Here then the merciful Saviour makes use of a simile which gives the most striking idea of his goodness. Of a number of faint, weary, hungry, and thirsty pilgrims, on burning sands, if one should cry out to his fellows, here is water! How quickly would it draw them all together.

The prophet Isaiah, speaking of Jesus, says; "A man shall be an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as a river of water in a dry place: as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land." How very inviting, how attracting how drawing are the favors here noticed. The beasts of the field and the fowls of the air seek these favors. When storms and winds beat on them, they seek a shelter; when they are thirsty, you find them by the streams; and when a sultry sun is vehement you find them in the shade. Do you ask what these things mean? Do you inquire how you can obtain so great a favor? The word is nigh thee, even in thy heart and in thy mouth. Jesus is made unto us, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. To be drawn to Christ is to be drawn into wisdom, whose ways are pleasantness and all her paths are peace. It is to be drawn into righteousness, which is heaven. It is to be drawn into sanctification, which is holiness. It is to be drawn into redemption, which is freedom from the law of sin and death. O Jesus, how great is thy promise! Thou wilt draw all men unto thyself. Then shall every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all which are in them; say, blessing and honnor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever.

LECTURE XIII.

CHRIST SOWING THE GOOD SEED, IN TEARS.

PSALM cxxvi. 6.

He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed shall, doubtless, come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

DIVINE wisdom has seen fit, that the commencement of those affairs which are designed to terminate in great and extensive blessings to mankind, should be distinguished for the hardships, painful labors, extreme difficulties, privations, uncommon sufferings, sorrow and tears which attend them. This remark will be found to be, generally, appropriate, whether applied to political or religious concerns, and is often justified by the experience of individuals. This sentiment seems symbolically expressed in our text and its introduction. To represent the reverse of condition which Zion experienced by a deliverance from captivity, the prophet says; "When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing then said they among the heathen, the Lord hath done great things for them. The Lord hath done. great things for us, whereof we are glad. Turn again our captivity, O Lord, as the streams in the south. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed shall, doubtless, come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him."

From the scanty portion of grain, on which the husbandman depends to bread his dependent family, he takes a selected portion, and having with much labor prepared his field, he commits the precious seed to the

bosom of the earth. His fears anticipate drought, blasts, and mildews; his hope endures, as seeing things that are invisible, and locks forward to the time when heaven shall reward his toils with a joyful harvest, and return him thirty, sixty or an hundred fold. The autumn comes and brings the golden harvest, and plenty calls for songs of gratitude and joy. But to the eye of inexperience how mysterious would this appear. The portion of bread corn is already scant, and the husband of a numerous family takes part of this and buries it in the earth. It appears as an unreasonable waste. Thus we frequently judge of the ways of divine Providence; and are led to say, if God were good to his creatures, why should such and such things be permitted to wound our tenderest feelings? Why should such sorrows be sent as the inheritance of the oppressed, the innocent, and the defenceless? Not being able to see the end from the beginning of events, we are often misguided in judgment, and entertain doubts of the divine goodness towards us. But could we comprehend the mysterious wisdom of God by which he turns every thing to the good of hir creatures, causing light afflictions, which are but for a moment, to work for us an exceeding weight of glory, we should at once conclude, that the measure of evil endured by the creatures of God, is as nothing when compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us, and which can be traced back to those afflictions, which, during their continuance, were grievous.

These introductory observation seem to lead the mind into an extensive field, where an infinite variety of objects invite our attention to the contemplation of the wisdom and goodness of God, in causing light to shine out of darkness, order to grow out of what appears to us confusion, peace of mind from sorrow of heart, tranquillity out of trouble, prosperity out of adversity, in a word, good from what we call evil, strength - from weakness and glory from shame. But keeping in mind that proper limits must bound the labors of a lecture, the audience is invited to contemplate our sub'ect as manifested in the Saviour of mankind

Jesus went forth in our world weeping, bearing and sowing precious seed, and he shall doubtless come again, rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. He sowed in tears, he shall reap in joy; he shall see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied.

Our first inquiry will be directed to notice the occasion of our Saviour's tears.

Jesus was possessed of the sensibilities and sympathies of our nature in their purity and perfection, which caused him to feel the afflictions of the afflicted, the sorrows of the sorrowful, and the distress of the distressed. Many proofs of this are found in the history of the Saviour. We may notice him at Bethany, where he raised Lazarus from the dead. Notwithstanding he knew what he was about to do, and that Lazarus would in a few minutes be a living man, to the astonishment and joy of his weeping sisters, such was the tenderness of his heart that when he saw the Jews, who had come to comfort the bereaved sisters, weeping, and the two disconsolate sisters weeping, he himself groaned in spirit, and wept with them. Let those who mourn remember this, and realize that their sorrows are duly noticed by him who is the resurrection and the life, who hath the keys of hell and death. That power of life and salvation, which gloriously tri umphed at the tomb of him who had been dead four days, is still the same, and has given assurance, that as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

On that most joyful occasion of the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem, riding upon an ass, when the people in vast multitudes welcomed the King of Zion, and praised God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord; peace in heaven, and glory in the highest; the blessed Jesus, in room of being elated with these tokens of submission and expressions of joy-in room of participating the exceeding gladness of the people, his mind seemed intent on a very different subject, the account of which is as follows: "And when he came near he beheld the city,

and wept over it saying, if thou hadst known, even thou at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation."

Having a clear view of the sword, the famine and the pestilence which would surely come on Jerusalem, and knowing that the youth who were then in the days of their innocence, would be the sufferers in this calamity, the Saviour was deeply affected, and wept.

Suppose you, who love the town of Boston for a thousand reasons, which we have not time to name, should be certified by a divine communication, that this metropolis should, within forty years, suffer all the dreadful calamities of a long siege, attended with famine and pestilence, with factions within, which should waste the strength and the blood of the inhabitants, until the place should be given up to an enraged enemy, that should have no mercy on those who should fall into their hands, could your eyes look on the stately, magnificent buildings, knowing they would all be leveled with the ground, could they behold the lovely youth, who now make such a charming appearance in these streets and churches, without weeping? Such was the occasion of those tears which the compassionate Jesus shed over the devoted city of his father David. He looked on that pride and joy of the earth, he beheld the temple of God, that wonder of the world, he knew that the time of their destruction was within that generation; his gracious eyes beheld the lovely youth whose thousands then adorned the venerable habitations of their ancestors, and knew that they would be the distressed sufferers in the calamities to which that nation and city were appointed.

When he was going to Calvary to suffer death