sire for souls, and let Bethany be the token how much he loves his own; and like the men of Galilee, let the last and habitual aspect of the Saviour be that look which lingered on their memory till one by one they passed away to see him as he is that look which spake more love than even his melodious blessing, and which, after the cloud had closed him from their view, made them loath to quit the Mount of Olives.

LECTURE II.

THE PARTING PROMISE, AND THE PRESENT
SAVIOUR.

"And, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."-Matt. xxviii. 20.

THERE are some plants which grow right up -erect in their own sturdy self-sufficiency, and there are some feeble ones which take hold with their hands and clasp and climb. The soul of man is like these last. Even in his best estate he was not meant to grow insulated and stand alone. He is not strong enough for that. He has not within himself resources sufficient to fill himself. He is not fit to be his own all-in-all. The make of his mind is an out-going, exploring, petitionary make. The soul of man is a clasping, clinging soul, seeking to something over which it can spread itself, and by means of which it can support itself. And just as in a neglected garden you may see the poor creepers making shift to sustain themselves as best they can; one convolvolus twisting round another, and both draggling on the ground; a clematis leaning on the door which will bye and bye open and let the whole mass fall down; a vine or a passion-flower wreathing round a prop which all the while is

poisoning it so in this fallen world it is mournful to see the efforts which human souls are making to get some efficient object to lean upon and twine around. One clasps a glittering prop, and it poisons him. The love of money blasts his soul, and it hangs round its self-chosen stay a blighted, withered thing. Another spreads himself more amply over a broad surface of creaturecomfort, a snug dwelling, and a well-furnished library, and a pleasant neighbourhood, with the command of everything that heart can wish, and a steady income buy, but death opens the door, and, with nothing but vacancy to lean upon, he falls over on the other side all helpless and dejected. And a still greater number, groping about along the ground, clutch to one another, and intertwine their tendrils mutually, and by forming friendships and congenial intimacies, and close relations, try to satisfy their leaning loving nature in this way. But it answers little end. The make of man's soul is upward, and one climber cannot lift another off the ground. And the growth of man's soul is luxuriant, and that growth must be stifled, checked and scanty, if he have no larger space over which to diffuse his aspirations, his affections, and his efforts, than the surface of a fellow-creature's soul. But, weedy as this world-garden is, the Tree of Life still grows in the midst of it,-erect in his own omnipotent self-sufficiency, and inviting every weary straggling soul to lay hold of his everlasting strength, and expatiate upwards along the infinite ramifications of his endless excellencies and allinviting love.

God has formed the soul of man of a leaning, dependant make; and for the healthy growth and joyful development of that soul, it is essential that he should have some object far higher and nobler than himself to dispread his desires and delights upon. That object is revealed in the Gospel. That object is Immanuel.

His

divinity is the Almighty prop-able to sustain the adhering soul, so that it shall never perish nor come into condemnation-the omnipotent support which bears the clinging spirit loftily and securely, so that the whirling temptations which vex it cannot rend it from the Tree of Life, and that the muddy plash, which soils and beats into the earth its sprawling neighbours, cannot tarnish the verdant serenity and limpid glories of its flowering head. And just as his divine strength is the omnipotent prop of the adhering soul, so his divine resources and his human sympathy make him the all-sufficient object, over which each emotion and each desire of regenerate humanity may boundlessly diffuse itself. And however delicate your feelings, however eager your affections, and however multitudinous the necessities of your intricate nature, there is that in this Heavenly Friend which meets them every one. There are in his unimaginable compassions, and in his benignant fellow-feelings, holds sufficient for every craving tendril and eager clasper of the human heart, to fix upon and wreath around.

This is what the Gospel does. It just offers you a friend, who can both save and satisfy your soul. Jesus, the Son of God, God manifest in flesh, Immanuel, the Gospel offers this Friend to

you-not more tender than he is holy, not more divine than he is human. Instead of clutching to props which cannot elevate you, or if they do bear you up for a moment, must soon he withdrawn again, the Gospel bids you grow against the Tree of Life, and just as you grow up into Christ, you will grow up into holiness and into happiness. And if you have not yet found an object to your heart's content,-if you feel that there is still something wrong with you,-that you are neither leading the life which you would like to lead, nor enjoying the comfort which you think might be somehow got; be advised., Take the Lord Jesus for your friend. He is one in whom you will find no flaw. He is one of whom, -if you really get acquainted with him,-you will never weary; and one, who, if once you really go to Him, will never weary of you. He is a friend of whom no one had ever reason to complain-a friend who has done so much for you already, that he would have done enough even though he were never to do any more, but who is so generous, that his thoughts are all occupied with the great things he designs to do,a friend who is singularly kind and considerate, for "he sticketh closer than a brother,”—a friend who does not vary, "for he is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever,"-and, best of all, a friend who is never far away, for "Lo, I am with you alway."

My dear friends,-There are many reasons why men do not love the Lord Jesus. Some feel no need of him. They understand that he is a Saviour; but a Saviour is what they do not