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them with princes, even the princes of| his people." So that, as a doctrine of providence, and as an illustration of God's hand in ordering the affairs of his providential kingdom, we may consider that the language of the text is most apt and just.

the kingdom?" The objects of his special favour are generally found among those who, of all others, seem least likely or fitted for the distinction which he is pleased to put upon them. Look at Mary Magdalen; see her brought to the feet of Jesus, bathing those feet with her tears, wiping them with the hair of her head, and then following Jesus into the wilderness. Oh, how truly is it written:

things that are in heaven and in earthhe raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill, that he may set him with princes, even with the princes of his people!"

Then consider, I pray you, not only the general scheme of our recovery by grace divine, through the humiliation, and suffering, and death, and burial of the Divine Redeemer, but consider the manner in which this salvation is applied by the sovereign and gracious operations Secondly, let us apply this to the mani- of the Holy Spirit. Now you will perfestations of his grace: "He hath remem-ceive that, generally, the poor are evanbered his nation's low estate, for his mer-gelized: “Hath not God chosen the poor cy endureth for ever." What was the of this world, rich in faith and heirs of condition of man as a sinner when the eye of God contemplated his recovery, and the bowels of his compassion melted over his misery? It was a state of the greatest possible degradation, the lowest dust was his abode: no dunghill can adequately represent the deep depression and utter ruin in which, by reason of sin, we are all found. And how, I ask, was our elevation from this state of degradation and ruin effected? Why the eternal" He humbleth himself to behold the Son of God took upon him our nature in the lowest circumstances of its degradation; he became a poor man, was born in a stable, laid in a manger at Bethlehem, worked at a menial occupation, lived a life of dependence, and was at last indebted to charity for his grave. It was by this stupendous act of condescension that our Lord redeemed us from the curse of God, saved us from our bitter wo, and raised us to sit together with him in heavenly places. Oh, how astonishing the humiliation of the eternal Son of the Most High! Well may it be said by the apostle, "He made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." See the Lord of life and glory bowing his head upon the accursed tree, while he exclaimed, "It is finished!" See him laid even in the dust of death, and remaining under the power of the grave, for a time darkness his curtain, and his bed the earth! Wondrous dispensation of mercy

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Look at Saul of Tarsus breathing out threatenings of slaughter. Oh, what a state of wretched depravity was his heart found in when the message of Jesus arrested him in his course! he heard a voice, he saw a light, and he fell, trembling, to the earth, exclaiming, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" The degraded persecutor (for man never appears in a more degraded form than when he persecutes the church of Christ) became an ardent believer of the faith which he once laboured to destroy; and he says, "Howbeit, for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them who should hereafter be lieve on him to life everlasting." There fore he could say: "It is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am the chief." "Though ye have been among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold." The depth of human depression, in a moral and a spiritual sense,

exemplifies the wonderful depth of the point of enjoyment, with the venerable Divine humiliation and the Divine good-patriarchs, with the inspired prophets,

ness.

with the noble army of martyrs, with the confessors, and with those who in every age have been distinguished for their life, their love, their holiness, and their zeal. We are ready to say, The meanest place at thy right hand is infinitely too high. But there is no mean place there; all will be princes, all will be sitting at one common table, and all will be the sub

Thirdly, we apply this to the revelations of eternity. God has done much for his people in the application of the great blessings of salvation to them here; but "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, what he hath prepared for them that love him" in the world to come. My brethren, assist me by your meditations to draw aside the curtain which hides eter-jects of one inconceivable and incompanal things from our view. Think of the fulfilment of this representation in the morning of the resurrection, when from abodes of dust, and from houses of clay, God shall call the slumbering remains of his people into life, and warm them into activity, and clothe them with beauty, according to the mighty power whereby he is able to subdue even all things unto himself. 66 Thy dead men shall live together, with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust, for thy dew is as the dew of herbs; and the earth shall cast out the dead:" "For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is writ-ed, and when we shall see poor, degraded, ten, Death is swallowed up in victory." | Then will he "raise up the poor out of the dust, and lift the needy out of the dunghill," that he may set him on the throne of the Lamb, and encircle him with a diadem of glory.

rable satisfaction. I do not deny that there may be degrees of glory arising out of the physical and moral capacities of our nature. I can hardly conceive that an infant dying in its infancy shall be found in the same scale of precise enjoyment with St. Paul or St. John, with a Watts, a Doddridge, a Hall, a Porteus; but though, in the very nature of things, there may be gradations as to the peculiar measure of enjoyment, every mind will be full of purity, full of bliss, and full of glory-as full as it can holdwhile it will be stretching forth, by the enlargement of its powers, to the still larger enjoyment of an object whose excellencies can never be exhausted, and whose boundless extent will admit of a constant and eternal progression, both in knowledge, resemblance, and enjoyment.

Now what an amazing discovery will this be, when we shall see heaven open

ruined man "taken from his dust, and raised from his dunghill, and made to sit with princes, even the princes of immortality."

