obnoxious feature, and by certain extenuations and refinements to accommodate it to the pride of the sinful and unsanctified heart. Hence the deplorable infatuation of multitudes, who choose rather to perish in their sin than to be so entirely and deeply indebted to unmerited favour as the system of the gospel implies. But to a mind truly humbled nothing is more welcome, nothing is more delightful, than the contemplation of revealed truth under this aspect. To feel himself under an unutterable obligation is no oppressive load, from which the contrite in heart is anxious to be released. He cheerfully takes his proper place; loves to sink into the lowest depths of self-abasement; and values the blessings of salvation infinitely more for that

XXXI.

ON PATIENCE.

HEB. X. 36.-Ye have need of patience.

THIS epistle was evidently directed to persons in a state of calamity and suffering, and contemplates its readers under that aspect. It was addressed to Jewish converts, who suffered from the rancorous bigotry and malice of their countrymen, who, in the commencement of Christianity, were its most violent and formidable persecutors. It attaches to some remarkable period of persecution which they had sustained immediately on their professing the gospel. "But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions, partly; while ye were made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions, and partly, while ye became companions of them that were so used." In this trial they had conducted themselves with great constancy and firmness, "taking joyfully the spoiling of their goods." Hence the apostle takes occasion to admonish them still to persevere in the hope and profession of the gospel, intimating they were not to expect an exemption from future trials. "Ye have need of patience."

The state of Christianity, in every age, has called for the exercise and cultivation of this grace. It is a quality in the composition of a Christian which is never unnecessary, as he must not expect long to be in a situation where its exertion is not demanded.

I. The circumstances of Christians are often such as to render its exercise indispensably requisite, if they would glorify God, by evincing a suitable spirit and conduct.

1. The trials which good men are called to endure are often very

*Heb. x. 32, 33.

severe. They have their full share in the ordinary ills of life; besides trials which are peculiar to themselves, arising out of the nature of the Christian profession. On many of them poverty presses with an accumulated weight.

They find it difficult, or impossible, with all the exertions they can make, to procure an adequate provision of the necessaries of life for themselves and families. They are obliged to content themselves with a scanty and insufficient diet, with clothing insufficient to protect them from the inclemencies of the season, which is sometimes aggravated by the state of their health being such as calls for certain comforts and indulgences, which it is out of their power to procure. Their subsistance is precarious; so that when they rise in the morning they have no certainty of being able to provide for the day that is passing over them; which is enough to overcast the mind with anxious and dismal forebodings. They could endure hardships themselves perhaps with tolerable composure; but it is distressing to see the helpless and innocent babes asking, with imploring looks, for that relief from hunger which they are unable to supply. How many a pious head of a family, in this and in almost every other country, is placed, at this moment, in these afflicting circumstances! and, surely, it will be readily acknowledged that such "have need of patience."

2. The trials under which many of the people of God are labouring are various and complicated: a confluence of afflictions meet together, and heighten and exasperate each other. The evils of poverty are aggravated by sickness and bodily pain; a constitution broken down with the weight of years and infirmities is added to domestic trials and disappointments the most difficult to sustain. Those from whom assistance was expected become cool and indifferent, perhaps hostile; and the anguish arising from confidence betrayed, and friendship violated, is added to every other evil. Thus David, in his old age, when his natural strength was much abated, had to struggle with the unnatural rebellion of his son, and with the treacherous desertion of some of his most intimate and endeared friends, those with whom he had often taken sweet counsel, and gone to the house of God in company. "Had it been an enemy I could have borne it, but it was thou, mine equal and my guide." When he had reason to hope he had surmounted his difficulties, and by great exertion and resolution weathered the storms of life, and was about to enter into a peaceful harbour, a sudden hurricane arose, which drove him back into the ocean, and threatened him with total destruction. Job, in like manner, was visited with stroke upon stroke: first his property was torn from him, then his children, then his health; lastly, the friends from whom he expected support and consolation turned his enemies and accusers. As he had great need of patience, so his exemplification of it, though far from being perfect, was such as to render his name illustrious through every succeeding age.

3. When heavy and complicated trials are of long continuance,when, after enduring them long, no prospect of deliverance appears, no

mitigation is experienced,-when there is none who can venture to set a period to calamities,—this is a circumstance that puts patience to the severest test. It is much easier to bear a very acute pain or affliction for a short time, than one much more moderate during a very protracted period. The duration of trials is a severer exercise of patience than their severity. For a certain time the soul collects itself, and summons up its resolution to bear; but when the suffering continues long, the mind becomes weary of exerting a continued effort and is apt to yield to the force of impatience and inquietude. In these several situations the Christian has need of patience.

