way to enfeebling despondency, because he is not already perfect. We must not expect to be perfect all in a moment. The work of grace is a gradual and long continued work, "first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.' Even St. Paul says, long after his conversion, "Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow after." 10

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"Let patience," therefore, "have her perfect work." Be satisfied to go on day by day endeavouring to improve, though it be but slowly, curing one fault after another as it comes forward more prominently, learning one grace after another, as opportunity for exercising it is granted you. willing to pray every morning for grace to keep you during the day from falling into sin; and be willing to confess every evening how much sin you have committed in thought, or word, or deed, by your own fault, your own exceeding fault. Thus will the tender plant of grace grow silently but surely in the dry ground of your sinful hearts; thus will you certainly, though, perhaps, imperceptibly to yourselves, be advancing along the narrow road, with the greater security and speed, because in selfabasement, self-diffidence, and sorrow for sin. It was on purpose to carry on this secret, silent, gradual, painful work in souls conceived in sin, that Christ was this day born, the Saviour of sinners. For this very end He this day sprang up as a tender plant rooted in a dry ground, that He might plant and train up, water, and prune, and carefully tend, and bring to

9 St. Mark. iv. 28. 10 Phil. iii. 12. 11 St. James, i. 4.

perfection, the frail and tender plants of heavenly virtues in stony and barren human hearts. To soften them, to change them, to make them good; to sow the seed, to send the dew and the rain, each in its season, the sunshine and the shade; this is the great work which by His holy Spirit He is ever carrying on; and the perfecting of this work in each of His fore-known and fore-ordained members, is the fruit of the travail of His soul, of which He saw and was satisfied.12

Let us, then, dear brethren, go cheerfully and trustfully about our great work. It would, indeed, be overwhelming, if all its separate trials, contests, and difficulties, were summed up in one, and laid before us; and just because men will look upon it as a whole, they are alarmed and discouraged. But in fact, and by the gracious providence of God, each trial comes alone, and grace for each. Each trial comes alone; and though the whole number of our difficulties and sorrows be more than we can calculate, yet as they one by one are cheerfully met, courageously borne, and safely passed through, the Divine Life, of which Christ is the source, is not only unimpaired, but quickened in the soul; the powers of death are enfeebled, and the powers of the heavenly life are extended and deepened.

Rejoice, then, O humble and penitent souls, in Him who is born as on this day a Saviour, Christ the Lord. Your narrow path of penitence and earnest endeavours after obedience, overclouded as it may be sometimes with the shadows of sins that are past, 12 See Isaiah, liii. 11.

may yet be lighted up by the quickening rays of the Sun of Righteousness, who is the source of life, and joy, and peace, and holiness, to all that put their trust in Him: life for the little ones, strength for the young in their struggles with temptation, guidance and consolation for those who are toiling amid the occupations and cares of this troublesome world, and comfort, support, and ever-brightening hope for the aged Christian, who is waiting patiently for the hour of his departure.

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SERMON VI.

THE SUPPORT OF THE AGED.

ISAIAH, xlvi. 4.

"Even to your old age I am He; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear ; even I will carry, and will deliver you."

THE example of our blessed Saviour is full of instruction to persons of all ages, and under all circumstances. At twelve years of age He was an example of heavenly wisdom and humble obedience to the young, and healthy, and light-hearted: but when His hour drew near, and the fear of death stole over Him, and He exclaimed, "Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say?" then He was an example for those who are conscious of failing strength, and whose eye grows dim; for those who are subject to pain and sickness, and who feel that the hour of their departure is drawing near. According to His holy example they may learn to prepare themselves for death, by perfect submission to

1 St. John, xii. 27.

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the will of God, and confidence, notwithstanding all discouragements, in His providential care.

We may observe, my brethren, the same adaptation to the varied states of life, in the promises which have been read in your hearing to-day: some are suitable for those who are but growing up towards manhood; others for those who are declining from their manhood's strength. In the morning lesson we shall find promises most suitable to the young; in the evening lesson, most gracious promises to the aged. In the former chapter Almighty God says, "I will pour My Spirit upon thy seed, and My blessing upon thine offspring: and they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the watercourses;" in the latter, "Hearken unto Me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are borne by Me from the belly, which are carried from the womb: And even to your old age I am He; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.""

By these sacred images, dear brethren, is the allvarious grace of Christ set forth, that same refreshing and invigorating grace, which was typified by the stream that flowed from the smitten rock, and supplied the necessities of the children of Israel in their weary wanderings in the desert.

As the old and the young, the feeble and the strong, the healthy and the sick, all drank of those waters, and found health and refreshment in them, so also is Christ. In Him is health, and refreshment

2 Isaiah, xliv. 3, 4; xlvi. 3, 4.