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Hagar, Sarai's maid, whence camest thou, and whither wilt thou go? and she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai." Observe the angel's salutation,-the greeting of Him who came to seek and to save that which was lost! "Hagar, Sarai's maid,"-to remind the fugitive that although she had fled from duty, she had not been able to break off the yoke of authority. And what is the voice of the Redeemer's mercy to the sinner, who goes into a far country, sojourns in the wilderness of rebellion, and sets up the pole of his tent by the bitter waters of those sins, which turn the heart from God, and detain it an alien from his love? Conviction of guilt must be brought home upon the mind. God's authority, God's law must be asserted, and the transgressor must know, that it is an evil and a bitter thing to depart from Him. A return to God must be demanded, as by the angel to Hagar,-" Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands. " The law is thus made a schoolmaster to bring the offender to Christ; and although secret mercy hath hitherto dealt with him according to the terrors of the law, yet is every subse

1 Gen. xvi. 8.

2 Gen. xvi. 9.

quent step one of manifested mercy, when the heart in the obedience of faith has once said and acted upon the resolve, in the sufficiency of Almighty grace, "I will arise and go to my Father." Then do those radiant promises, of which some glimpses awakened hope, as faith made them visible to shine forth in their brightness, to bring peace and comfort, and joy into it.

3

The angel of the Lord said, "I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude:" and then follow all those assurances concerning the character of her son's descendants, which have been, and are at this moment so wondrously fulfilled. "Behold, it is added, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the Lord hath heard thy affliction." Yes, such is ever the language of the Angel of the covenant. The conscience-stricken offender may be mourning and miserable, and yet in much hardness of heart; scarcely lifting up any desires to God. But Jesus sees his afflictions, and hastens to relieve them, and fills the mind with peace and blessedness, by directing it to its home and its rest in Himself.

1 Luke xv. 18. 2 Gen. xvi. 10.

3 Gen. xvi. 11.

Hagar's child must bear a name which shall be a memorial of her Redeemer's compassion and love. "Ishmael, God shall hear." And thus when He brings his self-banished ones home again, He writes the record of his goodness, where they may continually turn the page to read it. The angel's love melted and subdued Hagar's heart. She called the name of that well whereby she sat, Beer-la-hai-roi, "the well of the God of vision, or the well of the God that seeth me." Faith now reigneth over unbelief, humility over pride, love over rebellion, and God was dear to her. A sense of holy shame is awakened within her mind, and she cries, "Have I also here looked after Him that seeth me?" Here is the outpouring of a godly sorrow, confessing and abhorring its past carelessness and ingratitude; owning the goodness and tenderness of the Saviour's preventing love, and all his compassion: and writing its own condemnation, in the moment when pardon and peace are bought, and sealed upon it. And you who know the goodness and grace of Christ, let Hagar's example be recorded for your imitation. How often did the Angel of the cove

1 Gen. xvi. 13.

nant look on you, wait on you, knock at the door of your hearts, beseech you to regard Him, but all in vain! At length He allured you into some wilderness of providential, or spiritual trial, and there spake comfortably to you; there vouchsafed to you visits of his goodness and grace; there filled you with peace, which the world could neither give nor take away. You perhaps forgot Him and rebelled against Him, in the hour of holy and gracious privileges; but his eye followed you into the desert, his goodness found you there, and his salvation there visited you. Beseech Him then to forgive your wanderings, pride, and hardness of heart; implore Him to accompany you back again to the path of forsaken duties and to be unto you, in that path, your fulness of comfort, and your fountain of unfailing holiness and joy.

SERMON XXII.

THE COVENANT RENEWED AND SEALED.

GENESIS XVII. 1, 2.

AND WHEN ABRAM WAS NINETY YEARS OLD AND NINE, THE LORD APPEARED TO ABRAM, AND SAID UNTO HIM, I AM THE ALMIGHTY GOD; WALK BEFORE ME, AND BE THOU

PERFECT.

Ir is an error greatly injurious to their spiritual prosperity, that Christians are so willing to be contented with less than God proposes, and promises to bestow upon them, in the person and salvation of their Great Redeemer. It was so even with the father of the faithful. Contented with Ishmael, and regarding him as the accomplishment of his wishes, his mind is turned away by the sight of one born after the flesh, from a spiritual seed, with all the fruit of mercy which it enfolded. He must therefore be awakened to higher hopes, and more glorious prospects, after he had been slumbering above thirteen years from the birth of Ishmael. Ac