In conclusion, WHAT PRACTICAL LES

SONS MAY WE LEARN FROM THE COMBINED

OR ASSOCIATED DISPLAY OF THE GREAT-
NESS AND GOODNESS OF GOD.

Consider the associations of that great day, when all the redeemed of the Lord shall meet from the east, from the west, In the first place, my brethren, let it from the north, and from the south-shall fix on our minds a deep sense of our own inbe gathered together in one holy, happy, significance, meanness, and vileness. You harmonious throng, all crowned, all en-will go away from the contemplation of throned, all adorned with bright garments of shining lustre and spotless purity, and shall wave palms of triumph, and join in the everlasting song of "salvation unto the Lamb." There the humblest and meanest believer shall find himself on an equal footing, in point of locality, and in

this subject little benefited, unless you find that it is fitted to cast down every high thought, and every proud imagination, unless it levels your own pretensions with the dust, and unless you are led from the contemplation of God's greatness to learn the lesson of your own lit

66

tleness, did I say, your own nothingness. | ty, who conduct themselves there in an Contrast yourself for a moment with the undevout manner, and who retire from great Object you have been contemplat- the house of God to forget where they ing; think of the majesty and glory, the have been and what they have been doing. elevation and excellence of the blessed" Keep thy foot when thou comest to the God; you then sink down in the dust of self-abasement, and say, as Job said, "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eyes seeth thee; wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." "Wo is me! for I am undone, for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts." Oh, what a self-annihilating subject is this! what a blow to all those self-preferring, selfexalting, self-endearing thoughts which are prone to take possession of the platform of the human heart! I am sure, if you rightly understand the subject of this afternoon, there will be little room left for self in your meditations and prayers. We should go from this subject smiting our heart, and acknowledging that we are less than nothing, and vanity; saying in the language of our old poet,

"The more thy glories strike my eye, The humbler servant I shall die."

O man, O woman, learn thy place from this subject! Remember that thou art only like an indivisible fraction of this great world which we inhabit, and that when compared with God you are lost. Where are you? The atom which now floats in the sunbeam is less considerable, compared with the mass of this solid globe, than you compared with your relation to the great and glorious God.

house of God, and be more ready to hear than to offer the sacrifice of fools." How would you conduct yourself in the presence of an earthly superior? What measure of awe would you feel, were you to be introduced to the sovereign of these realms, or to find yourself associated with the concentrated splendour of all the princes, powers, and potentates of earth? And yet who are all the powers, princes, and potentates on earth, compared with that great and glorious God into whose presence you enter in every prayer you offer, during every sermon you hear, and every religious exercise in which you join?

My dear young friends, there is always great danger lest the youthful heart should not be impressed with a sense of the majesty of God in the solemn exercises of his work; I therefore entreat you dear children who hear me-children of our weekly schools, and children of our Sabbath schools-always to consider the greatness of God whenever you come into his presence, and whenever you take his name on your lips, and remember to make a distinction between the house of God and all other houses-the day of God and all other days-the worship of God and all other employments; for he is not to be mocked, and if he sees a light and trifling countenance, and if he observes a light and trifling mind in his presence, Secondly, the contemplation of this he regards it with displeasure and abhorcombined display of God's greatness and rence. Let us, then, in all acts of worgoodness should promote reverence in worship set the Lord before us in all his ship. Brethren, if God must humble superlative elevation, majesty, and granhimself to behold the things that are done deur, that we may worship him reverentin heaven and earth-if he is thus exalt-ly; "For to that man will I look, and ed above all beings, and above all things, with him will I dwell, who is of an humhowever great-then surely we ought to ble and contrite heart, and who trembleth worship him with reverence and with at my word." godly sincerity. "Great is the Lord and greatly to be feared, and to be had in reverence by all those who are round about him." Men cannot think aright of the greatness and grandeur of God who enter into the sanctuary with trifling and levi

Thirdly, let this subject nourish in our bosoms confidence towards God, as well as holy reverence in our dealings towards him. His goodness is equal to his greatness, and he has provided means whereby that goodness shall flow down to guilty

man, with infinite honour to his charac- | tending that one event happeneth alike to ter and his perfections. Therefore let all, and that every thing must be resolved me say to you, have faith in God; con- to certain chances and accidents; and sider his condescension; let it encourage thus they endeavour to deprive us of a your approaches, consider the ministra- truth which is most full of consolation tions of his providence-consider the and godly relief, under all the trials, difmanifestations of his grace-consider the ficulties, and conflicts of this lower world. future revelations of his glory. Then, My brethren, God is indeed so great my brethren, repose your spirits as in" that he humbleth himself to behold the the bosom of God; for "he taketh the things that are done in heaven and in poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy earth." He bestows his thoughts upon out of the dunghill." Go to him with all the poorest of his intelligent creatures; your indigence and destitution, with all yea, the meanest, the irrational ones, and your moral degradation and pollution, every insect that wings its way through with all your hopes and all your fears, the air, and every flower that is clothed and cast your every care and burden upon with beauty and brightness, owes its exhim who careth for you. There is no istence and support to the immediate case in which you are warranted to de-agency of the perfect will of Providence. spair of God's gracious succour and seasonable help; there are no measures of depression to which the arm of his mercy will not reach; and there are no measures of public exaltation to which that arm may not conduct you. Believe, therefore, in God with all your heart; trust him with all your concerns. Remember that you cannot expect too much from him who is so great; neither can you hope for too much from him who is so good."Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God."

