suffering of that God, at whose word all nature will be armed against you. At his command the tempest pursued rebellious Jonah. At his command fire may fall from heaven and consume you: the earth may open under your feet and swallow you. Do you deem these judgments unlikely to take place? The Lord has ten thousand messengers to execute his will. Fever or mad

ness may in a moment seize you, and render you incapable of further thought or action. Palsy or apoplexy may instantaneously suspend your faculties, or terminate your life. Death, in unnumbered ways, can assault your frail and perishable frame. What meanest thou, O sleeper? Death standeth at the door, ready to transport thy guilty soul into eternal misery. Is this a time to sleep, to sit at ease, to bless thyself in thy heart, and feel secure?

Consider the price which has been paid for your soul. It has not been " bought with corruptible things, as with silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot." The eternal Son of God, the Lord of life and glory, came down from heaven; was made man; encountered poverty, persecution, infamy; endured the contradiction of sinners, the malice of Satan, the wrath of God; expired in bitter agonies on the cross; and to what purpose? That he might save your guilty soul. That he might atone for your sins; might reconcile you to the Father; might purchase for you the gift of the Holy Spirit; might open to you the kingdom of heaven. And will you neglect so great salvation, so dearly bought so fraught with richest mercies? "What meanest thou, O sleeper?" Did Christ die to save thy soul, and wilt thou obstinately destroy it? Did he manifest such tender anxiety for thy salvation? Did he undergo so many miseries to procure it? Wilt thou persist in hardened unconcern, in slothful inactivity from day to day, from year to year, and not deem salvation worth thy trouble? Art not thou ashamed and confounded to reflect on thy criminal, thy ungrateful conduct? "Arise and call

upon thy God.”

Arise. Shake off thy stupor. which thou hast been bound

Break the fetters with

"Awake, thou that

The

sleepest, and arise from the dead." Now, while the spirit of God is striving with thee, improve the glorious opportunity. Make one vigorous effort for eternity. "While it is called to day, harden not thy heart." years past are sufficient to have been wasted in a sleep so ruinous to thy highest interests. Henceforth redeem the time. "Awake to righteousness, and sin not."

"Call upon thy God." Retire into thy secret chamber. Open thy heart to God. Pour our thy soul in penitent confessions before thy injured Saviour. Implore his forgiveness. Pray for mercy, for grace, for holiness. Cry out with repentant Ephraim, "Turn thou me, and I shall be turned" with the humble publican, "God be merciful to me a sinner!"-with the apostle ready to sink, "Lord save me, I perish!" Let it now be said of you, as it was once said of the awakened Paul, "behold he prayeth: " and the same God, who sent to him a comforter, will not leave you comfortless.

But

The ship-master indeed, when he encouraged Jonah to call upon his God, added, If so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not. While he recommended the measure, he expressed a doubt of its success. we are not left to uncertainty. When the ministers of the gospel exhort you to pray, they exhort you in the fullest confidence, that you will not pray in vain. They know assuredly, that if through faith in the Redeemer's blood you earnestly call upon God, he will think upon you, that you perish not. They know assuredly, that "whosoever" thus "calleth upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." They know assuredly, that Jesus sitteth on the throne of grace, and holdeth out the golden sceptre of his love: that he inviteth all to come unto him, and promises rest to every one that comes. Though the sinner has been long plunged in the most criminal security, yet if he now arise, and call upon his God, the Lord will not reject him. Look unto me,' (cries the compassionate and Almighty friend of sinners), look unto me, and be saved. My blood shall wash out all thy guilt. My grace shall cleanse thy polluted soul. I will take away the heart of stone, and will give thee an

*Acts ix. 11.

heart of flesh. I will love thee freely. I will "put thee among the children: and thou shalt call me, my Father; and shalt not turn away from me." My brethren, can you listen unmoved to these gracious declarations? Is there one sinner awakened to a sense of his spiritual danger? "Arise, and call upon thy God." Hearken to the Saviour's invitations. Hearken to his promises of free acceptance, of full forgiveness. "Arise, he calleth thee."

