concerts, &c., we shall be left to cry, " O Lord, how long?" Again, we may not expect him to return until we realize the end of our vocation. We are called with a heavenly calling. We are called to glory and virtue. Our vocation or calling is to publish and preserve God's truth; to represent and set forth the true nature of Christ's holy religion; to endeavour to pluck sinners as brands from the burning, and lead them on to glory, honour, immortality, and eternal life; to live for God; to live like Jesus; to aim at the honour of God in everything we do; to live as saints, or unearthly persons, who are born from above, buried with Christ, risen with Christ, ascended with Christ, and identified with Christ-the temples of the Holy Ghost-the companions of God the Father, and of his Son Jesus Christ, with whom we profess to live in close, constant, and sensible fellowship; to make God's glory the one great end of our existence, so that, whether we think or speak, rest or work, worship or visit, eat or drink, or whatsoever we do, we do all to the glory of God. We may not expect the Lord to return until we stir up ourselves to take hold upon him. Like Jacob we must go out into the plain, and there wrestle with God. Like Elijah we must go to the top of Carmel, and

there plead until we prevail. Like Hezekiah we must turn our faces to the wall, and pray until God yield to us. Like the disciples at

Emmaus we must constrain him to turn in and

abide with us. Brethren, let us remember that the energetic prayer of the righteous man availeth much; that God will attend to his own elect when they cry day and night unto him, though he may seem to hold out long. Let us, therefore, stir up ourselves to take hold on him, and give him no rest until he bow the heavens and come down, and work wonders in our midst.

Do we feel this to be our state? Is God at a distance from us? Are the ordinances comparatively barren? Is the gospel almost without effect? Are our churches and ministers at a loss to know what to do? Do we pant and long for a change? Is this the rooted, reigning, abiding desire of our souls? Can we be satisfied with no less? Are we becoming impatient and passionately crying out," Return, O Lord, how long?" Or can we be still, silent, and comparatively indifferent under such a state of things? Brethren, the Spirit of God is grieved, and we have grieved him! Our heavenly Father's heart is wounded, and we have wounded it! Qur adorable Saviour has

been crucified afresh, and we have crucified him! These things call for deep thought, for bitter tears, for daily repentance, for fervent prayers, for frank confession, for earnest pleadings, and for immediate reformation. Do we feel upon this subject as we ought to feel? Do you? Do we act under the circumstances as we ought to act? Do you? God refuses to be considered the author or the cause of these things, therefore he demands of us, "Is the Spirit of the Lord straitened? Are these his doings? Do not my words do good unto him that walketh uprightly?" Can we have walked uprightly then? Impossible, or God would not withhold his presence from us! Hear his own word: "The Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will be withheld from them that walk uprightly."

XIX.

A SOURCE OF COMFORT.

"Your Father also is merciful."-LUKE vi. 36.

ESUS revealed Jehovah as a Father He constantly kept this idea before the minds of his disciples. He turned their thoughts from his greatness to his goodness. He taught them to realize that he was their Father. They were to pray to him as such; to trust in him as such; to love him as such; to obey him as such. He was here setting forth his moral excellences for their imitation. He commands them to be merciful, as their Father also is merciful. There is something very precious in this representation of the Most High. He is our Father. As such, he is not only great, glorious, omnipotent, and just, but he is merciful; naturally, infinitely, eternally merciful. He is merciful to all, but more especially to his children; yea, he delighteth to manifest his mercy to them. He is merciful this day, and

he will be merciful to us through all our future

days.

Is our Father also merciful?

Then he will

sympathize with us. Our sufferings will affect him. They will touch his heart. They will awaken his tenderest sympathies. We shall not suffer alone. He will come to us. He will sustain us. He will administer to our necessities. He will even make our bed in our sickness. His sympathy will effectually benefit us. Others may pity, he will relieve. Others may speak, he will apply. Others may wish us well, he will really do us good. Of us it shall by-and-by be said, as it was of Israel of old, "In all their afflictions he was afflicted." Is our Father also merciful? Then he will listen to us. Every sigh, every groan, every broken prayer shall enter into his ears. He will listen to the boating of the contrite heart, to the heaving of the troubled bosom, to the sobs of the distressed spirit. He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and will not despise their prayer. He will turn away from the strains of the seraphim, from the halleluiahs of all the celestial host, to listen to the moanings of his Ephraim, to the cries of his tempted, depressed, and afflicted children below. Beloved, he will never turn a deaf ear to our prayers-poor, imperfect,