whom we have trusted, and that he is able to keep that which we have committed to him against that day. For, though none of these things are visible to our mortal eyes, yet, having evidence that God has said them, we are satisfied. We would as soon trust God's word, as our own eyes. Thus we walk, like Moses, as seeing answer to that description, Whom

him who is invisible; and thus having NOT SEEN ye love, in whom, though now ye see him not, yet BELIEVING, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory.

In all our applications to Christ, we have to rely merely upon the testimony of God. Here is a poor, self-condemned sinner comes pressing through the crowd of discouraging apprehensions› that he may, so to speak, touch the hem of the Redeemer's garment, and be made whole. As he approaches, one set of thoughts suggests, How can such a monster hope for mercy? Is it not doubt, ful, whether there be efficacy enough in the blood of Christ itself to pardon such heinous crimes? I know my crimes are heinous beyond expression,' replies the burdened soul, and I should, doubtless, give up my case as desperate, but that I have heard, of him, that he is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him. I will go, therefore; who can tell ?' As he goes, other objections assail him, questioning, whether Christ can find in his heart to accept of such an one? • I should think not, indeed,' rejoins the poor man, but he has said, Him that cometh to me I will in nowise cast out. I know, were I to consult nothing but my feelings, and only to fix my eyes on the enormity of my sin, I should utterly despair; but, encouraged by HIS WORD, I will go forward I will walk by faith, not by sight: O, I hear him say, Come unto me all ye that labour, and are heavy laden—and ye shall find rest unto your souls! This, this is what I want! Depart from me, all ye that vex my soul; I will go in the strength of the Lord God!’

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3. We have to give up many present enjoyments, for Christ's sake, wherein we have no visible prospect of recompence, none of any kind, but what arises from the promise of God. Self-denial is one of the initial laws of Christ's kingdom. Far from enticing peo. ple into his service, by promises of wealth, ease, and honour, he set out with this public declaration, Whosoever will be my disciple must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. But who

would enter, upon these terms? Who would give up houses, lands, friends, and reputation, and expose himself o hardships persecution, and death, for nothing? Yet many followed him, and that to the day of their death; yea, they left all and followed him. not they act irrationally?

and upon these very terms too; What, then, induced them? Did Prophets, apostles, and martyrs !

'No such thing: we have Reward! what can that

what mean ye ? Have ye no regard for yourselves? What! are you destitute of the feelings of men?' respect unto the recompence of reward.' be? nothing surely below the sun, unless it were every thing the reverse of what is agreeable to human nature!' 'True; but our Lord has declared, Whosoever shall forsake houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundred-fold, and inherit everlasting life. We rely upon this, and this supports us.'

God's friend's in all ages, have forsaken sensible, for invisible, enjoyments. Encouraged by considerations like these, Ruth forsook her father and her mother, and the land of her nativity, and came to a people whom she knew not. It was this that determined her to go forward, when, as Naomi told her, there were no earthly prospects before her. It was this that made her resolve not to go back with Orpha, but to cast in her lot with the friends of the God of Israel. The Lord recompense thy work, said Boaz to her, afterwards, and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust!'

The same things influenced Moses, it seems, to refuse a crown. It has been thought, that, in virtue of his adoption, he might have been king of Egypt; but that throne, not only like other thrones, exposed him that sat thereon to numberless snares, but probably was inaccessible to any but those who would continue the system of idolatry and oppression. In that case, for Moses to have been king of Egypt, must have been to have sacrificed a good conscience, despised a crown of glory that fadeth not away, and united in persecuting his own, and the Lord's people. Moses seems fully to have weighed this matter. The result was, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin

for a season; esteeming even the REPROACH of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. He therefore, freely, leaves the life of a courtier; avows himself the friend of the poor despised captives; and dares to retire into Midian, to live the life of an obscure shepherd. I say, he dared to retire; for it required a greater degree of fortitude thus to deny himself, than to stand in the forefront of a battle, or to face the mouth of a cannon! But by faith he forsook Egypt, and went and lived a stranger in a strange land, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible; yes, he had respect unto the recompence of reward.

In short, through this, the holy tribes of martyrs, in all ages, loved not their lives unto the death. By faith in invisible realities, as the apostle to the Hebrews largely proves, they bore all manner of cruelties, not accepting deliverance itself upon dishonourable conditions; suffered all kinds of deaths with unremitting fortitude, and, in some sort, like their glorious Leader, triumphed over principalities and powers, when they fell.

