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towards the haven where it could be safe. Thus in the retrospect of past trials does the Lord work great and wonderful mercies to his people.

"To those who are exercised thereby." These blessings are connected with spiritual exercises. There is in the original word this idea: first of all they were stripped, in order to run; and being stripped, then they had to run. That is just what God does with us. He strips us of our self-confidence, of our self-wisdom, of self-righteousness; and then he leaveth us to run: and it is in the exercise of the soul, tried to the very uttermost, that the greatest blessings flow into the heart in the way of his fatherly chastisement. How patience can be tried-how faith can be tried-how hope, how strength, how wisdom can be tried in one single chastisement! And how that very chastisement can be the means of bringing out the grace that is in us! Had it not been for the accusation of drunkenness-" These men are drunken"—that grace,. and courage, and self-denial, had not been exhibited by the Apostle Peter. He was accused of drunkenness, and then he stood up with his life in his hand. But what was the means of bringing out that holy courage? It was the wretched charge brought against him by the enemies of God, and by his enemies. What was it that at midnight induced Paul and Silas to sing praises to God? It was the persecution which they received from the jailer: and but for that correction, it had not been known that men could stay in a prison, though the doors were open, for conscience' sake, and could exhibit, with their feet in the stocks, what it is to bless, praise, and adore God for his mercies. Observe, it was by the circumstances ordained of God, that he brought out, in these exercised ones, the peaceable fruits of righteousness. It was in the very struggle of faith and of hope; it was in the very emergency. It is in our emergencies that God giveth us his greatest blessings, and the most munificent proofs of his love. I could appeal to many of you, and ask, Has not your extremity been God's opportunity? And when your heads have hung down, and your knees have been feeble, when you have looked perhaps to some special earthly friend, and rested on him, but when he came he was nothing, or he came not at all; and when this favourite resource was taken from you, what had you to do? You found the everlasting arms your strength; you brought forth "the peaceable fruits of righteousness.”

The believer's path to heaven is not a summer's walk at evening. We know just as much of Christ as we experience of him; we know just as much of Christ as we have tried him. An untried Christ is to us an uncertain Christ. We are to learn amidst the vicissitudes of time, the infinite value of Immanuel. We are to learn, amidst the ruin of ourselves and the creatures, the infinite glories of our Jesus, who is of God made unto us wisdom and righteousness, sanctification and redemption.

Now, in retracing my subject, I can only say, how great the mercy is that chastisement is not vengeance! Did you ever experience a sense of his vengeance in your heart? May I ask, What form does your Christianity present? Is it that of a summer's day Christianity, that looketh well, tålketh well, and argueth well, and, in a sense, liveth well, as far as moral conduct goes? Or is it that sort of Christianity that has learned the value of a crucified Saviour in the region of your own destitution? Is it that sort of Christianity that has made

you find out the worth of Christ, in the deep conviction of your own worthlessness? I do not desire to bring you to the test of your conviction; but I ask you, What is Christ to you? What do you want him for? What do you think of his righteousness? The converse of that is manifestly this-What do you think of your own? For just as you have found out the worthlessness of your own, in that state, and in that degree alone, can the value of Christ's righteousness be found in your souls. What think ye of Christ? What do you know of a crucified Immanuel—of an Incarnate God? O, do not trifle with your souls: I will not. It is a light matter to come and hear; but, remember, you must listen to the trumpet of the archangel. There are few things (I say it not to pain the mind of any)—there are few things in this world that I lay less stress upon than the opinion of man concerning the state of my soul. Though I am thankful when the people of God speak well, and think well of me-though I am thankful to be approved of those whom God approves—yet I always think of what a brother, now in heaven, once said, "If all the ministers of Christ were to come to me at my death-bed, and tell me I was a child of God, I would say, No one can bring that to my conscience but God the Eternal Spirit himself." We are thankful if our outward life brings no disgrace on our calling; we are thankful if our outward life does not make God's saints to hang their heads on our behalf. But take not the thing for granted; O, make sure work of salvation. The dying moment will come; that moment when you shall think as little of your families and those around you-when you shall think as little of the gratitude of your fellow-men, as if they had had no existence. What do you know of conversion work? What do you know of being born again? What do you know of having the Eternal Spirit dwelling in your heart? What do you know of a broken and contrite spirit, that mourneth for sin before the cross of the Son of God? Perhaps these words of mine may be as God's arrows within the joints of your harness; and you may have been sent here for a blessing, and I may have been sent here to be made a blessing unto you. It is an awful thought, that that which some think to be correction, may be God's vengeance. I think of the storm; I think of that moment when the world will fade away like a dream; and all I can say is this-Rely not upon separation with any; rely not upon union with any; rely not upon any ordinances; rely not upon a sense of obligation; rely not upon outward things; but may God give you grace to make sure work of your soul's salvation before the throne of God. Remember God's work will be tried; and what there is of good in it will be proved to be of God.

