Ver. 22. He said, Daughter, be of good comfort.-To one he says, "Son, be of good cheer;" to another, "Daughter, be of good comfort:" what gracious endearing language! Yes, Lord, thy forgiveness is cheering; thy healing is comfort; thy word assures it to us; thy Spirit settles us in it, and without it we shall never know peace.

Ver. 23. And saw the minstrels and the people making a noise-According to their custom at funerals.

Ver. 24. He said unto them, Give place.-They came to lament over the dead. There was no occasion for them.

For the maid is not dead, but sleepeth.-She was not to continue in death, as they apprehended; and he therefore calls it a sleep, knowing that she would immediately awake from it.

Ver. 24. And they laughed him to scorn-Knowing that she was dead.

Ver. 26. And the fame hereof went abroad into all that land. The fame of Jesus is the ground of our belief in him; and we are now reading the history of him, written by St. Matthew, for that end. The first thing, therefore, to be considered, is, that no man could do such miracles except God was with him. The next is, for what end he was sent of God. But both these considerations will be ineffectual, unless a third is added, viz. what you desire he should do, and what he has done for you. The learned too often stop at the two first; it is happy for the poor that they may be as well grounded in the last, and have the benefit of it, as much as any.

LECTURE.

You have heard how the woman, who was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind Jesus,

and touched his garment, saying within herself, " If I may but touch the hem of his garment, I shall be whole." Let us take these words a little into consideration, and, if it pleases God, get virtue out of them for ourselves. What forced her to look out for help? The knowledge and feeling of her distemper. What brought her to Jesus for help in her extremity? The belief and persuasion that he could, and would help her. And what engaged him to help and relieve her? Her faith. These two things then offer themselves to our consideration, with respect to the mortal disease we all labour under, I mean our sin, viz. self-knowledge, and coming to Jesus in faith for a cure. I say, we must know ourselves and our condition in sin; we must see our sin in the light of Scripture, as hateful to God, and exposing us to a sentence of condemnation ; there must be no denying, hiding, or excusing of it; we must know clearly, every one of us for ourselves, that the guilt of it is upon us, and that, if it is not removed, we shall be undone for ever. More or less our danger and misery in sin, and the necessity of deliverance from it, must be discovered to us. As the Spirit of God begins his work here in the saving of a soul, here we must begin with ourselves, and have our eyes opened to see the charge which is against us, what sin is, and what we are in sin. This first step in our Christian progress is what the generality never come to; but trusting in their baptism, together with an outward civility, and quietness of behaviour, or what they call their good hearts and good meanings, live and die ignorant of their sin, or denying its deadly nature. And therefore it is that I press, this point so earnestly upon you, and so often repeat it. I do not say how much, or how long you must feel and be troubled for your sin; but know it you must, before you can have a desire or will to be delivered from it.

Well, but we will suppose you have taken this first

step, and got so far on your way; that you feel sin in some measure as your plague and burden, believe what the Scripture tells you of your own sinfulness, and the damnableness of all sin, and would fain be rid of your fears; where will you go with it, and what will you do next? Your first thought will be to repent, and grow better as you can, in order to make your peace with God. So you must; but if you put your own repentings, your own resolutions, your own doings, in the place of Christ, you are as much out of the way as ever; and the more earnest you are in endeavouring to make yourselves whole by a law-work, the greater will be your trouble and distress, when you find, after repeated trials, that it is impossible. Poor soul! here is instruction and comfort for thee, and I am impatient to tell thee of it. Hast thou not heard of Jesus that he is the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world, that he took it all up, and bore it in his own body on the cross? Go to him directly with thine, and tell him of it; every miracle he wrought is a pledge and assurance of his good-will towards thee; and on the warrant of this word thou mayest say boldly to thyself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole; he who raised the dead to life, will raise me from the worst of all deaths, and remove that curse of sin from my soul and body, which makes death terrible to think of. Let him see this faith in thee; let it be thy real belief, grounded on the word and promise of God, a thousand times repeated for thy assurance, that there is salvation in the name Jesus; that he came into the world to save sinners; has always the same compassionate heart towards them, and all power given him to save them to the uttermost; and I dare pronounce, on the authority of the word which thou hast now heard, if there was not another such in all Scripture, that the same faith which brought the woman to Christ, and was effectual for her healing, hath made thee

whole. Thou mayest say joyfully with the apostle, "being justified by faith," pardoned, cleared of sin, and the debt-book crossed, "we have peace with God, through Jesus Christ our Lord;" and thou mayest depend upon, it that thy coming to Jesus in thy extremity, and trusting in him when all other helps fail, is as much faith in thee, as true and saving, as it was in any of those who came to him to be healed of their diseases. Therefore get yourselves upon this rock; if you would be made whole, let Christ do it, for he only can. Nothing can wash out the foul stains of your sin but his blood; nothing can be a covering for your guilty souls but his righteousness; nothing can set you above your fears, and give ease to your troubled thoughts, when you are distressed for sin, and looking out every way for help, but what he has done and suffered for you. If you trust to any thing else for the healing of your consciences, you are miserably deceived; you reject the remedy of God's providing for you, and overthrow the whole Gospel. But make the Lord Jesus your confidence, and he will be your Saviour in all respects, to deliver you from the guilt, and strengthen you against the power of sin. When you know what it is to be saved by him, what an accursed thing sin is, and how much it cost him to purge it, you will fear nothing so much as to lose your interest in him, When you think yourselves perfect only in him, you will endeavour to be as holy as possible in yourselves, and give all diligence to make your calling and election sure. In obedience to his commands, in the love of his name, you will fight manfully against sin, continually mortifying all your evil and corrupt affections, daily proceeding in all virtue and godliness of living, and praying earnestly to be kept by the mighty power of God unto salvation.

PRAYER.

Blessed Lord, who hast manifested thyself to the world in Jesus Christ, as the God and Father of mercies, and wouldest have all men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth; let thy word be precious in our eyes, as the means which thou hast ordained to bring us to the knowledge of thy grace and faith in thee, and do thou speak it to our hearts, and teach us by thy Spirit to adore and bless thee for thy great goodness. We have long been diseased, we are naturally dead in trespasses and sins; but thou, who didst deliver up thy own Son for us all, wilt also freely with him. give us all things; faith to receive him, new hearts turned to thee, new wills to please thee, with the Spirit of grace and supplications to be established in thy covenant of peace, and kept safe to thy everlasting kingdom of glory. Raise up, we pray thee, thy power, and come among us, and with great might succour us. Open our eyes, turn us from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto thee, that we may receive forgiveness of sins, and an inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith, which is in Christ Jesus. If we may but touch the hem of his garment, we shall be whole; if we trust in any thing but him for the life of our souls, we deny the Lord that bought us, and our sin remaineth. Take from us all unbelief and hardness of heart, and bless what we have now heard to our instruction and comfort; that being convinced, by his mighty works, of his power to help and to save us, we may come to him for the miracle of our own healing, make him our strength and our confidence, be thy workmanship created in him unto good works, and find mercy through him, our blessed Saviour and Redeemer. Amen.

T