people to the highest seat, and then again places them on the lowest, in order to do away with all presumption. At one time, he arrays us beautifully and gloriously, so that we think, it will now go well with us; and the next day we find ourselves again poor and wretched. Thus wonderful is Jesus in his dealings with us. This ought to incite us to childlike simplicity, so that we may follow him in a docile and childlike manner, in all that he ordains concerning us. He will and shall overrule all things wonderfully, but at the same time gloriously.

But we must be brief. It is said, his name shall be called wonderful, Counsellor. Counsel is good for men who have gone astray, as we all have by nature. Ah! our dearest Saviour, after his incarnation and birth, is become the true counsellor for poor sinners.

All the inward convictions, invitations, corrections, and admonitions, which a forlorn child of Adam feels on account of his sins, are nothing but the most estimable counsel of our dearest Immanuel, who would gladly redeem our souls from perdition. O my friends! esteem the first convictions of grace very highly; it is Jesus, our dear Counsellor, who seeks to give you the best advice. Ah, the Devil is also (though improperly) á counsellor of the heart; he seeks to explain away the counsel of Jesus from the mind; 'O, this is only melancholy, says he, this is heaviness; divert thyself here and there a little, that these gloomy thoughts may be banished from thy mind.' O my

friends! continue near your hearts; for the title, “Counsellor," ought to induce us to manifest attention and obedience to the dear Saviour. We ought also to continue attentive and obedient; for our dear Saviour, Jesus Christ, not only counsels us, when we are to be brought back from going astray, as it is written in the book of Job, chap. xxxiii. 29. "Lo, all these things worketh God oftentimes with man, to bring back his soul from the pit:" but our dearest Saviour is also a Counsellor for the humbled, poor, but still unadvised and perplexed sinner.

Counsel is only suitable for those that are destitute of it. As long as we live in the world, secure in sin, we need no counsel. The man then walks according to the imaginations of his own heart. But when sin is felt, when danger is seen, good advice is appreciated; we then exclaim as it is written in the second chapter of Acts, "Men and brethren, what must we do to be saved ?" Good counsel is then valuable. Now Jesus is called a Counsellor; he will give the best advice to poor and perplexed sinners. Do not let thy own flesh and blood counsel thee; do not let thy reason counsel thee so as to induce thee to think, thou canst again satisfy and pacify thy conscience with some outward, easily performed matter; nothing is sufficient but the counsel of Jesus Christ. What advice then does he give to such a one? Turn thee, as a poor ner, unto me, who alone can blot out thy sins.' See this is the advice, Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden; come hither with your

sin

sins, continue lying at my feet, cry, sob, beg, persevere, until you obtain grace for the forgiveness of

your sins.

Ah, my dearest friends! let us therefore reply to this most precious counsel of Jesus Christ our Immanuel, by a strict attention and obedience; and he will then, as our adviser, introduce us into the thing itself. When the first advice was given to the Apostle Paul, with reference to his conversion, and the preaching of the gospel: he acted so as we all ought to do, as he himself describes it in Gal. i. 15, 16, where he says, "When it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen: immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood." Reason, and other worldly-minded characters are not the true counsellors; we must immediately follow that, which we inwardly feel of divine grace in our hearts and consciences. O my dear friends, attend to it, follow it, and close your eyes against the world, and flesh and blood, and all the arguments of reason. If Jesus gives us counsel, the result cannot be otherwise than good.

Counsel is not only good for such as are unadvised and perplexed; but there is also a great difference to be observed between counselling and lawgiving. Thus our dearest Saviour is distinguished from Moses, the lawgiver. A lawgiver goes to work with severity; but counselling is the work of a dear friend, who seeks to advise us for our good. Thus

it is that Jesus evidences himself to the believing heart. O we should never do right, but fall into a thousand perplexities, if we had not such a counsellor. If we know not how to do any particular thing, whether inwardly or outwardly, if we only offer up a heartfelt prayer to our dear Saviour, only turn to the Lord and regard the thing no longer in a natural manner: we shall obtain courage, light, and power. We shall then do much better than if we reflected upon the thing ever so long, except it be something which lies entirely within the scope of our rational faculties.

Our dearest Saviour evidences himself as a Counsellor and not as a lawgiver, particularly in this, that he endeavours to lead us into his mind and image, whilst seeking to advise and call us away from all the misery, sin, and sorrow of our hearts. Ah, my dearest friends! if we were only truly attentive and obedient, how should we experience what a faithful friend and faithful adviser Jesus is!

If, for instance,

direct itself to

some believing heart were about to some particular object, or still cleave to some false idol; Jesus would announce himself inwardly in the heart, with his Spirit of love, and say, "See, dear soul, it is not good that thou still hangest thine heart upon this or that object, or that thou still takest pleasure in this or that particular thing; therefore turn away from it." O precious advice! If we only remained assiduously near our hearts, how kindly and amicably, would our dear Saviour-not as an austere man, not as a lawgiver, but as a friend-call

us away from the world and all its pleasures, from sin and all its folly, and from all vanity and all false life in ourselves: he would call us to himself in our hearts, and speak kindly to us. If some wrathful power were about to spring up in our hearts; our dearest Saviour is present, as a counsellor, with his believing people, saying, O dear soul, plunge thyself in the gentlest manner into my simple, meek, and loving Spirit, and then choke the little angry principle. If some obstinate and harsh self-will and irritated feeling would burst forth in the heart, the loving spirit of Jesus would faithfully advise us, saying, Now, my child! humble thyself, abase thyself more meekly.' When any one has any thing of a painful nature to bear, Jesus will then also shew himself as a counsellor: Look at me, he will say, in my sufferings; behold how much I have suffered for thee; therefore take up thy cross once more courageously;' such a counsellor will Jesus Christ, our incarnate Saviour, prove himself to be to our hearts. But if we are not very attentive to our hearts, if we do not continue near our minds, and persevere in the gracious guidance of our dearest Saviour, we may then again go astray upon false bye-paths, and form to ourselves a religion, which is after all only half a religion.

Ah, my dearest friends! many, alas! who experience, that the dear Saviour, by his estimable counsel, is desirous of introducing them into such a strict denial of themselves and the whole world, when he thus calls us away from all the false life of nature