with all the dignity and authority of the Son of God. What relief must have been imparted to the minds of the sisters! what rich and holy consolation must have been afforded! How must it have melted their hearts, to perceive the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, the Great Prophet, the Divine Messiah, so kindly and graciously regarding them! Observe him at the grave of their brother, standing in the midst of the crowd, publicly and spontaneously weeping with them, and administering to the sisters those precious consolations which he alone could bestow; and, while consoling them, converting their sorrow into joy, high and unbounded joy, by that wondrous act, the restoration of their brother to them alive, the fame of which would spread through Jerusalem, and all Judea, and unhappily, and how marvellously! increase the activity and malice of those who were continually seeking opportunities, not only of injuring him, but of putting him to death! When, too, we behold the Saviour weeping at the grave of Lazarus, do we not observe the exquisite pity of the Lamb of God? That pity which was invariably manifested and expressed in an endless variety of forms? Can he forget the poor? Can he pass by the ignorant? Can he refuse to console the afflicted? Can he be unwilling to cheer and sustain the bereaved? Impossible! Impossible! "His heart is made of tenderness, "Pity was no secondary attribute of his nature; it held its first rank, and swayed all his energies to devise an expedient, through which men might be rescued from their merited ruin." How many tears, when on earth, did the Saviour remove! How many wounds did he heal! How many burdened and agonised spirits did he strengthen and revive! He spake comfort to "the mourner in Zion." He gave "beauty for ashes; the oil of joy for mourning; and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." Where is the believer in Jesus who does not admire exceedingly the compassion of his Lord? indeed, where is the Christian who has not realised it? And it is delightful, most delightful to consider, that, though he has entered heaven, and taken possession of his mediatorial crown, he has the same heart still. He is the same in Paradise that he was in Bethany; and though the evidences of this are, in their kind, different, yet, of their kind, they are equally full, equally decisive, equally satisfactory. Jesus wept at the grave of Lazarus. When therefore you are standing by the grave of some beloved and sainted friend, consider that the Saviour is weeping with you there; most tenderly sympathising with you, and assuring you that he will remember you in kindness and in mercy. He tells you, at the grave near which you remain, that though your friend has left you, he will not depart from you. He reminds you that your beloved relative has only gone to glory, to wear the unfading crown, to enjoy the rest of immortality, to realise the pleasures that will never cloy, the bliss that will never terminate; and that, if you wait, and watch and serve Christ, only a little longer, you shall participate the same bliss, receive the same reward,be exalted to the same honour,—and have the compassionate yet glorified Redeemer ever before you, whose worship you will ever celebrate,-whose beauty you will ever reflect,-and whose love, in all its ineffable fulness, you will ever enjoy. Let not, then, the tears of our Lord, which were shed at the grave of Lazarus, be shed in vain. Let some valuable and noble objects be accomplished, in relation to ourselves; not merely may our wonder be excited, and our admiration be inspired, but may our devout gratitude be awakened, our love to Christ be enkindled and increased; our pity for others be expressed, and our tenderest sympathies for the afflicted and bereaved be unfolded and poured forth! And you, O sinners, love him who wept over you! Apply to him for mercy! Confide in his grace! "He Dwelling on the tears of the Lord Jesus, in an hour of bereavement, the following lines were penned : "My Saviour wept, when near he drew The grave of Lazarus, his friend;- Where'er he went he with him bore! "My Saviour wept to see the grief Of Martha and her sister there; To spirits which no more could bear. Those sisters, in an instant, found. Its ravages, and mis'ries dire. Each human heart, both child and sire! When viewing sin on ev'ry hand, As near the open grave I stand. "My Saviour wept, while on the earth PULPIT SPECIMENS OF THE DEPARTED. Notes of a Sermon by the late Rev. T. N. Toller, preached at Kettering, Jan. 2, 1820, taken during the delivery. "But I will hope continually, and will yet praise thee more and more," Psa. lxxi. 14. NOTHING is more common in Scripture than exhortations to hope in, and to praise the blessed God. Now the peculiarity of this passage is, not so much that it expresses the exercises of hope and praise, but the continuity of hope, and the increase of praise,—that is the peculiarity of the language of the Psalmist here. It is the duty and the privilege of pious people to keep up a continued hope, and to increase in praise as years roll on. You observe, I say, pious people; not but that the worst man in the world has daily cause for praise, but it is impossible that he should praise in the true spirit of it while he is at enmity with God, and in a state of rebellion against him; and as for hope, every morning he rises he has less and less reason for hope; his case gets every day, and every year, more dangerous and alarming,-and there is more reason to fear things will be no better. His case is like that of a person whose worldly circumstances get more and more involved, so that his hope of standing his ground must perpetually diminish. The whole