Indeed, every man in the world may be said to walk either by faith or by sight. There is not only a giving up sensible for invisible enjoyments, by actually parting with them, but by not setting our hearts upon them, as our chief good. This may be done where there is no call actually to give them up, and is done by all real Christians in the world. Men whose chief good consists in the profits, pleasures, or honours of this life, live by sight; they derive their life from objects before their eyes, having neither patience nor inclination to wait for a portion in the world to come. But good men, as well the rich as the poor, derive their life from above, and so live by faith: their life is hid with Christ in God.

Perhaps here, as much as any where, is required the peculiar exercise of faith. For one actually divested of earthly good to look upward, and set his heart on things above, is faith; but for one still possessed of this, one on whom providence smiles. prospering him in all he sets his hand to, blessing him with wife and children, houses and lands, in abundance; for him to exercise such a degree of indifference to all these, as to derive his chief happiness from invisible realities, this is faith indeed! This seems to have been exemplified in Abraham, and other patriarchs. Of

him it is said, By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country. How is this? We do not wonder, when he and Sarah went into Egypt, on account of a famine, that he should consider himself a sojourner there; but how is it that he should do so in Canaan, the land of promise, his own estate, as it were? The next verse informs us: for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. So Jacob, when before Pharaoh, called his whole life a pilgrimage, though the far greater part of it was spent in the land of promise; and they that say such things, adds the Apostle, declare plainly, that they seek a country. Though God had given them the good land, they would not make it their chief good. They could not be contented with this Canaan, but longed for another. Noble souls! bid them lift up their eyes eastward, and westward, and northward, and southward, and tell them, all they can see is their own; still they will not live by sight, but by faith: they will desire a better country, that is an heavenly.

4. There are many low and distressing seasons to which the church of God is subject, in which there is little or no visible ground of encouragement, scarcely any but what arises from the promise of God. The whole church of God, as individuals, has, in all ages, had its day of adversity set over against the day of prosperity. Israel, after their deliverence from Egypt and settlement in Canaan, enjoyed pretty much prosperity, especially in the days of David and Solomon. But afterwards, by a series of provocations, they procured to themselves the Babylonish captivity. At that melancholy period, those amongst them that feared the Lord must be supposed to be all in darkness. Jerusalem laid waste; the temple burnt with fire; Judah carried captive; ah, what becomes of God's inserest in the world! The foundations of his visible kingdom seemed to be laid in the holy mountains round about Jerusalem; if these are destroyed, what can the righteous do? They had long sighed and cried for the idolatrous abominations of their countrymen, and prayed, and hoped that mercy might be lengthened out; but now all seems over. For their idolatry, they must go, and have enough of idolaters they that feared the Lord must also go with them. By the rivers of Baby

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as if

lon they must go and sit down. Those that had been used to sound the high praises of God in Zion, must now hang their harps upon the willows, as having no use for them! Nor is this the worst; they must be taunted and their GoD derided, by their insulting lords. Come, said they, sing us one of the songs of Zion they had said, 'Now see what your religion has availed you! This was your favourite employ, and these the songs wherewith you addressed your Deity, in whom you confided to deliver you out of our hands: what think you now?' Poor Zion? She spreadeth forth her hands, but there is none to comfort her. The Lord hath commanded, that her adversaries should be round about her: her captive sons can only remember Jerusalem, and weep! Alas, how can they sing the Lord's song in a strange land!

But is there no help from above? Is there no physician there? Yes, the God whom Babel derides, but Judah adores, looks down, and sees their affliction. To his disheartened friends, in this situation, he addresses himself, saying, Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God. As if he should say,' For a season you must walk by faith, and not by sight; but, trust me, that season shall soon be over. Seventy years, and Babylon shall fall, and Judab return! By these declarations, the church was encouraged in her captivity, and furnished with an answer to her insulting foes: yea, and what is wonderful, breaks forth into one of the Lord's songs in a strange land! (Hearken, O Babel, to one of the songs of Zion!) Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me. I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me: he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousThen she that is mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her which said unto me, Where is the Lord thy God?

ness.

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This is encouraging to us as churches, and as ministers. We have, in many cases, to walk in darkness, and have no light, and to go on in our ministrations, in a great degree, like the prophet Isaiah, famenting that so few have believed our report, so few to whom