the kingdom of God and his righteousness-this is implied: and in addition to these, all other things shall be given us-this is expressed. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all things shall be added unto you." as a kind of surplus, over and above the contract. What can we desire more.

First. Though destitute as we naturally are of his kingdom and righteousness, if we seek them in the manner here required, we shall obtain them. Such an assurance is necessary to excite attention and diligence. No man will undertake an enterprise that he deems useless and impracticable, especially if it be attended with difficulty and expense. Hope is the mainspring of motion in all the concerns of the world. The soldier wars, the scholar studies, the merchant trades, the husbandman ploughs, in hope. It is the same in religion. Here indeed, so infinite is the prize, if there was only a probability, or a possibility of success, we ought to seek it, and to seek it first. But we have not only

stand in the way of my secular advantage?" He who knows our frame, and remembers that we are dust; he who often meets the fears of his people before they have expressed them, He cries" No. Mind my affairs, and I will manage yours. "Them that honour me, I will honour." All these things, while you regard them, in the order wherein I place them, shall be added unto you."

It would be an unwarrantable conclusion to suppose hence, that a Christian can never expect any difficulties in life; but it does authorise us to hope for such a proportion of the good things of this world as shall be needful for us: only, of this, He who dispenses them is the judge. It is the office of a father, before a child comes to years of discretion, to choose for him; and it is the happiness of the child to have such a guide. Hence we are so much disposed to pity an orphan deprived of such a director, and thrown upon the wide world. Poor little traveller! What wonder if he mistakes his way!-Now this can never befall the children of God: He will not leave them orphans. This is their privilege, that while incapable of judging for themselves, they have a Father in heaven, infinitely wise and good, to choose for them. If they can bear prosperity without injury, they shall have it. If fulness

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