idea of our resurrection-body, to which we shall be conformed by the "power wherewith he is able even to subdue all things to himself." Yes; we shall come forth; and our grave will be as our dressing-chamber, where we lay aside corruption with our grave clothes, and are clothed like unto Christ; ready for the bridegroom, prepared to be ushered into the presence of the Lamb.

Application.

1. Like the pillar that led the Israelites, it has a dark side for its enemies; while it assures us of a resurrection, it tells us it will be of the unjust as well as the just. Oh! sinner, the earth will spew thee forth; in vain thy marble tomb attempts to hide thee: the solid marble rends!-the body shall rise to receive according to the deeds done in the body! the instrument of sin shall be the instrument of suffering. Take the alarm! Be at peace with God.

2. It should mitigate our sorrows for departing friends; we mourn their loss; it is right to weep; to indulge the feelings of sympathetic sorrow (grace never conquers this nature). Jesus wept! But we sorrow not as those without hope! we meet again! we soon shall meet to part no more! The family bond will again be tied. I shall again meet my friend and rekindle my fire-for he is not dead, but sleepeth! Parents, &c., children, &c., you will know them again, and, flying to the mutual embrace, the language of Paradise will be heard, My child, my child! My father, my father!

3. It should comfort us in the prospect of our death; he will be with thee then; he will support thy head; be not alarmed; remember it is but putting off mortality; it is the passage home; heaven is my home!-he will not leave our soul in hell. He will come and call us from the tomb, and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then, like Job, "O that thou wouldst hide me in the grave, that thou wouldst keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldst appoint me a set time, and remember me! If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. Thou shalt call, and

I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thy hands."-This refers to the time between death and the resurrection. "Wherefore comfort one another with these words," &c., &c. '

SERMON XLII.

THE EFFORTS AND SUPPORT OF THE CHRISTIAN. Psalm lxiii., 8.—My soul followeth hard after thee; thy right hand upholdeth me.

THE Hebrew here rendered followeth hard after signifies also to cleave to, &c.-Perhaps the Psalmist had the idea of a child at once exerting itself to follow and to cleave to its parent. How natural-picture a case: see the father-the child says, "Hold me by the hand;" still it requires all his exertion to keep pace, &c.-But while he hangs on you, he is encouraged to proceed. He followeth hard, but your right hand upholds and draws him forward.

In applying these words to the experience of a child of God, consider,

I. The efforts he makes.

II. The assistance he receives.

I. The efforts he makes.

These efforts are directed to three principal points:

First. Obedience to the will of God. Self-will is the principle of action with the children of this world. But religion teaches to deny self. God's will is the Christian's chart and compass. "Lord, what wouldst thou have me to

do?"

But this obedience is distinguished by two features: 1. It will be spiritual. There will be purity in the motive, as well as rectitude in the act.

2. Universal.-Not like Saul, who spared Agag, but "having respect to all the commandments."

Secondly. Constant exercise of faith in the promises

of God. The child of God feels his impotence and his need of him who is able to keep him from falling-he followeth hard!-often fears he shall be cast down. It would be endless to enumerate all the difficulties to be encountered." Many are the afflictions of the righteous," &c.—often they are tried in the fire.-The accuser of the brethren perhaps obtains permission, as in Job's case, to lay his hand on their property, their children, or their persons; nay, one in whom they trusted lifts up his heel against them. And do they feel no tendency to faint under these tribulations? no temptation to say, "All men are liars ?" No danger in believing a lie of the enemy that "God has shut up his loving kindness in sore displeasure"-no difficulty in saying, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him." O! it is a narrow way, a steep and difficult ascent.-There are moments in which we cry out, "My feet were almost gone, my steps had wellnigh slipped." Yet we follow hard after God, and resemble Gideon and his little army, "faint, yet. pursuing."

