foundations, whose builder and maker is God. So sensible was he made of the salutary effects of distress, that he acknowledged with gratitude the kindness of Jehovah, in the application of that affliction under which he laboured: "Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now will I keep thy law."

Among the many trials to which man is exposed, there is none which strikes more deeply at his happiness than the loss of his near connexions. As social beings, we are indebted to each other for the comforts of human life. It is from the kindness and attentions of those united to us by the ties of affinity, that we derive the most sublime enjoyments; the names of husband and wife, parent and child, brother and sister, strike the ear with peculiar tenderness, and inspire the mind with satisfaction and delight. Amidst the convulsions which agitate our bosom, amidst that torrent of distress with which we are frequently called to struggle, we find in their converse and society, a solace for our griefs, a balm for every wound; of their sincerity we have no doubt, in their sympathy we perfectly confide. While other evils may be said to form a stream, over which we can step with little difficulty, their separation and departure constitute waters which alarm us, a river to the eye of flesh deep and impassable.

To support us under such trials, the Christian religion is nobly calculated; by the light which it affords us, the valley of death is perfectly illumined; the shades and horrors of its scenery are dissipated, and it is represented to our view as a shadow, the path to eternal joys.

Is the Christian called upon to part with the child of his affections, the son of his hope? Revelation takes him by the hand, and directs him to that world of happiness where sorrow and sighing find no admission, and where every tear will be wiped from his eye. Does nature cling with resistless force to the object of its attachment? Revelation assures the suffering parent that his child is the heir of eternal joys, that "it is not dead but sleepeth;" that so far from intending its destruction, Jehovah by its removal will

consummate its bliss, and confirm it in the possession of happiness endless and unabating. "Suffer it to come unto me and forbid it not, for of such is the kingdom of God." At the declaration of that assurance, the pangs of parental love are assuaged; the storm of his affliction is succeeded by a day of serenity and composure; the waters of distress are not permitted to overflow and destroy his hopes.

Is the Christian called upon to part with a beloved parent; a parent who has nursed him in his infancy, and folded him in the arms of the sincerest affection? Does he perceive those lips, from which have flowed his youthful instructions, quivering in death? Does he perceive those hands which have aided him in his infant exertions, clasped in dissolution? Does he perceive those eyes which have so often beamed in kindness upon him, sunk in their sockets insensible to surounding objects? Does he perceive those ears in which he once lodged his complaints, and never lodged them in vain, deaf to those agonies which rend his bosom? Do such objects, I say, strike his mind and convulse his frame? The promises of God step in to his relief; they explore that path, which nature in all its efforts cannot reach, and clear it of its awful gloom; they tell him of mansions of rest provided for the people of God; that death has been deprived of its sting by the Saviour, and that his parent is winging his way to a better world. He gathers encouragement from the assurance of revelation; he pants after God as the hart panteth after the water brooks; he determines, through God's grace, to come out from among the world, and to fit himself for the enjoyment of celestial bliss. The sufferings of the youthful Christian are noticed by that Being whose care extendeth to the young ravens, and the simple sparrow: his mind is strengthened, the waters are forbidden to overflow him.

Is the Christian called upon to part with the companion of his bosom; the friend whom he has selected from the world to share with him in the comforts, and to sympathise with him in the sorrows of human life? Has disease stamped upon her visage the impress of death? Has that

smile, with which she always greeted his return, left her countenance, and have paleness and languor usurped its seat? Does he perceive the moment advancing when death must separate him from her society, and leave him exposed to the gloom of solitude? At such a moment, a moment which needeth consolation, the Scriptures of God furnish him with every necessary comfort. He fixes his eye upon the tomb of Lazarus, he sees the fetters of death loosened by the Lord Jesus Christ, and beholds the victim of dissolution arise from his slumbering retirement; he reflects upon that state which is subject to no change, and presses toward the mark; he beholds the inhabitants of heaven uniting in anthems of praise around the Redeemer's throne, and thirsts for the living God; he hears the Saviour declaring, "I am the resurrection and the life, he that liveth and believeth in me shall never die," and his hopes are enlarged; the triumphant language of Paul strikes his ear with irresistible force, and wipes the tear from his weeping eye: "this corruption shall put on incorruption, this mortal shall put on immortality." Oh, death, I will be thy sting, Oh, grave, I will be thy victory. He anticipates the day when believers in Jesus will meet in perfect peace, and through the countless ages of eternity, chaunt the praises of Redeeming grace; he lights his torch at the altar of revelation, the darkness of nature vanishes as he advances, and the glories of the celestial world are reflected upon his mind; conscious that the inhabitants of bliss are holy, he flies to the blood of atonement to remove his defilement, and to fit him for the skies; in the exercise of his religious duties, he finds a pleasure which the world can neither give nor take away-his griefs are hushed into a calmhis distresses are appeased-his soul is at rest-" the Lord gave" he exclaims in faith, "and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord." Jehovah beholds with affection the poor sufferer; he goes with him through the waters, and the rivers are not permitted to overflow him. When brought to the verge of eternity himself, the same dependence upon the promises of God support and comfort

him; he finds the powers of nature gradually declining, still retains his fortitude of mind; enclosed in the ark of the covenant, he approaches the river of death without a fear; the waters separate, and furnish him, as they did Israel of old, with a safe passage to eternity. Yes, believing in the word of God he looks the grim tyrant in the face, and with Christian composure declares," though I walk through the valley and shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou, my God, art with me, thy rod and thy staff comfort me."

To secure to ourselves a state of mind so truly delightful, let us accept those offers made us in the Gospel of Christ; let us fly to the atonement as the only place of refuge the rock upon which to build our hopes of happiness; let us make the precepts of Jehovah our rule of life; and we shall find, that in sickness and in health, in trouble or prosperity, the God we love will never leave us nor forsake us.

SERMON XII.

"How beautiful upon the mountains, are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, thy God reigneth !”— ISAIAH, lii. 7.

In order to enter into the spirit of that animated expression, which forms the theme of my present discourse, it is necessary that you should be informed of the situation of the Jews, at the time to which it immediately refers.

'The transgressions which they had committed against God, had involved them in punishments the most grievous and insupportable; they were separated from that state of familiar intercourse with the Almighty, to which they had been accustomed; and were doomed, not only to a banishment from the immediate presence of Jehovah, but also to a state of captivity in Babylon. While exposed on the one hand to the insulting language of their enemies, and upon the other, to a separation from the institutions of that religion, in which they had been instructed by God himself, their hearts became alive to the awful situation in which they were involved, and they panted for a restoration to the divine favor and protection. In their supplications to heaven for assistance, they plead the former favors they had received; they related in the ear of Jehovah those miraculous interpositions he had exercised in their behalf, and entreated the Almighty to arise in power, to evidence himself their friend, again, and to have mercy upon Zion; "Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the

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