behold him but with displeasure; except as he is seen in the righteousness of God his Saviour. Such feelings press upon him as a heavy burden; often crush all his attempts to pray; and compel him to cry out in the agony of a broken spirit, "wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" Then does he exclaim in the language of our text, "hinder me not, for the Lord hath prospered my way." "Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy, though I fall, yet shall I rise again; and though I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me. Sin has been pardoned; God has received, and is able to keep me. I have entered into a covenant with him, from which I will never shrink, to walk before him, and to be his forever. And though I be not so with God, as I much desire to be, yet hath he made with me an everlasting covenant, in all things well ordered and sure, which is all my salvation, and all my desire."

IV. Lastly, I may consider this as the demand of the faithful minister of the Gospel. "Hinder me not, seeing the Lord hath prospered my way." The evidence that God has prospered his way, that through his labours, the Lord has added many souls unto his church of such as shall be saved, furnishes a comfort beyond expression, to the faithful minister, the man who watches for souls, as one that must give an account. This joy would be vastly increased, were there none disposed to hinder his way, and to retard the progress of the word of God. But the opposing passions and habits of sinful men, the long-indulged unbelief which has taken possession of their minds, the cold and lifeless system of religion which has been adopted by many professors of the Gospel, the

indolence of multitudes who are not willing to count all but loss for Christ's sake, are important hindrances in the way of his success. If the shepherd be smitten, the sheep will be easily scattered abroad. Whatever, therefore, the adversary can do to hinder his usefulness, and to counteract his exertions, will undoubtedly be called into requisition. A thousand worldly inducements are presented to draw him back. A thousand discouragements in the character and examples of professed fellow-labourers are thrown in his way. If a deep solicitude for the souls of men lead him to exhort, admonish, and entreat, with all long-suffering and doctrine, a strong repugnance is often excited against his preaching of the truth. If any are awakened under the word from his mouth, by the Spirit of God, an opposing influence is immediately brought into operation. Some enemy will scoff, or some false friend will lead away those whom God hath thus far blessed, from an influence so exciting. Trials from the world abroad, and trials from the professing church around him, continually beset his path. And what can sustain the minister of Christ in such a contest, save the prospering power of God, and the affectionate co-operation and prayers of those surrounding friends in Christ, whose hearts the Lord hath opened to receive the truth? His solemn demand upon every opposer of the Gospel, is, "hinder me not, seeing the Lord hath prospered my way." "I have a momentous undertaking committed to me. The souls of men are perishing around me. Sinners must be rescued from eternal ruin. Multitudes are desiring salvation, and must be guided to the holy and immaculate Lamb of God. Wolves are ready to

break in upon the fold, and the flock of the Lord must be protected and sustained. God has set me forth for the defence of his truth, and wo is unto me, if I preach not the Gospel."

This is my present petition to every sinful heart before me. Hinder not the operation of the truth of God. Let the Holy Spirit produce his perfect work of mercy in your hearts, showing your unworthiness, and displaying to you the new and glorious way of life eternal, which is laid open to you in the Gospel. Make no efforts to countenance your native alienation from God. Nothing can effectually hinder your conversion unto God, but the obstacles which yourselves interpose. If you are ready to yield to his will, he will overturn within you every sinful feeling, and bring your whole soul into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Upon yourselves God has made it to depend, whether our way shall be prospered among you. O, may he mercifully lead you to give his word free course, that it may be glorified here, in persuading you all to seek the salvation of God.

SERMON XVI.

DIFFICULTIES OF OLD AGE.

Jeremiah vi. 4.—Wo unto us! for the day goeth away, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out.

THE subject which from this text I design to commend to your notice, is an old age without piety. It is truly a painful subject. But it is one to which faithfulness in duty requires us to call the serious attention of procrastinating man. In the remarks which I shall have occasion to make upon this subject, so far as they are addressed to those who have not yet attained this late period of life, it will be my duty to employ the most solemn admonition and warning. In regard to those among my hearers, who are already aged, or who are verging upon it in the declining years of manhood, it becomes me to use the utmost tenderness of manner, without yielding at all the solemnity of warning, or the ardour of persuasion.

The command of St. Paul to Timothy was, "rebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a father, and the elder women as mothers." The same spirit of compassionate respect, the law of God has also enjoined,

in directing our deportment towards the aged. "The nakedness of thy father, and the nakedness of thy mother, thou shalt not uncover." "Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man, and fear thy God; I am the Lord." In the spirit of these precepts, would I govern my present remarks. It is my desire, in the meekness of wisdom which the Gospel requires, to show the inevitable danger and sorrow which they must entail upon themselves, who come to the winter days of man, unpardoned, unclothed, and without hope; and in opposition to this, the comfort and peace which he will enjoy, whose hoary head is found in the way of righteousness.

It may be that some who hear me, will feel constrained to adopt the mournful exclamation of the text in regard to themselves. Their time for labour is drawing to its close, and in the deepening shadows of the evening, no light is seen to guide and cheer them through the approaching darkness. If I address any who have lived for many years in the midst of divine mercies, and of the abundant privileges of divine grace, and are conscious that they are yet unreconciled to God, I would not utter to them a single word of reproach. I would entreat them as fathers and mothers, to give glory to the Lord their God, before he cause darkness, and their feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and while they look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness. If they begin to see and to feel, the desolate condition of an old age without the presence of a reconciled God; if they find themselves fast hastening to an eternal world, without the certain hope and comfort which the Gospel gives; I would beseech