It is a mercy there is no wrath in the corrections of our God: they all come from a Father's heart, and they all come through the cross of the Son of God. If we could but unravel the mystery, we should need another vocabulary to that which some are ready to make for us. We sometimes hear from the lips of God's saints," How favoured is that man's situation; every thing seems to smile on him he has health, he has strength, he has friends; his circumstances are easy, and all seem to bless him on all sides." If I were to call on him I would say, "Is any merry, let him sing Psalms." But if he is one of God's children, and thou livest long enough to see him, you shall find, that the Lord has his net for him; that the Lord has trials for him; that the Lord has changes for him. And then ask of his heart the effect of all this, and he will answer thus:

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"My brother, I tell thee, the most favoured period of my life was that when I was brought to the lowest dust before God; and while I know I ought to have thanked God for providential mercies more than I did, yet I now see, that the greatest trials were amongst the chiefest of my blessings." And why? Because the chastisement of our peace was upon Him. There was no wrath in the cross, because it was a correcting hand; and a correcting hand, because there was a needs-be for it.

How needful it is to live by faith, to live above the exercise of our minds, to be more exercised thereby! How needful for us to live above ourselves! How little able you and I are to see the issue of what the Lord will bring out of the present emergency! And when, perhaps, by our bedsides we wrestle hard with God for a prayer-not wrestle in prayer, but wrestle, in a sense, that we may pray; when perhaps our knees are so feeble we can hardly stand upright; when our hands hang down, and we cannot lift them up as we ought to do in prayer, praise, and thanksgiving; when every thing seems to droop, and all things seem to sink and yet what is the mystery the Lord is teaching thee? Live out of yourself; live upon Christ; live upon his fulness, as the blood of the atonement, as the "much incense," rising up, now that thou art brought to the lowest dust. "What now?" says unbelief. "Yes, now," says faith; "taking God at his word, and resting upon the unchangeable and unchanging Immanuel."

May our great concern be-what seems to be the great purpose of God in all his dealings with us-that we may "yield forth the peaceable fruit of righteousness." I love that word—" yield forth!" Not like a still, that forceth the drops; but like a fountain that floweth freely: not driven by necessity; not compelled by terror; not under dread and alarm; but under the drawings of God's mercy. May the Lord vouchsafe, as you go to your homes to-day, some sweet sense of his mercy, some sweet taste of his love, some realizing of his truth in your hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit! Then you shall say, "Welcome cross; welcome trial! I go home to my domestic affliction, but I have brought Christ with me; I find that Christ enough for me; I find his arm sufficient; and I do not look at it as I looked at it this morning: it seems another cross." It is the same; but through grace you see the arm of Jesus beneath you.

May God condescend to bless his word to your souls and my soul! May he make the word (in the fullest sense) a word in season to us, in drawing us nearer to Him, filling our hearts with adoring gratitude and praise!

THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER.

REV. J. WILLIAMS, A.M,

ST. ANNE'S CHURCH, LIMEHOUSE, FEBRUARY 22, 1835.

"And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." LUKE, viii. 8.

