have all the relief, the peace, the joy of this great salvation. One and all of you, my hearers, may have this salvation; and it is because you do not choose to take it, if it do not indeed belong to you.

And this thought leads us,

III. To the third and last lesson which the text inculcates, which is, that we become partakers of this great remedy for human sin and woe, by personally receiving it.

Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, that every one who looked upon it might live. Bring before your minds the camp of Israel, when Moses announced to them the answer of God to his prayer that he would heal the people. Set the scene before you, as he lifted up on the staff of one of the highest standards, the token of deliverance which God had ordained, and caused to be proclaimed throughout all these tribes, WHOSO LOOKETH ON IT SHALL LIVE! There the signal stands lifted up in the air above all their tents; while everywhere there goes forth from it a noiseless but reviving power. No matter what the varieties of the disease, or the intensity of the poison, or the stage of its progress; whosoever looked recovered. Woe to the unhappy Israelite who neglected the remedy! But happy,-happy the man, who, ever so covered with wounds, and ever so deeply scarred, turned his eyes toward the divinelyappointed signal!

Such is the meaning of the language, the Son of Man was "lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life." The remedy yours in offer even while it is rejected; but it is not yours in possession until you have accepted it. How

is

can it be? How can it be if it is treated as a worth

less thing, and trampled under your feet?" The serpent in the wilderness was but a conditional provision for the whole camp of Israel; the condition was that they should look upon it; and the death of Christ is a conditional provision for this whole world of sinners; and the condition is, that they believe in it.

The look of the perishing Israelite was but the look of the eye. Yet was it one to which he was impelled by a sense of his sufferings, and which he had no desire to withhold. He believed in the testimony of God, that looking he should live. It would seem that this whole people came running to Moses, crying, "We have sinned; for we have spoken against the Lord and against thee. Pray unto the Lord that he may take away the serpents from us!" God gives the sinner relief when he feels the burden of his sins, and thus looks to Jesus. Men never truly sue for mercy, without an ingenuous confession of guilt. No unhumbled mind ever truly looks to Christ, or has a part in the great remedy he has provided. We shall find healing and relief from the venomous disease, the burning poison of sin, only as we thus feel its effects, pray to be delivered from its power, and lay hold of that deliverance by faith. With the same mingled emotions of lamentation and hope with which the supplicating Israelite looked to the brazen serpent, and with more than their relentings, ought we to look to him who was lifted up on the cross. Delightful is that look of faith, delightful is that relief! What a memorable hour is that when the soul looks to Jesus, and feels the plague of sin stayed, the sources of death drying up withing him! It is not able to repress its joy, but gives glory to God.

O fellow-sinners, look and live! Do not despise so

great salvation. As the eyes of thousands turned to that one banner in Israel, that had upon it the brazen serpent, so let your eyes be turned toward Christ. God your Saviour is almighty, and he invites you to look and live. Despair of help except from him. Nothing is impossible with God. There is yet time for you to look and live, and to give glory to him. From the tents of Judah to the outermost ranks of Asher and Naphtali, the voice is still heard, Look and live. There stands the cross; come to it with all sins and your sorrows, and it shall never be that you perish.

your

I would not leave you to-day, without leading you to that Saviour. Will you not look up to that mighty Deliverer, and accept that signal deliverance which is ordained in heaven? Will you not "count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ ?" O ye who still neglect him! ye have not comprehended the height and depth of his love. You have not appreciated the glad tidings of his great salvation. Aged, weather-beaten sailor, look to that cross. Youthful sailor, look to that cross. You may not now believe that you are bitten by the poisonous tooth of sin. But if you go not to that cross, and cast not yourselves upon that Saviour, and find healing in his atoning blood, the poison will rage and the flame will burn that never can be quenched.

I sum up the thoughts presented in this discourse in the language of a man, who was once a sailor, like yourselves, and who afterwards lived and died one of the most eminent ministers of Christ the world has known.

"As the serpent raised by Moses,

Heal'd the burning serpent's bite;

Jesus thus himself discloses

To the wounded sinner's sight.

"Hear his gracious invitation:

'I have life and peace to give;
I have wrought out full salvation,
Sinner, look to me and live.

"You had been forever wretched,
Had not I espoused your part;
Now behold my arms outstretched
To receive you to my heart.

"Well may shame, and joy, and wonder,
All your inward passions move;
I could crush you with my thunder,
But I speak to you in love.'

"Dearest Saviour! we adore thee

For thy precious life and death;
Melt each stubborn heart before thee,
Give us all the eye of faith."

"Glory to God in the highest; peace on earth, and good will to men!" Amen!

SERMON XI.

ALL IS WELL.

MARK Vii. 37. He hath done all things well.

GOD'S way is in the sea, and his path in the mighty waters. The dispensations of his providence are sometimes bright, and sometimes shrouded in darkness. They are often so mysterious and so unlooked-for, that it requires a state of mind not always enjoyed, to take in the whole extent of them, and be satisfied that "All is well."

All is well! A soothing, cheering cry is this, when the watchman utters it, in his solitary walks of vigilance and care through the crowded and slumbering city; and when the warder utters it, as he patrols the walls of the castle that borders on the enemy's country! It is indeed a delightful state of mind to feel this truth; and when we look abroad over the world, and over the universe God has made, to have the inward and calm assurance that "he hath done all things well." It is the highest privilege of a good man, in the midst of the most violent tempests that assail his earthly hopes, with his hand on the truth and promises of God, and his eyes directed toward heaven, to be satisfied that All is well. Like the fabled stone of the alchemist which turned everything it touched into gold, this is a confidence, a faith in God, which changes