truth. The living, the living, he shall praise Thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth."

In all our distresses, we shall find it a mighty alleviation to retire from the world which troubles us, into our own hearts and closets, and there spread the matter, whatever it be, before the Lord, and pour out our hearts before Him. This truly is the house of God, and this the gate of heaven; and none of us, my brethren, can long breathe that air without being the better for it. No man can say, that in the few moments he spends to himself and to God in sincere and humble prayer, but that the world, with all its affronts and vexations, vanish from his view. He rises above it. He stands above it. Clouds of anxious thoughts and cares it is true are at his feet, and await his descent from this mount of God; but his heart is set above them, and trusteth in the Lord; they have lost their power of hurting and discomposing his mind. He rejoices as though he rejoiced not; he weeps as though he wept not. He has the same feelings and passions as the rest of mankind, but prayer has sanctified and subdued them. Consequently the objects that once disquieted him, no longer give him the same uneasiness. He has a friend to whom he flies for refuge; to Him

he tells his griefs, and lays open the causes of his disquietude. And in such circumstances, we know, when the heart is full and the spirit vexed, it is no small relief to unburthen ourselves, and to tell our griefs even to one, like ourselves, who has little or no power to help us. Could we but be prevailed upon, in our difficulties, to "cease from man whose breath is in his nostrils," and, instead of "conferring with flesh and blood" to fly, in the first instance to God, and to lay the matter before Him, we should, oftener than we do, return with an answer of peace.

Had good Hezekiah trusted to an arm of flesh, rather than in Him who liveth for ever, who is king of kings and lord of lords, the day had not been his. His fears brought him to his knees: his faith led him to God; and his prayer more than did its work. Well contented as he would have been to have seen the enemy on their return to their own country, and his land once more free from these fierce invaders, his prayer was more than victorious: it brought death and the destroying angel to his assistance. Whilst he is giving sleep to his eyes, in the peaceable hope that God had heard his desire, the battle is fought-the deed is done by an invisible hand. The morning rolled away the shadows of night only to disclose the pale and livid corpses of that vast army that,

but the preceding day, would have swallowed up Jerusalem;-all is now still as the grave!

And shall the prayer of faith accomplish such mighty deeds as this, and is it insufficient to grapple with smaller matters. No, my brethren, "in all these things that trouble us here below, we are more than conquerors, through him that hath loved us." Whatever be your peculiar situation, trial or temptation, (and commonly each person thinks his own to be the greatest) be it such as is utterly out of the power of human skill to rescue you from; should even the enemy of your souls come in like a flood, we have the assurance of our merciful Redeemer, that "greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world;" that is, if ye are his children, if ye are of God, and have overcome the world. "For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. And this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: and if we know that

he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.” If God be thus for us, who then can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him, also freely give us all things ? Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors, through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Commit then thy way unto the Lord, and He shall bring it to pass. Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you. Roll it over upon Him in faith and prayer, and be assured that "He, who is always more ready to hear than we to pray, and is wont to give more than either we desire or deserve, will put his shoulder to the burthen, and will finally, for the merits of his Son Jesus Christ, "make all things work together for good" to as many as love Him.

Sermon VI.

CHRIST THE GOOD SHEPHERD.

JOHN X. 11.

Jesus said, I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

In order to understand the beauty and propriety of many figures of speech employed in the Holy Scriptures, attention must be paid to the customs and manners which prevailed among the people to whom they were severally addressed. The numerous hills of Judea afforded so many natural facilities for the breeding of sheep and other gregarious animals. It was consequently a common occupation. And where almost every person was a shepherd, it was both natural as well as instructive to be