are referred to him as one who has sympathy with them all, and can tell them better than common men whither to repair for succour. Let him know that faithfulness and consistency invite wearied and burdened souls to take counsel with him. The true man of God now will be like the Prophet of ancient days; and though no skill of his will cure any one of them, yet he can say to all,-"I found rest where you may find it; the Cross was my hidingplace; Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world." O let thoughts of the sore, hereditary, universal infection mingle oftener with our prayers; and of friends and neighbours and countrymen and strangers may we say, in our public and private petitions, "Would God they knew the Great Prophet,-the world's Teacher and Deliverer, -whom truly to know is Eternal Life!"

SERMON XVI.

CHRISTIAN INDEPENDENCE.

PROVERBS xiv. 14.

"A good man shall be satisfied from himself."

(Twenty-fourth Sunday after Trinity.-Evening.)

THERE is something a little startling in the first sound of these words. Unexplained they seem to contradict many passages of Scripture in which the good man is described as completely dependent upon God. The strength and comfort of the saints, we are told in a hundred places, all come from Christ, their Head. They receive out of His fulness, and are happy because He has purchased for them the blessing of peace. They overcome the world and sin because they are "strong in the grace" which He supplies to them from hour to hour. Their very "life" is said to be "hid with Christ in God."

Certainly if we take our text in its most absolute sense, and understand it to mean that a good man

does not want any thing that is out of himself, or that he can be satisfied and at ease if all foreign supplies be cut off,-we shall then have a meaning which not only contradicts other parts of the word of God, but contradicts the experience of the best people of all times. When holy David said, "As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God; my soul is athirst for God, for the living God; when shall I come and appear before God?" he gave expression to the feelings which animate ten thousand hearts whereever God is known and loved. In ourselves, we are wretchedly, hopelessly poor. Left to ourselves, we are liable to stumble at every step. We want the watchful eye over us, and the loving arm around us, as much as the new-born babe needs the mother's tenderness. Our life, if we be Christians indeed, is emphatically a life of faith; and what is Faith but a looking out of ourselves to one wise enough to direct us, strong enough to bear us up, and merciful enough to save us. Our life, if we be Christians indeed, is a life of prayer; and what is Prayer but the suit of the weaker to the stronger, ―of the empty-handed sinner to Him whose treasury is full of gifts, and whose heart overflows with love? Daniel need not have braved the king's wrath, or have spent a night with hungry lions, if he could have lived without prayer; but “good man as he was,-among the very best and holiest, probably, the world has ever seen,-he was not "satisfied

from himself," and therefore with open windows, thrice in the day, he sought help and comfort from above.

Clearly, therefore, we must not understand our text so as to suppose that pious, good men can be happy apart from God, or independently of their daily communications with God. And it is equally true that they are not, and cannot be, and do not wish to be, independent of their fellow-men. The Christian, assuredly, is no churl to shut himself up where his neighbours cannot find him. If ever he has the wish to live where he shall never be intruded upon,-where he may pursue his own objects, and feed upon his own thoughts, without distraction, that is no sign or proof of goodness, but rather a temptation of the Devil who wants to rob him and the world too, and to make both the poorer for having no dealings with each other. Look at one of the mottoes of the household of faith,"We are members one of another;" that is, God's true children belong to each other, like the limbs and members of one living body; and in a lower sense, if we have the Spirit of Christ, we shall feel ourselves bound by the tie of brotherhood to men of every name and degree and character. Satisfied from ourselves we cannot be, if we feel ourselves subject to that law of Charity which connects our own highest good with the good of others, bidding us bear their burdens, sympathize with their sor

rows, and labour for their improvement, as children of one Parent, and heirs of the common Redemption.

Now, if we must not understand our text to mean that good men are independent of God, or independent of their neighbours, what does it mean? We will try to find out; for it has a meaning, and a very full one, which does not contradict, in the smallest degree, what we have said already.

Absolutely, no man can be "satisfied from himself.” As a creature he cannot be. It would be utter blasphemy to pretend it. The river might as easily flow on when the spring was dry,—the tree could as well flourish without a root,-as any man live on and be happy in a state of complete seclusion. But comparatively the man of God is "satisfied from himself." As contrasted with his worldlyminded neighbours, he stands upon a vantage-ground of his own in this respect. The fountain, from which his happiness is supplied, is more within his own reach. His castle, so to speak, is stronger, and his treasure more safe. He lives more by rule, and goes less upon a venture in all that he takes in hand. He wants less from other men, and can spare more cheerfully what they do not choose to give.

I. In the first place, he can bear his own company and his own thoughts.

What is it that makes solitude so irksome to a