few of us who have not learnt that there are more thorns than roses on every bush that grows in this dreary wilderness. Where, then, are we looking for comfort and shelter to our souls? on what are we resting our expectations of peace and happiness? There are many who are rejoicing in the shadow of some earthly gourd; are seeking to draw the waters of comfort and refreshment to thirsty souls from broken cisterns. Miserable comfort and support they will find there. And when sorrow and affliction befall them, and above all, when sickness and death overtake them, they will find that all worldly pleasures, supports, and confidences are, like Jonah's gourd, things that promise much, and perform nothing; that may yield a little temporary gratification, but utterly fail and are found wanting, when the soul is most destitute and calls loudest for help.

It is ill for a person who is embarked on the stormy sea of life, not to have Christ with him in the ship, as the disciples had in their voyages. It is ill for a person, who knows neither the day nor the hour when he may be called upon to quit his present residence, and migrate into another world, not to be assured, that the country to which he is going is the better country, even the heavenly. Yet how many are in this miserable condition! without Christ as to the present, and so without hope as to the future; some altogether negligent of their everlasting concerns, and others contenting themselves with a form of godliness without the power, having a name to live, being really dead. How many are sitting under some gourd of their own planting, and seeking shelter, and comfort, and happiness in its shade; and neglecting the

one great salvation wrought out by Christ Jesus, and the only source of solid and substantial happiness, either in time or in eternity. "They have neglected me, saith the Lord, the fountain of living water, and hewn out for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, which can hold no true water of life." Having offered these few obvious reflections in connection with Jonah's history, I pass on,

III. TO APPLY THE SUBJECT; and particularly in reference to those in circumstances of earthly comfort, and those in circumstances of tribulation and distress.

1. To those who are in circumstances of earthly comfort, to those whose gourd is flourishing, and who are rejoicing in its shadow. Let them remember, how small a matter may destroy all their present peace and pleasure; and how short a time it may be before it all vanishes and is gone. A little leak will suffice to sink a large ship, and a small worm to smite the root of the most luxuriant gourd; and when Christ bid the fig tree to wither, a very few hours elapsed before it was dried up, and became as withered as it had been green. Let them seek, therefore, to have the anchor of their ship fixed in firmer ground than the soil of earth; yea, to have it fixed on Jesus Christ, the rock of ages, and then it will be sure and steadfast. Let them seek a better shelter and security than what the gourd of earthly prosperity can afford-one that has better roots-one that is out of the reach of the worm-one that will give them not only comfort in life, but peace and hope in death. And this they will find in religion, and no where else. It is her ways that are ways of pleasantness, and her paths that are paths of peace.

It is Christ that giveth peace, and He giveth it to his disciples only. It is God, whose rod and staff comfort and support a soul in its passage through the valley of the shadow of death; and it is the Christian only, who in walking through it, has that rod and staff to lean upon and enjoy.

And if we enjoy not only the smiles of the God of providence, but those of the God of grace likewise, let us take care not to love the gourd too well, nor to sit too much at ease under its shadow. Our God will have nothing to do with a divided heart. If we make an idol of any thing, or any person, He will most likely take it away from us altogether, lest it prove a fatal hindrance to our souls, and a rival to Himself in our hearts. I apply the subject,

2. To those in circumstances of trouble and tribulation; in short, to those who know not only how the gourd grows, but how the worm smites. Let there be no repinings or murmurings among us. The Lord asked Jonah, "Dost thou well to be angry?" No, it was very wicked for Jonah to be angry; and it is as wicked as it is foolish to murmur against God when He visits with affliction. Let us remember, that He who has sent us the trial or the tribulation, is a good, and gracious, and compassionate God; one who does not willingly afflict the children of men-to whom judgment is a strange work. There is a cause then

some needs be, wherefore we are thus tried. God has some end in view in the dispensation. Perhaps we are or have been hitherto thoughtless and unconcerned about our souls; and this trouble is sent to ask us, if we find it so hard to bear this little and temporal calamity, how do we propose to bear

the great and eternal evil of the loss of our souls ? Perhaps we have been making the creature our confidence, and giving to an idol what ought to have been given to God. And if so, if we have loved money, and God has made us poor; if we have prided ourselves on health, and God has brought us down to sickness; if we have set our hearts on our children or friends, or any other earthly object, and God has removed them, or threatens to remove them, He is doing for us the kindest thing He possibly could. For by nothing very frequently does God more clearly prove His love and His wisdom, than by sending the worm of adversity to smite the root of the gourd of prosperity. That worm is frequently a great blessing to a man's soul. It causes heaviness indeed for the night; but in how many cases has it been the means of bringing joy in the morning of eternity! How many souls now in glory, can take up the words of the holy David and say, "It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn Thy statutes!"

SERMON IV.

LUKE X. 38-42.

"Now it came to pass, as they went, that He entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word. But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her, therefore, that she help me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: but one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her."

EVERY one has heard about Lazarus and his two sisters, Martha and Mary; and I wish there were more such happy families in the world;happy, because acquainted with the blessed Saviour, whom to know is present peace and future glory.

These persons lived at Bethany, a little village about two miles from Jerusalem; and I should think and believe they are all now living in heaven, in the New Jerusalem which is above. They received Christ into their hearts and their house, while they were alive, and I doubt not He has