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Let my text establish your minds in the conviction of this truth.

So with regard to the efficacy of prayer, which arises out of this great principle. Can I believe that God hears my prayer? I am an atom of dust so inconceivably minute, in comparison with the great in terests of his kingdom and governmentwill he listen to my voice? Will he attend to the breathing of my prayers Will my solitary notes attract his ear or move his heart? Yes, when you are most alone, most despised, most in the dust, yea, when you feel yourself as upon the very dunghill, you may say, "poor though I am, despised and forgotten, ye God, my God, forgets me not."

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He is safe, and must succeed,

For whom the Lord vouchsafes to plead.

Then put your cause into the hands of the great Intercessor-employ him-offer your praise to the Divine Majesty, and you have the pledge of God's greatness, and the pledge of Go'ds goodness, that you shall in no wise be forgot. Therefore I say, away with the doubts of scepticism, and away with all insinuation of unbelief. "Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief."

Fourthly, let this subject scatter those doubts of scepticism, and those hesitations of infidelity, which are too industriously spread amongst us at the present day. I would mention two points in connexion with this the minute observation which God's providence takes of the affairs of men, and the efficacy of believing prayer. “Oh,” says the sceptic, "do you think you are of sufficient importance in the vast chain of cause and effect for Deity to bestow a thought or care upon you? God is so great a being that he cannot find room in the vastness of his heart for your interests, for your concerns, for your sorrows, for your welfare." This has been a fa- Fifthly, let the contemplation of this vourite topic with infidelity in every pe- subject kindle in our breast a high and noriod of time. The men of this school ble ambition;-not that sort of ambition have attempted to destroy our faith in the which inflames the desires of worldly doctrine of a particular providence; con-men who are in the pursuit of worldly

good, who are seeking to climb the steep its fire, and it teaches every Christian to acclivity which is to introduce them to sublunary honour and distinction; but seek that honour which cometh from God alone. Oh, pray that he may set you among princes, even the princes of his kingdom! Seek the honour of a church relationship here with the friends and followers of the Redeemer, and then you will be associated with them in the splendours of the future resurrection, and in the glories of the coming immortality! Oh that we may aspire to these noblest of all distinctions-honours that fade not, preferments that shall never, never perish, and an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away!

"This is my glory, Lord, to be

Guided by saints, and near to thee."

"For they shall come from the east and the west, and the north and the south, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of God."

Finally, let this subject awaken both our gratitude, and our anticipations of the future. Gratitude for the revelation God has given of himself, of his purposes, and of his grace-gratitude, if we ourselves have any thing answerable in our experience to that which we have been hearing this day-gratitude that we observe in the transactions of God's providence, and the economy of his grace, a minute fulfilment of all this in the cases of others. For charity envieth not; and he who is the subject of heaven-descended charity will be doubly blessed, because he will not only be happy in those gifts and distinctions which God has imparted to him, but he will be made happy by the gifts and distinctions which he sees imparted to others. Envy is the child of hell; and whenever it takes possession of the human bosom, it makes that bosom a hell: Christianity goes to extinguish

make every Christian's happiness his own. Therefore we shall, I am sure, be infinitely happier than we are, if we could act up to this great principle; if we could rejoice with them that rejoice, and weep with them that weep; and when we see the poor raised out of the dust, and the needy taken from the dunghill, and set with princes, even the princes of God's people, we should rejoice and be exceeding glad. When the poor prodigal comes home, after he has wasted his substance, dishonoured his character, and nearly ruined his soul for ever, instead of grudging his reception and envying his entertainment, let us rather break forth into songs of joy and gladness, saying, "This my son was dead, and is alive again; was lost, and is found." This is the benevolence of the spirits in heaven; for they tune their harps afresh when a sinner is converted, and when a soul is raised from the dust, from the natural apostasy of man, and made to sit with the princes of his people in the present joys of communion with the church on earth, and anticipating the future joys of the church triumphant in heaven. Let us warm our bosom's gratitude at the contemplation of this great subject, and anticipate the period when we shall be introduced to the city and fellowship of heaven, and shall see those kings, and prophets, and righteous men who have gone before us in the path of glory, and are now enjoying the rest that remains to the people of God.

"In such society as this

My weary soul would rest;
The man who dwells where Jesus is
Must be for ever blest."

God grant us all such a dwelling place, through the countless ages of eternity, for Christ's sake. Amen.

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