ture, stepping over all impediment. And 5. Abraham not only entering the land, but now, amidst many discouragements, sorrows, and trials, looking for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God; which city, we think, as we have suggested from Rev. xxi., he may yet have. Beautiful city! the New Jerusalem, whose Builder and Maker is God. Thus Abraham will get his city; but ye, beloved, who have owned a rejected Jesus, who are neither Jew nor Gentile, but are a new creation, children of the mystery, ye are not so much for a city-though all things are yours, for "ye are the body of Christ ;" and are as He is, one with Him as the Head and the members are one-to be on the same Throne, and in the same glory— "glorified together." Such, I say, is the order of Christian life.

ADDRESS IV.

THE GOOD SAMARITAN.

"And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead."-LUKE X. 30.

DEAR Friends, I am going to speak, if I can, this morning a little about the Lord Jesus Christ, who is here represented as the Good Samaritan, and also a little about yourselves; for the man whom the Lord found on his way from Jerusalem to Jericho, is a representation of what we, in our natural condition, are as sinners. It may be some of you have never seen yourselves in the glass of the Word, or as you have been pourtrayed in this picture by the Prince of Artists -by the Lord Himself. He knows what is in us; He never miscalculated or misjudged any one. and I are like that poor man; we are sinners-" born in sin, and shapen in iniquity." I want to bring you face to face with yourselves, as you have been drawn by His inimitable pen; He depicts you as having been robbed, and wounded, and left for dead.

You

I never shall forget, when speaking of this in Paris, how the Lord seemed to give a deep, solemn, tearful sense of their condition as sinners to the dear French

who were present, and not to the French only, but to the Arab, the Hanoverian, and others; for there was the Arab in his Arab costume, the German, and men of other countries; and it seemed as if the Good Samaritan had gone into their hearts, and had revealed Himself; and themselves, having shown some of them their true condition.

Now, if you were to ask a man of the world, Are you happy? the probability is, he would say no; or, Would you, in dying, like to meet with God? he probably would answer no, showing that there is something wrong; for if He knew God in His trne character-if He knew Him as his Father-how delightful it would be to meet Him! But his answers show how man has been robbed of what he had. Is this the case with you ? Are you happy? If this room were now to be the scene of your death, could you meet God in peace? meet God in peace? Are you ready to die? How unnatural it is not to love God! What robbery has been committed on your precious nature! Adam in his innocence delighted in the thought of God; he had fellowship with Him in Eden; he walked with Him as a man walks with his friend. But now man is afraid to meet God; he is afraid to die. The devil has robbed him of his primal innocency, and fellowship, and love, and now man hates God.

And you may die soon. Two gentlemen met not long ago; they had been companions together. One said

"Since we last met, I have undergone a great change. I have found Jesus; have you found Jesus?

"No," said he, "I have not found Jesus, and, what is more, I do not want to find Him." The words were scarcely out of his mouth when he dropped dead at his friend's feet. Alas! so dead are we, in our natural state, that we neither have God, nor want to have Him! How has the devil plundered our nature!

The question is, What are we to do with a man who has been robbed and left for dead? for he cannot help himself. If you saw a man lying, as this man was, hopeless and helpless, you would at once know that he could not help himself. He had no money, no strength-the night approaching, the darkness come! What is to be done? See! the Lord shows you some one coming along the road. It is a priest; and surely he will lend his help No, indeed; he merely takes a rapid glance, and passes by on the other side; and, as as I have often said, it was just as well he did; for the priest was as the Law-as Moses and law can do nothing with one who is guilty but condemn him; the Law must condemn if you are condemnation-worthy. If the judgment day were now to throw its wing over you, all it could do is to condemn, and it will condemn the finally impenitent sinner. If a man steal a sheep, or enter a house for the purpose of robbing, the Law, laying hold of him, must condemn him. The Law can reveal to a man the misery to which he has come, but it can never save him: so it was just as well the priest did pass by.

Next came a Levite; but he, too, like the priest, only looked and passed on. And it was as well he did; for he represented ordinances-and what could ordinances do for a man left for dead? What could Baptism or the Lord's Supper do for him? What would the Lord's Supper avail if you had stolen? Keeping the Sabbath (though it is a divine thing, the rest of the Sabbath) would never pay a debt; going to the Lord's Supper would not pay it.

What, then, are we to do with this man who has been plundered and robbed-who has no peace, no rest-who has nothing-who is left for dead? Why, as the Lord depicts the story, He shows you a third person coming. Looming in the distance you see the Good Samaritan; and when He came, did He merely take a glance ?—

did He only look, and then pass by? Oh! that Blessed Samaritan! He always saw when misery was in the way. He saw the blind man, poor Bartimeus, as he sat by the wayside begging. He saw Zaccheus when he was up in the sycamore tree, half hidden by the foliage. He never passed by, but He always saw want and misery. And if you say, I am like that man; I have no peace-I have no hope; if I die to-night, I have no hope that I shall go to heaven-oh! if the Lord ever so little touch thy heart, He is looking on thee, lifting thee up, and it is worth a million worlds to thee to have Him thus, though it seem but a little.

Mark the Good Samaritan. He lifted the poor traveller up; He looked into his face, and saw that it was covered with blood and dust, and with His gentle hand softly wiped it all away. Nothing shows more whether there is life in a man than lifting him up. If you saw a man lying apparently dead on a couch, and lifted him up, you would soon see whether he had life or not. Now, I have oftentimes seen a sinner like that. He was dead; he was a corpse; he had no desire after God; he was going the downward road to hell-satisfied with outward things, with mere religiousnesswithout knowing Christ-having a name to live, while he was dead. But Christ lifted him, awakened him, and he had life.

When the poor man was lifted a little he had wants. He wanted oil to heal his wounds, and wine to give him strength, and the Good Samaritan gave him both. Ah! dear friends, this is the condition of the awakened sinner! Do you not know this? Think a little this morning. Have you not felt there was something you wanted? Bright and merry and joyous as you are outwardly-gay in the ball-room and in the concertroom, a smile on your sunny face-deep down in your young heart, have you never felt that you wanted something?