this from their minds, but the Christian cannot. He often asks himself, How shall I do in that conflict? How shall I pass the important hour of death?

"Give me one kind assuring word,

To sink my fears again;
And cheerfully my soul shall wait

Her three score years and ten."

Again, as there is a peculiarity in the believer's sorrows, for "the heart knoweth his own bitterness," so there is something in the believer's joys unknown to others; for "a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy." Some suppose that the believer has nothing to do with joy. This was the opinion of Lord Chesterfield; "I hope," said he, "I shall never become converted, for I should be so miserable." He become a Christian and become miserable! Had he not found the world to be what the wise man describes it, "vanity and vexation of spirit?" Some of you have found it to be so. Oh, had he embraced Christianity, he would have found it infinitely superior to the world. We might appeal to the Scriptures for proof of this as well as to Christian experience. “Because when I called," says God, "when I spake, ye did not hear, but did evil before mine eyes, and did choose that wherein I delighted not therefore, behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry: behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed: behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit." Ask those who have been in both conditions, who once served the world, and are now the servants of Godask them what true godliness is, and whether the declaration be not true, "Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace ?" When Philip Henry preached from "His yoke is easy," he appealed to a Christian's experience; "Turn," said he, "to which of them you may, they will all agree that 'Her ways are ways of pleasantness,' and I," continued he, "will be a witness for one, for through grace I have been enabled to draw in this yoke between thirty and forty years, and have found it an easy yoke; I like my choice too well ever to think of a change."

"A stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy:" and O, what a joy is that which belongs to a real Christian! Peter therefore says, "It is unspeakable and full of glory." It is what the worldling cannot understand.

There are

"the

comforts of the Holy Ghost;" there is the "joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ;" and as Watts says

"Lord, how secure and blest are they,
Who feel the joys of pardoned sin!

Should storms of wrath shake earth and sea,
Their minds have heaven and peace within."

Believers see that the dreadful breach between heaven and earth is filled up, and are filled with the "joys of salvation."

How unknown to others is the joy the believer feels under his affliction! What a strange injunction was that of the Apostle's, where he says, "Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations." How strange to hear the language of the Church: "Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation." Here, to the world, they are "men wondered at," and I hope you will make them wonder, Christians. There is nothing that is more honorable to the religion of Jesus than the manner in which you suffer affliction and losses, and trials and reproaches for Christ's sake. The people of the world can see your sufferings, but they cannot see your consolations. They can see how Providence comes and strips you of one support after another, but they do not see how "underneath are the everlasting arms." They cannot see, when creature comforts fail you, what a source of personal comfort you enjoy in the everlasting covenant, "ordered in all things and sure."

When they behold you giving up those things which seem essential to the very life of others, they think it "strange that you run not with them to the same excess of riot;" but you "have meat to eat which they know not of," you have "the hidden manna;" you have tasted of the grapes of Eshcol, and no longer want the onions and leeks of Egypt. They see not the pleasures you have, while they see you take up the cross. How marvellous to them is the language of the Apostle, "I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecution, in distresses for Christ's sake, for when I am weak then am I strong." They are not acquainted with the love of Christ, and of its constraining influence, but, saith the Apostle. "The love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead, and that He died

for all, that they which live, should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them and rose again, We know that it is the nature of love to make bitter thing sweet and hard things easy.

"A stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy" in regard to death. Death, to the unbeliever, is the king of terrors. Oh! say they, "how can a man be willing to leave all this delight and enjoyment?" But while the worldling says, "this is my grief and I must bear it," the Christian can say, 66 I desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better."

"I could renounce my all below,

If my Creator bid;

Or run if I were called to go,

And die as Moses did."

They are able to say, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil." Yes, and how many thousands are there who experience this joy in their departing hour!

We make two remarks before we conclude:

Though "a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy," there are friends who can; there are those who have fellowship with Jesus, and truly their fellowship is with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. There are those who have a general resemblance, and to whom the words are applicable, "As face answereth to face in a glass, so doth the heart of man to man." Therefore David said, "Come unto me, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what He hath done for my soul." "They that fear Thee will rejoice when they see me, because they have hoped in Thy truth." Yea, they even contribute to this joy, therefore "Comfort one another with these words."

Secondly, if their joy be so great now, what will it be above? Now this joy enters them, then they will "enter into the joy of their Lord." Now they have some drops from the fountain of blessedness, then they will enter into a fulness of their joy. Now their comforts vary, and their tears often flow: but then, "at God's right hand," they shall have "pleasures for evermore." But "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man what things God hath prepared for them that love Him."

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18

III.

THE FOUNDATION OF ZION.

(Preached on Sunday Evening, May 10th, 1846).

Therefore, thus saith the Lord God. Behold, I lay in Zion for a foun dation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation; he that believeth shall not make haste.-ISAIAH Xxviii. 16.

WHATEVER Subordinate reference there is in these words to the Jews, who were surrounded with dangers, requiring divine interpositions, the principal reference is to the Messiah. It was in this way the prophets always endeavoured to comfort the Church even in outward troubles. "Oh," said they, "'twill be better soon; He is coming, and then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame man shall leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing." "For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood, but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire. For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." So says Zechariah, "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold thy King cometh unto thee; He is just, and having salvation." Thus He was always regarded as "the Consolation of Israel." The Prophets therefore rise from the less to the greater thing, from the deliverance of the Jews to the deliverance of Christians : "God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect." To which we may add, that every other explanation of the words before us would be poor, mean, and constrained, compared with the Evangelical import we have assigned to them. Hear what the Apostle of the Gentiles says: "As it is written." Where?

In our text. "Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed." You shall now hear the testimony of the Apostle to the circumcision: "Wherefore also it is contained in the Scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner-stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on Him shall not be confounded."

Observe the plan of our discourse: First, we have here the emblem of the Lord Jesus; secondly, His destination; thirdly, we see how well He fulfils His purpose; fourthly, the blessedness of those who make use of it; fifthly, the ushering in of the whole scenc.

I. THE EMBLEM OF THE LORD JESUS. "A stone."

Whether we consider Him as "a stone" for solidity-or for strength-or for duration, He is all these; for whatever changes may take place among men, with Him "there is no variableness nor shadow of turning."

Peter calls Him a "living stone." This seems strange. You have heard of the breathing canvas, of speaking or living marble; but if we should be afraid of so bold a figure, Peter was not. Stripping the metaphor, he means, He has life in Himself, and that He procures it and dispenses it to others. So Paul says, "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him in glory." All metaphorical representations employed to hold Him forth fall infinitely short of His worth and glory.

"Nor earth, nor sea, nor sun, nor stars,
Nor heaven His full resemblance bears;
His beauties we can never trace

Till we behold Him face to face."

Owing to the imperfection of all imagery, the sacred writers multiply their metaphors, and attach to them attributes not naturally belonging to them; for, as Watts says,

"Nature, to make His glories known,
Must mingle colours not her own."

And all those images which express Him have some distinguished qualities. Thus He is not only said to be "a sun -but "the Sun of Righteousness." He is not only called "a pearl "--but "the pearl of great price." He is not only spoken of as the Shepherd-but as "the good Shepherd," "the great Shepherd," "the chief Shepherd," "the Shepherd and Bishop of souls." If He be a "tree". "He is the tree of life." If He be fair-"He is fairer than the children of men."

If lovely