rightly used, would bless our being for ever. These neglected, destiny darkens. (1.) The period of early sensibility is an auspicious crisis. (2.) The period of moral impression is an auspicious crisis.

II. THE INFLUENCE WE ARE CAPABLE OF EXERTING

FOR GOOD. These men of Gennesaret, not only personally availed themselves of the blessing, bnt "they sent ont into all the country round about, and brought unto Him all that were diseased." Through them, multitudes who otherwise would have remained ignorant of His appearance, and suffering in their afflictions, got the intelligence of Him and were relieved. What these men did is the duty of all: (1.)Toinform their neighbourhood of Christ's presence in the midst of them. (2.) To persuade their neighbours to avail themselves of His help.

III. THE PRINCIPLE WHICH MEASURESOUR SUCCESS. "They besought him that they might only touch the hem of his garment: and as many as touched were made perfectly whole." Wonderful faith was this! They did not expect any manifestation or effort on Christ's part. They did not expect the striking of the

hand on any place as Naaman did (2 Kings v. 11). Their touch of His garment they felt to be enough. How came they to this faith? Perhaps they had heard of the woman with the bloody issue, who probably lived in that district, who was cured by touching the hem of His garment. But great as was their faith, the success they met with was exactly equal to it: they believed that touching the hem of His garment would do it. "As many as touched were made perfectly whole." The result was measured by their faith; so it ever is great faith will achieve great things; it ever has done so, and so it will again. Virtue streams through every avenue of the universe from Christ; and the touch of faith will bring it to our being.

MERCY, NOT MERIT.

"Understand, therefore, that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people."-Deut. ix. 6.

THE text suggests that mercy and not merit is the cause of all the blessings of our being.

I. THIS IS TRUE OF OUR SECULAR POSSESSIONS. All the blessings connected with

our lot in life come not because of our righteousness, for we are a "stiffnecked people." If we say that our comfortable homes, our freedom from temporal anxiety, and our possession of a competency, have come to us as the result of industrious efforts and economical habits, that they are our reward for honest laborour reply is-First: That to such a reward we have no right. We are sinners, and justly deserve not only destitution but destruction. We replySecondly: That both the materials of labor, and the power to labor, which have brought us these comforts, are to be ascribed to His mercy. It is He that has given us the earth whereon to labor, and the energy with which to work. "His constant visitation preserveth our spirits."

II. THIS IS TRUE OF OUR RELIGIOUS ADVANTAGES. We have Bibles, we have sanctuaries, we have religious literature of every grade and excellence. This is our distinction as a people; millions upon millions have them not. Why have we Britons these? Because of our merit? No! We are "astiffnecked people." They are to be ascribed to mercy alone. "The tender mercies of our God have visited us."

III. THIS IS TRUE of our CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. We have been called from darkness to light, to an experimental knowledge of the truth of Christ. We know from a blessed consciousness, what the pleasures, the loves, the aspirations, the hopes and fellowships of true religion are. Why were we made partakers of this character ? Millions, even around us, are still in the gall of bitterness, and the bond of iniquity.

Was it because of any merit in us? No! We were "a stiff-necked people." It is all in mercy.

IV. THIS IS TRUE OF OUR SPIRITUAL USEFULNESS. Have we rendered any service! Have we given truth an impulse in our age? Have we extended in any measure the spiritual empire of the Son of God? Are we ministers, and have we won many souls to Christ;-authors-and by our writings dissipated pernicious errors, woke up earnest inquiry, and led souls into the domain of truth? Whatever our success in this direction, why has it come to pass? Because of our merit? By no means. It is all of mercy. "Not by might, or by power," &c. "Paul plants, Apollos waters, &c."

V. THIS IS TRUE OF OUR HEAVENLY INHERITANCE. We

look forward to "an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away." We hope to be there one day; there, in one of the " many mansions" of our Father's house. But shall we have it by our own merit, on account of our own righteousness? By

no means.