Thirdly. The enjoyment of communion with God. This is a higher point of Christian experience !—the principal inducement to a child in following, &c.-does not merely originate in the influence of authority, or the fear of surrounding dangers, but from the expectation of that satisfaction. and pleasure which is always found in the society and converse of a beloved object. The toil of exertion is sweetened, and the length of the way beguiled by a thousand pleasing inquiries-a thousand pleasing communications. The little traveller, as he runs by the side and holds the hand of his father, lifts up his voice for information and inclines his ear to instruction; and if it were not for the interest which this mutual intercourse gives to the journey, it would be, to the child at least, a dull and irksome toil. He would want a sufficient excitement to persist in the laborious effort; and beginning at first to follow afar off, would at length be tempted to measure back his steps to the place from whence he commenced his course.

So with the child of God. Communion with his heavenly Father is the most valued and exalted privilege. Divest re

ligion of this, and it becomes a yoke grievous to be borne. We might, indeed, submit to it for a while in the spirit of bondage unto fear, but we should soon become faint and weary in our minds. And such is actually observed to be the case with those who substitute purposes of amendment, attempts at reformation, and forms of Godliness, in place of spiritual, experimental piety-these have no root in themselves. Religion has no hold upon their affections; it is not the source of their joy. They flee to it in a time of danger as a matter of necessity, not of choice; and when the danger seems in some degree subsided, they gradually return to the world; they endure for a while, and in a time of temptation fall away. Such are the desires they cherish, such the efforts they make.

II. The assistance he receives.

The inference is, as long as the people of God follow hard after, &c.

1. He will deliver their feet from falling, as the child upheld by the father-so feeling his dependance, he is strong in the Lord, &c.

If ever we fail, either there is a want of fervour in our endeavour, or of simplicity in our dependance. We either do not follow hard after, or do not hang upon him. I appeal to experience. When have your feet slipped? * * * On the other hand, when have you been most sensibly assisted?

Indeed, the Divine perfections preclude the possibility of any other result. It would be unnatural in one of you that is a father to withhold assistance from your child, while labouring to keep pace, &c.-so here.

But you say, We know all things are possible to him that believeth; but then my faith is liable to fail.

2. He will keep your faith from failing-" Thy right hand upholdeth me." David meant that he not only perfected his obedience, but maintained his confidence, by means of the grace of God assisting him. Indeed, our observance of the law is inseparably connected with our faith in the promise. The Christian's work is the work of faith; his walk is a walk of faith; his life is a life of faith. Faith,

as Samson's hair, is the principle wherein his great strength lieth; if shorn of this, he becomes weak like other men. Hence Satan lays his axe to this root of the tree; and how often has he who is able to succour them that are tempted helped us against our unbelief. What would have become of the faith of Jairus, if Jesus had not strengthened it by," Fear not; believe only, and she shall be made whole."-What of the faith of Martha? What of the Psalmist's at the Providence of God, if he had not gone into the sanctuary? What of Peter's, if Jesus had not prayed that his faith might not fail?-and what of our own!-In fact, as in the child's case, our hold is so feeble, that if our heavenly Father did not grasp our hand in his, we should fall. Every stone of stumbling would trip us. Every danger would turn us back. Our nature tends to "an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.". We are only more than conquerors through him that loved us.

How much is implied in the encouragement to Paul at Corinth, "Fear not," &c. Paul might have departed, like Mark, from the work, if the right hand of Jesus had not upholden him.

So we "drink of the brook in the way; therefore do we lift up our heads.”

And

3. He will preserve your hearts from fainting. here is the cause of apostacy. Men do not follow hard after and hang upon God as the source of their delight; and, consequently, remaining strangers to joy and peace in believing, become weary of the comfortless and formal round of duties and restraints, till at last they altogether break the yoke from their necks. There is no stability in religion short of this experimental knowledge of the love of Jesus-it shall be in you "a well of water springing up into everlasting life."-Such have "bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening, and drink of the brook." so that in the days of famine they have enough. Yes, even under the loss of outward comforts they have inward refreshments, and say, "Though we walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive us: thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of our enemies, and thy right hand shall