road, be it, or be it not, strewed with man corruption, of the renewing power of God's Spirit, of the incarnation of the Eternal Word, and of the atonement effected by a Mediator, these, which may be said to shew the way to Zion, present continually new material for the contemplation and instruction of the Christian. There is a sense in which there is no getting beyond the very alphabet of Christianity; that alphabet will always be beyond us; any one of its letters being as a mighty hieroglyphic which the prayerful student may partially decipher, but the most accomplished scholar never thoroughly expound. the rocks, and swept by the torrents. Other paths may look more inviting but I have nothing to do except with their termination: if they conduct not to Zion, I would not venture to follow them even a solitary step, though they might lead me to riches, or honors, or pleasures. This it is to imitate the emancipated Jews. Weep with them if you will; for the sins of every day furnish but too much matter for godly sorrow. Turn your faces, with them, towards Zion: for assuredly this is not your rest, and ye are but strangers and pilgrims below. But be always on the watch, lest miss the narrow path; lest, through ye ignorance, you take the road which looks plainest, or, through indolence, that which seems smoothest, or, through selfindulgence, that which promises most of present advantage; and thus, let this description be literally applicable to yourselves, "They ask the way to Zion, with their faces thitherward." But there is yet more to be gathered from this description, when considered as that of a believer in Christ. We have hitherto merely affirmed that, in order to guard against mistake, where mistake would be fatal, it must become the Christian to be always inquiring the way to Zion, like one who knows that he may be deceived, even when to all appearance he has long followed the right path. But we will now suppose him certified as to the direction in which he is proceeding, certified that his face is towards Zion, and nevertheless busying himself with inquiries as to the way. And what would this mark? What should we have to learn from the representation of a Christian as inquiring the way to Zion, though assured that he had been long proceeding in that way? My brethren, Christianity is that in which no man can be too advanced to study the alphabet. It is that to whose very elements the greatest proficient should often recur, not indeed as though he were to be always a beginner: but because what he begins with he cannot exhaust; and because what he gathers as he proceeds, only fits him the more for understanding and appreciating that with which he commenced. The simple and fundamental doctrines of our holy religion,-the doctrines of hu And there cannot be a worse symptom, whether in an individual or in a congregation, than that of distaste for the elementary truths and facts of Christianity. We regard with great anxiety those professing Christians, whose appetites must be stimulated by novelties and varieties in religion, and to whom it is not always a feast, always like "good news from a far country," to hear of the exceeding love of God in giving his dear Son as a propitiation for sin. We are not indeed unmindful of what St. Paul says to the Hebrews, whom he exhorts, that, "leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ," they should go on to perfection; and we fully believe that a Christian may err through confining himself to the elements, in place of striving to comprehend the whole range of truth. Whatsoever God has been pleased to reveal, should be made the subject of study; and we will not desecrate the name of humility by giving it to that temper which would seal up half the Bible, as too obscure to be read with advantage, or too perplexed for the generality of Christians. It is evidently, however, only the resting in "the principles of the doctrine of Christ," which is condemned by St. Paul: he would have us go on to perfection; but but not so as to forget the principles :---who ever soared higher than this Apostle? and yet who ever lingered more fondly on the very threshold of the system, beholding the cross with the earnestness and affection of one who felt it to be the centre of life to a fallen and helpless world? We are to leave the principles, so as to be on the advance in the search after truth: but we are never so to leave them as though we had done speaks, simply and warmly, on the ele ments of Christianity, on truths with which we have long been familiar, which have been taught us from infancy, and which are little more than the inscriptions which point the manslayer to the city of refuge? It will be thus with those who are pressing "towards the mark for the prize of their high calling in Christ." The giant in Christ, if we may vary the simile, is so truly the babe in Christ, as always to be leaning upon Him for support; and the sounds which were sweet to him in the first days of spiritual life, will be melodious ever after; not only because music remembered as heard in childhood always steals thrillingly on the ear, as though it were a voice from the tomb, but because the well-known strain breathes to him of