much to Him who is the Teacher of our minds as well as the Renewer of our hearts!

4. It should be remembered as one great point in religion, that a saving knowledge of Christ can be obtained only by divine illumination in the use of our means of grace. Such a knowledge of Him is the sum and substance of true piety; for where He is thus known, there will be all the principles and affections of spiritual godliness, and all the virtues and duties of practical godliness. We ought, therefore, not only to pray generally for the sanctifying influence of the Spirit, but also particularly for his enlightening agency, by which we grow in the knowledge of Christ, and glorify Him, as He who is far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to

come.'

5. It is of the greatest importance, that we entertain the most elevated thoughts of the Lord Jesus Christ. If our thoughts of Him be low, our faith in Him will be weak, and our affections towards Him cold and inefficient. Let us take the Apostles for our models as to this subject, for they were under the guidance of the Spirit: and their writings abundantly prove that their thoughts of Him were most sublime.-We may here add, that our thoughts of Christ furnish one test by which we may examine ourselves, whether we are, or are not, partakers of the Spirit; or in what measure we are partakers of Him. He is especially the revealer and glorifier of Christ; and consequently

where He is, Christ must be known and magnified. -Without lofty thoughts of the blessed Emmanuel, with the spiritual and practical fruits or results of them, how can we presume to flatter ourselves that we are his true disciples? Lastly,

6. Every one ought seriously and faithfully to apply these things to himself. Has the Spirit of truth led me, and is He leading me, into all truth? Has He made me, and is He making me, spiritually and effectually acquainted with the doctrines of the gospel? Has He caused me, and does He cause me, to know the glory of Christ-of his person, work, and offices?' Such are the questions which every Christian ought to propose to himself. Delusion may assume a thousand forms: we can only beseech you to guard against them, and to seek with earnestness, in humble and persevering prayer, the Spirit of truth; that you may know Christ here in the kingdom of grace,-behold Him with joy when you shall see Him on the throne of his glory, and be received into his kingdom above, to reign and rejoice in his presence through all eternity.

SERMON XXIII.

The Sorrowing Disciples comforted.

ST. JOHN, xvi. 16-22.

A little while, and ye shall not see me : and again, A little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father. Then said some of his disciples among themselves, What is this that he saith unto us, A little while, and ye shall not see me; and again, A little while, and ye shall see me : and, Because I go to the Father ? They said therefore, What is this that he saith, A little while? we cannot tell what he saith. Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, and said unto them, Do ye inquire among yourselves of that I said, A little while, and ye shall not see me : and again, A little while and ye shall see me? Verily, verily, I say unto you, that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.

:

THE intercourse which had subsisted between our blessed Lord and his disciples had been, we may readily conceive, most pleasing and affectionate: but his departure from them, repeatedly mentioned in this last discourse, and the announcement of

which had drawn a gloom over their minds, was directly opposed, as we have often observed, to their favourite views and cherished hopes. It was entirely subversive of their fond expectations respecting his kingdom: and they regarded it as the termination of a delightful friendship. To soothe their minds, to remove their painful thoughts, and to elevate their drooping spirits, our Lord recurs here to the approaching event, and advances such assurances as were calculated to impart the purest comfort, and to reconcile them to the bereavement which they were about to sustain. In the verses which we are to consider at present, there are three subjects that demand our attention: What our Lord advances respecting himself; the perplexity of the disciples; and the remarks which He advanced for their consolation.

I. We are to examine what our Lord advances respecting Himself. A little while, and ye shall not see me; and, Again a little while, and ye shall see me; because I go the Father.'-We may suppose that our Lord here referred primarily to his burial, when He would not be seen by his disciples, and to the period immediately subsequent to his resurrection, when He would hold personal intercourse with them again. They lamented his departure from them, as being the loss of their chief and only friend: and He comforted them with the assurance of a speedy return. I am now about to go to the Father; to return to the possession of my original and acquired glory; for my redeeming work upon earth will be speedily accomplished:

but although I am soon not to be seen by you, being about to be laid in the grave; yet I shall rise again, and show myself to you satisfactorily before I ascend to the mediatorial throne.' Such, perhaps, is the literal meaning of our Lord's words: but we cannot refuse to assign to them a further spiritual meaning. He had already said to them, 'I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me because I live, ye shall live also.' To interpret these verses in a mere literal manner, would be to deprive them of all force and spirit : and the language of the text is similar to them. The disciples were to be enlightened by the truth through the influence of the Holy Spirit; and then, by virtue of their faith and knowledge, they would see Christ spiritually as ever present with them, in agreement with his final assurance, ‹ And, lo, I am with you alway unto the end of the world.' The full persuasion of having their ever-living Head always with them, the object of faith and not of corporeal vision, was to be to them the source of the purest consolation in future life.

And with regard to ourselves, the spiritual apprehension of Christ, and the unshaken conviction of his perpetual presence with us, is the exalted and consolatory privilege of true believers. They look unto Jesus with the eye of faith: they see Him in the Scriptures and in religious ordinances : they see Him at the right hand of God, exercising his various offices as Head over all things to the Church and they see and acknowledge Him as a