of the Lamb, and who are singing, Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever," and could we ask them of their former character, they would say, we were circumstanced exactly as you are, we were no better than you, nor could you well be worse than we were. David knew this; we need not desire the testimony of those in heaven, we have a better testimony than they could give us, were they to descend from heaven and communicate it to us; we have the testimony of God himself. David at times was disposed to doubt, and tempted to give up all for lost; but when he came to consider the character of God and looked back to former deliverances, he was encouraged to hope and trust in the Lord, "Will the Lord cast off for ever, and will he be favourable no more? Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore? hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut his tender mercies? And I said, this is my infirmity; but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High."1 It is not once only that we find this recorded of the Psalmist; read Psalm cxxx. 1-4, "Out of

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1 Psalm 1xxvii. 7-10.

the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord, Lord, hear my voice: let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared." My brother, if at any time you or I should be tempted to despond, and to believe there is something peculiar in our case that shall exclude us from the mercy of God, we may rest assured, we are only insulting God, so long as we entertain such thoughts: God gives his church very rich and striking ideas of his mercy; read, when you go home, Isaiah lv. from the sixth verse to the end of the chapter; there is a disposition in the returning sinner, to fly from the contemplation of the desert and guilt of his sin, to the mercy of God, and we read in this chapter (verses 8, 9)" for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord; for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." Hear also, you who complain of your own barrenness, verses 12 and 13, "for ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of

the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off." Oh! may God teach us perpetually to take him at

his word.

Again; another reason why we should wait upon God is, THAT NO ONE HAS EVER WAITED UPON THE LORD AND BEEN DISAPPOINTED. God is the only Being by whom we can never be disappointed; it is not only possible but probable, not only probable, but certain, that you and I should disappoint one another continually, were it not for the goodness of God. Though we have, and often declare we possess the strongest confidence in any individual, yet we are continually disappointed, and have reason to be distrustful. Hear what Jesus says, when in the avowed assumption of his dignity and unchangeable truth as God, he declares, "heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away." The saints of God had to wait many years for the promised blessing; sometimes they waited so long that the fulfilment of the promise seemed impossible. Abraham for the promised seed, Isaac, and Simeon to see the Messiah; at last the blessing came, and Simeon on the verge of the grave, taking the young child in his arms, said,

"Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: for mine eyes have seen thy salvation."

II. In the next place, we must consider the MANNER IN WHICH WE MUST WAIT,-in faith; implicitly believing every thing God has declared. The whole of our life here below, must be a life of faith; when we believe what God hath said, then only are we safe from the incursions of every enemy. If we are defective in faith, we shall be defective in every thing else; we shall only be secure when we take God at his word. We must trust to Christ in his Priestly office, to instruct and intercede for us; we must trust him as an atoning sacrifice; we must trust in him for acceptance, and depend upon God's holy Spirit, that we may be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man. I would observe, that what weakens us in every thing, is a sense of sin: we then think God is our enemy, we are slack in every duty, and weak in every approach to God: oh, may we be taught to wait long upon God, and to bring him, morning after morning, evening after evening, the atoning sacrifice of Jesus. I I repeat this important truth-the faith that embraces Christ in his Priestly office, will easily embrace every other truth.

Again this waiting upon God is the first thing, and the last; if we were to live to the age of Methuselah, we must still have to wait.

Again he who waits upon God is humble; the wonder is he is permitted to wait upon God, notwithstanding all his iniquity: there is real humility in waiting upon God, notwithstanding every discouragement; there is pride in the contrary. When the sinner dwells upon the many promises of God for time and eternity, and upon the character of God, he is amazed and astonished at his mercy and by ascending to this sublime contemplation, he descends to the view of his own poverty and nothingness.

Again he waits with patience. Do you recollect in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress in the house of the Interpreter, Passion would have every thing to day-Patience would wait for to-morrow. Look at the conduct of Jesus, and see it fully exemplified, in his many long and dreary nights of prayer-his temptation-his agony-his suffering on the cross. When faith embraces the Saviour, it necessarily leads to patience.

Again he who waits upon God, will wait with all diligence. On thee do I wait all the

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day; ' an infinitely we possessed worlds.

richer blessing than if The Psalmist was satis