opposers, who only sought to cavil, found enough to become stumbling blocks to their own ruin. You remember our Lord's parable of the sower, to shew the different effects of the preached word, and his setting a little child in the midst of his disciples to teach them humility.

Our Lord's teaching was also distinguished by the mild and affectionate manner of it. Indeed, he courts the attention of his disciples upon this ground. "Learn of me," says he, "for I am meek and lowly in heart,"-no forbidding-no philosophic or priestly haughtiness, but waiting to be gracious, and willing to diffuse knowledge; he was indulgent in all his behaviour, even to his dull disciples, and gentle to his bitterest enemies. Paul speaks of "the gentleness of Christ," and "the bowels of Christ." How pathetic were his lamentations over Jerusalem! and how charming his farewell discourse to his disciples !

Again, our Lord taught the people faithfully. He honestly told his disciples what they were to expect, if they became his followers-that they must deny themselves, and take up their cross! that they would not, perhaps, have accommodation equal to the foxes of the wilderness, or the birds of the air; but they must look for divisions and discord, and evil speakings; yea, for death itself. He also plainly forewarned men of their danger; he boldly exposed the ignorance and hypocrisy of the Pharisees he warned men against them as the blind leaders of the blind, lest both should fall into the ditch.

How zealous also was our Lord in giving these instructions! he was like a man in earnest, who felt the importance of what he taught. "The zeal of thine house," says he, "hath eaten me up-hath · even consumed me!" insomuch that his own relatives suspected his sanity, and intimated that he was beside himself.

Observe also how majestically he spoke. Never man before could, speak like him. Even the com

mon people observed that he spoke with authority, and not as the scribes. The dignity of his manner, and the weight of his discourses, constrained his hearers to say, Never man spake like this man! And this will appear still more clearly, when we consider,

III. The grand effect of his teaching.

He who spoke on earth in this astonishing manner, was no less a person than he who said at the creation of the world, Let there be light, and there was light." Powerful was the effect of our Lord's word on things inanimate. When the tempestuous wind fiercely raged, and the waves of the sea threatened instant destruction, it was only for him to say, "Peace, be still," and there was a great calm.

Demons, who at that time obtained permission to possess the bodies of men, and grievously tormented them, were banished with a single word, and the poor demoniacs were found sitting at his feet in their right mind.

And with respect to men-what power accompanied his words! Did he command the fishermen of Galilee to forsake their nets and their boats, or did he command the wealthy publican to leave the receipt of custom, they instantly comply, forsake all their occupations and possessions, and immediately join his humble train. Did atrocious sinners mingle with the multitude who flocked to hear him preach, one word from our Lord, spoken to their hearts, changed them in a moment. She who had been an atrocious sinner, a person of notorious character, follows Jesus even into the house of a Pharisee, bedewing his feet with the tears of penitence, and wiping them with the hair of her head! Zaccheus, before an extortioner, hears Jesus invite himself to his house, receives him gladly, and, changed by his grace, immediately became another man. Who but Jesus could have

dared to say to a weeping penitent, "Go in peace, thy sins are forgiven thee?" Can any forgive sins but God only?

And still his word (and the preached Gospel is his word) produces, by the power of the Holy Spirit, similar effects. For what purpose was the Gospel ordained? "To open men's eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, and to translate them from the power of Satan unto God, that they might receive an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith in him.' Our Lord declares what should be the grand effect and influence of his Gospel; " The hour cometh," said he, "and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and live." And thus it proved to the Ephesians; they were originally "dead in trespasses and sins," but they were "quickened" by the word of the Lord Jesus. So it was with the Corinthians: they had been wallowing in every sort of vice, but "they were washed, they were justified, they were sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints;" they became new creatures-old things passed away all became new.

St. Paul, in his first epistle to the Corinthians, chapter the 14th, verse the 24th, describes the manner in which this great change was in the primitive times frequently effected. Speaking of the religious assemblies of the first Christians, where the word of the gospel was preached" there cometh in one," saith he, "that believeth not, or one unlearned"-ignorant of Christ and the Gospel, and "he is convinced of all; he is judged of all; and thus are the secrets of his heart inade manifest; and so, falling down on his face, he will worship God, and report that God is with you of a truth; -the person described, came in, it may be as a spy, or merely to mock at what he might hear; but, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the word touches his heart; he is convinced of his sin and danger; he renounces his former idolatry; becomes a spi

ritual worshipper of the true God; and is convinced, from what he feels, that the people, whom before he despised, are indeed the people of God, and that his presence is among them.

The power that produces this conviction, and this mental revolution, is and must be divine, and St. Paul ascribes it to the same creative voice, which at the beginning said, "Let there be light, and light there was." Speaking to the same church of the Corinthians (2d Epistle, ch. 4. ver. 6.) he says, "God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." What a grand idea does this give of the power of divine grace on the souls of men! It is the voice of him that spake the most glorious creatures into being, that speaks to the heart, and bids the light of the gospel enter. It is Jesus, by whom all things were originally made, and without whom nothing was made, who is the author of the new creation in the soul of man: and, blessed be God, the same effects are still produced, though rarely so suddenly and so visibly, yet as really and truly by the ministry of the Gospel of Christ, of which, we trust, there are amongst us more than a few living witnesses.

To conclude.

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What has been said may, trust, excite our admiration, and constrain us to use the language of the text, Never man spake like this man! But this is not enough; let us be anxious to hear him ourselves; each of us for himself to receive his word. It will little avail us to know, that nearly 1800 years ago a distinguished person spake as never man spake, unless we know that we have heard his voice and have believed in his name. For, be it observed, that still Christ speaketh to us, according to Hebrews xii. 25.

"See that ye refuse not him that speaketh, for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also the heavens."

When our Lord made his appearance on earth, a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son, hear ye him!" And again," This is the Prophet that God promised to raise up, hear him; and it shall come to pass, that if any one will not hear that prophet, he shall be cut off from among the people."

-Doubtless Christ still speaks to us by his blessed word; let us then beware of the sin and danger of rejecting him, for as it is written in the 12th chapter of St. John's Gospel, and the 48th verse, "He that rejecteth me and receiveth not my word, hath one that judgeth him; the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day."

It is, on the other hand, the distinguishing character of all true disciples, that they affectionately and practically attend to the voice of Christ. Our Lord says, in the 10th chapter of St. John's Gospel, verse 27th," My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me ;" and in the 3d and 4th verses of that chapter, speaking of himself as the shepherd, he says, "The sheep hear his voice, and he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice, and a stranger they will not follow;" but they follow the Lamb, whithersoever he goeth. Let us then, my friends, like Mary, whom he so highly commended, take our station at his feet, and thus choose, like her, the good part, which shall not be taken from us; and should we be tempted to withdraw from him, let us still cleave to him with purpose of heart, and repel every temptation to forsake this divine teacher, saying with Peter; "Lord, to whom shall we go," (if we forsake thee) "for thou," and thou only, "hast the words of eternal life."