solve. Our Lord, in speaking upon this subject to Nicodemus, compares the operations of the Spirit to the wind: "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth; so is every one that is born of the Spirit." But does this mystery prevent a pious Christian from imploring the influence of the Spirit? Ask the man who believes the doctrine of Providence, does it diminish his sense of the Divine government and protection because he cannot understand it? And if we never think of abandoning our dependance upon God because we do not know how, or in what manner, it comes, as it were, into contact with God, why should we do so on account of this mystery?

4. The resurrection of the dead is revealed to us as a fact in general, and it is a source of unspeakable satisfaction to the Christian that "this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality," and that death shall be swallowed up in victory;" but the circumstances that will attend this great event-in what manner our spirits will act in a separate state, or the nature of their enjoyments when reunited to the body, or the difference between them and the bodies we now possess-are questions which lie involved in obscurity; they are not "the things that are revealed." If you say, "How are the dead raised up, and with what body do they come ?" the Apostle Paul condemns such an inquiry: "Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die: and that which thou sowest is not that body which shall be" but "God giveth it a body as it shall please him, and to every seed his own body. All flesh is not the same flesh; but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body." On this part of the subject, my brethren, I would remark, that we should have such a sense of the unspeakable goodness and wisdom of God as to make us satisfied with just so much as He has taught us, and not expect, as there are so many mysteries in nature, that there should be none in religion, or in that which affects man in his spiritual state. Be thankful for the light you have received, and be content with the things that are revealed, which belong to us and to our children.

III. This maxim may be nowhere so fully applied as in the concerns of human life.

In the concerns of human life there is a path that is secret, and a path that is revealed. Life may be considered either as a series of events and circumstances, ordained and managed by infinite wisdom, or as a course of actions left to the determination of human choice. Considered in the first point of view, there is nothing more obscure, nothing more hidden from our knowledge, than human life; but, in the other, as a set of actions and

us.

a course of behaviour, there is nothing more plain, for we have the rules and motives that on every occasion ought to influence The matter of life is obscure; but the morality of life is exceedingly plain and intelligible. Nothing is more profound than that darkness which covers every step of our path. We know not what a day will bring forth, nor the consequences of our actions; for it is said, "In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand, for thou knowest not which shall prosper, this or that." You may confer a benefit, and you know not whether it will conciliate or exasperate; whether it will produce gratitude or ingratitude. You may pursue the wisest plans of human prudence, but, perhaps, foolish plans would have succeeded better; or you may become entangled in a complicated web of your own contrivance. You see the immediate effect of your actions, but remote consequences are removed far from your view; you know not the good or evil that may follow. You know not whether you shall have health or sickness; whether you shall have joy or sorrow, prosperity or adversity. You may be surprised when you think yourself most secure; or, when involved in the greatest distress, unexpectedly delivered; or you may be saying, in the fulness of riches, "Soul, take thine ease," when you are about to be plunged into intolerable agony. We are apt to imagine that we are the principal actors on the stage of life; but, by the destruction of some individuals, Providence is showing us that there is an unseen Hand that changes the scene and darkens the theatre at his pleasure; and thus there is a secret path which belongs to God, while the conduct of life belongs to us.

The rules of duty are plain and clear; the issue of events is in the hand of God, because he alone knows them. You know not the time of your death, nor the manner of your death-whether in the midst of life and happiness, or when sunk under a burden of agony and infirmity-whether it will be among your friends, or alone in the wilderness. These things are all sealed up under the hand of God, and placed among his darkest secrets. But you know how to make your death happy; you know what course of life will leave you little to dread; you know the prospect beyond the grave; and you know that Christ says to his disciples, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life." Thus, my brethren, the humble Christian knows, in the midst of all the obscurity of his path, whither he goes, "and the Way he knows."

I shall make two observations before I close. In the first place, we see here the maxim that ought to regulate our zeal with respect to religious truth; namely, to direct it to those things that are revealed, and in proportion to the plainness with which they are revealed. The want of this distinction has been a fruitful source of dispute among Christians, and has furnished much food for speculation. Either the subjects of dispute have not been revealed at all, or very obscurely so. The effect of this has been to produce a kind of wrathful religion and animosity, to the

neglect of the things that are revealed. For instance, when men dispute about the purposes and decrees of God, and attempt to reconcile them with human agency; or when, instead of lamenting the apostacy of man from God, they invent theories to account for the origin of evil; this is "darkening counsel by words without knowledge." All that we know about the origin of evil is, that God sowed good seed, and an enemy sowed tares. When subtle distinctions are set up instead of the plain will of God, we lose ourselves in a labyrinth. It is as if a man were to examine his food with a microscope, instead of eating it; he has no desire for the sincere word of God as the food of the mind, that he may grow thereby. Let it ever be remembered, that the religion of Jesus Christ was intended for poor men, and was not intended as the religion of scholars. It is adapted to the weakness of their faculties; affording them a light that is steady, yet not so effulgent as to dazzle; teaching them the truths of the gospel as facts, and hiding them as mysteries.

