SERMON III.

GRACE A PLEDGE OF GLORY.

JUDGES XIII. 23.

IF THE LORD WERE PLEASED TO KILL US, HE WOULD NOT HAVE RECEIVED A BURNT-OFFERING AND A MEAT-OFFERING AT OUR HANDS, NEITHER WOULD HE HAVE SHOWED US ALL THESE THINGS.

WE read that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever. This truth often suggests unspeakable comfort to the believer's heart. Seeing that all other things are given to change, conscious of his own weakness and natural instability, he might very reasonably fear what any day might bring forth; but when he remembers that Jesus says, I am the Lord, I change not, his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.

It is with a persuasion of the comfort which this truth is calculated to convey, that I have selected the text, desiring, if the Lord will, to gather from it some lessons of encouragement and instruction.

The manner in which this truth, viz. that Jesus is unchangeable, affects the application of the passage before us, is this. Wherever the wants, fears, doubts, and dangers of his people are like those described as happening

to his own people in the Bible, they may now expect the same ready and gracious help as they experienced of old.

The reasoning in the text, therefore, is just as truly applicable now as when it was used nearly three thousand years ago, for so long it is since the words were used by the wife of Manoah, a man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites.

It seems that the Angel of the Covenant, (in fact Jehovah himself,) appeared to this woman, to assure her that she should become the mother of a son who should begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.

Her husband, Manoah, was not with her at the time of this remarkable appearance, and when she informed him of it, Manoah intreated the Lord, and said, O my Lord, let the man of God, which thou didst send, come again unto us, and teach us what we shall do unto the child that shall be born. And God hearkened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God came again unto the woman as she sat in the field.

Manoah being brought to the angel, and having received his instructions, took a kid with a meat-offering, and offered it upon a rock unto the Lord: and the angel did wondrously, and Manoah and his wife looked on. For it came to pass when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of

the altar. And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God. But his wife said unto him, If the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt-offering and a meatoffering at our hands, neither would he have shewed us all these things.

Events proved that she was right: the weaker vessel was, in this case, the stronger. They did not die, as he expected, but lived to see the fulfilment of God's gracious promise to them.

The text, taken in conjunction with the circumstances which gave rise to it, suggests three reflections:

I. HOW PRONE ARE BELIEVERS TO FEAR! II. HOW NEEDLESS THEIR FEARS OFTEN PROVE!

III. HOW ENCOURAGING IS THE FAITHfulNESS OF GOD!

May the Spirit bless what shall be said to the good of many souls, causing them to abound in hope, and peace, and joy, for Jesus Christ's sake!

I. HOW PRONE ARE BELIEVERS TO FEAR.! There was a time when they were living without the fear of God before their eyes, careless and secure. Some sinning against him with a high hand, either not having God. in all their thoughts, or else, if reminded of him, ready to say, Tush, thou God carest not for it. At that time it was useless to warn them, or to reason with them. Either

they set at nought all reproof, or if, like Felix, they experienced a momentary trembling, like him, too, they soon shook off their fears to a more convenient season. Happily for them, that season came! The word which they had so often lightly esteemed, was at last brought with power to their souls. The stout heart was broken, the haughty spirit brought down, and now they are filled with a holy fear of God; and so far as their fear indicates reverence for the High and Holy One, and unwillingness to offend him, it is a wholesome, gracious principle.

But there is another kind of fear; a servile, slavish feeling, which leads them to look on God as a harsh master rather than as a kind father; a fear which fills them with misgiving and mistrust; and to this kind of fear it must be confessed that the children of God are too often prone.

Whether we regard the providential dealing of God in their temporal affairs, or his secret dealing with their souls in spiritual things, this fear, I say, is, alas! too often manifested

Thus it was with Jacob, when, putting his own construction on the call which was made to send Benjamin into Egypt, he exclaimed, All these things are against me. Judging by sight, rather than by faith, he looked at the course of providence itself rather than to the mind of him who directed it, and because he could see no probable relief from his troubles, gave way to fear. The disciples

in the ship, too, even while Jesus was with them, cried out for fear, saying, we perish.

And so it is still. Troubles in this world too often lead believers into a timid frame of mind; difficulties discourage them, and disappointments cast them down; and thus they are fearful and troubled in disobedience to their gracious Lord's command, Let not. your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

And this is still more frequently the case in their inward experience: in their spiritual history. Their souls are cast down and disquieted within them. There are times when they think God will be no more entreated; that he hath shut up his loving-kindness in displeasure; that his mercy is clean gone for ever! No tongue can adequately describe; none, but those who have experienced it, can conceive the terrible, the withering effects of this fear upon their spirits. Their hearts seem to die within them.

Feelings such as these found vent, when the Psalmist exclaimed, O, Lord God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee. Let my prayer come before thee; incline thine ear unto my cry. For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draweth nigh unto the grave; I am counted with them that go down into the pit; I am as a man that hath no strength. Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, with all thy waves. Lord, why castest thou off my soul, why hidest