Standing, when a mere boy, before a painting of Raphael, at Rome, he gazed a long while, rapt in silent transport— and at last, as if he had found some great treasure, with joy suddenly beaming on his countenance, suddenly broke out with the words, "I too, am a painter!" He then left the picture gallery, went home, mixed his colours, and immedi ately began to produce works not unlike that which had excited his enthusiasm and called forth his hidden powers. In like manner, it may be regarded as a happy sign of ourselves, if the spiritual image of an Abraham, an Elijah, or a Paul, transport us with such an enthusiasm, and we exclaim, "O that my heart was fashioned like theirs." And if, in such moments, the thought should rise, "I also, am a child of God," and we feel within us something of their spirit, it is not at all our duty to reject such a thought. For he who can understand and appreciate such men, and embrace them with peculiar affection for the sake of the Spirit of Christ which is in them, has thereby a tolerably certain mark, that he has at least somewhat of the mind in himself which was in them,—since like can only understand and love its like. Hence the Lord says, "He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet," that is, in the character of a prophet, or because he is a prophet, "shall receive a prophet's reward;" for, by this reception, he shews himself to be like-minded with him be receives.

IV. Elisha, with the spirit of his great predecessor, inherits also his office and his flock. Elijah had not commenced his prophetic career under such favourable circumstances. He had entered on a waste moral wilderness; whereas his successor finds a fallow ground already broken up; nay, here and there a blooming plantation, in whose fresh and vigorous shoots there lay a thousand hopes for the future good of Israel.

A minister of the gospel of Christ ought to count it no small advantage, if he find, in the church to which he is introduced, a little flock of believing souls, waiting to receive him. However small their number, he discerns in them, as

it were, a centre of crystallization, around which others may be formed, a golden thread on which other pearls may be strong, a living image of what his descriptions of Christian character set forth, and, for himself, a living focus in which all the rays of his own spiritual life are collected and sent back upon his own soul. The nightingale sings best when there is a constant echo. The merchandise of wisdom, which is better than that of silver, is carried on all the more happily, that the bark of the word which is freighted with it, returns to the preacher laden with the best spiritual experiences of his people.

The ministers of this happy valley can each congratulate themselves that they have enjoyed the same great privilege as Elisha. We found the good seed of the word plentifully scattered among you; and therein lay your strength, and not in earthly property and endowments. A church that is rich in the word of God is rich indeed. It has then the keys of the invisible world, the weapons against death and hell, the universal remedy for every evil, the wondrous staff that can divide every river, the tree whose leaves are for the healing of the nations, and the lamp that lights the way through time into eternity. And even should this precious treasure lie like unemployed capital, still the church that has the word has much cause for thankfulness. It lies still within the territory of hope, like a field into whose furrows the seed has been cast, and which lies for a while rough and bare. The husbandman regards it with a hopeful eye, for it needs only the gentle showers of spring to clothe it with the fairest and richest promise.

But the churches in our valley are more than such fields. In many places the word has sprung up and multiplied itself in many a mature growth of Christian attainment. The Lord knows it, and therefore he is as a wall of fire round about us; the chief Shepherd knows it, and therefore he blesses us with a host of zealous evangelists; the holy angels know it, and therefore they guard our dwellings so wakefully and true; Satan, with his infernal army, knows it, and therefore he regards us with such spite, and pours out against us all

manner of reproaches and blasphemies; our brethren, too, from a distance, know it, and therefore when they visit us, they leave us with the feeling of having been refreshed, as with living waters. If we look around us in our church meetings, how many a brother and sister's face beams on us there! If we walk through our streets, where is there one in which we could not somewhere or other find the tabernanacle of God with men? Yes, there are quarters of the town in which house after house is a tent for the God of Jacob. And oh, how many a lily of our valley blooms in modest retirement, known only to the heavenly guardian, who refreshes it with dew, or perhaps to one or more of us, who have discovered it by accident! How many a sanctified soul walks in the midst of us, unperceived and without talk or boasting; while few know the rich treasures of grace that it carries within, or the ardent love with which it is attached to the Saviour. Yea, were all who fear the Lord among us, to come together into one place, I believe we should be astonished at their numbers, and praise the Lord for his distinguished grace to us as a portion of his church. True, they are of all manner of forms and complexions, but all baptized with one baptism, all inspired with one spirit, all bound up in one bundle of life with Christ Jesus. Blessed inheritance which our never-to-be-forgotten predecessors have left us! We bless their ashes; and offer our sacrifices of thanksgiving to Him to whom all praise is due, over their graves of rest.