all he holds precious, and falls liquidly as a voice from the firmament, inspiring the hope which is "full of immortality." with them, and had no further need to us into the belief of truths which we recur to their study. Indeed, in this had hitherto overlooked? or is it suffi sense, it is impossble to leave the prin- cient to engage our attention and make ciples; for the heights and depths of us all alive to the worth of the ordiChristian doctrine are but the first ele-nance of preaching, that the minister ments expanded: the simple truths are the germs of the mysterious: and it is the little cloud which at length spreads, like that seen by the Prophet's servant, into an impenetrable vast, though only that it may refresh and fertilize the earth. We may therefore justly again speak to you of the badness of the symptom, when a Christian grows weary of the first truths of Christianity, nay, when he is not frequent in dwelling on those truths, as furnishing instruction which he cannot outstrip, and consolation which he cannot exhaust. Tell me not of a man who understands all mysteries, and who is so engaged with abstruse and loftier doctrines, that he may leave to young converts the introductory facts which he has long ago examined, and with which, as placed at the entrance to the heavenward path, he can have no concern when some progress has been made. We dare affirm of the path, that it is not so direct that what we leave remains actually behind us, but rather so winding that what we leave seems frequently before us. In advancing, we apparently return to the same point: he who has taken a lofty flight, if it have indeed been through a region of Christian truth, will commonly find himself, at its close, at the foot of the cross. At least, if he return from the flight, and feel, on looking at the cross, as though it were a dull and common-place object, in comparison of what he had beheld, we may be sure that he has been expatiating in some region of cold and barren speculation, where there may be religion for the intellect, but none for the heart. We give it, therefore, as no bad criterion for those who have long made profession of godliness,-have we delight in the simple truths of the Gospel, or do we find no pleasure but in an abstruse and argumentative theology, where the understanding is tasked, or the reason appealed to, the imagination dazzled? What preaching contents us? Must we have the logical speaker, who leads us on, by a series of well-contrived steps, to some unexpected conclusion? or the brilliant, who, by his vivid delineations, can charm By this, then, amongst other tests, let those who think themselves advanced in Christianity try their spiritual condition. What ear have they for simple truths simply delivered? In their private studies, what pleasure have they in meditating the first principles of the Gospel? do they find those first principles inexhausted, inexhaustible? or is it always to deeper doctrines that they turn, as though it were only when quite out of their depth, that they gain a resting-place for the soul? I admire, I greatly admire, the picture of a Christian, as furnished by the prophetic sketch of the Jews in our text! He is a man who is never weary of hearing of the way to Zion, though his face is towards the heavenly city, and he may perhaps already behold its battlements on the horizon. I know not how far the exiles had advanced when they might first be described by the prediction before us. But there is nothing to limit the prediction to one point rather than to another of the journey. For anything we know, those blue hills in the distance may be the mountains which are "round about Jerusalem," and the waters which they are crossing may have flowed by its ruined walls; and yet, as though they had but just quitted Babylon, the wanderers are asking the way, loving to be told what they know, and delighting to hear, though not needing to be taught. What It is thus with the believer. was glad news to him at the beginning, is glad news to him to the end: the prescribed way to safety, through repentance and faith, cannot be exhibited without fixing his attention, exciting his gratitude, and animating his hope. Let him be even on the border of the land, let him be even on the brink of the Jordan, and nothing will accord better with his feelings, nothing will more minister to his peace, than discourse, not on the New Jerusalem itself, but on the path by which it must be reached. The minister stands by a dying Christian, that, in the hour of dissolution, he may whisper words of comfort. And what hath he spoken of, that there is so bright a smile on the cheek of the sufferer, that the sunken eye is suddenly lit up as though with fire from above? Surely, say the bystanders, he hath spoken of the diadem, and the white robe, and the golden harp, of the palaces of immortality, and of the raptures of those who have cast off the burden of the flesh. Ah, no! -he hath spoken as he would have done to the young inquirer in religion. He hath spoken of the Divine love in finding a ransom: he hath spoken of the blood of Christ as cleansing from all sin he hath spoken of the intercession of Christ as securing all blessing. And if