and I will run after thee." Thus shall you be numbered among those, who are redeemed to God by his blood, and shall join, to all eternity, with your departed minister and all the glorified saints, in singing, "To him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever, Amen."

IV. It will be a further consolation to us to reflect that Jesus Christ is the same in the tenderness of his compassion. It was Christ who led the people of Israel through the wilderness, and who directed them by his servant Moses. This appears from the express declaration of St. Paul. We are told that the Israelites "tempted God in the desert, saying, Can he give bread also, and provide flesh for his people?" And St. Paul, speaking of them, says, "Neither tempt ye CHRIST, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of the destroyer." Now the tender compassion which Christ exercised towards his people in the wilderness, is made a frequent subject of devout acknowledgement in the holy scriptures. Isaiah says, "In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them, and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old." Moses himself, who both experienced and witnessed his compassion, describes it in terms as beautiful as imagination can conceive. See Deut. xxxii. 9, 12. "The Lord's portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. He found him in a desert land, in the waste-howling wilderness: he led him about; he instructed him; he kept him as the apple of his eye." Then comes the image of which I speak: but in order to enter fully into its meaning, it will be proper to observe, that the eagle, when teaching her young to fly, flutters over them, and stirs them up to imi tate her; she even thrusts them out of the nest, that they may be forced to exert their powers; and if she see them in danger of falling, she flies instantly underneath them, catches them on her wings, and carries them back to their nest. In reference to this it is added, "As an eagle

stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings, so the Lord alone did lead him." Can any thing present a more beautiful idea to the mind? Can any image whatever more forcibly impress us with admiring thoughts of Christ's tenderness and compassion? Such was Jesus in the days of old: and is he not the same at this day? Will he not still carry the lambs in his bosom, and gently lead them that are with young?" Can we produce in the annals of the world one single instance, wherein he "brake the bruised reed, or quenched the smoking flax?" Has he not invariably "brought forth judgment unto victory," and "perfected his own strength in his people's weakness?" Who amongst us has ever "sought his face in vain?" With whom has he ever refused to sympathize? Will not he who wept with the sisters of the deceased Lazarus; will not he that had compassion on the multitude because they were as sheep not having a shepherd; will not he that wept over the murderous and abandoned city, now weep over a disconsolate widow, a deserted people, and especially over those, who have "not known the day of their visitation, and whose eyes have never yet seen the things belonging to their peace?" Is he become an "High Priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities;" or that, notwithstanding he has been "in all points tempted like as we are, has no disposition to succour his tempted people?" Unbelief and Satan may suggest such thoughts to our minds; but who must not attest, that they are false? Who is not constrained to acknowledge, that "he is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger, and of great mercy?" Here then again let the drooping souls rejoice: ye, who are poor in this world, have lost a friend; a kind, compassionate friend, who, "according to his ability, and often beyond his ability," exerted himself to relieve your wants. Ye, who are of a broken and contrite spirit, ah! what a friend have ye lost! how would the departed saint listen to all your complaints, and answer all your arguments, and encourage you to look to Jesus for relief! what a delight was it to him to strengthen your weak hands, and confirm your feeble knees, and to say to your fearful, hearts, Be strong, fear

not, your God will come and save you!" Ye, "afflicted and tossed with tempest, and not comforted," whatever your distresses were, surely ye have lost a brother, "a friend that sticketh closer than a brother." But though his benevolent heart can no more expand towards you, "has your Lord forgotten to be gracious? Has Jesus shut up his tender mercies?" No: to him you may still carry your complaints: he bids the weary and heavy. laden to come unto him: he "has received gifts," not for the indigent only, but "for the rebellious:" nor shall one of you be "sent empty away." Whom did he ever dismiss, in the days of his flesh, without granting to him the blessing he desired? So now, it ye will go unto him, he "will satiate every weary soul, and replenish every sorrowful soul:" he "will give you beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that God may be glorified."

