And if this text gives consolation to the mourning penitent, it is also calculated to communicate comfort to the feeble and trembling believer. His character is represented under the emblem of smoking flax ; giving but a little, indistinct, and faint light, and apparently liable to be easily extinguished. Thus grace, at its first implantation, appears but a little spark, scarcely discernible, and mingled with much corruption. But this the Saviour "will not quench;" he notices the first faint emotions of piety; he beholds with pity the returning prodigal, while "yet a great way off;" he cherishes the new-born sentiments of goodness in the meanest and most insignificant subjects; he fans the almost expiring spark into a flame that shall blaze throughout eternity, and mingle its lustre with that of the burning seraphs round the throne of God.

Hear this, and rejoice, ye babes in Christ. We know that there are some who have not attained to maturity in the divine life; that in the church, as in the world, there are weak and feeble infants, as well as vigorous adults. We know that the kingdom of Christ in the soul, as well as in the earth, is at first only as the minute grain of mustard seed, which must gradually extend and develop itself; that the "trees of righteousness planted in the courts of the Lord," do not, like those of paradise, arrive at their perfection at once. We know that these feeble believers are often filled with dismay, and suppose that they are beneath the regard of Jesus, and that they shall be destroyed by their spiritual foes. Lambs of the flock! we sympathize with you, and would direct your attention to that good shepherd, whose kindness, whose power, and whose vigilance are unlimited.

But before we press upon you the consolations of the text, we again call upon you to descend into your hearts, and inquire whether you are indeed weak Christians, or only persons who, though they powerfully feel the common, are destitute of the special, operations of the Holy Spirit. Can you be satisfied with a low degree of grace, because Christ has promised not to quench it? Are you contented with such a degree of piety as will merely secure you the favour of God, and procure you admission into heaven? Does the firm persuasion of the compassion and care of Jesus produce and encourage in you remissness in known duties? Ah, brethren! if these be your feelings, you are the enemies of God; not smoking flax, but smoking firebrands. He never felt the grace of the Redeemer, who makes this grace a plea for negligence and an encouragement to sin. But can you on the contrary say, that, with all your weakness, with all your guilt, in the midst of your fears, in the midst of your sorrows, your chief desire is to be under the government of Christ; your chief prayer and labour is to grow in grace and conformity to his image; your chief burden the remains of indwelling corruption; and that the remembrance of his infinite compassion melts your soul, and fills you with regret that you make so unworthy a return for such goodness? Then lift up your drooping heads, for to you the promise in the text is as expressly spoken as though you were addressed by name.

Smoking flax, the Lord will not quench you; feeble believers, the Saviour beholds you with pity; and, instead of extinguishing, will cherish your graces. Faint as may be the light which is shed in your soul, it is light which came from heaven. Did

God kindle it in your soul, and will he then blot it out and leave you in darkness? Will He who is the author, renounce the glory of becoming the finisher, of your faith? Small as may be the degree of your grace, it is inestimably precious. We judge not of things merely by their magnitude, but their nature. The smallest diamond is of more value than a clod of earth. The faintest aspirations of grace are worth more than a thousand worlds: they could be purchased by no less a price than the blood of Jesus, and implanted within you by no less a power than the omnipotent energy of the Holy Spirit. Will they then be viewed with indifference by your Saviour? At the first infusion of grace in your soul, there was. joy in heaven; the angels exulted at your repentance: will He, of whom "the family both in heaven and earth is named," permit this joy to be turned into sorrow, and these angels to lament the precipitance of their songs of praise to Jesus, in blessing him for plucking you from despair? The Saviour expressly prohibits men from offending his "little ones," little in their opinion of themselves and in the degree of their graces, and declares that the highest angels have a special regard for them. Will he himself then cast them off? The weakest saint has his name written in the "Lamb's book of life," in as legible characters as the greatest apostle; as the infant is enrolled in your family records as well as the adult. Will Jesus blot out this name that his own hand has inscribed, and lose this soul that his Father hath given him? The care and pity of Christ extend particularly to the feeble. Weak grace is a proper ground of humiliation and sorrow, but not of distrust. The helpless infant peculiarly claims the attention of the mother; the tenderest

plants are most solicitously watched by the gardener; the feeble lambs are with the greatest sympathy borne in the bosom both of the earthly and heavenly shepherd. Weak as you are, the foundation on which you rest is strong as Omnipotence, the everlasting covenant, and the power of Jesus. "It is not our hold of Christ so much preserves us," says an old divine," as Christ's hold of us: though the faith we hang by is a weak thread, Christ hath a strong hand. The weakest grace has a throne of grace supply it, a God of grace to delight in it, a Mediator of grace to influence it, a Spirit of grace to cherish it." The most triumphant grace was once weak as yours. The glories that encircle Paul or Peter in heaven, sprung from these comparatively low beginnings, and your grace is capable of equal expansion with theirs.

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Are you still trembling, and apprehensive that Jesus will extinguish you in everlasting darkness? Ah! could I paint to you all the tenderness of this Redeemer; could I present to you the endearing titles which he bears, and the gracious characters which he assumes; could I recount to you all the precious promises that he has uttered; could I show him descending from heaven, and expiring upon the cross to save you; could I retrace all his conduct on earth, and show him never repulsing the feeblest believer, and bearing with the multiplied weaknesses of his disciples; could I follow him on the road to Emmaus, after his resurrection, and exhibit him removing with tenderness the unbelieving doubts and undutiful fears of the two, who had once hoped that it was he who would have redeemed Israel," or to the upper chamber where he confirmed the faith of Thomas; could I show him to you

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after his ascension to glory, still equally compas sionate, supporting, directing those Asiatic churches that had but a "little strength;" could I exhibit to you the history of all who are now on earth, exulting in the Lord as their portion; or in heaven, rejoicing in the immediate communications of his love could I have time to do all this, you surely, unless you fought against the consolations of God, would be compelled to acknowledge that he never rejects the weak and feeble, that he never " quenches the smoking flax."

1. Shall not this subject endear to us the blessed Jesus? Infinitely elevated in his divine nature above the brightest and purest created intelligences, it is an infinite condescension in him to communicate himself to angels, or to bestow benedictions upon the highest seraph in heaven. But he stoops to earth! he sympathizes with worms of the dust! He places his glory and his delight in binding up the broken spirit, in consoling the bursting heart, in wiping the tears from the eye of the penitent, in giving the pledges of everlasting glory to the disconsolate, and in tenderly cherishing the weak and feeble! Christians, often retrace his kindness, often meditate on his grace, that your love may be inflamed, and your gratitude invigorated; that you may be animated to new zeal in His cause, who has done so much for you. And you, thoughtless and impenitent men, will you still reject him? I speak not to you now of his majesty and power, of his judgment-bar, of the decisive sentence, of its irrevocable execution: but I ask you, has he not done enough to secure your love; has he not benignity and compassion enough to move your hearts; is he not the most sympathizing friend to whom you can have