by your enemy; that when you sleep, then your enemy is most busy. He grieves over the weakness that will not be made strong, over the carelessness which will not be made thoughtful. He grieves over this, because He sees to what end it is hastening; because to Him that day is present when His work in our souls will be either perfected or altogether withdrawn; when if His seal be only faint it will be wiped out wholly; if we have not, even that which we have shall be taken away from us. He grieves over this, and fearful indeed is the sin of so grieving Him. But if He grieves over our manifold faults and weaknesses, it will be a joy to Him no less, if we follow His guidance, and love His comfort; it will be a joy to Him, so He permits us to speak, if we suffer Him to finish His work, and to make His seal every year more visible on us: and if it be a joy to Him, His joy will be our infinite blessing; His finished work is our life eternal.

October 17, 1841.

SERMON XVII.

THE CHRISTIAN SACRIFICE.

COLOSSIANS, i. 28.

We preach Christ, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.

IF any one thinks for a moment on the business of the Christian prophet or preacher, he will not wonder that even the great apostle Paul himself should have asked, who is sufficient for these things? For first to comprehend and conceive in our minds the wisdom of God in man's redemption, is in itself a work passing human powers, and then to apply the truth in such a way as shall suit the different condition of different souls; to give to each that which it most needs and when it most needs it, requires a knowledge of mankind generally, and a quickness in distinguishing the various states of various minds, almost equally beyond man's capacity.

Yet both these powers we need; we need to possess ourselves purely and fully of God's will for us and concerning us; we need also to be wise stewards of God's manifold grace, delivering to each that which he himself most needs; mixing warning and encouragement, teaching and mere reminding, in various proportions, even as each is by different persons and at different times required less or more.

And though in this particular congregation of ours, the preacher's work may seem to be in some degree easier, inasmuch as here we have a more distinct and personal knowledge of every member of our congregation than can in common cases be attainable; yet here with some advantages we are not also without some peculiar difficulties; if we know each of you, we know also how different you are from each other; we know also how hard it is so to speak to you as to seem at once earnest and not extravagant, so as by no ill-judged or careless expression to touch a different key in your minds from that which we meant to touch, a thing which with you perhaps more than with most congregations is a danger to be carefully guarded against.

For undoubtedly you have, not through any faults of yours, but through the circumstances of your condition, some of those points which create to the Christian preacher the greatest difficulty.

You are young, you are not poor, and generally speaking you know and have known but little sorrow. You have not in you therefore that conscious weakness which makes us so ready to receive help, so anxious to obtain it. We must try to win your attention by what we say, for there is not in you that which drives you to seek God's counsel and God's comfort, from the feeling that the staff of your own strength is broken. And therefore thinking of all this, we seem even more than others to need the help of God's Spirit of wisdom, that we may be in any degree sufficient for the duty of our calling.

Thus on this very day, we scarcely know in what language most profitably to address you, whether to speak most to those who were with us this morning at Christ's holy table, or to those who were not there; and again if we speak to those who were there, whether we should most speak in the language of encouraging or of warning. Yet, on the whole, I feel it most in my mind to speak in the tone of that solemn prayer which immediately follows the distribution of the bread and wine to all the communicants; to consider ourselves as those who have just been partakers of Christ's communion; to express our thankfulness, and to express also that devotion of ourselves to God, to which thankfulness naturally leads.

The prayer begins in these words, “O Lord and

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heavenly Father, we thy humble servants entirely desire thy Fatherly goodness mercifully to accept this our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving; most humbly beseeching Thee to grant, that by the merits and death of thy Son Jesus Christ, and through faith in His blood, we and all thy whole church may obtain remission of our sins, and all other benefits of His passion." "We offer our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving," so we may say for you, so you may each say for yourselves: "We offer our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to thee, O Lord, as for all thy other blessings to us, so for the means of grace which Thou hast this day vouchsafed us, and for disposing us to avail ourselves of it." For it is a blessing to draw near together to Christ's table, to be able to look around and think that we all are offering our heart's worship, that we are all at that time sincere, desiring to turn from sin, anxious to gain God's pardon and God's strength. It is a blessing to feel that for once at least we have none near but friends; friends I mean to our souls' health; friends who would help rather than hinder us, because they desire themselves to be helped and not hindered. And it is a blessing to draw near to Christ in His appointed way; to be certified by receiving the signs of His body and blood, that as He died for us once, so He liveth for us now and for ever; that He still counts us as His, inasmuch