"Adversity," says a far-famed northern writer, * whose works every body has perused with delight:

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Adversity is like the period of the former and the latter rain, cold, comfortless, unfriendly to man and to animal: and yet, from that season have their birth the flower and the fruit, the date, the rose, and the pomegranate." Moreover, "I know my thoughts, which are to you-ward, saith the Lord; thoughts of good, and not of evil, to give you a desired end." †

Consider, then, O you, who in the secret council of your hearts, confess to yourselves that you are not happy BECAUSE OF THE GUILT OF SIN; consider, that it is because you have turned yourselves away from the only true source of true happiness; that this is the reason of the "horror of great darkness"‡ that beglooms your spirits, (that are awakened to a sense of your melancholy condition,) as it is also of the very midnight sleep of death upon others who are indeed still "dead in trespasses and sins." § And consider also, and gladly remember, that you have only to turn yourselves by true and zealous REPENTANCE unto him who is the LIGHT of Life, in order to regain your peace!

Consider, likewise, O you, who have turned yourselves unto the brightness of his rising, and yet are

Sir Walter Scott, in "The Talisman."

+ Jer. xxix. 11. + Gen. xv. 12.

Ephes. ii. 1.

in frequent heaviness through MANIFOLD AFFLICTIONS AND TEMPTATIONS; consider, I pray you, that these very troubles are caused by him who doeth all things wisely, and all things well; by a tender Father, whose love you must learn to trust, and whose will you must learn to love, before you can be fitted to enjoy the “fulness of pleasure and of joy, which is at his right hand for evermore.”* He will permit no evil to befal you, beyond your ability to bear, or which will not work out for you an incomparably greater good!

Oh! who, then, that believes and adores the God that became man expressly to effectuate these things, would wish to alter the destiny that he directs, even if he could? Who that is aware that his soul is so dear to God, that it hath been purchased with a price of blood + "more precious than the gold of Ophir,” can willingly grieve that God by continuing impenitent, or mistrust that God by persisting to be in any sort an unbeliever?

We are assembled together, my brethren, this morning, with the purpose of commemorating the event of our Saviour's self-sacrifice for our sakes, to celebrate the ordinance which he did institute for our great comfort and refreshment, as often as we celebrate it, until his coming again!

In his holy and blessed name, therefore, I invite + Isaiah, xiii. 12.

* Psalm xvi. 11.

all, that are able and willing, to come and partake of the banquet which he hath so graciously provided, the banquet of PARDON and of PEACE!

"Come unto him, all you that are weary and heavy laden, (whether with guilt or with grief,) and he will refresh you. Take his yoke upon you, and learn of him, and you shall find rest unto your souls; for his yoke is easy, and his burden is light."*

The worldly calamities, and the heart-wounding sorrows which we suffer, are they not real sufferings when we endure them? Why then should not the benefits and advantages and enjoyments of religion be real enjoyments to us when we are thus invited to partake of them?

If, my beloved brethren, "there be MANY that say, WHO WILL SHOW US ANY GOOD?" let there be MANY MORE, who exclaim, in the language of penitent faith and steadfast hope, "LORD, LIFT THOU UP THE LIGHT OF THY COUNTENANCE UPON US!" Amen and Amen!

Matt. xi. 29, 30.

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SERMON IV.

Sunday, March 8, 1835.

COMPASSION FOR THEM THAT ARE AS SHEEP NOT HAVING A SHEPHERD.

MARK VI. 34.

And Jesus, when he was come out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion towards them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.

WHATEVER instance we detach from the history of our blessed Lord as recorded in the Gospels, and in whatsoever point of view we contemplate his sublime and heavenly character, it is sure to be found either so affectingly benignant, so simply dignified, or so disinterestedly useful, that we have only to pay the slightest attention in order to acknowledge, that even if it were possible for him to have been only a man and not God,-even if he had not stood in the relation of a Saviour to us, but only

as an uncommonly wise, virtuous, and benevolent individual; still, a character so uniquely, so supremely excellent, would have been worthy not simply of a passing approbation, but of the devout love and homage of our souls.

The character of Christ, indeed, imagining him to be but a mere man, in whatever point of view considered, I myself, at least, find to be so exquisitely touching, so unspeakably noble, as well as pure and innocent, that often and often has the contemplation of it wrung tears from my eyes, and blood from my heart,-tears of grief, and blushes of shame, because I find, by experience and selfknowledge, that I can neither aspire to such wisdom, nor emulate such love, nor imitate such virtue, in the manner, and to the extent, in which that divine Saviour has not only challenged, but commanded us to aspire, to emulate, and to imitate him.*

It is, however, and notwithstanding, the duty of all of us, but more especially of all of us, who are called to preach him to the world, to endeavour to follow his beneficent example in that particular in which he represents himself as a shepherd, and his people as sheep; and inasmuch as he has positively, repeatedly, and authoritatively, entrusted you, my brethren, his people, to the care of us his ministers, or under-shepherds, whose peculiar charge it is to * Matt. x. 16, and xvi. 24; Luke, xviii. 22; John, xiii. 36.

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