meekness; and then, to go on with our Saviour's account, they keep it. The seed once lodged in the heart remains there: it is not choaked by the thorns of worldly cares and pleasures; it is laid up in the understanding, memory, and affections, and guarded with attention and care, as the most valuable treasure.

And indeed how is it imaginable, that the man who has received the truth in the love of it, has ventured his everlasting all on it, and has no other ground of hope whatever, should be willing to part with this good word of the grace of God? Sooner would he renounce his dearest temporal enjoyments, yea even life itself. Nor does our Saviour, by keeping the word, mean only an attachment to the leading truths of Christianity; he intends also a due regard to all the instructions and precepts of Scripture, the revealed will of God; and our Lord frequently exhorts his disciples to express their love to him" by keeping his commandments, and keeping his words."* Thus the sincere hearers bring forth fruit: they profess the Christian name, and live answerable to it; their external conduct is sober, useful, and honourable, and their temper is pious, benevolent, and holy the fruit they bear is of the same nature with the seed whence it springs; their obedience is regulated by the word of God as its rule, and flows from divine principles, such as faith, hope, and charity.

:

And where is the man, who believes the revealed word of God, can admit a doubt, whether he ought supremely to revere, love, and obey his blessed Redeemer? How can piety languish and die amidst the purest and most sublime morality of the Gospel? How can the heart, occupied with

its sentiments, remain unsusceptible to the feelings of justice, truth, humanity, and benevolence? How can a man believe himself to be that guilty, depraved, helpless wretch, which this gospel declares him to be, and not be humble? How can he behold the Creator of the world expiring in agonies on the cross, and follow him thence a pale, breathless corpse to the tomb, and not feel à sovereign contempt for the pomps and vanities of this transitory state? How can he, in a word, see him rising from the dead, triumphing over the powers of darkness, and ascending amid the shouts of angels into heaven; how can he, I say, be a spectator of all these scenes, and remain indifferent to his everlasting interests? He cannot, when he considers how glorious will be the rewards which the fruitful Christian will receive at the hands of the great husbandman, on the day of harvest.

What

The day is approaching he shall go down to death like a shock of corn fully ripe; the precious grain shall lie secure in the bosom of the earth; angels shall keep their vigils about it; while the immortal spirit, acquiring its highest degree of perfection, shall join in the company of the blessed above: these wili hail the stranger with loud acclamations of joy, to the mansions prepared for his residence in heaven. then remains, but that we take fire at these considerations, and resolve, in an humble dependance on divine grace, to endeavour to outdo each other in virtue and good works? Let me beseech you, "therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast and unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”* And as the word

* 1 Cor. xv. 58.

of the kingdom is the seed whence fruitfulness is to be expected, let us hearken diligently to it; let us 66 hear, and our souls shall live."* And

let our Saviour's own exhortation have its due weight with us all: "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."+ Let us therefore be persuaded, having received the word of God, to be anxious above all things to maintain a character and conduct agreeable to our holy profession. "In this" (says our divine Saviour) "is my Father glorified, that you bring forth very much fruit, and be come my disciples." May this be our happy lot. Amen.

* Isaiah lv. 3.

+ Luke viii. 8.

+ John xv. 8.

SERMON XIV.

QUINQUAGESIMA SUNDAY.

On the divine Mission of our Saviour.

Then Jesus took unto him the twelve, and said to them: Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things shall be accomplished which were written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man: for he shall be delivered to the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and scourged, and spit upon: and after they have scourged him they will put him to death, and the third day he shall rise again. Luke xviii. 31, 32, 33.

WE read in the gospel different predictions of Jesus Christ relative to his own person, to that of his apostles, to the progress of his doctrine, or to the destiny of the Jews. It is therefore the purport of this discourse to prove, that these predictions are an incontestible proof of the divine mission of Christ. But it may be reasonably asked, what is required to establish the authority of a prophecy? In reply I shall observe, there are three things, and which are all concentrated or united in the predictions which have been recorded by the writers of the New Testament. The first I allege is, that to place the fulfilling of the prophecy beyond contradiction,

I must myself be a witness of the prophecy : secondly, that I should be a witness of the event: and, thirdly, that I should be convinced that this event could not, by any chance or coincidence of things agree with the prophecy.

Whether we have been eye-witnesses of the prophecy and event, or that one or other has been attested by credible witnesses, the attestation is of equal force in the mind of any reaso able enquirer. We are assured of the predictions of Jesus Christ, because they have been consigned to us in a book written prior to the events predicted; we are assured of their accomplishment, since history has confirmed to us the facts set forth; we are persuaded that it is not by the effects of chance that the events are found to be corresponding with the predictions; and, to be convinced of this, it will suffice to consider on one side, the justice and the precision of the prophecies, and, on the other, the nature and the small resemblance of the events themselves. The first article to be considered is, that Jesus Christ himself did predict the principal circumstances of his passion, his death, and his resurrection. From the very commencement of his public ministry he openly foretold, that he was to be delivered to the Gentiles, railed at, to be scourged with rods, crucified, and the third day after his death he was to rise from his tomb; wherefore he says to his disciples those words which are placed at the head of this discourse,

This prediction is frequently repeated in the four Evangelists. Not only is it addressed to the apostles, but to the people assembled in multitudes to hear our Saviour preach; to the priests, to the scribes, to the pharisees. Henceforth it must appear, that the apostles cannot be accused of having invented the prediction, after the event had transpired. The priests and pharisees them