But to return to Elisha, whom we left in the way to Jericho. He walks along in the company of the sons of the prophets, in pensive silence. He is bowed down with the weight of blessing, which has been laid upon him, and his heart longs for rest from the mingling and deep emotions which mark this, the greatest day of his life. Elijah's legacy may remind us of that better legacy which Christ has bequeathed to all his faithful disciples. The mantle which he has left behind is the robe of his righteousness, a festal robe indeed! "The skies," saith the prophet, "rain down righteousness." Yes, this garment of salvation is all

we can desire. It is armour in the day of battle, a priestly robe for our entrance to the holiest of all, a wedding-garment for admission to the feast above. It is interwoven with the inward holiness of our souls, so that we can appear in the presence of our God, all glorious without and within. The God whom we serve is a shepherd "who carries the lambs in his bosom," who deems not the angels too high for our ministering servants, and who embraces his own glory and our happiness in one purpose of eternal love. The Spirit which he imparts to us may not indeed divide the waters, but quells in us the troubled conscience; he may not disclose to us the events of the future, but He "witnesses with our spirits that we are the children of God." If he does not teach us to call down fire from heaven, he teaches us to cry "Abba, Father;" and if he does not make us workers of miracles, he makes us temples of the living God. The office of ministers of the Spirit far surpasses in glory that of the prophets of the Old Testament. Our ministry is that of reconciliation, which calls to those who have been sinners, "Ye are complete in him;" to transgressors, "There is now no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus;" and, to bruised reeds, "The Lord will not break you." Wo are not only Christ's ministers, but we are in Christ's stead. We are sent by him even as he was sent by the Father. We act in the name of the Son of God, and carry not only the standard, but the keys of the kingdom of heaven.

Beloved, my brethren in the Lord, thus have we been remembered in the blood-besprinkled testament of Him who hung upon the cross! What a glorious legacy, what an incomparable bequest! Let us rejoice in this richness of divine grace, and join with triumph in the song of David, "The lot is fallen to me in pleasant places, yea I have a goodly heritage." Amen.

VII.-THE GROWTH IN GRACE.

Much of the future vigour and health of a new-born infant depends upon the hands into which it first comes; and as its natural malformations may then be most easily corrected by judicious attention, so its natural good proportions may then be most seriously injured by mismanagement. This is true also of new-born babes in the spiritual sense. It is a momentous consideration, therefore, to whose care their souls are first entrusted. How many are weak and sickly all their days in consequence of the errors of their first Christian training; and how often do we see in the church, as in the world, those who are lame through unskilful rearing!

There is a religious party existing in the midst of us, which, because it does not, and cannot, receive the doctrine of sin and of atonement, in the apostolic sense, has neither part nor lot in the blessed privilege of serving the Lord in bringing in the lost sheep into his fold. No icy heart melts under their teaching; no resurrection among the dry bones follows their prophesying; yet in this party there prevails the most ardent zeal to extend and increase itself, which it can only do by dropping, like the cuckoo, its eggs into the nests built by others. The work of awakening and conversion it leaves to others. It does not commence its labours among the dry bones, but only where the movement of life has already spread. It has none of the noble ambition of the apostle, who disdained to build on another man's foundation, Rom. xv. 20. Under its perverting influence many a healthy birth has been sadly crippled, and many a tender and hopeful plant of grace stunted or withered away. I shall take occasion to present you in the following meditations with a description of the true form and natural working of a healthy Christianity.

2 Kings ii. 16-18.

"And they said unto him. Behold now, there be with thy servants fifty strong inen; let them go, we pray thee, and seek thy master: lest peradven