surprise be expressed that such elementary discourse should be cheering to a man as he almost entered heaven, the minister will have only to reply, that the true believer is one, who, to the very end, resembles the Jews as they journeyed from Babylon to Canaan, and who asked "the way to Zion, with their faces thitherward." : But there is yet one more particular on which we wish to insist; not that we think that we shall then have exhausted the text; but that what we have still to advance is of so practical a character, that we could not be justified in its omission. We would direct your attention to what we may call the honesty of purpose displayed by the Jews, and hold it up for imitation to all who profess to be seeking the kingdom of God. The Jew had his face turned towards Zion, whilst he was inquiring the road: if he did not know the precise path, he knew the direction in which the city lay; and he was looking in the direction, when he asked what way he should take. He might have been looking in another direction: his eye might have been to the city which he had to quit, and not to that to which he had to go; and then there would have been good reason to suspect that he preferred the remaining in Babylon, though he professed a desire to remove to Jerusalem. But as his face was already Zionwards, he gave evidence of being in earnest : he had done as much as he could do with his amount of information, and there could be no doubt that he was sincere in his inquiry for more. We have a right to require and expect a similar conduct from all those who ask of us the way to heaven. There is such a thing as asking the way to Zion with the face towards Babylon; and if there be this dissimulation-for no milder word will express the precise truthin vain will the preacher point out the road, and urge the traveller to decision and dispatch. We fear it to be true of numbers amongst you, that they ask the way to heaven, but keep looking towards the world. What interpretation are we to put upon your appearance Sabbath after Sabbath in the sanctuary of God, if not that it professes a wish for instruction, a desire to be informed how, as immortal creatures, you may escape lasting misery, and secure lasting happiness? We cannot, in the judg ment of charity, put a less favorable construction on your coming up to God's house; we cannot regard it as a mere compliance with custom, or as a mode of passing away time, which might otherwise hang heavy on your hands. Every man who frequents the public ordinances of the Church is certainly to be considered as thereby, if by nothing else, asking of those whom God hath set as guides to the wandering, by what way he may reach the kingdom of heaven. But it is in vain that the answer is continually given, and that, on successive opportunities, the minister of Christ holds forth the chart, and delineates the path. And the great reason of this is, that there is no honesty of purpose in the inquirer, no real intention of acting on | bold to affirm, to his being enabled to the information which he professes to direct his course heavenwards. want. His face is towards the world at the very moment that, with all the show of a traveller towards Zion, he is making inquiries as to a path and conveyance. And we would have you distinctly understand, that there is a certain part which the unconverted man has to perform if he hope for conversion; and that whilst this is undone, he has no right to look for the visitations of grace. It may not be in his power to find for himself the pathway of life; still less to take a step on that pathway when found. But he may ascertain the direction in which Zion lies, and he may be looking in that direction, if not advancing. It is quite idle to say that he knows not the direc- ! tion: he knows it to be the exact opposite to that in which he naturally looks; to turn his eyes from the world is, as he must be thoroughly aware, to turn them towards them. And we expect this from every one of you who, in any shape, puts the inquiry, "What must I do to be saved?" We expect him to be an imitator of the Jews who, if they asked the way to Zion, asked it with "their faces thitherward." What mean you by coming to God's house, not merely with your affections set on earthly things, but without an effort to disengage them? with no intention of entering on a course of labor and self-denial, if such should be prescribed? but rather with the secret determination of persevering a while longer in courses which you know to be wrong? What mean you by this hypocrisy, this double dealing? What mean you by this imitation of Lot's wife, who, if she had her foot towards Zoar, had her face towards Sodom? Show that you are in earnest by the direction in which you look; otherwise it is in vain to ask guidance as to the way in which to walk. The man who is in earnest will set himself at once to the turning his back on what conscience tells him to be wrong, or the Bible declares to be offensive to God. He will make it his business to forsake pursuits or associates, however agreeable, which draw him to the visible world, and to enter upon duties whose distinct tendency is towards the invisible. And this, at the least, is the setting