He will have mercy on his afflicted;"1 that, "like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him."2 "He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might, he increaseth strength." My dear brethren, have not you and I experienced something of this support under the trials with which God has visited us? We ought to have felt it, and it ought to lead us to a calm, fixed, cheerful sub. mission to his will. Is not this God still a present help in time of trouble? Yes; when our spirits are overwhelmed, and when we are ready to sink through doubt or distrust, let us look "to the rock that is higher than we." Should-earthly friends or relatives be removed, or forsake us, let us go to Him, "a friend that sticketh closer than a brother;" who has promised never to leave us or forsake us. In Him the widow is invited to trust; in Him "the fatherless findeth mercy." Does He take from us our strength, the joy of our glory, the desire of our eyes? that whereupon we had set our minds, our sons, and our daughters? Some of us know what these trials mean. Let it comfort us to think, that if they have departed in the Lord, they are happier in his presence than 1 Is. xlix. 13. 2 Ps. ciii. 13. 3 Is. xl. 29. they could be with us; and that, if we continue faithful unto death, we shall see them again, and share with them a crown of immortal glory. In conclusion, let me observe, that though this subject is chiefly suited to those who are under affliction, yet it is applicable to all: for all are liable to trouble, however they may hitherto have been exempted; all, if they live, will be sure, in some form or other, to meet it. And when your hour of trial comes, without that of which I have been speaking—a submission, flowing from Christian principles, and supported by Christian aids, even by that Spirit of God which alone can give it how miserable and destitute will you be, You will find the lightest affliction too heavy for you to bear, if you have no other hope or comfort than what the world can give you. Would you Would you Listen to the then be prepared for your trials? hope to be supported under them? advice of Eliphaz to Job: "Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee."1 But are you at present in affliction, and in heaviness, through manifold trials and conflicts? Learn, from what has been said, the true, the only Christian course in the day of trouble; an 1 Job xxii. 21. unreserved, a cheerful submission to the will of God. Nor can we fail, if we are true to ourselves, to know the nature and character of our submission; whether it be merely the result of unavoidable necessity, submitting, as we hear too many say, because "they must bear it, and they cannot help it;" or, whether it arises from enlightened and Christian views of God, and the reasons of his dealing with us. Let us then, brethren, view our afflictions in this way. Let us study a growing conformity and submission to his holy will; and whatever our trials now are, or whatever they may be before we quit our mortal pilgrimage, let us mutally pray that they may all have the blessed effect which is intended; that of bringing us nearer to God, of weaning us from this world, and fixing our heart and our hopes on a better. Let us look to Him for constant supplies of his grace, to help us in every time of need; comforting ourselves with the blessed hope, that if we endure hardness as good soldiers of Christ, ere long we shall be beyond the reach of trouble and suffering, in those mansions where "sorrow and sighing shall flee away," and "the days of our mourning shall be ended." SERMON VI. ST. MATTHEW Xxii. 11. And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment. AMONG the parables which our Lord delivered in the course of his ministry, there are few, if any, more interesting or more important than that from which the words of the text are taken, and which we have just been reading. Let us take it, then, for the subject of our morning's consideration. In the preceding verses, the dispensation of the Gospel, or, as it is called, "the kingdom of heaven," is said to be "like unto a certain king which made a marriage for his son." It is the usual method of the Scriptures to represent to us future and heavenly things, under figures and images borrowed from things which we value here upon earth: this is done to accommodate the subject to our present faculties. The image of a marriage feast, or marriage supper, is frequently employed in Scripture to signify the relation into which all real Christians are brought under the Gospel covenant, as well as the blessings flowing from it. We find it in the Old Testament, in Isa. liv. 5; Jer. iii. 14; Hos. ii. 19, 20: in the New Testament, in the present passage; in St. Luke xiv. 16; in Ephes. v.; and in Rev. xix. 7-9. The meaning of the metaphor is this: that God in his infinite love to us, the fallen children of Adam, and in pursuance of the plan formed by his unerring wisdom, has sent his Son into the world to save us; and that whosoever believes in him, and with a true and heartfelt faith yields himself up to him, shall be made partaker of all those rich and unspeakable blessings described by this nuptial feast. The Jews had the first offer made to them; and we know how they received it. They were God called them by his called at different times. prophets, "rising up early," as the strong expression is; but they hearkened not; they entreated these servants of God "spitefully, and slew them." At length God "sent unto them his Son, saying, They will reverence my Son:" but him they rejected, brethren; they "made light" of him, and the salvation he offered them. They |