of it, and know nothing nor have done any thing! My brethren, these thoughts would arise if we looked only at the means; but we lay means aside, and say, no, my beloved Saviour! it is not the loss of a Sabbath only, it is not the loss of a sermon or a good book that I lament. When I behold such a Saviour as thou art, I should stretch my wings like an eagle and say, is he to be known? I will know him. Does a drop of this knowledge console my mind? mind? O God what would I give to feel more of this consolation!-When a man places himself before God and thinks he has received so many blessings in vain, it is enough to pluck up pride by the roots, and make the best man hide himself in the dust, and say, what might I be if I did but improve my privileges!

When I see a sleepy, sluggish soul, neglectful of prayer, methinks I see, first,-Moses come and warn him; after him another, after him another, and so all the prophets call him up to God; Joshua comes and Jonas with all the rest, and try to rouse the sleeper to prayer: arise O sleeper, and call upon thy God. The prophets come forward; and methinks I see the apostles and ministers of the gospel come upon the same errand, but in vain. I see also the Son of God quit his Father's throne, and I hear Jehovah say, I will send my son; surely they will reverence my Son. The Son comes and with him grace and truth. By grace some understand gracefulness, that is that Christ preached the truth in a graceful way, in a kind and gentle manner he that could smite the sleepy, indolent

christian down, and would not smite him twice; he that could put every part of his body to pain, and turn every nerve and sinew within him into a hell, he comes and says,-1 beseech you by the mercies of God, by the shedding of my blood, by the honour of my Father, I even command you by the allegiance you owe me, that you do not receive this grace in vain. Here-take the blessed gift, the gospel, the grace of God; but I charge you do not receive it in vain.

What, is it possible, that all this should be not fancy but fact, and yet be held out to you to no purpose? O, my God, help us all to night to shake off this sluggishness, to go directly to thy throne, and say, O my God I am determined in dependence upon thy strength, not to receive any longer as I have done, the grace of God in vain; no, I will receive it to the best of purposes; to excite to the constant universal conformity of my conduct to thy will, and to pray that I may live a life of holiness here, and happiness hereafter. bless these hints.

May God to this purpose

SERMON VII.

WALKING IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION.

JOHN XI. 9, 10.

Jesus answered, are there not twelve hours in the day? If a man walk in the day he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world; but if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth because there is no light in him.

MY brethren, how happy would it be for us, if in the course of our christian conversation, we were content with what God has been pleased to reveal. The religion we profess is christianity, and about christianity we profess to know no more than God has been pleased to tell us; consequently when we require men to walk by that revelation we mean that they should conform exactly to it; that is, that they should believe all that God has revealed and nothing more. I suppose it was with a view to this that the wise man said, be not over wise, why shouldest thou destroy thyself?

In order to direct us in this course, if it may please the Holy Spirit, whose assistance we implore to bless the word, we have chosen these words for our present meditation and it is necessary we should mention their connection with the

rest of the history, and give you the literal sense of them, because all our doctrine will be a moral use drawn from that literal sense.-You know the chapter out of which I have read the text begins with an account of Lazurus: he was the brother of two sisters who lived a little way from Jerusalem, at whose house our Lord seems frequently to have been. This man it seems fell sick when Christ the friend of the family was at a distance. Now what appeared very strange to the disciples of Christ was, that when a messenger came to inform him of the sickness of Lazarus, and the sorrow of his sisters on that account, he, it is said, abode two days still in the same place where he was; yet it is said immediately before, Jesus loved Lazarus and his sister and Martha. The disciples could not comprehend how the conduct of Christ was consistent with his professions. Seeing he had so great a regard to that family, and had it in his power to gratify their warm wishes, they wondered he did not immediately proceed to do so: but he said to his disciples, let us go to Jerusalem, and abide there two days. It seemed as if Christ had thought about the matter two days; not that he wanted a second thought; but he lived not for his own sake but his disciples, and his conduct was often regulated by a concern for their advantage. Not aware that his saying-let us go up to Jerusalem was a conclusion drawn from sober premises, they said to him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee and goest thou thither again? My text is an answer to this question, and at the same time

an explanation of Christ's conduct; and if I were to divide the two verses, I should say they con

disciples, and a justifiThe apology is this:

tain an apology for the cation of Christ himself. There is no foreknowledge in you; you have not a spirit of prophecy to foretel what will befal me; you do not know that the Jews will kill me, though they once attempted it. Since then you have not a knowledge of the thing itself you cannot deduce the principle: since this is the case you act like a man that walketh in the dark, and you stumble; now, for my part, I do not blame you while you are thus incapable of judging, but I justify myself, for I have the spirit of prophecy; I am like a man that walketh in broad day. Are there not twelve hours in the day; if a man walk in the day he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light. I am in that case a perfect judge, well instructed in regard to the step I am going to take; I stumble not; but if a man walk in the night he stumbleth because there is no light in him: that is, if you act upon a principle, upon which you have no ability to judge, there is no light in you; you

stumble.

Now the moral use of these words is, that true religion consists not in the speculations of our minds, but in a conformity, exact and accurate, to what God has been pleased to reveal, which is, in my opinion, the height of the life of a christian in this world.

I will endeavour to investigate this subject in four different points of light.