"Well done, good and faithful servant, thou hast "been faithful over a few things, I will make thee "ruler over many things; enter thou into the joy of CC thy Lord."

What! some are ready to exclaim, what, are you preaching up the doctrine of merit! God forbid. Merit! when both our disposition and our ability to serve Him come from his Grace. Merit! when there is no proportion between the reward and the work. Merit! when after we have done all, we are unprofitable servants, and have done no more than was our duty to do. Merit! when in many things we all offend, and deserve condemnation for our defects rather than recompense for our doings. Merit! when all who ever served God aright have exclaimed, "Not "unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give we glory, for thy mercy and for thy truth's

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sake; by the grace of God I am what I am; I la"boured, yet not I, but the grace of God which was "with me." But let us not under a senseless clamour be afraid to do justice to the language of Scripture; to bring forward motives which we find stated by infinite wisdom; to display the munificence of God, the folly of those who refuse his yoke, the wisdom of those who serve him; "Wherefore, my be"loved Brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always "abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch "as ye know your labour is not in vain in the "Lord."

Finally, Let us think of the Saviour. Did God remunerate a despicable tyrant for his labour and hardships, though they were not personal, and for ful

filling His purpose, though it was not intentional ? "Behold his Servant whom he upholds, his Elect in "whom his soul delighteth." This was expressly his motive: "Lo! I come to do thy will, O God; "thy law is within my heart." He trod "the winepress alone, and of the people there was none with "him." Behold Him poor, not having where to lay his head; despised and rejected of men; exceeding sorrowful. What a life of suffering! What a death of anguish! What does God think of all this? "He "was obedient unto death, even the death of the "cross; WHEREFORE God also hath highly exalted «him, and given him a name which is above every . name that at the name of Jesus every knee should "bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, "and things under the earth; and that every tongue "should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glo"ry of God the Father." "He shall see his seed, "he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the "Lord shall prosper in his hands. He shall see of "the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied. "THEREFORE Will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; "BECAUSE he hath poured out his soul unto death: "and he was numbered with the transgressors; and "he bare the sins of many, and made intercession for "the transgressors. Ask of me, and I shall give thee "the heathen for thine inheritance, and the utter"most parts of the earth for thy possession. His name shall endure for ever; his name shall be con"tinued as long as the sun and men shall be blessed "in him; all nations shall call him blessed. Blessed

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"be the Lord God of Israel, who only doeth wonder"ful things. And blessed be his glorious name for 66 ever; and let the whole earth be filled with his glory. "Amen and Amen."

SERMON XXII.

THE DISAPPOINTMENTS OF LIFE.

JOB. XXIX. 18.

THEN I SAID, I SHALL DIE IN MY NEST.

IF we examine the world in which we live, we shall every where discover variety, changeableness, and succession. Here plains rise into mountains, and there hills sink into vallies. We see well-watered meadows, and dry and barren sands. We rejoice in the light, but we are soon enveloped in darkness. We hail the loveliness of spring, and welcome the approach of summer; but the agreeable months soon roll away, and the north pours down the desolations of winter. Equally chequered and variable is human life. Our bodies, our relations, our conditions and circumstances are perpetually changing. But this diversity constitutes the beauty and the glory of Providence. It displays the divine perfections, by rendering the interposition necessary and obvious. It furnishes means, by which the dispositions of men are tried, and their characters formed. It lays hold of their hope and fear, joy and sorrow; and exercises

every principle of their nature in their education for eternity.

Hence Divine Providence is always deserving of our attention. Providence is God in motion. Providence is God teaching by facts. Providence-is God fulfilling, explaining, enforcing his own word. Providence-is God rendering natural events subservient to spiritual purposes; rousing our attention when we are careless; reminding us of our obligations when we are ungrateful; recalling our confidence when we depart from him by dependence upon "Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the loving-kind"ness of the Lord."

creatures.

The words which I have read give us an opportunity to pursue and improve these reflections. When Job uttered them " he had seven sons and three daugh"ters. His substance also was seven thousand sheep, "and three thousand cammels, and five hundred yoke ❝of oxen, and five hundred she-asses, and a very great "household; so that this man was the greatest of all "the men of the east." Hear his own language: "I washed my steps with butter, and the rock pour❝ed me out rivers of oil. When I went out to the "gate through the city, when I prepared my seat in "the street, the young men saw me and hid them"selves and the aged arose and stood up. The

princes refrained talking, and laid their hand on "their mouth. The nobles held their peace, and "their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth." He had something better than all this. "When the "ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the