made him apt to teach-he furnished him with wisdom and knowledge-he made him a minister that needed not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. His success in the ministry was from the Lord Jesus-he made him fruitful and he made him useful—he opened the hearts of his hearers-he attended his message with the power of his Spirit-he gave testimony to the word of his grace. Thus he assisted him in his work-owned him as an honored servant, nor suffered him to labor in vain, or spend his strength for naught. Now, he wishes to close this ministry with joy. He does not want to leave it, to quit it for worldly ease; but to go on in it to the end of his life. He does not wish to grow weary in well doing; but to persevere to the last; and thus finishing his work, he would do it with joy, as he would review instances of usefulness, and behold the grace of the Lord of the harvest, in raising up more laborers to enter into his vineyard. A minister closes his work with joy when he reviews instances of usefulness, when he knows that there are many whom he may view as his joy and crown of rejoicing-that he shall have to say of a goodly number, here am I, Father, and the children which thou hast given me. Thus our Lord rejoiced at the close of his labors, saying, "I have given them thy word; I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do." So also does the good minister finish his course with joy, when he beholds other laborers crowned with success in the vineyard; when he dies with the full confidence that Zion's glory increases, and that the work of the Lord is promoted. He rejoices that others shall enter into his labors, and that by their exertions the Saviour will be honored when he is cold in dust. Thus he rejoices, that instead of the fathers he raises up the

children, and that the Saviour's name shall be known to all generations. Happy man! Like Simeon, thou shalt depart in peace; like him, thou shalt have the Saviour enclosed in thine arms, and eternal glory full in thy view.

Let those of us who are aged in the ministry imitate the apostle's example.

Students, be diligent; honor Christ and the Holy Spirit; aim sincerely to do good; be not afraid of difficulties; let us go on, &c., &c.

In so doing, we shall both save ourselves and those that hear us.

Amen.

471

SERMON XXI.

GOD'S GRACIOUS REGARD FOR THE PENITEFT.

"He looketh upon men, and if any say I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profitted me not; he will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light."-JOB Xxxiii. 27, 28.

How desirable a thing is genuine penitence; it appears eminently so from the attention God pays to it; from the salutary and holy feelings it calls into exercise; from the blessed effects which arise from it to the penitent individual, for "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy;" from the pleasure it occasions in heaven, for "There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth." All this you may see in the testimony of God, and in the experience of every true penitent. O that you may see it in your own!

We will endeavor now to gain instruction upon this sub ject, from the passage I have read to you, a passage re plete with consolation, and fraught with the richest truths. O that while we meditate upon it, its goodness and suitableness to our case, its kind report of the mercy of the Lord Jehovah, may dissolve our hearts in thankfulness, and melt our eyes to tears! "He looketh upon men, and if any say I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and

it profited me not, he will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light." Observe here, how this text

I. Presents to us the extent of the divine inspection, "He looketh upon men."

II. Unfolds the language of genuine repentance, "I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not."

III. Discovers the triumphs of reigning grace, "He shall deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light."

And all these things are closely connected together; for the truth of my text is, that God, in surveying the different ranks of men, beholds a penitent individual, hears his earnest cry, and forgives him the iniquity of his sin. We say, then, that our text,—

I. Presents to us the extent of the divine inspection.

"Jehovah looketh upon men.” God's omniscience ought to make us adore and tremble; for He confines not his observation to the heavens, in which he more particularly dwells, but he also looketh upon men. Though He surveys the bright armies of saints and angels, who are ever before him, hearkening to the voice of his word, yet he also looketh upon men. Mortals are beheld by him. The inhabitants of the earth are looked on as grasshoppers, yet not one escapes his notice. He watches over their actions, and there is no darkness, or shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves from his eye. The text teaches us that he looketh upon men

"The

universally, and at once. I say, he surveys men universally. He looks upon all the tribes and conditions of men, from the helpless babe to the hoary sage; he sees them all. Every one of the human race must exclaim, "Thou God seest me!" For "the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in behalf of them whose heart is perfect before him." Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord's throne is in heaven; his eyes behold, his eyelids try the children of men. "O Lord, thou hast searched me and known me: thou knowest my down-sitting and mine up-rising, thou understandest my thoughts afar off; thou compassest my path. and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways; for there is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether: thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me." Thus he does from his throne behold all the dwellers upon earth; and here the wise and the illiterate, the righteous and the wicked, the just and the unjust, meet together; the Lord is the observer of them all! So he surveys them at once. He looketh upon men, he sees them all at one glance, in one view; his eyes behold all that is done upon the face of the earth, and the darkness and the light are both alike to him. At once the Lord looketh from heaven upon the children of men, for "the ways of man are always before the eyes of the Lord, and he pondereth all his goings." The eyes of the Lord are at one moment in every place, beholding the evil and the good. "Can any hide himself in secret places, that I should not see him, saith the Lord? Do not I fill heaven and the earth, saith the Lord ?" "All things, then, are naked and open before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." Yet are there, amongst the numer