3. Thirdly, to reflect on the necessity of resorting to Jesus Christ as humble supplicants, that we may receive from Him the remedy which he is both able and willing to apply. Infatuated would have been the conduct of the leper under the Jewish economy, who should have neglected to present himself before the priest, according to the Divine appointment, with a view to the removal of his afflicting distemper. No less infatuated, my brethren, and far more awful, is the conduct of those who, infected with the destructive malady of sin, and apprized of the ability and disposition of Jesus Christ to afford them relief and deliverance, neglect to implore his gracious and effectual interposition. Had not the distressed individual whose case is recorded in the narrative before us, entreated our Lord to extend to him his merciful favour, he might have remained under the influence of his leprosy till it had completed its destructive course. But he sought that mercy of which he felt his need, with an importunity and earnestness, which it were well for those who are lying under the guilt and contaminating influence of sin, cordially and perseveringly to imitate, lest through their negligence and folly they should be consigned to the agonizing torments of everlasting death. And oh! how intolerable must be the remembrance, in the abodes of interminable darkness and despair, of disregarded mercy, and of the day of salvation, with all its offered blessings, irretrievably lost-lost and gone for ever! Who would not escape the excruciating torment inflicted by so dreadful a

recollection? Surely it is the worm that never dieth, incessantly preying upon the soul, amidst the unabated flames of the fire that shall never be quenched!

Ungodly sinners,-be convinced of your deadly malady. Be assured that you are under the influence of a distemper far more to be dreaded than the most malignant leprosy that ever preyed upon the human frame-a distemper, the wretched victims of which must have their everlasting portion in that state of insufferable misery to which we have alluded, but which we can never adequately describe. Oh then, hear and believe the admonitory voice which apprizes you of your condition, and warns you of the danger which it involves ! Suffer not yourselves to be deceived, or to remain in ignorance, when information is at hand, and in regard to a matter concerning which such deception or ignorance, continuing to the end of life, must terminate in irremediable woe.Oh consign not your souls to the bitter pains of eternal death!

Ye who are convinced of your malady, and desire to be delivered from its baneful influence and destructive effects, avail yourselves without delay of the provided remedy. Believe in the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, who has purchased that remedy with the price of his most precious blood, to apply it to your souls. Be persuaded that He is no less willing than He is able so to do in answer to your prayers. Go to Him in humility and faith: implore his mercy, importu

nately seek his blessing, and you shall find peace and comfort, and obtain the full salvation which you need, being washed, and sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

Ye who have obtained relief and deliverance from the malignity of sin, remember the state in which you once were, that you may be deeply abased under a sense of your native depravity and alienation from God. Contrast with that former state your present condition, that your gratitude may be excited and kept in lively exercise. And knowing that though your iniquity is pardoned, and the virulence of your malady has been subdued by the efficacy of Divine grace, the taint of sin must still attach to you while you continue in this mortal body, pray earnestly that you may be prepared for, and at length received to, that happy state, into which nothing that is defiled shall enter, and where, in perfect holiness and purity, you shall be for ever with the Lord in the city of eternal habitation.

DISCOURSE XIV.

THE CASE OF THE TEN LEPERS.

LUKE XVII. 11-19.

And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.

OUR attention has already been directed to the dreadful malady with which these petitioners for our Saviour's mercy were afflicted. It will not be neces

sary, therefore, to make any further remarks on that topic.

As the wretched sufferers under this malady were excluded from ordinary society, it was probably no unusual thing for a number of them to associate among themselves. We find four of them so associated without the city of Samaria, when Benhadad, the king of Syria, was besieging it: and in the instance before us no fewer than ten were collected into one

This is deserving of par

company in the vicinity of a certain village on the confines of Samaria and Gallee, into which our Saviour was about to enter. ticular notice, inasmuch as the circumstance afforded an opportunity for the more extended manifestation of our Lord's power and glory.

These poor creatures, knowing that Jesus was approaching, and being aware of the mighty works which he had performed, though they durst not draw near to him, but, according to the requirement of the law, "stood afar off," yet were importunate in their united cries for his compassionate relief: "They lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us." In answer to their entreaties, our Lord directed them to those whose office it was to investigate the nature of their complaint, and on its removal to pronounce them clean: and, wonderful to relate, as they were on their way to the priests, having departed from our Lord under the full influence of their direful malady, not one or two only of the num