much more there! more agreeable, more lively! less limited! How many new sources of pleasure may not God lay open to us! pleasures of which he himself is the source. Here they are gross, short, and imperfect-a day with Christ is better than a thousand! the crumbs from his table are bet. ter than the feasts of the rich and the abundance of the world. And as with pleasures, so with honours-coheirs with Christ!-So with society-here, how the company of the wicked counterbalances the pleasures arising from the society of the pious; there, glorified saints and Christ Jesus the Lord! Oh! it is "better to depart and be with Christ!"

SERMON XXVIII.

THE VALLEY OF DEATH OPENING TO LIFE AND IM

MORTALITY.

Psalm xxiii., 4, 5.-Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

I. THE passage of good men to the mansions of light and life lies through the dark valley of the shadow of death.

II. It is God's gracious presence with us, and his powerful protection, that must enable us to go through without fear, nay, with confidence and comfort

I. The passage of good men, &c.

1. How significantly is death represented as a shady valley. It is in itself the most deplorable temporal calamity that can befal our nature. In Scripture, affliction and misery are represented as darkness; and because our dying moments are naturally the most frightful, the greatest of other dangers are often called the shadow of death. Thus in Psalms: "Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron." "He brought

them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bonds asunder." Because of the gloomy darkness in solitary valleys, overshadowed by high mountains, this adds a farther emphasis to import the depth and extremity of distress, in which there appears little hope of relief.-Such is death to the eye of sense.

Again, it intimates our natural dread of it and aversion to it. What a grim and ghastly aspect has death! We start and shrink when we are called to walk even under his shadow! See his harbingers-racking pains, convulsions, agonies, &c.—and then the invisible world beyond! How often do good men look on the gloomy side of it, for who knows what it is to die?

2. Vindicate the necessity even of good men passing through this valley.

First. It is necessary for the demonstration of God's impartial justice against sin. Death is not the result of our natural constitution, but the punishment of sin. The empire of death, then, is rendered as universal as the empire of sin. Wherever the hateful leprosy has spread, the walls of this clay must be pulled down!

Secondly. This conduct of God is highly conducive to the glory of his infinite wisdom. For this animal life is now only suited to this state of probation. The rewards of grace are more than the soul could enjoy in this present body; we could not see God and live.-We must have spiritual bodies.

Again, it is congruous to glorify God by the exercise of our faith in dying as well as in living. We glorify God when we live by faith; and not less by dying in faith, as Job: "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.”

And, farther, it is no impeachment of God's justice and goodness that good men die; for, indeed, from them the sting of death is removed.

3. The Psalmist supposes death to be the passage to a better life. Without this he could not say, "I will fear no evil;" for such it would be if it were the extinction of our being-and not to fear it would be stu

pidity. The gloomy thought, "wherefore hast thou made all men in vain ?" would then sink even a saint to despair.

II. Consider the grounds of confidence and comfort suggested.

1. God's gracious presence in a dying moment. And oh! we never need it more!-the light of his countenance! The wolves were wont to set upon the sheep in solitary valleys, and then they most needed the shepherd's care and presence.

But what encouragement to trust God then? "And the Lord, he it is that doth go before thee; he will not fail thee nor forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed." "For this God is our God forever and ever. He will be our guide even unto death."

2. God's merciful disposal and conduct of the Christian after death. He sees the shepherd going before, and follows him; he sees the pastoral staff conducting, and though the passage be dark he treads it firmly; he hears the promise, "I know my sheep, and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hands." He has already passed under his rod, and been numbered among God's chosen, and he knows that he shall be brought to the heavenly fold.

Again. The lively belief of God's presence will carry him through, not only without fear, but with comfort. To such a one, then, there is nothing terrible in death.

Fears he the agonies and pains which are its forerunners? Needful support shall be afforded.

Fears he the consequences after death? "Who is he that condemneth?. It is Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us."

To such there is a comfortable prospect, which relieves his fears. His soul must leave the body; but it is to be admitted into a nobler house not made with hands. He must leave friends, but only to exchange them for angels, &c. And as to his body, he knows that Jesus is "the

first-fruits of them that slept;" his flesh rests in hope, and then transformed!

Application.-See then the excellency of revealed religion in furnishing such solid supports. Socrates! Cicero! Seneca! Contrast these with David, Job, Stephen, Paul-" I am in a strait between two, having a desire to depart and be And this is common to all with Christ, which is far better." Christians: "We are confident, I say, and willing rather, to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." What comfort in the prospect of deceased friends and relatives!-Let us learn to die daily; to familiarize the scene. Let the daily scenes of mortality lecture us. Let the falling leaf and flower remind us death is attacking our outworks, seizing an eye, a hand, a foot.

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And let us so live that the God of our life may be our guide in death and our portion forever!

SERMON XXIX.

THE SOWER.

Matthew, xiii., 1-9.-The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the seaside.

And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore.

And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow :

And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside, and the fowls came and devoured them up.

Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth; and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth:

And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.

And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them.

But others fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some a hundred-fold, some sixty-fold, some thirty-fold.

Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

"THE same day"-a Sabbath day-Jesus preached in the morning and wrought two miracles, from which we may conclude it probable that the events narrated in this chapter occurred in the afternoon. It would appear (from ch. xii.,

1) that he had not had time to eat bread.* "He sat by the seaside," a place of public resort.―Jesus always in the way.

*

"He went into a ship, and sat;" giving us an example in this also. No pulpit unseasonable for him-not only do we find him in the Temple and synagogues on the Sabbath, but on mountains, in cities, in private houses; by the wayside, seaside, and well's side. "He spake many things unto them in parables;" a mode of teaching different from the Sermon on the Mount; not, however, intended to conceal truth, but to excite inquiry.

There is no little difficulty in expounding a parable; to attempt it is almost darkening counsel by words-so simple, and yet so sublime. This is the first instance in which your speaker has attempted it, and he approaches it with a trembling hand. But, with the exposition of our Lord to guide us, we cannot greatly err.

"Behold!"-Wake up attention-you are concerneda sower went forth to sow."-The heart is the moral soil -though the same base in all, it produces different results; yet, believing that God is no respecter of persons, we be lieve all are equally depraved. In some, a happier consti tution, or education, or a more direct exposure to the moral sun, or fewer temptations, may cause a difference; and hence many gain greater credit for piety and moral worth than they deserve. But, without attempting to determine the reason in every case-much mystery being involvedthe worst soil is capable of bringing forth some fruit. Where circumstances are dissimilar, the eye of the husbandman may see the man with thirty-fold in an equally favourable light with him who brings forth a hundred-fold in a more genial situation.

The seed is the Word of God; this is necessarily good, and the fruit must therefore be good. The husbandman who sows pure seed has not a better right to expect a good

* Example of Jesus for preaching twice a day.-Nicholas White, of England, was accused of heresy because he commended this in Luther. A bishop said he preached in the morning and prated in the afternoon. It was deemed puritanical, Thank God, times are changed.