gation-do I speak to any one, who though he knows his need, his urgent pressing need of it, is yet cast down in a sense of exceeding unworthiness, and dare not hope for it, or any other spiritual blessing? My commission is one of encouragement to you; the rock in the wilderness gushed not so freely and so copiously, as the rock of ages will pour out for you the restoring waters of life. You believe the unerring word of God, when it tells you that "he clave the hard rock in the wilderness, and gave his ancient people drink thereof, as it had been out of the great depth;" believe it also when it tells you, that he will open to you the wells of salvation, if, with the earnest cry of the Samaritan woman, you each supplicate of him," Lord, give me this water, that I thirst not."

Do I call on any others here this day who, though they desire it now, have in time past refused this great salvation, or made light of the spiritual nourishment it offers so abundantly to every one sincerely desirous of it? I am permitted to cheer you on also, with the blessed words of inspiration; "Ho! every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk, without money and without price." Freely for you flowed the blood of Christ, and, therefore, "thus saith the Lord, Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow, though they be red

like crimson, they shall be as wool." He waits to be gracious to you, however hitherto you have neglected, rebelled, or murmured against his righteous law and will. To the humbled spirit, the contrite soul, the returning heart, he is ever ready to "shew the pure river of water of life ” mentioned by St. John, "clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and the Lamb."

Or, lastly, do I appeal to any present, who though they have tasted of this water of life, and found it sweet to the soul, are yet fearful of losing it, and the desire for it, in the recollection. of many hours, months, and years of lethargy and carelessness in the things of God and of their own eternal souls? Then would I remind you too, that as the waters of the smitten rock followed the Israelites all through the desert, so do the mercies of Christ attend and sustain the trusting soul through the whole of its pilgrimage on earth. Frames or feelings, or any state of our own sinful natures, are not what we can rely on safely for a moment. The ever-flowing fulness of the Saviour's love alone it is, which will make our remaining days, as it has made our past ones, days of peace, and hope, and strength. He changes not; he cannot change: that love, free, precious, and unspeakable, which brought him down from his glory above to poor, dying, helpless sinners, is equal to all the trials and temptations we are exposed to from within or without. While de

as our

pending only on that unfailing love, he will provide, sweetly and effectually provide, that " day is, so our strength shall be," and he will say of us at last, as of the whole legions of the redeemed, "Of these which thou hast given me, I have lost not one." But if we are cold to or careless of that love; if we neglect the glorious salvation it procured for us, vain will be every other refuge! In this wilderness, we shall find no spiritual rock, and out of it we shall at last go, not to Canaan, not to rest, not to joy, not to peace, not to heaven, but " to the worm that dieth not, and to the fire that is not quenched." But, oh! thou spotless Lamb, slain for our guilty, perishing race, do thou call to thyself each immortal soul now here before thee, write on it the impress of thy tenderness and truth, and having redeemed it in time, make it, acknowledge it, receive it as thine own in that vast, wondrous eternity to which we are all hastening.

159

SERMON XI.

THE BLIND MAN RESTORED TO SIGHT.

LUKE Xviii. 40-43.

And Jesus stood and commanded him to be brought unto him, and when he was come near, he asked him, saying, What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? and he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee. And immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God: and all the people when they saw it, gave praise unto God.

THE instance here recorded of that power and grace which the compassionate Saviour was ever ready to exercise for the good of the souls and bodies of all who trusted in him, is that of the cure of Bartimeus, the son of Timeus, a poor blind beggar. Our Lord was near to Jericho on the road to Jerusalem, followed by a great multi

tude, when the unhappy sufferer by the road side hearing them, eagerly asked what it meant? Finding that it was Jesus of Nazareth passing by, and having probably before heard of the miraculous cures he had performed, Bartimeus cried aloud, Jesus, thou son of David have mercy on me; and they which went before rebuked him that he should hold his peace." But a faith so firm was not to be paralyzed by any opposition, and he "therefore cried so much the more, Thou son of David, have mercy on me." And then, seeing in this perseverance that entire trust of soul in his own power and goodness which he required in those who were to be the beneficial objects of his miracles, the merciful Jesus "stood and commanded him to be brought unto him; and when he was near he asked him, saying, what wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? and he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, receive thy sight, thy faith hath saved thee; and immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God; and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto God."

In endeavouring to apply this passage to our own benefit, my brethren, I must call your attention off from the care of an outward bodily evil to that inward spiritual renovation, which is, in the highest sense, giving sight to the blind, and which the blessed Jesus came to accomplish. He is not now on earth miraculously to effect a