But there is another description of persons, to whom also the subject may be profitably applied. Ye, servants of the Lord, who are professedly walking in the ways of godliness; who have fled for refuge to the cross of Jesus; who, in the habitual tenor of your lives, are led by his spirit do ye never stand in need of the admonition in the text? Do ye give all diligence to grow in grace and knowledge, and to add one degree of christian improvement to another? Are ye "steadfast, immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord?-Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, are ye pressing towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in. Christ Jesus?" Or, on the contrary, do ye not often slumber and sleep when ye ought to be watchful and alert? From want of zeal and energy in resisting the enemy, do ye not frequently suffer him to get advantage over you? Are ye not often remiss in prayer, in the study of the scriptures, in spiritual exercises? Are there not many duties imperfectly fulfilled, many talents imperfectly improved, many privileges imperfectly enjoyed? Is there not much work remaining to be done in your own hearts, in your families, in the world around you? Arise, trim your lamps. 'Sleep ye not, as do others: but watch, and be sober, putting on the breast-plate of faith and love, and, for an helmet, the hope of salvation.*-Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning, and ye yourselves like unto men, that wait for their Lord." As faithful servants, be more diligently occupied in your master's service: "and" that, "knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep, for now is your salvation nearer, than when ye believed. 1 Thess. v. 6, 8.

66

The night is far spent; the day is at hand: therefore cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armour of light. Walk honestly as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof."*

SERMON XIX.

THE GRACE OF CHRIST SUFFICIENT FOR HIS PEOPLE.

ance.

My grace is sufficient for thee.-Corinthians xii. 9.

IN arduous undertakings, hope of success is one of the most powerful incentives to exertion and perseverThe stronger is the probability of obtaining the object in view, the greater will be the zeal and activity in the pursuit of it; while nothing more effectually tends to damp the spirit of enterprize, than the chilling apprehension of defeat and final disappointment. If this remark be true with respect to temporal concerns, it is equally just as to those of a spiritual nature. Hope of victory is the cordial which invigorates the christian warrior. Remove this hope; his ardour cools, his energy is relaxed. Dispirited by the uncertainty which envelopes his future prospects, and doubtful whether even his most strenuous labours will be ultimately successful, he is less capable of contending with the numerous enemies of his salvation. Hence he is exhorted to put on hope as a helmet, which may cover his head in the day of battle. Hence the most animating promises are employed to sustain his drooping spirits, and to inspire him with the assurance of a favourable issue.

Among these promises, the declaration of Christ himself in the text claims a distinguished place. The words were originally addressed to St. Paul. The Lord, fore

* Romans xiii. 11-14.

seeing that the apostle was in danger of being "exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations" vouchsafed to him, was mercifully pleased to counteract this tendency by giving to him "a thorn in the flesh." What was the particular nature of this trial we are not expressly told. But probably it consisted in a consciousness of some personal defect, which he was apprehensive might obstruct his future usefulness. Under this apprehension, he "besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from him." Did the Lord grant the petition? No. He saw not fit to remove the affliction: but he added a most consolatory promise, which would render the removal unnecessary. He said to his afflicted ser'Be not afraid.

vant, "my grace is sufficient for thee.” Thou shalt not sink under the burden. I will sustain thee. None of the evil consequences, which thou fearest, shall ensue: "for my strength is made perfect in" (thy) "weakness." Weak in thyself, and wholly inadequate to the work assigned, thou shalt be strong in me, and in the power of my might.' Observe the influence of this cheering promise on the apostle's mind. His fears are dispelled. His hope revives. No longer dejected at the thought of his own insufficiency, he exclaims, "most gladly will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.'

Such was the occasion on which these words were originally spoken. But the promise which they contain is not to be confined to the apostle. Doubtless it was intended for the comfort and the encouragement of numbers in all ages. Jesus Christ is still the same: "the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.' and watchful solicitude over his people, his power and willingness to succour and sustain them, are still the same. Still then may they be exhorted to confide in the assurance that "his grace is sufficient for them."

His tender

In this application of the subject, and with the view to a suitable improvement, I purpose,

I. To illustrate the tendency and meaning of the promise. II. To point out the persons to whom the promise belongs.

I. " My grace is sufficient for thee." The grace of

* Hebrews xiii. 8.