The whole Bible declares that they are intended only for those who have been born again; yet how many rush forward to them with mad and daring hand, drawing down the curse of a seared conscience and a stony heart!

These are painful truths-enough to break the heart of any Christian man that labors among you. Ah! where is the wonder that God should be a stranger in the land, and like a wayfaring man, that turns aside to tarry for a night? And yet this word comes like a beam of sunshine in a storm; God be praised for it! "Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground." Samuel was young in years, and it pleased God to cast him in days just as wicked as ours; and how did God encourage him? In two ways. 1st, God was with him. God stood at his right hand, so that he could not be moved. 2d, God did let none of his words fall to the ground. May the Lord give us both these encouragements this day!

Doctrine.-God will not let one word of his ministers fall to the

ground.

I. The Word often works visibly.

In most cases a work of grace is very visible. 1. When the Spirit awakens the soul to know its lost condition, there are very generally evident marks of awakening. The jailor trembled, and sprung in, and fell down, and said: "What must I do to be saved?" So it is commonly. This is not to be wondered at. If a man be in danger of losing all his money, or his wife, or child, he will often weep, and tremble, and wring the hands, and cry, Woe is me, I am undone. And is there less cause for weeping and trembling, if a man be in danger of losing his own soul? 2. When the soul is brought to peace, there is in general an evident change. "The woman stood behind Christ's feet weeping. She washed ther with her tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head, and kissed them." So it is commonly. The bosom is brought to rest; the eyes are filled with tears of joy; there is a lively attendance on the Word of God; an exultation in singing his praises; the Sabbath is now plainly honored and kept holy; sinful companions are forsaken. Ah! my dear friends, it is my heart's desire and prayer, that these outward marks of a work of grace were more common in the midst of you. I fear there can be no extensive work of grace, where these are wanting.

II. The Word may be working unseen.

In some cases the work of grace is quite invisible. I believe that God, for wise reasons, sometimes carries on a work of grace in the heart, secretly and unknown to all the world but to himself. There are three things make me think so:—

1. Christ compared the kingdom of heaven in the heart to leaven and to seed: "The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which

a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened." Now, you know that the process of leavening goes on a long time in the heart of the meal quite unseen; so may the work of grace. Again: "So is the kingdom of God as if a man should cast seed into the ground, and should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how."-Mark iv., 6. Now you know the growing of the seed beneath the cloud is all unseen; so is it often with the work of grace.

2. Who is the workman in conversion? It is the Spirit of God. Now he works unseen, like the wind: "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, or whither it goeth; so is every one that is born of the Spirit." He works like the dew: "I will be as the dew unto Israel." Now, no man ever yet heard the dew falling. He works like the well. "The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water, springing up unto everlasting life." If the Spirit work so secretly, no wonder if his work is sometimes

unseen.

3. So it has been in fact: Elijah cried, "I, even I, am left alone." How surprised was he to find seven thousand who had never bowed the knee to Baal! So shall it be in the latter day: "Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who hath brought up these? Behold I was left alone; these, where had they been?"—Isa. xlix., 21.

Encouragement to godly parents, and teachers, and ministers.— I know some of you have long been watching for a work of grace in your children's hearts. Learn this day that God will not let one word fall to the ground. His word shall not return to him void. But you say, Alas! I see no marks of grace. Go to the dough when the leaven has been thrust in, and it is covered up. Do you see any marks of leavening? No, not one. Still the work is going on beneath. So it may be in your child. Go to the field when the seed has been covered in. Do you see any marks of growing? No, not a green speck. Still the work is going on. Turn up the clod, and you will see the seed sprouting, Have patience; weary not in well-doing. Be instant in prayer. God will be faithful to his promise. He will not let one word fall to the ground.

III. The Word may take effect another day.

1. It is a curious fact in natural history, that seeds may be preserved for almost any length of time. Seeds that have been kept in a drawer for many years, yet, when sown in their proper season, have been known to spring up, as if they had been but a year old. So it may sometimes be with the seeds of grace. They may be kept long in the soul without in the least affecting

it, and yet may be watered by the Spirit, and grow up many days

after.

2. In general it is not so.-It is the testimony of an old divine, who was indeed a master in Israel: "That the main benefit obtained by preaching is, by impression made upon the mind at the time, and not by remembering what was delivered."* And what says the Scripture: "Is not my Word like as a fire, and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?" Now you know that if the fire burns not when it is applied, it will not burn afterwards. If the rock does not break when the hammer strikes, it is not likely to break afterwards. Oh! my dear friends, to-day, while it is called to-day, harden not your hearts. If your hearts do not break under the hammer to-day, I fear they will never break. If they melt not now, under the fire of his love, I fear they will never melt.

3. In some cases, the Word takes effect another day. One faithful man of God labored in his parish for many a long year; and though greatly blessed elsewhere, yet died without, I believe, knowing one of his people brought to the knowledge of the Saviour. Another servant now stands in his room; and souls have been gathered in in crowds, every one declaring that it is the word of their departed minister that comes up into their heart, and makes them flee. Ah! God is a faithful God. He will not let any of his words fall to the ground.

