the infinite merit of Jehovah-Jesus, the Saviour. O, how needful to bear this in mind continually! We may, as I before hinted, say of ourselves, "I am so insignificant, because of my meanness, and I am so vile, because of my sinfulness; is it possible that I can expect any great thing from God.?" Yes, because Christ deserved it: he obtained all for you. I do not speak of purchasing them; but this I will say, though I object to the word, in the true sense of it, they come to us through his redemption; and there is not one single blessing in the covenant of grace but what it comes through the redeeming blood of the Son of God: and that endears the grace, and lifts us up while it casts us down, because it leaves us without an atom of worthiness in ourselves, and lifts up Jesus as the alone worthy.

I must hasten to a few remarks on THE PRACTICAL BEARING OF THIS IMPORTANT SUBJECT. Important I conceive it to be; how far the Lord may so lay it on your hearts, as to leave a lasting and permanently sanctifying influence on them, is a solemn consideration. Pray that it may so be: pray that, as it is spoken, the Holy Ghost may, in all its personal application, discover the truth to each of your hearts and consciences, for Christ's sake.

In the first place, I see great cause for deep thankfulness. I would never forget, dear brethren, that whatever there may be in the sacred service of supplication, and whatever there may be in pouring out our heart in confession to God (and I would confess to you, that some of the choicest blessings of my life, I think, are always found in the region of confession), yet, I would say, that there is an especial honour put upon thanksgiving. Sometimes one rises from one's knees after earnest supplication, feeling but little consciousness of communion; but, I think, that we are never in a praising state of mind, but there is a special conscious nearness to God. It seems as if we were in that frame of mind which, coming from the Holy Spirit under a sense of mercies received, God setteth his seal on that truth, "He that offereth praise, glorifieth me." Is there anything more touching to a parent's heart than the acknowledging spirit of his child? Is it pleasing to him for his child to come to him with the language of continual want, and yet not acknowledging past mercies? Is there not base ingratitude in that state of mind that will always say, "Give me more grace," and yet never acknowledge what God has already so abundantly vouchsafed? While I would not influence your thankfulness, nor my

own, by warmth of expression, nor by ecstacy of manner, nor by excited feelings, I would dare say this, that never are you in so spiritual a frame of soul, as when most deeply conscious of God's most undeserved mercies. Sometimes we are quite unable to enter, it may be, into our sins; there seems a coldness upon our spirits, and a deadness in our frames; yet, whenever one is led to retrace the mercy of God, to look back and see what God hath been unto us, in delivering us from the paw of the lion, and from the paw of the bear, then we are led to consider that, though we are in this frame of mind, there is no condemnation for them that are in Christ Jesus; that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin; and that while the great Intercessor at the right hand of God still liveth there, and never maketh intercession in vain ; when our souls are brought up to that point, when they are brought to retrace God's lovingkindness and mercy, I ask you whether there is not conscious nearness between your souls and God? Let me remind you again, God seemeth to set his seal on that truth, "He that offereth his praise, glorifieth me.”

Then there is in the subject that which should lead to great stirring up of desire. We should desire that we may enter into the best of the land. If God has given it us in Christ, the pledge of it in his word, the substance of it in his Son, then we should pray, that under the teaching and drawing of his blessed Spirit we may enter into the best of the land; that we may go through the land; that Christ may dwell in our hearts, not as the way-faring man, in a place for a night, but that he may dwell in it in the path and on the bed, and that we may be "rooted and grounded in love, and be enabled to comprehend what is the height, and depth, and length, and breadth, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that we may be filled with all the fulness of God." My dear hearers, if God has given us the best of the land, the earnest prayer of our souls should be, that we may enter into the best of the land, and not live, as so many of us do, so much on the borders; rooted and grounded in Christ; not driven about with every wind of doctrine; not living just on our frames and our enjoyments; but living on the great work, on the atoning blood, on the unchangeableness of God, on the covenant ordered in all things and sure; and that these things may be in us not barren things, but things let into the secret recesses of the soul; that we may find substance there; that we may live on them, and die in them, and find them to be sweetness in the midst of all the bitters of the present world. If God

gives so large a promise, we should pray for large faith, for the hand to grapple with the promise, and bring the great blessing into our bosom, simply taking God at his word.

