God by the secret silent operations of his own Spirit, or by a blessing on the ordinary means of grace, may change the heart and bring that heart that was once hard and rebellious, that was once unyielding and unsubmissive-bringing it in deep humility to receive God's mercy: I do not speak of the ordinary instrumentality of the Word of God, or the ordinances he has established in his house; but I would speak of those in which a special interposition of Providence is made to tend to the further diffusion of grace. Such for instance as the case of Naaman the Syrian. It was a very remarkable Providence that sent into the household of that great lord a little maid brought out of Israel, and that, in the extremity of this nobleman, he could find no other one to speak of the cure of his loathsome disease but this humble one: and yet the Lord put a word in her mouth which caused Naaman the Syrian to go to the prophet of the Lord to obtain that which was for the conversion of his soul.

We take again a case in a far distant region—a case which in all its circumstances is just as marked. One of the chief councillors, one of the most honoured servants of the Queen of Ethiopa, was on his way home. He had indeed the Word of God, but it was to him as a sealed book: he read a glorious passage in the prophet Isaiah, and he knew not whether the prophet was speaking of himself or another. Just then did the Lord cause his own faithful servant Philip to pass on the way; he joined himself to the eunuch by the direction of the Spirit, and he went up to him, and opened the Gospel; he shewed him the fulfilment of the word, led him to the feet of the Saviour, and introduced him into the faith of the Church of Christ.

The woman of Samaria went down at the mid-day hour to the well; and just at that hour, by the direction, and by the clearest design of Providence, Jesus was at the well; and he would drink of the water, and spake to the woman on a subject of the greatest possible importance. But not only was the word blessed to her soul, not only was she brought to acknowledge Jesus as the Saviour, her townsmen were brought in also; there came many flocking around the Saviour, and because of this Samaria had its converts.

Your own observation, if you have not been very negligent observers, will show you many instances that you may have marked on the page of your history, when God has, by his Providence especially interposing, led to the conversion of his people. Mark how the very same specialty of Providence is applied to their preservation. Each of God's servants is immortal. The enemies may band themselves together, they may do all that in them lies, to extirpate the people of God; but it cannot be; the Lord is with them, and the Lord by the direction of his Providence will control all adverse events, so that they shall not be harmed or hurt so long as God hath aught for them to work on earth. Mark the case of Elijah. There was a season of great drought in the land, and where shall the prophet go for help, and where should he look for assistance? If there be aught of assistance in the land it shall be gathered to the rich and the powerful, and the noble. But the Lord was with him, and he sent him to the banks of the brook Cherith, and he drank of the water of that brook, and his thirst was quenched: ravens also were appointed to feed him. But the brook was dry. Did God fail his servant? No; he had prepared a home for him, and a kind heart to receive him; and as long as the scarcity prevailed, he was provided for: though we doubt not that these days of famine opened many a grave in the land, and that there was many a dying creature who walked that land. The Prophet was preserved because God had more for him to do. And

how-did Obadiah hide the prophets of the Lord, those of the same standing with Elijah? He hid them by fifties in a cave. And when one of God's prophets by the subtilty of his enemies had incurred a tremendous sentence, did not God close up the lions' mouths, and preserve him in the midst of the most appalling danger?

We see God continually permitting the most malicious devices to help forward the designs of his grace. The brethren of Joseph, in the bitterness of their malignity might sell him to the merchants; but by selling him, they were setting forward God's designs. Pontius Pilate, and all the Jews, might crucify the Saviour, and do whatever the bitterest vengeance suggested to them; but in all this they were only doing that which the counsel of God had pre-determined to be done. Take the case of the martyrdom of Stephen: it would seem to be one of the most disastrous occurrences that could happen; it would seem as if the infant church must be almost destroyed, and as if men's hearts would fail them on account of it, and as if the name of Christian would be almost obliterated. But no this very circumstance was, in the specialty of God's providence, made to carry forward his everlasting designs; and the disciples who were "scattered abroad went every where preaching the word." St. Paul of all the servants of Jesus, was, perhaps, the most eminent, the most accomplished, the most distinguished, the most successful. The enemy laid hands on him, and he was put in bonds, and shut up in a dungeon at Rome. It would seem that his presence was more wanted at Corinth, or Athens, or Ephesus; but God had work for him to do in Rome, and this apparently adverse providence was suffered to happen to him, in order to the furtherance of the Gospel; so that, in writing to the Philippians, he says "my bonds in Christ were manifest in all the palace, and in all other places; and many of the brethren in the Lord waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear."

