familiar with Christ, have learned to love him, and to know that he not only was, but is now, a living object of our love, the prospect of being with him for ever will not seem like a vague promise of we know not what, but a real substantial pleasure, which we would not forfeit for all that the world can offer.

But I have been led away by my subject, and find that there is not time to pursue it further: I must reserve the other two means of acquiring Christian faith for consideration in another sermon. Only may God grant, that what I have hitherto said, may lead some of you, at least, to acquire a greater familiarity with the words and deeds of Christ; that your own experience might tell you whether I have over-valued the advantages of knowing them and loving them.

SERMON III.

JOHN VI. 58.

This is the bread which came down from heaven; not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.

I MENTIONED in my last sermon, that there were three ordinary means of acquiring that faith which is so necessary to us, and of which we all of us have too little a portion. These three means were, reading the Scriptures, prayer, and the partaking of the Lord's supper. Of the first of these I spoke last Sunday; I mentioned how, by reading the story of Christ's life and death in particular, we should bring the thought of him home to our minds as something of a reality; and, when we had learnt to fancy and to love him as he was on earth, that then it was a comfort to think, that such as he had been on earth, such he now is at the right hand of God, with almighty power and infinite love; and I earnestly recommended the making ourselves familiar with the words and deeds of Christ, as a first and most important step towards believing in him and loving him. Still it is but too certain, by

every day's experience, that the reading of the Scriptures of itself is not sufficient; that although faith may come at first by reading, yet it needs something else to sustain it; in short, that it is very possible to know the Scriptures thoroughly, and yet not to have that faith which overcometh the world. Nay, I may go further it is possible not only to know the Scriptures, but heartily to admire them; not only to be familiar with Christ's words and actions, but to feel a great delight in and love for them; and yet still not to have that saving, that victorious faith, of which St. John speaks in the words of my last Sunday's text. We cannot doubt Peter's familiar knowledge of his Lord, nor yet his lively recollection of his words, nor his warm affection for his person: yet, with all this, what is it that Christ said to him just before he was betrayed to be crucified ?—" Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have thee, that he may sift thee as wheat; but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not; and, when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." What faith he had already was not sufficient to withstand the assaults of his enemy; he was overcome, even to the denying of his Lord; yet his faith, though weak, though far from overcoming the world, still, through Christ's prayer, was upheld from failing utterly. He recovered from his fall, and received a diviner strength; and, when converted, he did indeed strengthen his brethren; and not only his brethren who then were, but by his epistles, preserved for our instruction, he strengthens us also, and will continue to strengthen our children after us, even unto the end of the world.

Let us take then ourselves, (and to how many in the world is the case applicable,) as being such as Peter was when our Lord said these words to him. I do not mean to suppose our love to Christ to be half so warm as his was; much rather, I believe, may we sympathize with the wish of one of the best and wisest men of the fifteenth century, (Wessel of Groningen,) "that we had so much love to Christ in these quiet times as Peter had, even when he cursed and swore, and denied his master.' But I mean the likeness to extend thus far; that we, like Peter, may have become familiar with our Lord's words and life, and may really have conceived a sincere admiration and love for them. Then it is that we need Christ's prayer for us, that our faith fail not; then it is that Satan will sift us as wheat, will do with us whatever he will, unless Christ's prayer join with our prayer, and Christ's spirit enter into our spirits, to become our bread of life.

"This is the bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever." Easy, most easy, is it to admire and love what is beautiful, and wise, and pure, and holy; nay, it is even unnatural and monstrous not to admire it. But there is something more wanted than this, before we shall copy as well as admire; and in this is the great point of all. It is not enough that we love the character of Christ : who can help loving it? It must be something of a closer and more personal feeling, if I may so speak, that will make him become to us the bread of life; and this feeling will only be gained by prayer. By

prayer we speak to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; and we speak to him as needing his help and mercy. By prayer we express our sense of the reality of what we have read in the Scriptures; we say, in fact, "Give to me, Lord, my own particular portion in the blessings which the Scripture speaks of. I love what I read of Christ; but I am so unlike him, that he cannot love me. I love his character; but other feelings often come in much stronger than this love, so that I cannot be said to live in the love of him. What I want, thou, Lord, seest, and thou wilt give it to me also; for though I have, as yet, no personal experience in these matters, yet I know that the Scripture says we shall be heard if we pray to thee, and that thou wilt give thy Holy Spirit to them that ask it." It is an awful moment, a turning point often in our character for all eternity, when we first begin, in some such manner as this, to enter into a real communion with God; when our prayers first become,—I do not say sincere, for I should be very sorry to think they had not been, in many cases, sincere, even from earliest childhood, but when they first proceed out of an awakened heart which feels more deeply what itself is, and what is God. It is astonishing how this sort of earnest prayer opens our eyes daily more and more, and strengthens our faith. A natural part of such prayer is confession; we cannot but truly feel our unworthiness when we bring the most high and holy God present, in a manner, before us. We know then-we cannot help knowing-that we are naked. This calls up before our minds our particular and besetting sins; those disguises of our real character,