turn, therefore, of this subject is essentially connected with piety of character;—a cordial fleeing for refuge as a poor penitent sinner to the blessed hope set before us in Christ and the gospel; together with a steady walk with God, and a course of consistent conscientious conduct. In proportion as a person can hope this is his character, he has reason for continued hope and increasing praise. I do not say every good man does so, but he has reason for it. It is a spirit he may justly aspire after. Let us take up each of these successively: I. In proportion as a Christian answers to his name he has reason for continued hope. "How can such a thing be thought of in such a world as this," you say, "where such trying events are taking place? It is easy to conceive how there may be ground for hope when things are bright and smooth, but to hope continually seems to be beside the mark." 1. There is ground for a good man to hope continually, because, let things be as they will, there is an ever-present, powerful, wise, and gracious Providence overruling, restraining, and ordering all things for good. If sometimes there was a Providence and sometimes none; if Providence was sometimes out of temper with good people and consulted their evil: if some things that take place could be made out by them to be nothing but evil, then, continued hope would be an absurdity. But we have the most certain assurance that the direct reverse of this is the case. Though there is such diversity in human events, yet there is no one thing amongst them all but is under providential influence, not one but what God has set to work-and none but in their connection altogether he will infallibly cause to work together for good, and good to every individual who loves him, and is the subject of the effectual call and influence of his grace. "We know," says an apostle, we are sure of this whatever we doubt of,-"we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, and are the called according to his purpose." So that the Christian has ground to hope continually, at one time as well as another, in proportion as he answers to his title: things are equally well with him at all times and seasons, are under the same direction and influence of Providence. 2. Christians have room for continual hope because the gospel is always true, and the special promises of it always in force. If infidels had proved that the gospel had not a word of truth in it; as if it could be made out that though the gospel was true at first yet the promises were now repealed, if these were to fail, one should not know what to say, because the ground of hope would be so extremely uncertain. But while we have such phrases as these in the gospel, surely this cannot be true: "The everlasting gospel." "That by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us.' "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away." "Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world." Here is ground for the continuity of hope, because all the promises of God are always in force, all "yea and amen in Christ Jesus;" all as true, as full of energy, all as ready to be trusted upon, and pleaded and fulfilled, as when they were first spoken by the Lord of Hosts; as they were yesterday, and will be tomorrow, as the ground of continued hope. 3. Because the glorious Redeemer ever lives the all-sufficient interceding Saviour, there is ground for the continuity of hope. If the tomb had been his last home; if when he ascended on high he had ended his mediatorial office, if he had become less kind or less faithful, if neither our case nor our state were at all regarded by him, I grant that it would be impossible for the humble contrite mind continually to hope. There would be seasons when very dark thoughts would arise, and it would be difficult to say they had no foundation. But hear the word, "This man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood." "Therefore he is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for us." "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." "He is head over all things to the church." Here is ground for offereth praise, glorifieth me." continual hope. 4. Another reason is the unchangeableness of God; and the inexhaustibleness of his grace lays a foundation for continued hope. If the blessed God could alter or decay; if the stores of his goodness were like perishable property, or an earthly patrimony; if the time might come when the multitude of his creatures might be too large for him to supply, then there might be some period to the Christian's hope. There might come a time when God would have nothing more to give his people; when they would have drunk and drained the fountain of Divine blessings to its last drop, and God have not another drop to help them to. Hear the direct reverse of the case, "Every good and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variableness neither shadow of turning." "The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting unto them that fear him." "As high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his mercy towards them that fear him." "He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think." II. We come to consider the duty and privilege of pious people in reference to growing praise, not continued praise only but growing praise: "Will yet praise thee more and more." It is not every good man that fully attains to this, but they should be perpetually improving in the spirit of praise. 