SERMON V.

On the RELIEF which the GOSPEL affords to the DISTRESSED.

[Preached at the Celebration of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper.]

MATTH. xi. 28.

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

THE

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HE life of man on earth is doomed SERMON. be clouded with various evils. Throughout all ranks the afflicted form

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considerable portion of the human race; and even they who have a title to be called prosperous, are always, in some periods of their life, obliged to drink from the cup of bitterness. The Christian religion is particularly entitled to our regard, by by accommodating itself with

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SERMON great tenderness to this distressed condiV. tion of mankind. It is not to be considered as merely an authoritative system of precepts. Important precepts it indeed delivers for the wise and proper regulation of life. But the But the same voice which enjoins our duty, utters the words of consolation. The Gospel deserves to be held a dispensation of relief to mankind under both the temporal and spiritual distresses of their state.

This amiable and compassionate spirit of our religion conspicuously appears in the character of its great Author. It shone in all his actions while he lived on earth. It breathed in all his discourses; and, in the words of the text, is expressed with much energy. In the preceding verse, he had given a high account of his own person and dignity. All things are delivered unto me of my Father; and no man knoweth the Son but the Father ; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the whomsoever the Son will reveal him. But, lest any of his hearers should be discouraged by this mysterious representation of his greatness, he instant

Son, and be to

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ly tempers it with the most gracious be- SERMON nignity; declaring, in the text, the merciful intention of his mission to the world. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you

rest.

THE first thing which claims our at tention in these words is, what we are to understand by coming unto Christ. This is a phrase which has often given occasion to controversy. By theological writers it has been involved in much needless mystery, while the meaning is in itself plain and easy. The very metaphor that is here used serves to explain it. In the ancient world, disciples flocked round their different teachers, and attended them wherever they went; in order both to testify their attachment, and to imbibe more fully the doctrine of their masters. Coming unto Christ, therefore, is the same with resorting to him as our declared Master; acknowledging ourselves his disciples, believers in his doctrine, and followers of his precepts. As Christ is made known to us under the character both of a Teacher

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SERMON a Teacher and a Saviour, our coming to

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him imports not only submission to his instructions, but confidence also in his power to save. It imports that, forsaking the corruptions of sin and the world, we follow that course of virtue and obedience which he points out to us; relying on his mediation of pardon of our offences, and acceptance with heaven. This is what is implied in the scripture term Faith; which includes both the assent of the understanding to the truth of the Christian religion, and the concurrence of the will in receiving it.

WHAT next occurs in the text to attract our notice, is the description of those to whom the invitation is addressed. All those who labour and are heavy laden, that is, who, in one way or other, feel themselves grieved and distressed, are here invited to come to Christ.-Now, from two sources chiefly our distresses arise, from moral, or from natural causes.

First, THEY may arise from inward moral causes; from certain feelings and reflections

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reflections of the mind, which occasion SERMON uneasiness and pain. A course of sin and vice always proves ruinous and destructive in the issue. But its tendency to ruin is often not perceived, while that tendency is advancing. For, as sin is the reign of passion and pleasure, it forms men to a thoughtless inconsiderate state, Circumstances, however, may occur, and frequently, in the course of life, do occur, which disclose to a vicious man the ruin which he is bringing on himself, as an offender against the God who made him. When some occasional confinement to solitude, or some turn of adverse fortune, directs his attention immediately upon his own character; or when, drawing towards the close of life, his passions subside, his pleasures withdraw, and a future state comes forward to his view; in such situations it often happens, that the past follies and crimes of such a man appear to him in a light most odious and shocking; and not odious only, but terrifying to his heart. He considers that he is undoubtedly placed under the government of a just God, who did not send him into this world