his face heavenwards, a preliminary, as we are 46 For it is an indisputable rule in the dealings of God, to give more grace in proportion as that already given is improved. He hath given strength to turn the eye-turn it, or never look for strength to move the foot. And if you would know whether it be an indifferent thing, that you continue asking the way to heaven with your face towards the world, you have only to refer to the writings of Ezekiel, where God Himself expresses his sense of the duplicity. Every one of the house of Israel, which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumbling-block of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to inquire of him concerning me, I the Lord will answer him by myself, and I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb." The case here supposed is precisely that which we are forced to regard as frequent amongst ourselves, the case of a man who, with his heart full of the idols of the world, with the stumblingblock of his iniquity put "before his face," so far is he from any effort to put it behind his back,-comes to inquire of the prophet concerning God, as though he wished to know how his favor might be gained. And God takes upon Himself the giving him his answer, an answer expressive of singular indigna tion, and more than common vengeance That man is to be made "a sign and a proverb," a sign, as was the wife of Lot, to whom we have already referred, who was turned into a pillar of salt, that the wavering and hypocritical of all after-ages might be admonished and warned. We can, therefore, but urge on you the taking heed how you come to inquire of the prophet, with no sincere purpose of acting on his directions. See to it that ye turn your face towards heaven; for this is in the power of all of you, through those workings of God's Spirit, of which every breast is the scene. Ye cannot turn the heart, but ye can turn the face. Ye can turn the back to the world, which is to turn the face towards heaven; and it is God's ordinary course to give the new heart to those who prove that they desire it, by looking away from all which the old : heart is prone to love and prefer. Then | Thus will you be doing as did the chilinquire the way to heaven; then, when dren of Judah and you shall find that, your sincerity is proved, and you have directed as they were into the right, shown, by your striving to obey God up though perhaps a rough path, you shall to the measure of your knowledge and reach at length the land which God proability, that you would improve a great- mised to your fathers, and sit down de measure if mercifully vouchsafed. lightedly in the long-lost inheritance. er SERMON VIII THE BIRD'S NEST. If a Lird's nest chance to be before thee in the way in any tree, or on the ground, whether they be young ones, or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young: but thou shalt in any wise let the dam go, and take the young to thee; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days."-DEUTERONOMY XXII. 6, 7. The question of St. Paul, after quoting a precept from the law as to not muzzling the ox when it treadeth out the corn, will here naturally recur to your minds, "Doth God take care for oxen?" On hearing our text, almost every one will be disposed to exclaim, "Doth God take care for birds?" Not that the question is meant to convey any doubt as to the Divine care for the inferior creation. We know that God "feedeth the young ravens that call upon him," and that, though five sparrows are sold for two farthings, "not one of them is forgotten before God." But when St. Paul proposes his question in regard of oxen, it is not to insinuate that it was beneath God to take care of oxen, or that the precept, which he quotes, was not designed to have a literal application. What he wishes to have understood, is simply, that the law had other and higher ends in view, besides the mere securing for the laboring ox a share in the produce of his labors. He instructs us that such a precept was meant to have a figurative, or symbolical, as well as a literal interpretation; that, whilst, in obedience to it, the ox was not to be muzzled when treading out the corn, in further obedience, a due maintenance was to be afforded to the preachers of the Gospel. "Doth God take care for oxen? or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes no doubt this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope, and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope." In thus amplifying a precept of the law, St. Paul may be said to have furnished a general rule as to the mode in which similar precepts should be interpreted and applied. We are not to regard them as having to do merely with the specific case to which the words address themselves : we are rather to search for the principle involved in the law, or on which the law is founded; to examine in what other cases the same principle will hold good; and to conclude, that, in every such case, the law was intended to be equally binding. It is thus that we shall endeavor to proceed with that very peculiar law which we have taken as our present subject of discourse. We are very much struck with this law, not because it has |