my lord, what shall be the end of these things?" Daniel meant to pray that God would preserve his people under the oppression which they were suffering, that he would keep them from fainting and apostatizing, that he would refine them in the furnace, hasten the day of deliverance, and shorten the day of calamity for the elect's sake. And these things ought to form the matter of our prayers. It has been observed that when God intends any deliverance to his church, or revival of the interests of religion, he excites his saints to pray for this mercy; and the remark is justified by sacred history. The experience of the holy man in our text may stand for that of a thousand. How fervently was he employed in prayer about the time when the restoration of the captivity took place! "And whiles I was speaking," he says, "and praying and confessing my sin, and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God; yea, while I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. At the beginning of thy supplications, the commandment came forth, and I am come to show thee." * Let us all imitate the example of this greatly-beloved saint. "For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest. Ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, and give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth."

4. Let us contemplate these wonders with firm faith in the preservation of the interests of religion, and the deliverance of the church. Prayer, unless it be believing, will not be prevalent. We must honour the power and faithfulness of God; and what is prayer but the pleading of his promises? "Do as thou hast said." Hence the language of David, "For thou, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, hast revealed to thy servant,

*Dan, ix. 20-23.

saying, I will build thee an house: therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to pray this prayer to thee. And now, O Lord God, thou art that God, and thy words be true, and thou hast promised this goodness to thy servant. Therefore now let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant."* But we will plead the promises coldly and formally if we do not believe them. We should view them as made, not only to the church, but to her divine Head; and though we have no ground to assure ourselves absolutely that God will preserve any particular church, yet his promises secure the preservation, purification, enlargement, and perpetuity of the kingdom of his Son. And with faith, let us join the twin grace of patience by which it is supported; "for the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak and not lie: though it tarry wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry."

In conclusion, let me exhort all present to seek preparation for coming calamities and trials, whether of a private or public kind. Let none trust in an empty profession of religion, or in the mere possession of religious privileges. This was the great error of the ancient people of God, and we often find the prophets warning them against "trusting in lying words, and saying, The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, are these."† Seek a saving acquaintance with God, and a saving interest in his covenant. Acquaint thyself now with God, and be at peace with him; thereby good shall come unto thee." "Because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel."

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Let believers give all diligence to be found of Christ in peace at his coming. "Ye beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life."

The members of this congregation I would exhort to seek establishment in the present truth. After long examination, I am fully convinced, that, by the good hand of God, you

have been led, in respect of profession and communion, to take up your ground in the safe medium between the conflicting parties in the great controversy of the day, while you continue to testify against the corruptions of the churches established by law in our native land, and at the same time keep aloof from those who condemn all recognition of Christianity by public authority, and seek to withdraw the provision which has been made by the nation for religious purposes. I cannot flatter you with the prospect of the speedy removal of those defects in the national settlement of religion, or those practical abuses in ecclesiastical administration, which the body we are connected with have so long condemned, and which have excluded us from fellowship with the National Church in Scotland. I am sorry I cannot join with those who would give the name of reforming to the General Assembly, whose meeting is now drawing to a close. One party which has long had the management in the judicatories, and has ruled with sufficient rigour (I mean not against error or vice), has been defeated: how their successors will act remains still to be determined. In the mean time, their proceedings hitherto have not laid a foundation for sanguine hopes. One thing they have done which must meet our approbation, in removing - that glaring anomaly on the Presbyterian constitution, chapels of ease. But an overture, involving a charge of error on a capital article of our religion, Justification by faith, has been dismissed simply on the declaration of the accused individual, that he was perfectly sound on that head. The decision on Calls, so much applauded by many, together with its strange but not unsuitable accompaniments, I can look upon in no other light but as an attempt to gull the people with a show of privilege, while it subjects them to be fettered, at every step, in the exercise of it, and involves them in the inextricable meshes of legal chicanery. And this boon is presented to them by the hands of those who have scornfully thrown out and rejected, their petitions for relief from a grievance of which the Church of Scotland has always complained; and this at a time when the legislature, by which the yoke was imposed, had so far listened to similar petitions from the people, as to

appoint a committee to enquire into the grounds of complaint, and to put the country to no small expense in conducting the investigation. I say it is more than suspicious that the alleged boon should be presented by the hands of those who have summarily and haughtily thrown out the petitions of the Christian people against patronage. They say, they have muzzled the monster it is a mistake; they have only muffled him, and they have muzzled the people.

It gives me great pain to say these things, and I say them, not in anger, but in grief and in love. Nothing on earth would give more joy to my heart, than to see sure and decided symptoms of reformation in the National Church of Scotland-to see the Zion of God in our land rising from the dust and shaking herself, putting on her beautiful garments, and looking forth, as in the morning of her day, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners, to the confusion of those who would have quenched her light, and plucked her from that firmament in which she once shone with surpassing brightness. I would go seven times to the top of her highest mountain, to look out for the harbinger of her relief, though each time I should have to return with the message, "There is nothing," provided at last I could hail the appearance of "the little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand," the sure prelude of the plentiful rain, which shall refresh the weary inheritance, make her wilderness as Eden, and her desert as the garden of the Lord.

Do not despair, neither be discouraged, my brethren. There is abundance in the promise. Wait in faith and patience and prayer for its accomplishment. God hath done great things for Scotland; and he hath not suffered them to be forgotten. He hath reserved for himself a remnant, both in the Established Church and out of it, who think with gratitude and praise of his wonderful works. This is a token for good. And when he hath tried and humbled them, and led them to the exercise of prayer and confession,-" Then will the Lord be jealous for his land, and pity his people."

SERMON XIX.*

GRIEF FOR SINS OF MEN,

PSALM CXIX. 136.

"RIVERS OF WATERS RUN DOWN MINE EYES, BECAUSE THEY KEEP NOT THY LAW."

It is no rare spectacle to see a person in tears. Man is the heir of trouble, the child of sorrow, which assails him in a thousand forms. If exempt for any time from suffering in his own person, his sympathies are continually called forth by the afflictions of others to whom he is linked by the bond of a common nature, and by the more tender ties of kindred and friendship. How often do we see the "face foul with weeping" for the loss of a parent, a brother, a child, or a husband; and scarcely has the mourner washed himself and dried up his tears, when some new calamity causes them to flow afresh! The enquiry which we are ready to make on such occasions, What ails thee? Why weepest thou? does not express our surprise at the sight, but our desire, whether dictated by curiosity or benevolence, to ascertain the cause of the distress.

But, my brethren, the text presents us with a spectacle which is rare indeed, and which, though far from unreasonable, is calculated to excite very general surprise-a man whose heart was pierced, and from whose eyes the tears streamed, not on account of any bodily pain, or domestic trial, or worldly loss, but on account of the violations of God's law which he witnessed around him. David had met with heavy calamities of a temporal kind, and on these occasions we behold the keen sensibilities of the man blended with the confidence and sub

* Preached on the occasion of a Synodical Fast, Feb. 1828.