The excellent John Flavel was minister of Dartmouth, in England. One day he preached from these words:" If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema maranatha." The discourse was unusually solemn, particularly the explanation of the curse. At the conclusion, when Mr. Flavel rose to pronounce the blessing, he paused, and said, "How shall I bless this whole assembly, when every person in it who loves not the Lord Jesus is anathema maranatha?" The solemnity of this address deeply affected the audience. In the congregation was a lad named Luke Short, about fifteen years old, a native of Dartmouth. Shortly after he went to sea, and sailed to America, where he passed the rest of his life. His life was lengthened far beyond the usual term. When a hundred years old, he was able to work on his farm, and his mind was not at all impaired. He had lived all this time in carelessness and sin; he was a sinner a hundred years old, and ready to die accursed. One day, as he sat in his field, he busied himself in reflecting on his past life. He thought of the days of his youth. His memory fixed on Mr. Flavel's sermon, a considerable part of which he remembered. The earnestness of the minister, the truths spoken, the effect on the people, all came fresh to his mind. He felt that he had not loved the Lord Jesus; he feared the dreadful anathema; he

* Edwards, 394.

was deeply convinced of sin, was brought to the blood of sprink ling. He lived to his one hundred and sixteenth year, giving every evidence of being born again. Ah! how faithful God is to his word. He did let none of his words fall to the ground.

Be of good cheer, Christian mothers, who weep over your unawakened children. They may be going far from you, perhaps across the seas, and you tremble for their souls. Remember God can reach them everywhere. A believing mother never prayed in vain. Be instant in prayer. God will not forget his word. He will let none of his words fall to the ground.

IV. The Word may harden. In some cases, I believe, the Word of God is sent to harden souls; and so it will not return void, but prosper in the thing whereto he sent it. That was an awful message God sent by his prophet: "Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not."-Isai. vi., 9. I fear there are many such messages in our day.

Ques. Does God not wish men to be saved? Ans. O yes; God willeth all men to be saved. I believe there is not one soul that the Saviour does not yearn over as he did over Jerusalem; and the Father says, "O that they had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways!" But still, when Jerusalem resisted the word of Christ, Christ said, "Now they are hid from thine eyes." And if you refuse the Word of Christ, and neglect this great salvation, I firmly believe that he shall soon come to you with Isaiah's dreadful message, "Hear ye indeed, but understand not."

Oh! how dreadful a thought it is, that though we be the savor of life unto life to some, we are the savor of death unto death to most. How dreadful, that the very words of love and mercy which we bring, should be making some souls only more fit for the burning! And yet it must be so. How often have I heard men of God complain that their greatest fruit was when they entered first upon their ministry! I do begin to fear that it is going to be so with us, that God hath chosen out his first-fruits, and the rest are to be hardened. Why was this? Because the people are hardened by the constant preaching of the truth.

My dear friends, remember this word: "God did let none of his words fall to the ground." I have gone among you for more than a year, preaching the Gospel of the kingdom. Remember, the word was not mine, but His that sent me. I would have been ashamed to stand up and speak my own words. If the hammer does not break, it makes the iron into steel. Every blow makes it harder. If the fire does not melt, it hardens the clay into brick, as hard as stone. If the medicine does not heal, it poisons. If the word concerning Christ does not break your heart, it will make it like the nether millstone.

V. For a witness.-That is an awful word in Matt. xxiv., 14:

"And this Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world, for a witness unto all nations." Ah! my dear friends, God's word cannot return unto him void. Every drop of rain has its errand from God. These driving showers of snow are all fulfilling his word. And do you really think that the word concerning his Son shall be spoken without any end? Ah, no! even though not one soul should be saved by it. It shall be for a witness. When Moses lifted up the brazen serpent in the wilderness, if the Israelites had been unwilling to look, I can easily imagine the haste with which he would go round the camp, crying to every dying man: Look here, look there. Two things would be in his mind; 1st, To get his people healed; 2d, To give glory to his God, by bearing witness to them of the love of God; as if he had said: Now, if you perish, it is your own blame; God is clear of your blood. So is it with the Christian minister. You remember Paul, how he was "instant, in season and out of season," "teaching publicly, and from house to house, warning every one day and night with tears;" "in labors more abundant; in stripes above measure; in prisons more frequent; in deaths oft." Why all this? Ans. For two reasons: 1st, He wanted souls to be "He was infinitely and insatiably greedy of the conversion of souls." 2d, He sought the honor of God. He wanted to preach the Gospel for a witness; to leave every man without excuse for remaining in his sins; as if he had said: Now if you perish, it is your own blame; God is clear of your blood.

saved.

Ah! my dear friends, such is our ministry to many of you. It is for a witness. God, who knows my heart, knows that I seek your salvation night and day. "My record is above, that your heaven would be two heavens to me; and your salvation as two salvations to me." Yet if you will not learn, I will be a witness against you in that day. The words that we have spoken in weakness, and much trembling, will rise to condemn you in that day. How fain would I see you gathered with the ransomed flock, on the right hand of the throne! How fain, in that day, would I see you smiled on by the lovely Saviour, whose smile is more bright than the summer sun! But, if it may not be, I will say with the angels," Hallelujah!"-" Even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight."-Amen.

St. Peter's, Feb 25, 1838.