I am sure we have great cause for deep abasement as we think of the subject. God has given us the best; what have we given him? I know we can give nothing to him but what we have received: the utmost that the Psalmist could say, in answer to the question, "What shall I render to the Lord for all his mercies ?" was, "I will take the cup of salvation, and call on the name of the Lord:" I will take the cup of acknowledgment of his mercies (that is what he means), and pray for greater mercies still. The more God gives, the more we should pray for; and whilst we acknowledge past mercies, we should urge him for the future. We should often think what a feeble return we make to God; that he has given us the best, and we have, perhaps, given him the dregs of our time, our influence, our talents; we have given him our hard hearts. If the Lord gives us the best, we should give him the best: he requires the fat and the blood-the most precious and the most costly; he would have the first-fruits of our time and our influence, but, above all, the first-fruits of our affection: "Give me thine heart.” Is there any thing concerning which the Lord God feels more jealousy, than about your affections? Why is it, fond mother, that that dear child is taken from you? Loving wife, why is it that thy dear husband is taken from you? Why was it, thou who didst, perhaps, make an idol of thy character, that there thou wast touched the most closely? Why was it, that that stone which thou didst hew out and polish with so much care, was broken and shivered to pieces? Why did that gourd, which thou didst so admire, sitting beneath its shade, perish because it was smitten, though it bred its own worm and died. Why was all this, but because thy Father wanted thy heart? Nothing will satisfy him but thy heart; nothing will satisfy him but the best of thy affections, that he may reign there, the all of thy spirit, and the all of thy life.

O, that the God of heaven may so condescend to bless his own word, and give to the subject a comforting, edifying influence to our souls, that we may give to God our hearts, and be enabled to say, "Well, Lord, if there be an Isaac, if there be an Abraham, if there be a right hand, if there be a right eye, if there be an Achan in the camp, if there be any thing that would keep me from thee here on earth; thou art my Father and my God; thou hast given me tokens of thy love, costly, precious, inestimable; and here am I, thy

blood-bought child, do with me as seemeth good in thy sight. Cause me to be honest and upright in all my walkings before thee, and do what thou wilt with me, only draw me closer to thyself, that as thou hast given me the best, thou mayst be my best." Amen and Amen.

SORROW FOR THE DEPARTED VINDICATED.

REV. J. W. PEARSON, A.M.

ST. MARK'S CHURCH, PENTONVILLE, OCTOBER 9, 1836 *.

"And all wept, and bewailed her: but he said, Weep not; she is not dead, but sleepeth." LUKE, viii. 52.

WITH the interesting story of which our text contains the particulars, you are all, no doubt, familiar. Jesus Christ had acceded, with his wonted benevolence, to the urgent entreaties of one Jairus, a considerable man among the Jews, that he would accompany him home to heal his young and only daughter, who seemed at the point of death. Their progress, however, was retarded by the multitudes which thronged the path, and by the attention of the Saviour to an afflicted woman whom he stopped to cure as he passed along. Owing to these interruptions they had not yet arrived, when a messenger came to apprize Jairus that his daughter had expired, and the aid of the great Physician would come too late. But the Lord Jesus at once assured the broken-hearted father, and then proceeded to the house. On entering the room where the corpse lay, a melancholy scene presented itself: the relations of the deceased were all assembled, weeping and bewailing her. Moved with this spectacle of woe, the compassionate Saviour addressed them in the latter words of our text, "Weep not; she is not dead, but sleepeth."

Having given this brief outline of the circumstances which introduce my text, I have done with the narrative in the Gospel. You know, brethren, the solemn event which occasions my appearance before you this morning; and I conceive, that I shall best discharge my office and meet your expectations, by devoting the bulk of my discourse to an account of our departed friend, in hope that you may gain from the humble sketch a lesson of piety and wisdom.

I shall, however, premise a few remarks in vindication of the tears that are often shed over the tomb of deceased friends and relations and you shall not be dismissed without a word of consolation derived from the Christian's prospect of an immediate entrance into rest, to be followed, ere long, by a glorious resurrection of the body, and by

VOL. VI.

*Funeral Sermon for Mrs. Mortimer.
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