In the second place, it may be necessary to remark, as another improvement, that this maxim of Moses strongly condemns that anxiety with respect to futurity which is almost innate in the human mind; but when indulged too much, as it is very apt to be indulged, is a great enemy to our peace. Fix it, then, my brethren, in your minds, that "the Lord reigneth," that "his hand stretcheth over all;" that the things which are secret belong unto Him; that they are the prerogative of that Being who "searcheth the heart, and trieth the reins" and the "imagination of the thoughts ;" that "his counsel must stand, and He will do all his pleasure." It frequently happens, even where we are not personally interested, that many persons feel a strange curiosity about others. When the Apostle Peter was informed by our Lord the will of God respecting himself, he asks with respect to John, “Lord, and what shall this man do?" The answer which our Saviour gave is highly instructive: "If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me. The Saviour checks and recalls him to present duty; He makes the veil of futurity thicker and more obscure at the same time awakens his regard to the plain will of God. Some of you, perhaps, may be in affliction the hand of God is heavy upon you, and you wish to know how to remove it; you inquire anxiously into that secret-when the hand shall be removed, whether it will be on this side the grave, or when you are dismissed; but this is a secret impenetrable, and sacred in the Divine keeping. You know, however, by what means to transmute the affliction to advantage, to consider it as "the trial of your faith," which is "more precious than gold when it is tried,” and as that which will produce, if you are patient, crowns and sceptres hereafter. Acknowledge the sovereignty of God. Imitate the silent submission of Job: "Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return; the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away, and blessed be the name of the Lord" Here is plain

duty; and remember that He can cause present "light afflictions, which are but for a moment," to "work out for you a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."

You are at the head of a family, you have children, and you have great anxiety about them; you feel for their happiness, and are anxious to know the will of God respecting them; you expect much from the talents of one, imagining that he will rise in the world to honour or affluence, and you augur evil from the weakness or insignificance of the other. But when you are laid in the dust, one child shall rise, perhaps, into eminence, and another sink into indigence, and you know it not; or, your property, acquired by industry, may be prodigally squandered-and what then? These are "The secret things which belong to God." You know how to form them to habits of industry; you know how to teach them to feel another's wo; you know how to cherish in them the seeds of piety, to instruct them in this gospel, where they may learn that they are saved by the death and bought by the blood of Christ. This is a field large enough for your exertions, and this "belongs to you and to your children." Some of you may be anxious to increase your property for the sake of your children, but you fear that this consequence or the other will not ensue, success may not accompany your exertions; but if it were afforded, it might make them indolent or make them proud, or not produce all the good effects you imaginethis is secret, and belongs to God: but to do good with your property, to "rejoice with those that rejoice," and to "mourn with those that mourn"-this belongs to you and to your children. you have influence, let your example benefit others; "be instant in season and out of season." Use the talents intrusted to you; recollect by whom they are intrusted; and that Jesus Christ says, "Occupy till I come"—that is, by a right use of your talents. These are the things which are revealed, and they belong to you and to your children.

If

Again: another person, perhaps, is a patriot. He is solicitous for the happiness of his country; he feels great apprehensions of its ruin from the immorality and vices of the age; he sees the beginning of sorrows-evils which the sins of this nation are likely to produce, and is inquiring as to their end. The Prophet Daniel was infected by this kind of anxiety, inquiring, "What shall be the end of these things?" and the answer he received belongs to us: Go thy way, Daniel; for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end; but this thou mayest know, thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days."

On the whole, let us, my brethren, do all the good we can, and be continually looking forward to the manifestation of "a new heaven and a new earth," for true Christians, "wherein dwelleth righteousness." The kingdom of Christ must stand, however it may be opposed. Though we shall soon pass away, and are about to migrate into another country, that will continue and re

main forever. Let us all seriously attend to these things that are revealed; not indulging ourselves in a fondness for obscurities, and for exploring the mysteries of nature or of religion, to the neglect of the great things of the soul. Do not indulge curiosity by considering what is the nature of the soul, while you forget its salvation; nor in useless speculations about the origin of evil, while you disregard the remedy for it; nor in inquiries into physical causes, to the neglect of the Great Physician. Let us not accustom ourselves to consider death as a phenomenon merely, but as a moral effect, "for the wages of sin is death;" on the contrary, by acquainting ourselves with God and with Jesus Christ, let us prepare for the time of our death, when all the effects of sin will be removed, and when, if we are so happy as to be united to Christ," this corruptible shall put on incorruption, this mortal shall put on immortality," and "death shall be swallowed up in victory;" for these are the things which are revealed," and they "belong to us, and to our children."

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XIX.

MANIFESTATION OF GOD'S WORK.*

PSALM XC., 16: Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children.

[Preached at Broadmead, Bristol, Thursday evening, January 8, 1829, preparatory to the Lord's Supper.]

THIS Psalm, which is entitled "a prayer of Moses," is supposed to have been written on the occasion of a great destruction of the Israelites by pestilence, inflicted on their rebellious guilt by the Divine wrath. It may be regarded as the funeral oration of a perishing people. It appeared as if the Providence of God had adopted a retrograde course in the extinction of that Church which He had raised such a fear is expressed in the petition, "Return, O Lord! let it repent Thee concerning Thy servants!". . . . Instead of this, as the Psalmist in the text proceeds, "Let Thy work appear to Thy servants; Thy glory to their children." From these words we may

consider,

This work denotes,

I. The "work" of God, as mentioned here. primarily, the establishment of Israel in the promised land of Canaan; ultimately, the preparation of the way for the Messiah and his Church.

In sacred language, things eminent and conspicuous are peculiarly ascribed to God: thus we read of a great river, as "a river of God;" great trees, as trees of God." And thus this work, as it originates

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From the notes of the Rev. T. Grinfield.