grief; tell him that he himself bore our sins in his own body
on the tree. And if I have not said enough, go to thy Bible,
read its pages, bend thy knee and ask for guidance, and then
tell him some great and precious promise, that so thou mayest
accomplish thy mission, and comfort one of God's people.
I have but a few words to say to some, who, I grieve to
think, want no comfort. They want something else before
they can be comforted. Some of my hearers are not God's
people; they have never believed in Christ, nor fled to him
for refuge. Now I will tell you briefly and plainly the way
of salvation. Sinner! know that thou art in God's sight
guilty, that God is just and that he will punish thee for thy
sins. Hark thee, then there is only one way by which thou
canst escape, and it is this: Christ must be thy substitute.
Either thou must die, or Christ must die for thee. Thy only
refuge is faith in Jesus Christ, whereby thou shalt be assured
that Christ did really and actually shed his blood for thee.
And if you are able to believe that Christ died for you, I know
it will cause you to hate sin, to seek Christ, and to love and
serve him world without end. May God bless us all, forgive
us our sins, and accept our souls for Jesus' sake!

SERMON XIII.

THE CHRISTIAN'S HEAVINESS AND REJOICING.

"Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations."-1 PETER, i. 6.

THIS verse to a worldly man looks amazingly like a contradiction; and even to a Christian man, when he understands it best, it will still be a paradox. "Ye greatly rejoice," and yet "ye are in heaviness." Is that possible? Can there be in the same heart great rejoicing, and yet a temporary heaviness? Most assuredly. This paradox has been known and felt by many of the Lord's children, and it is far from being the greatest paradox of the Christian life. Men who live within themselves, and mark their own feelings as Christians, will often stand and wonder at themselves. Of all riddles, the greatest riddle is a Christian man. As to his pedigree, what a riddle he is! He is a child of the first Adam, "an heir of wrath, even as others." He is a child of the second Adam: he was born free; there is therefore now no condemnation unto him. He is a riddle in his own existence. 'As dying, and behold we live; as chastened, and not killed.” He is a riddle as to the component parts of his own spiritual frame. He finds that which makes him akin to the devil-depravity, corruption, binding him still to the earth, and causing him to cry out, "O wretched man that I am ;" and yet he finds that he has within himself that which exalts him, not merely to the rank of an angel, but higher still-a something which raises him up together, and makes him "sit together with Christ Jesus in heavenly places." He finds that he has that within him which must ripen into heaven, and yet that about him which would inevitably ripen into hell, if grace did not forbid. What wonder, then, beloved, if the Christian man be a para

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dox himself, that his condition should be a paradox too? Why marvel ye, when ye see a creature corrupt and yet purified, mortal and yet immortal, fallen but yet exalted far above principalities and powers—why marvel ye, that ye should find that creature also possessed of mingled experience, greatly rejoicing, and yet, at the same time, "in heaviness through manifold temptations."

I would have you this morning, look first of all at the Christian's heaviness: he is "in heaviness through manifold temptations ;" and then, in the next place, at the Christian's great rejoicing.

This is one of the

I. In the first place, HIS HEAVINESS. most unfortunate texts in the Bible. I have heard it quoted ten thousand times for my own comfort, but I never understood it till a day or two ago. On referring to most of the commentaries in my possession, I can not find that they have a right idea of the meaning of this text. You will notice that your friends often say to you when you are in trouble, "There is a needs be for this affliction ;" there is a needs be, say they, "for all these trials and troubles that befall you." That is a very correct and scriptural sentiment; but that sentiment is not in the text at all. And yet, whenever this text is quoted in my hearing, that is what I am always told, or what I conceive I am always told to be the meaning-that the great temptations, the great trials which befall us, have a needs be for them. But it does not say so here: it says something better; not only that there is a needs be for our temptations, but that there is a needs be for our heaviness under the temptation. Now, let me show you the difference. There is a man of God, full of faith-strong; he is about to do his Master's work, and he does it. God is with him, and gives him great success. The enemy begins to slander him; all manner of evil is spoken against him falsely for Christ's name sake. You say, there is a needs be for that, and you are quite correct; but look at the man. How gallantly he behaves himself! He lifts his head above his accusers, and unmoved amidst them all, he stands like a rock in the midst of a roaring tempest, never moved from the firm basis on which it

rests. The scene changes, and instead of calamity, perhaps he is called to endure absolute persecution, as in apostolic times. We imagine the man driven out from house and home, separated from all his kindred, made to wander in the pathless snows of the mountains; and what a brave and mighty man he appears, when you see him enduring all this! His spirits never sink.. "All this can I do," says he, "and I can greatly rejoice in it, for Christ's name's sake; for I can practice the text which says, 'Rejoice ye in that day and leap for joy ;" and you will tell that man there is a needs be for his persecution; he says, "Yes, I know it, and I fear not all I have to endure; I am not cowed by it." At last imagine the man taken before the Inquisition and condemned to die. You still comfort him with the fact, that there is a needs be that he shall die—that the blood of the martyrs must be the seed of the churchthat the world can never be overcome by Christ's gospel, except through the sufferings and death of his followers-that Christ stooped to conquer, and the church must do the same -that through death and blood must be the road to the church's victory. And what a noble sight it is, to see that man going to the stake, and kissing it-looking upon his iron chains with as much esteem as if they had been chains of gold. Now tell him there is a needs be for all this, and he will thank you for the promise; and you admire the man; you wonder at him. Ah! but there is another class of persons that get no such honor as this. There is another sort of Christians for whom this promise really was intended, who do not get the comfort of it. I do admire the man I have pictured to you; may God long preserve such men in the midst of the church; I would stimulate every one of you to imitate him. Seek for great faith and great love to your Master, that you may be able to endure, being "steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord." But remember, that this text has not in it comfort for such persons; there are other texts for them; this text has been perverted for such a use as that. This is meant for another and a feebler grade of Christians, who are often overlooked and sometimes despised.

I was lying upon my couch during this last week, and my spirits were sunken so low that I could weep by the hour like a child, and yet I knew not what I wept for-but a very slight thing will move me to tears just now-and a kind friend was telling me of some poor old soul living near, who was suffering very great pain, and yet she was full of joy and rejoicing. I was so distressed by the hearing of that story, and felt so ashamed of myself, that I did not know what to do; wondering why I should be in such a state as this; while this poor woman, who had a terrible cancer, and was in the most frightful agony, could nevertheless "rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory." And in a moment this text flashed upon my mind, with its real meaning. I am sure it is its real meaning. Read it over and over again, and you will see I am not wrong. "Though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness." It does not say, "Though now for a season ye are suffering pain, though now for a season you are poor; but you are ‘in heaviness;'" your spirits are taken away from you; you are made to weep; you can not bear your pain; you are brought to the very dust of death, and wish that you might die. Your faith itself seems as if it would fail you. That is the thing for which there is a needs be. That is what my text declares, that there is an absolute needs be that sometimes the Christian should not endure his sufferings with a gallant and a joyous heart; there is a needs be that sometimes his spirits should sink within him, and that he should become even as a little child, smitten beneath the hand of God. Ah! beloved, we sometimes talk about the rod, but it is one thing to see the rod, and it is another thing to feel it; and many a time have we said within ourselves, "If I did not feel so low spirited as I now do, I should not mind this affliction ;" and what is that but saying, “If I did not feel the rod I should not mind it ?” It is just how you feel, that is, after all, the pith and marrow of your affliction. It is that breaking down of the spirit, that pulling down of the strong man, that is the very fester of the soreness of God's scourging-"the blueness of the wound whereby the soul is made better." I think this one idea has been enough to be food for me many a day; and there may