and torture, and that the joy of the Lord is your strength. The only grief of a good man in duty is, that he cannot perform it better.

And let God's law be within your hearts in the strong affection which you bear to it, and in the subjection of all your thoughts and feelings to its influence. Let your wishes, your recollections, and purposes, be as fully regulated by its dictates, as the most open actions of your lives. The law of God in your heart will keep the world from its throne, and sin from having dominion over you. Let not the senseless jargon in which some inconsiderate zealots for the doctrines of grace disparage good works, lead you to imagine that the Gospel has abrogated the moral law, or generates any hostility to it. It never can pass away, and a good man cannot desire its subversion. It is the rule of duty on earth, the standard of perfection in heaven, and the transcript of Jehovah's moral excellence. It is magnified in all Christ's offices, it is the inseparable associate of the Gospel, and it will be the test in our final judgment.

ADDRESS IV.

2 SAMUEL 1. 26.

"I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan; very pleasant hast thou been unto me; thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women."

THE lamentation of David over the death of his friend Jonathan, is marked by exquisite pathos. The excellencies of his character, and the circumstances of his fate, are exhibited with a skill which calls forth all the power of fancy, and with a generous sensibility

which melts the heart. David forgets all the envy and violence of the father, and can think of nothing but the worth and friendship of the son. The excel lencies of a friend never strike the heart so much as when the sad conclusion is forced upon us, that we shall see his face no more, and the enjoyments of friendship seem most delightful when we feel that they are gone never to return. David mourns that a man so excellent should perish in the prime of his days, and that so brave a soldier should fall before his enemies; but his heart bleeds at the thought, that a friend in whom he had promised himself so much happiness was snatched from him, and would never again heighten his joys, sooth his cares, or share his perils. He fondly remembers the sweetness of his manners, the generosity of his character, the ardour of his attachment, and his unwearied solicitude for his interest, and speaks as if he thought that there was not in all his country, nor in all his family, a heart that loved him like the heart of Jonathan.

ror.

Christians, you are now contemplating the death of a Friend, of whose love the kindness of Jonathan was but a faint shadow, and who died while contending with your enemies, but who died more than a conqueYou are sorrowing, and why do ye mourn? If it is at the insults of his enemies, the tortures of the cross, or the severity of his agony, Jesus thus addresses you, "Weep not for me, but weep for yourselves." It is not for the tear of sympathy, but of contrition, that I now call. Sorrow for those sins which I died to expiate, and let the contemplation of my sufferings excite in you all the regrets, and lead you to all the amendment of true repentance.

How dear and how interesting is the relation in which Jesus stands to you! He is not ashamed to

call you brethren, and he will not be offended with the affection and pious confidence which is now looking to him, and calling him " my Brother." You are members of the same family. One is your Father, even God, and you have one spirit with him. He now surveys you sitting at his table in obedience to his command, and in love to his name, and says before angels and archangels," Behold my mother and my brethren, for he that doth the will of my Father who is in hea ven, the same is my brother, my sister and mother." He hath the majesty of a sovereign, the righteousness of a judge, and the splendour of a conqueror; but he hath also the heart of a brother; and from him you may expect all the kind attentions, and all the steady affection which this relation demands.

Jesus is indeed very pleasant to his people in the beauties of his character, the endearments of his love, and the blessings of his grace. The time spent in his society is the happiest of your life: your fears are dis pelled by the assurances of his care, and your sorrows relieved in pouring out your complaint to him. His glory gives a charm to his condescension, which enraptures the soul, and by the amplitude of his stores he is able to fulfil every purpose of his own heart, and to gratify every wish of ours. You feel that for one smile of his countenance, one expression of his love, and one token of his kindness, you could renounce the world were it all your own. Friendship hath no plea sure so delightful, and life no joy so sweet.

His love to you was wonderful. Heaven cannot shew more of its wonders than the cross; for there they are displayed in the arduousness of his conflict, the extremity of his sufferings, and the vileness of his shame. The sun is darkened to attest how love veiled his glory, the rocks rend to proclaim its power, and

the graves open to shew that his affection survives the disruption of every earthly tie, and will triumph in the resurrection of the just.

But his love to you is wonderful. David knew not whether Jonathan still loved him. His attachment may have perished amid the overwhelming scenes of eternity, and though it did exist, he was not aware of any benefit which it could yield, or any form in which it could be displayed. But we know that Jesus in hea ven is as affectionate and compassionate as ever, and his wondrous love may be seen there in the fervour and the constancy of his intercession, in the extent and the value of his preparations for your happiness, and in the condescension and the tenderness of his care.

And what created love can be compared with his? The utmost height to which human affection goes, is to share its possessions with the object beloved. "What is thy petition," said Ahasuerus to his queen,

and what is thy request, and it shall be granted thee " to the half of the kingdom?" But the love of Jesus raises its objects to the right hand of the Majesty on high. The utmost depth to which human affection goes is to the dust of death for its object. "Greater love hath no man than this,

that a man should

But Jesus died un

lay down his life for his friend." der the curse, and for his enemies. The utmost extent of human affection is to sacrifice friends and country for the sake of its object, and to go with him to distant climes, in the idea that by his side we shall find a home. But what is this to that tender mercy which Jesus spreads over all his works, and to that grace which made him come from the bosom of his Father to dwell with mortals? The utmost length of human affection is life. Death is the close of human friendship, as well as of human glory. The tear of love can

no more melt the cold heart, than the pomp of the world can elevate the humbled clay; but the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on them that fear him.

The strongest of all human attachments has been supposed to be that of a mother to her child. "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb! yea, she may forget, but I will not forget thee, I have graven thee on the palms of my hands, and thy walls are continually before me." There is an allusion here to a custom among the Jews, who used to mark on their hands a picture or representation of Jerusalem, to shew their zeal, and to cherish their affection for it, and it beautifully points out how the saints are ever before their Sa viour as objects of care and love, a care and love compared with which, human vigilance seems heedless, and human affection cold. And now, Christians, it is our wish that you may taste that the Lord is gracious, and that his love shed abroad in your heart, and blessing the exercise of a communion table, may render this service the earnest of heaven.

After the Service.

LET not the sorrow of penitence be limited to this service, but let it mingle fear and caution with the exultation and the mirth of prosperity; let it sanctify your grief in the day of worldly calamity, let it induce you to watch against the temptations by which your hearts have been enticed, and animate you to greater activity in holiness.

Maintain that confidence in Jesus which he so justly claims, and have no fellowship with those who are hos

VOL. II.