V. The last observations we proposed to make, was, that Christ is the same in his fidelity to his promises. We have before shewn, that he led his people through the wilderness: he had promised to cast out all their enemies, and to give them "a land flowing with milk, and honey." And behold, Joshua, at the close of a long life, and after an experience of many years, could make this appeal to all Israel: "Ye know in all your hearts,' and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof." The same fidelity did Jesus manifest, while he sojourned upon earth: the Father had committed to him a chosen people to keep: and Jesus with his dying breath could say, "Those, whom thou gavest me, I have kept, and none of them is lost." He promised to his disconsolate disciples, that he would pour out his Spirit upon them; and that the Comforter, whom he would send, should far more than compensate for the loss of his bodily presence: and, how speedily did he perform his promise! Thus, in every succeeding age, have his people

1 Josh. xxiii. 14.

found him faithful. He has " given exceeding great and precious promises" to his church, not one jot or tittle of which have ever failed. They who have rested on his word, have never been disappointed. Enthusiasts indeed, who have put their own vain conceits in the place of his word, and have presumed to call their own feelings or fancies by the sacred appellation of a promise, have often met with disappointments; nor can they reasonably expect any thing else: but they who rest upon the clear promises of the gospel, and wait for the accomplishment of them to their own souls, "shall not be ashamed or confounded world without end." Let any creature upon earth, "seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness," and shall he be left wholly destitute with respect to temporal comforts? No: he perhaps may be severely tried for a season; but ere long he shall have "all needful things added unto him." Let a sinner" whose sins have been of a scarlet or crimson dye," make application to the Lord for mercy; and shall he ever be cast out? No, "in no wise," provided he come simply trusting in the Saviour's righteousness. Let any man seek deliverance from the snares of Satan, by whom he has been led captive at his will; and shall he be left in bondage to his lusts? Most surely not, if he will rely on him who has said, "sin shall not have dominion over you, because ye are not under the law, but under grace." Now it may be, that many of you have been promising yourselves much spiritual, perhaps also some temporal advantage, from your deceased minister: and behold! in an instant, all your hopes are blasted: the creature, though so excellent, proves in this respect but a broken reed. But, if you will look to Christ, you cannot raise your expecta tions too high: he is the same yesterday, to-day and for ever: you may rely on him, for body and for soul, for time and for eternity: he will be to you a "sun and a shield; he will give you both grace and glory; nor will he withhold any good thing from them that walk uprightly." If he see it necessary that for a season you should be "in heaviness through manifold temptations,' he will make your trials to work for good; and "your light and momentary afflictions shall work out for you a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory:" only

commit your souls to him in well-doing, and he will keep you by his Almighty power, through faith, unto salvation."

In the improvement which we would make of this subject, we beg leave once more to notice the words that immediately precede the text; "Remember them that have had the rule over you, that have spoken unto you the word of God; whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation." We may appear indeed, in this, to draw your attention from Christ, and to fix it on the creature. But we shall still keep in view our main subject; and at once consult the scope of the context, the peculiarity of this occasion, and the feelings of your hearts.

First then, "Remember him who has had the rule over you, and has preached unto you the word of God." Surely I need not say much to enforce this part of the exhortation; he is deeply engraven on your hearts, nor will the remembrance of him be soon effaced from your minds. Many of you would have "even plucked out your own eyes and have given them unto him," if by so doing you could have conferred upon him any essential benefit: yea, I doubt not, there are many in this assembly that would gladly, very gladly, have laid down their lives in his stead, that so great a blessing as he was, might yet have been continued to the church of God. It cannot be but that the poor must long remember their generous and constant benefactor. Many of the children too, I trust, whom he so delighted to instruct, will remember him to the latest period of their lives. Above all, the people, who looked upon him as their spiritual father, to whom they owed their own souls, will bear him in remembrance. They will never forget "how holily, justly, and unblameably he behaved himself among them," and how "he exhorted and comforted and charged every one of them, as a father doth his children, that they would walk worthy of God, who hath called them unto his kingdom and glory." Deservedly will his name be reverenced in this place for ages; for "he was a burning and a shining light;" and had so uniformly persisted in well-doing, that he had utterly "put to silence the VOL. IV. SI