it may have arisen, though it may appear to have been brought on by our own guilt; yea, though beyond doubt, it have been the offspring of our own wickedness, we are not on that account the less to regard it as a token of God's love. It is not a part of the evil course of this world, which he overruleth to his own ends, but it is the whole sphere and operation of it: "Is there evil in the city and God hath not done it ?" He is in it all, or he is in none of it; there are no loose ends in the web of his providence. There is no waste chamber in the house of his creation; he is in it all, or he is in none of it; and in it all he is in his own true character, a God of goodness and of grace. Therefore we deceive ourselves if we look upon the adversities and evils of life in any other light than as God's rebuke and chastisement to us whom he loveth. This is universal doctrine, universally applicable to all men. Therefore I call upon all prisoners, whose feet are laid in fetters of iron; all sick and diseased persons, whose soul abhorreth all manner of meats, and who draw near to death's gates; and upon all oppressed, aggrieved, and miserable men, suffering from innumerable heart-aches, and misfortunes of every kind, surely to believe without any exception, be they ever so worthless, they cannot be worse than this Laodicean minister, that their trials and punishments, their solitude and starvation, are oft by God commissioned for their soul's health, to the end they may be partakers of his holiness. There is not an event of evil, that hath come upon this world since the Fall, but that it hath been weighed and measured by God with scrupulous nicety, for the good of him to whom it was sent. I say this not to the church only, but to all people that dwell on the earth. Mercy rejoiceth over judgment, love is the heart's core of the roughest blows that man endures. Love is in the pestilence, and in the famine, and in the pains of death, as much as love is in the chastisement of a Father. That progeny of mischiefs, which sin begat, God did transform into a penal code, with which to prevent sin, and in the end to destroy it utterly from the earth. God was a Father to Adam; and when Adam became a prodigal, God, the unchangeable God, continued his Father still, and, because he is Almighty, suffereth not that any thing should

prevent him from acting the part of a Father to the end. And that no extremity of evil is any proof of the restraining of a Father's bowels, he proved by sending his Son into the utmost straits and agony and extremities of evil, yea into death itself, and that a death accursed, even a malefactor's death, yet withal was God his Father still, loved him still, and from the lowest level of a felon's grave raised him to the throne of heaven on high. Who is he, therefore, that from his circumstances, be they what they may, will, conclude himself forsaken of the love of God. No, I say it again, these are proofs of his love-proofs of a pure, an abiding love, which in its devotedness to the wellbeing of a man will cut off all his enjoyments, weaken and wound and slay the flesh, so that the spirit may live. They are not the less punishments for our sins, because they are likewise means of our sanctification. Indeed this is the true character of chastisement: first, that it should proceed for an offence; secondly, that it should be measured out by love, for the removal of the offence: it hath in it both of judgment and of mercy, of anger and of love. Such is the view which the Prophet of God, Jesus Christ, who loved the world, and gave himself for the world, would have us to take of all the evils, which in this life befalleth us. I speak not now of the day of judgment; I am speaking of this, the day of grace. Now, then, when we are thus rightly taught, concerning our trials, what should we do in order to secure to ourselves the good intentions of God, and to be delivered from the state of suffering under which he hath placed us? for, as the Apostle saith, "No suffering is for the present joyous, but grievous: nevertheless it worketh out the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them which are exercised therewith." The Lord answers this question in the two words which follow : "Be zealous therefore, and repent."

Zeal hath reference to duty neglected, repentance to duty violated. The one is addressed to a state of lukewarmness and indifference; the other to a state of sin and transgression. If we, therefore, would be delivered from the evil with which we have been visited of God, it is by stirring up the gift that is within us, and fervently serving the Lord. It is by considering our ways, by examining and proving our hearts, and turning from the evil which

we have done, and walking in the way everlasting. Then, when the Lord beholdeth that we are both observant of his hand, and apprehensive of his displeasure, when he perceiveth that we have attained unto right views of affliction, and are taught to regard the bitterness of it, and the cause of it, as standing in sin only, when God heareth in our confessions, and witnesseth in our repentance, that we have opened our eyes to that sin, particular or general, which is the cause of his visitation, his holy and loving mind is satisfied, his stroke hath answered its holy end, he maketh the waters of his anger to assuage, he drieth up the tears of our souls, and shineth forth from the rainbow of peace and of salvation. This, now, is the second part of that practical lesson to all men, which these verses contain.