I take one more instance, and that is from our own land. There were times when God in infinite mercy, in undeserved grace to England, put away the clouds of black superstition that had long over-hung the faith of our forefathers. He caused the Reformation to dawn on this land; he raised up a king who should be as a foster-father to the church, and the church was built up under him. But he died; and what would seem to be more calamitous than that, he who so strenuously defended the faith should be cut off at so early an age, was, that a bitter and relentless persecutor came into his place. It would seem of all things the most injurious, that men whose hearts were strong for Christ-that men, faithful for Christ, who were going forth the prime champions of his Gospel, should be cut off, and that Protestantism should be left, as it should seem, altogether uncared for, and unguarded. And yet the very martyrdoms of those days were the cradlings of Protestantism, the very martyrdoms of those days were the seed of the church; and if we enjoy aught of spiritual good in our land, if there is aught of Gospel truth that has escaped perversion and error, if there be aught to which we cling as dearer than our own heart's blood, we may trace it to the martyrdoms of the days of Queen Mary. We cannot help remembering the words of Bishop Ridley ::-"Be of good courage, Brother Latimer, for this day we shall kindle such a fire in the good realm of England, as shall never be quenched." Thus hath the Lord by wisely ordering the most apparently adverse circumstances, proceeded in carrying forward his great designs, In the considering of this, as well as the preceding part of our subject, we are met by apparent difficulties and discrepancies in the carrying forward of God's

designs. We look around, and we shall see perhaps, that the worthless, the men who have no one point in their character but what is vile, and low, and debased-we shall see these rise up to station, and wealth, and influence, and consideration in society; and we shall see others-the deserving, the excellent, the kind, and the benevolent, those who are engaging all hearts, and binding all affections to themselves, becoming poorer and poorer, more and more involved in worldly distress; they labour for themselves and their little ones, but every step they take seems only to sink them lower and lower; while the enjoyments of their unworthy brethren are at the flood-tide. This is the precise difficulty which David had to encounter years ago. He said, that he was troubled at the prosperity of the wicked; that he had "cleansed his heart in vain," and "washed his hands in innocency:" "When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end." But God so set the matter before him that he confessed, "So foolish was I, and ignorant; I was as a beast before thee." And so does God shew to us that he places the unworthy, the rich, in slippery places, and casts them down; that he makes their gold and their silver to be cankered, at the very time that he blesses the adversity of his own dear chastened ones, that he blesses the furnace through which they are brightened; so that the little they enjoy, is far better than the abundance of the unrighteous. They see that to wealth, illgotten, there adheres a curse; that there is an entail of sorrow that never shall be cut off. A man may have got rich by using the scant measure, and unjust weights; and he may show, week by week, and day by day, large profits on his balance sheet; but the remembrance of this his sin, though he stifle the words of conscience now, will rise up by and by, and will come upon him with crushing and overwhelming weight, at the day of account.

Or again: We see God's people, those who were eminent in their day, who were setting a fair example to others, and constantly enlarging the sphere of his influence, more considered, and more cared for; more recommending the Gospel every day he lived; we see such a one in the midst of his usefulness suddenly removed. It may be mysterious; but yet we see in it some of God's designs; they are taken away from the evil to come. Or, it may be that one eminent in his day-one who possesses high mental endowments-one who has a heart to feel the precious mercy of his God, and a tongue to tell it out to others --one with strength of argument, to cope with the antagonists of his Master, whose powers adapt him to watch over those who oppose; and such a one in the mid-career of his activity is taken from hearts that love him, and from souls that were hanging on his instructions. It may be that God caused him to preach from his death-bed as he never had preached before; it may be that his dying breath is spent in such a manner as to reach the hearts which never before were touched; or it may be that God is setting in their view an example that comes home of the uncertainty of all earthly things.