It is all of mercy. Brothers, this doctrine should humble us. We have nothing whereof to boast. However elevated our station in life; however distinguished our excellence of character; however brilliant our triumphs in the cause of Christ. we have nothing whereof to glory. We ascribe all, not to our righteousness, for we have none, but to the free grace of Heaven. Let this doctrine encourage us. However imperfect and unworthy in character, let us not sink into despair under a sense of corruption, since salvation from every evilis all of mercy. Let us be inspired with adoring gratitude, for all we have and hope to be we owe to the mercy of Heaven. "Bless the Lord, oh, our souls!" &c.

II.

"I

TURNING is the SECOND stage. Godliness begins with the intellect-with thought and memory. thought of my ways and I turned my feet into thy statutes." The mind, dwelling upon these subjects, generates emotions in the heart that determine the will, and the soul turns to the Lord. First Turns in profound contrition. Secondly: In earnest prayer. The soul in its depraved state is going away from the Lord; thought arrests it, and brings it back.

:

Here is

I. THE CAUSE. First: A grateful memory. "Thou hast been my help." When grace comes, it comes to the whole soul; a new retrospective power is given as well as a prospective one. One glad necessity of the new life is, "Thou shalt remember all the way," &c. Unbelief, on the other hand, has a bad memory. "They soon forgat his works." (Ps. cvi. 13.) Secondly: A personal possession. "Thou art my God." The soul lifts its

hand, not to grasp abstract truth, nor a doctrinal system, but a personal God. Mix in holier company, rise to higher employments, the Christian

may and shall; but to rise to higher rank is impossible, for bere and now we are children of God by faith in Jesus Christ. Thirdly: A present joy. How precarious the present life of man! Riches fly, comforts die, friends fail, thrones reel, crowns fall, death levels; but those things which cannot be shaken remain. (Heb. xii. 27.) "Thy lovingkindness is better than life."

II. THE EFFECT. "Therefore," &c. Three ideas will illustrate this :-First: Refuge. "Thou art my hidingplace; thou shalt preserve me from trouble." "The name of the Lord is a strong tower," &c. This refuge is ample, accessible, and friendly.

"Rock of Ages cleft for me," &c.

Secondly Rest. God is our resting-place. We are invited to enjoy it by the Saviour. (Matt xi. 29.) And many have said with tearful gladness, "Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee." This rest is reciprocal; we go to Him, He comes to us. "This is my rest for ever." (Ps. cxxxii. 14.) Wonderful fellowship! The helpless leaning on the helper; the sinful on the sinless; the aching, guilty head, resting on the bosom of Christ.

The ideal of chivalry, which Spenser has thus described,

"Nought is more honorable to a knight, Nor better doth beseem brave chivalry, Than to defend the people in their right,

And wrong redress in such as wend awry.'

has much in it to command our admiration. To battle against wrony, in a spirit of righteous and generous heroism, is, of all services, most honorable and Divine, so far

as it goes. The great mistake, however, of the chivalrous knights of these times, was this-their attempt to crush the wrong by violence. By the lance, the sword, and the battle-axe, they sought to put down that spirit of injustice and rapine that roused the indignation of their manly natures. This was a mistake that neutralized their efforts, and blackened the history of their exploits. This, alas, is the huge mistake of ages, a mistake which is being constantly committed even by the most enlightened nations of our own times

-a mistake, too, by which the kingdoms of the earth are tossed about on the unresting, tumultuous, and bloody sea of civil and national wars.

The attempt to put down wrong by violence, we hold to be just as absurd as the attempt to break stones by argument, thaw ice by love, or to govern the steam engine by the Ten Commandments.

THE RELIGIOUS ELEMENT.

The religious element is the strongest power in human nature. It may, alas, it often is, so overlaid by sensuality and worldliness, and remains so dormant, that men may even doubt its existence. Rut let it be roused, and every other power in life shall be to it only as a straw to the avalanche. Let the general awake it in his army, his men will fight with the desperate energy of Cromwell's battalions. Excite it, and then "Deus vult" shall be a talismanic watchword that shall lead men and women, not only to burn their own children in the flames, but mutilate their own flesh,