But lest any one should say like Zion, The Lord hath cast me off, my desolation is complete; I am forsaken, and there remaineth no hope for me; my sins are gone over my head; things have drawn down upon me the fearful indignation of God, and the Lord hath no more grace for me. When thus Satan enthroneth himself in an afflicted and desolate heart, and scatters its solitude with the lightnings of hell, and would cover it with death and shame, then hear the voice which is lifted up by the friend of man, who is likewise the Son of God, by him into whose hand all judgment is committed, by him who hath received all power in heaven and on earth. And what saith he to the afflicted, downcast, and overwhelmed soul? He thus expresseth the mind and attitude of God to all such oppressed ones: "Behold I stand at the door and knock, if any one open the door I will come in unto him and sup with him, and he with me." It is not so then that any one is given up, though in their fearful hearts they might so misdeem. Far otherwise there is no cottage door so lowly, no cell so miserable, no hovel so desolate, at which the King of Glory knocketh not in his unwearied rounds of mercy, up and down this well-beloved world. He would lift every latch and enter in, but he honours the rights of the poor householder, and he waiteth for a welcome. How often in these Lectures have I had to admire the constitution of this our dear land, and here again it cometh into my mind. One of the most eloquent of her senators said, 'The poor man's cot

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tage is his castle: the storm may whistle round it, every wind of heaven may enter it; but the king may not, he dare not 'even so the King of heaven will not enter into any man's house, that is, any man's heart, without waiting a welcome. It is not that he loveth us less, but that he honoureth us more. God made us to be lords, and as lords he doth ever entreat us. He who bought us with his blood, he who hath a crown to bestow upon us, doth yet account so highly of our station that he waiteth until we are willing to receive him, and that willingness is from God who worketh in us to do, and to will, of his good pleasure. We cannot come unto Christ unless the Father which hath sent him draw us. Christ honoured the Father by waiting the Father's operation in the will, and sets us the example of the same, waiting upon the Father, and thus by all our hopes of consolation, by all our desires of honour, by all the good which will come to us from receiving Christ; we are drawn to the Creator and suspended upon him continually, whose love we can never doubt, in that he hath given us Christ, and with him freely promised to give us all things. There is a condescension, as well as an assiduity in love, a warm and hearty devotedness to the salvation of every man, bespoken in these words: "Behold I stand at the door and knock," and this is indeed, and in truth, the very attitude in which Christ, the Lord of glory, seated in the Father's throne, would have himself to be understood, as occupying towards every sinner. This is the true symbol of the grace of God; Christ the Lord of glory knocking at the cell of the condemned criminal with a reprieve, and a patent of nobility in his hand asking admission, that he may deliver him from his fetters of iron, and seat him among princes. And it were not more ungrateful and unnatural for that condemned criminal to refuse to rise and admit the Son of his offended King thus fraught with grace, than it is for any sinner to turn a deaf ear to the voice of Christ speaking from the throne of God, and saying unto each one of us, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock." I feel a power irresistibly binding me to these words, and which will not suffer me to proceed until I shall have solemnly drawn the attention of every human being to the goodness, grace, and condescension which is contained in it.

Would any one feel otherwise than honoured if he were to hear that the crowned king of Britain was standing knocking at his gate for admission, and that he had come to honour his house with his presence, and to partake of his homely household fare? Anxious he might be how to give the royal guest a worthy welcome; oppressed he might be with the wonderful condescension of his sovereign lord the king, and the weight of honour which was put upon him, one of his poor people. But would he stay a moment, to consider whether he should admit him or not? Would he keep him there standing in doubt and uncertainty? Would he not rush with all his heart to the gate, and with his own hands unfold its leaves, and attend most dutifully upon the footsteps of his prince? Now, truly this is the attitude in which the Lord of glory, the King of heaven presenteth himself to the most lowly; yea, and the most wicked of mankind. It is indeed a wonderful inversion of place and dignity, that God should thus condescend to one of his creatures, and a wonderful suspension it is of his rightful anger, that this he should do, for worms of the earth, children of a day; creatures whom he trusted, and they betrayed his trust; to whom he gave power, and they lifted up their heel against him ;—against him, the Creator of heaven and earth, the sovereign Lord of all. It is, I say, a strange inversion of place, a wonderful suspension of justice: but it is all for the purpose of revealing his grace, and manifesting his love. Such is his grace, and such is his love. This is the favour, and measure, and manifestation of it, that he should be standing and knocking for admission into the habitation of the meanest and most rebellious of his people.

And for what end thus standeth he without, seeking admission? That he may come in and sup with us, and we with him. The supper was the principal meal in the east, and eaten when the labours of the day were closed. It was the season of familiar and friendly intercourse, when both the body and the soul were refreshed with their appropriate provision of God. Christ proposed himself as a guest at every man's table; and well might every man say to him, as did the centurion in the days of his flesh, "Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof:" but he delighteth to be gracious; it is his plea