MAN, by nature, is under a double condemnation. The curse of a violated law rests upon his head: for it is written, "The soul that sinneth it shall die;" and "The wages of sin is death." He is like a debtor, confined within the dreary cells of a prison, who owes ten thousand talents, and has nothing to pay. But besides this, there is a deep, inveterate, and deadly malady, eating like a canker within him. Not only has sin subjected him to perdition and woe, from which he is utterly unable to free his own soul; but it has poisoned his heart, blinded his understanding, alienated his affections, perverted his will. So totally depraved and corrupt is he, that from the sole of the foot even to the crown of the head, there is no soundness in him, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores: every imagination of the thought of his heart is evil, and that continually.

Now, if such be the double condemnation of every descendant of fallen Adam, you will perceive, brethren, that in order to a complete recovery, he stands in need of a two-fold remedy: there must be pardon and renewal; there must be justification and sanctification: neither one could do without the other. If pardon alone were afforded, if he were to restore to health only, the relief would be but partial; but if he be both forgiven and healed, the relief will be complete.

Now the Gospel of Jesus Christ amply provides for both. The Son of God descended from his throne of glory, and, clothed in human nature, he paid the "rigid satisfaction, death for death." He has borne away the curse of the law; he has quenched the flame of the sword of justice in his own precious blood; he has paid the debt, even to the uttermost farthing: "Look unto me," he cries," and be saved. Ye have destroyed yourselves, but in me is your help: I am your refuge, your rock, your foundation laid in Zion. Come, believe on me; and ye shall be justified from all things."

Being thus rescued from the bitter pains of death eternal, the Gospel proposes a remedy effectual to heal the spiritual diseases with which the whole inner man is infected. That remedy, brethren, is the grace of the Holy Spirit of God, purifying the corrupt heart, softening its hardness, illuminating its darkness, rectifying its perverseness, subduing its rebellion, and bringing every thought

into the obedience of Christ. Then this world becomes to the pardoned sinner a school of discipline; and the Bible, the book whence he derives his only food and comfort, his nourishment, his living brook in a thirsty land: and it is by means of reading, meditating upon, and praying over that book, that the Holy Spirit gradually accomplishes the cure of the sin-stricken soul, and raises it up to glory, honour, immortality, and eternal life. I say gradually, because there is this important distinction between the work of Christ for us, and the work of the Spirit within us. Redemption is the complete finished work of divine grace, wrought out by Jesus Christ; and upon our repentance there is forgiveness and justification. But sanctification by the Spirit is progressive, like the processes of vegetation, consisting of several distinct acts: and these are generally advanced or retarded just in proportion as we improve or neglect the means of grace.

These means are the word of God. It is a seed (as you heard in the Gospel of to-day) which, when sown and received into the heart, by the power of God, brings forth a hundred fold. In this view, how important is the hearing of that word! Eternal consequences are at stake: the ministry of the Gospel is either a savour of life unto life, or of death unto death, to all who listen to it. This self-inquiry I desire to urge upon each of you, while I examine briefly "the Parable of the Sower."

The Sower is Jesus Christ, and those ministers whom he has called by his grace, and appointed by his providence, to preach the glad tidings of salvation. What are those tidings? Hear them: "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." Or in the words of the Saviour himself: "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life." This is the heavenly seed, which when mixed with faith in your heart, will grow up into holiness here, and will bloom in unfading blessedness hereafter.

But all have not this faith: here in this parable, out of the four classifications of hearers mentioned by our Saviour, only one is represented as bringing forth to perfection: the rest were hearers only, deceiving themselves.

The first which are here enumerated are those by the way side: "Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved." When the sons of God come to present themselves before the Lord, Satan still comes among them. That accursed spirit is far too visible here, and far too successful among all who come to the house of God; turning the thoughts to some worldly object; blinding the understanding of some, and prejudicing the minds of others against the truth. What need, then, have we for watchfulness and mental prayer, that Satan may neither hinder the work of God, nor take away the word out of our hearts!

These way-side hearers are mentioned first, because they constitute the greatest number of those who attend the means of grace. Their heart is hardened through being wrought upon; their heart hardened through the

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