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or privately conveyed to you by written documents, or still more secretly whispered to your souls by the inspirations of his grace; and it is to be influenced moreover, by that celestial voice, in all the various circumstances of your condition to which its accents are usually adapted. What, in the next place, is it to follow him, but to imitate the virtues which he exemplified in his conduct? Yes, my friends, it is to exhibit in your lives, that piety towards God, that benevolence to man, that lowliness of mind, that purity of heart, that meekness under provocations, that patience in afflictions, and that conformity in short in all things, to the will of the Most High, of which your dear good shepherd was so perfect a model. If in this manner, you be careful to hear his voice and to follow him, he has himself assured you, that he, on his part, will acknowledge you for his sheep, and that as such, he will hereafter conduct you safely to the happy pastures of life eternal. "My sheep, (says he,) hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give them life everlasting."

SERMON XX.

THE THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EASTER.

ON THE PLEASURES OF A PIOUS AND RELIGIOUS LIFE.

GOSPEL. St. John, xvi. v. 16-22. At that time Jesus said to his disciples, A little while, and now you shall not see me; and again a little while, and you shall see me; because I go to the Father. Then some of his disciples said one to another, What is this that he saith to us, A little while, and you shall not see me; and again a little while, and you shall see me, and, because I go to the Father? They said therefore, What is this that he saith, A little while? we know not what he speaketh. And Jesus knew that they had a mind to ask him, and he said to them, Of this do you inquire among yourselves, because I said, A little while, and you shall not see me; and again a little while, and you shall see me? Amen, amen, I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. A woman, when she is in labor, hath sorrow, because the hour is come; but when she hath brought forth the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. also you indeed have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man shall take from you.

So

"A LITTLE While, and now you shall not see me; and again a little while, and you shall see me; because I go to the Father." These words were part of a discourse delivered by our blessed Saviour to his disciples on the approach of his, passion. But such were the prejudices which, in common with the rest of their countrymen, they

had unfortunately imbibed respecting the Messiah, such was yet the worldly temper and disposition of their minds, that they were utterly unable to comprehend their meaning. Like the rest of the Jewish people, they fondly imagined, that the promised Messiah was to be a great, powerful, and magnificent prince, whose reign would be permanent. And as they believed their divine Master to be that promised Messiah, they were at a loss to reconcile the permanence of his dominion with the short duration which he seemed to announce of his residence among them. Hence those perplexities which arose in their minds-which some of them expressed one to another in the following terms, recorded by the Evangelist :-" What is this that he sayeth, a little while? we know not what he speaketh." Jesus, however, perceiving their embarrassment, and designing probably to impress their minds with an idea of his character which might counteract thoughts so injurious to him, which the humiliations and sufferings he was about to undergo would be calculated to excite, shewed them that he was acquainted with their most secret deliberations. "And Jesus knew that they had a mind to ask him, and he said to them, Of this do you inquire among yourselves, because I said, A little while, and you shall not see me; and again a little while, and you shall see me." And, in order to prepare them for the melancholy scenes which they were shortly to witness, he informed them that they were on the eve of great

troubles, and that those troubles would moreover be embittered with the mortifying exultation of their triumphant enemies. Yet, that they might not be discouraged by this distressing intelligence, he comforted them with the prospect of the happy change which would take place in their condition. "Amen, amen, I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy." Adverting then to the feelings of a woman, during the course, and at the close of her labor of parturition,-whose pangs, in the first instance, are amply compensated by the satisfaction which, in the second, she derives from the contemplation of her new-born infant, he tells them that such shall be the grateful transition from grief to joy, which it will be their lot to experience. The anguish, he intimates, which they will have to sustain, when they behold him, whom they love and venerate, despised, insulted, scourged, and put at length to a cruel and ignominious death, will be painful as that of a woman in the former of the situations which have been already described; but, alluding to the subsequent event of his resurrection, by which he will be, as it were, regenerated to life immortal, he immediately adds, that they shall see him again-yes, that they shall see him again in that glorious state of renovated existence, in which he will appear when, from the womb, as it were, of the grave, he shall have issued triumphant over death and hell; and that

then their transient and evanescent sorrows will be succeeded by heartfelt and unalterable joy, of which it will not be in the power of the world to deprive them. "A woman, when she is in labor, hath sorrow, because her hour is come; but when she hath brought forth the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. So also you now indeed have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man shall take from you."

That joy of heart which our blessed Saviour promised to his apostles when they should see him again after his resurrection from the tomb, and which no man, he told them, should take from them, may justly be ascribed to his faithful disciples of every age and nation. For why did the hearts of the apostles rejoice when they beheld their beloved master restored to life, but because they discovered in that illustrious event a vindication of his pretensions to the divinity of his mission, and consequently a confirmation of all those consoling and exhilarating doctrines which he had previously delivered? But have not all his faithful disciples the same ground of heartfelt exultation which the apostles had? Although, like the latter, they have not the privilege of witnessing with their senses the reality of his resurrection, yet are they not convinced of it by the strongest grounds of credibility which were ever produced in support of an historic fact? Have they not, there

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