There is yet one more circumstance that may seem to be even yet more hard to understand. It is when one, who had walked for a long course of years consistently and carefully, is permitted to fall into great snares; or, what perhaps is still more mysterious, when such a one is permitted to promulgate erroneous opinions-as in truth, and unhappily, we have instances in our own day, without endeavouring to pry into the secret of the divine counsels. We would say this is taught us-" Cease from man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for wherein is he to be accounted of ?"

If, then, Providence has been watching over us all our past years—if there has been an Omniscient eye marking our pathway all our life, and if there has been an ever-liberal hand to supply all our wants; if, as we look at the experience of the days and years that are gone, we find that we are never forgotten and never forsaken; then we will say with David in the fulness of faith" Surely goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives." There may be much that is dark and mysterious in the dealings of God; but we will say in all such instances, "It is the Lord; he doth all things well.” We will not murmur, we will not repine, we will not impugn the Holy Spirit of Jehovah; but will reverently lay our hand on our lips, and our lips in the dust. By and by we shall know these things better; by and by God will advance us, if we be his people, to a far higher state of being: then our faculties shall become ennobled; then indeed will they be able to grasp mightier things; for heaven itself would be no heaven if it were not a place of intelligence, unless our best and brightest faculties were employed for God. And I believe they will be continually increasing in their energy, and that all our knowledge shall be laid at the foot of God's throne as an offering to him. The purity of our knowledge will be such that we shall look upon our past existence; and there we shall see, drawn as upon a map, how many a danger we have escaped which we never dreamed of, and how many mercies we received which we were never thankful for. Let us be content to look forward to that state. be aught here below difficult to understand, the Lord is saying to us, do, ye know not now, but ye shall know hereafter."

If there "What I

ETERNAL LIFE.

REV. W. NEWMAN, D. D.*

EAGLE STREET CHAPEL, RED LION SQUARE, FEBRUARY 16, 1834.

Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life."-EPISTLE OF JUDE, 21st verse.

I HAVE Come up this morning, my dear brethren, to condole with you on the loss of your beloved pastor. I knew him from the commencement of his ministry in this place; I loved him, and most sincerely sympathize with you in the removal of him from the scene of his interesting labours. I have had intercourse with him for nearly thirty years, and certainly never anticipated the scene which now presents itself to me. Never could I have imagined that I should ever be called to such a service as this to which I am now called. I appear before you, brethren, in pursuance of the dying request of my departed brother; who also selected the words which you have now, and repeatedly heard. The selection of these words, it appears to me, and probably it appears to you also, indicates the tone and temper of his mind in the last stage of his pilgrimage, and in the near prospect of eternity. When he was drawing nigh to the close of all the services in which he had been occupied, was he looking for the divine reward as a matter of debt? Oh no, he was "looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." Was he like the actor, retiring from the stage, and looking around for the plaudits of the spectators? Nothing at all, my friends; he was "looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life."

The Lord grant unto you and me, brethren, that we may enter into the spirit of the sentiment contained in these few words, which very plainly teach us three things: In the first place, that the ultimate object of our faith and hope and love must be, "eternal life." In the second place, that this life is to be ascribed to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. And thirdly, that for this life we must be looking and waiting.

In the first place we are taught by these important words, that THE ULTIMATE OBJECT OF OUR FAITH AND HOPE AND LOVE, MUST BE ETERNAL LIFE. "Eternal 1 fe;" that must be a life of honour and enjoyment; of enjoyment in the best society, and crowned with this glory-that it will never end; it will be eternal, or everlasting.

This life will be a life of honour. What think you, my dear friends, of being raised to a kingdom? Did not our blessed Redeemer say to his little flock, "Fear not little flock, it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom?" What can you receive more than a kingdom? I'he metaphor is borrowed from

• Funeral Sermon for the Rev. J. Ivimey, Minister of Eagle Street Chapel.