1. There is reason for increasing praise: because the sum of your mercies is continually increasing, therefore, in proportion to that increase, ought to be your increase in praise. Among men the more you borrow, the more you occupy, the more is expected to be repaid. All your mercies, temporal and spiritual, are grants, or are lent from the great Lord of all. They all constitute debts which you owe to him, for you could not demand anything. Your hea venly Benefactor never expects, never desires to be paid but in praise: "Whoso VOL. XXVI. "Offer unto God thanksgiving." "In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." If then praise be the kind of specie in which God has appointed to be paid, you ought not to be sparing in rendering it to him. The more your mercies increase, the more you are bound to praise. The longer you live, you have an increase of debt lying upon you. O, my friends, if your praises were but proportioned to the increase of your mercies only the last year, O, what a day of increasing praise would this be! 2. There is cause for increasing praise because you better understand the nature of your mercies, and the value of them, than heretofore. There never was a time, perhaps, when you would have dared to say you had no mercies to bless God for. But there certainly was a time when you considered some things to be no mercies at all, which you have since discovered to be the richest blessings; such as appeared to be formidable evils have turned out to be the richest blessings. I refer to your self-denials, trials, and afflictions. And, perhaps, the best blessing of all, which in unconverted life you thought no good, you have since seen to be indeed the pearl of great price; so that you have now a thousand times so many mercies to praise God for as you had years ago, in the increasing knowledge you have gained of your mercies; so that you have now a thousand-fold more reasons for praise than you had years ago, and your hearts ought to be more full of praise every day, than any former day of your life. 3. There is reason to hope that you have an increasing experience of the sweetness of your mercies, and therefore there is reason for increasing praise. If you are a Christian, it is your concern not only to receive your mercies, but to receive them as mercies,-to enjoy them as the pledges of Divine love, as the gifts of parental goodness. And surely the more you receive your mercies in this way, the sweeter, and sweeter they must 2 к be to you. You can understand that passage, "O taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man that trusteth in him." And the more sweet your mercies are to you, the more reason there is to say, "I will yet praise thee more and more." 4. There is another reason for this, because every series of mercies, and every new experience of mercy brings you nearer and nearer the world of everlasting mercy. If God had dealt by you as some earthly benefactors do, given you all, or most at first, or every fresh supply was fewer and meaner than the last, then there might have been some ground for the reversion of the text. But the reverse of this will be the case. Though you think you have had many mercies and great mercies, yet there is a sense in which he thinks you have had nothing yet. You have had only a taste or two of the first ripe fruits, the vintage is yet to come. All that you have had, are but earnests of what he is preparing for you. You have had some things, and many things, but he tells you you are to have all things: "All things are yours, for ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's." If these representations are true, Christian, then I may leave the application of the subject with you. You see the ground you have for continued hope and increasing praise. If you have so many mercies in possession, and so many more in hope, and every fresh series of mercy is bringing you nearer to the Fountain of all good, surely you may "praise him more and more." And when you get into eternity itself, and are led to the Fountain-head of everlasting mercy, and are to drink from thence full draughts of mercy, how will you praise him then? Why, when you get there, you will feel, in an important sense, your inability to praise him more than ever. You will find your load of debt so increased upon you, such an eternal weight of mercy, that you will feel that you cannot praise him as you would, nor as you ought. You will find there is not room enough in heaven, nor duration enough in eternity, to praise God. What happy lives would Christians lead if they did but live up to their principles,-yea, they would grow happier and happier every day of their lives. And if their principles had the full effect they are calculated to have, this would be the consequence, the Christian would be happier to-day than he was yesterday, have more of a hopeful and grateful temper. How desirable it is to avail ourselves of the periodical revolutions of time to review our mercies. This must be an important part of a Christian's employment when entering on a new year. Hence the utility and propriety of improving the commencement of a new year publicly, to assist us in realizing our mercies, and through grace establishing our hope, and leading us to praise our Creator and Saviour more and more. To conclude: what an overwhelming view does this give of a Christian's eternity! A Christian's eternity is an eternity of praise, of increasing praise, and yet falling everlastingly short of its great subject. The magnitude of the blessings, and the glory of the theme, are such, that the praises of those that enjoy the blessings, can never fully reach the greatness of their mercies! Praise will be in a sense struck dumb, by the amplitude of the blessings enjoyed! "While I live will I praise the Lord; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.""Every day will I bless thee, and I will praise thy name for ever and ever!" Ashley, July 11, 1848. T. C. |