II. Let us consider the nature and the excellence of true patience. It is a grace of the Spirit of God. God condescends to be called the "God of patience;" and [we read of] "the kingdom [and patience] of [Jesus] Christ,"-[of] "the word of his patience." By means of it they who suffer possess their souls. Another intention of this passage it is not necessary to mention: the present [being] instructive, and sufficiently adapted to the apparent design of the writer.

[There is] a great difference in the manner in which the same trials are borne by different persons:-some restless, complaining, dissatisfied with the conduct of Providence, and at all around them; others, though they feel, are yet composed, tranquil, self-possessed, capable of exercising their thoughts, and of exerting their reason, without disturbance-they "possess their souls." The happy effects of this frame of spirit are the following:

1. He who in "patience possesses his soul" is able to trace his afflictions to the hand of God; looking through inferior instruments to the hand of the Supreme Director.

2. He is prevented from forming an erroneous and exaggerated estimate of his sufferings; from his suspecting that they are singular and unparalleled; and thus from sinking into despondency, and indulging a spirit of complaint; "knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world."

3. He is at leisure to [attend] to the instructions which afflictions contain, to learn those important lessons which they are best adapted to teach. Affliction is a school where we cannot learn, unless we, in some degree, possess our souls in patience. "Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee. "And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live. Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.*

4. He who possesses his soul in patience is able to perform many important duties while in a state of suffering. It is not a barren season to him. "Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass." Much cultivation of the heart, much internal spiritual discipline, may then be exercised.

5. He who thus possesses patience is at liberty to reach the promises of God to open his mind to the consolations of the gospel. He can reason with his soul-"Why art thou so cast down, Ŏ my soul?”

6. While in patience we possess our souls, we can expatiate in the views of future blessedness.

XXXII.

ON CANDOUR AND LIBERALITY, AS EVINCED IN PROMOTING THE ERECTION OF PLACES OF WORSHIP.

LUKE Vii. 5.—He loveth our nation, and he hath built us a synagogue.*

It is pleasing and instructive to behold in the narratives of Scripture frequent instances of the triumphs of divine grace over obstacles utterly insurmountable to any inferior power, and even striking examples of transcendent piety, where, considering the actual state of human nature, it was least to be expected. In these instances is verified the truth of our Lord's observation, "What is impossible with men is possible with God."

We learn that no combination of external circumstances, no profession or situation in life, however beset with temptation, no education, however unfavourable to the production of piety, ought to make us despair of attaining salvation.

Are the habits of military life peculiarly hostile to piety, and is it difficult, in connexion with these, to maintain that humility, sobriety, and heavenly-mindedness, which are so essential to religion? Our text exhibits, notwithstanding, a most eminent saint in the person of a centurion. Is a neglected or, what is still worse, a perverted education a great obstacle in the way of salvation,-an education from which religion has been entirely excluded, or religious principles inculcated, the most fatal and erroneous? Behold an instance of unparalleled

*The sermon of which the brief notes are here presented was the last, except one, that Mr. Hall preached; though the notes seem to have been prepared for a former occasion. It was delivered on the morning of February 27, 1831, the Sunday previous to the attack which terminated in death. The students in the Bristol Education Society (an institution devoted to the preparation of young men for the ministry in the Baptist persuasion) had long been in the habit of preaching in various very small places, in the more populous and wretched quarters of the city of Bristol; and their labours being found productive of much good, it was judged expedient to erect a place of worship, which might not only contain the several small companies thus assembled, but accommodate others that might be induced to attend. A considerable sum of money was accordingly raised for this purpose: the building was commenced; and in order to contribute towards the remainder of the expense, it was proposed to make a collection in Broadmead chapel. Mr. Hall very warmly seconded the project, and recommended it, with great earnestness, after his morning Bermon. In the evening he preached a very impressive and splendid discourse on the text"Take heed, and beware of covetousness," of which he does not appear to have prepared any notes. This subject he meant to apply to the case of the new place of worship; but an exceedingly heavy rain occasioning a comparatively small congregation, he stated, towards the conclusion of the sermon, that it would not be doing justice to a cause in which he felt so lively an interest, to make the collection while so few persons were present; and proposed to defer it, therefore, to a future occasion. But, alas! this was the close of his public services: and they who had so often seen his countenance beaming with intellect, benevolence, and piety, and listened to his voice with inexpressible delight, and many of them with permanent benefit, saw and heard him no more!-ED.

devotion and faith in a Roman centurion, a heathen by birth, and, as there is every reason to conclude, trained up in the practice of idolatry from his earliest infancy. Is the possession of authority apt to intoxicate man with pride, and especially in proportion as that authority is arbitrary and despotic? We have here, in a Roman officer, a pattern of the deepest humility. Having occasion to apply to our Lord for the cure of his servant, he would not admit of his giving himself the trouble of coming in person, from a conviction that it was unnecessary, and that he was undeserving of such honour. Finally, are mankind apt to be ill affected to each other on account of difference of national character, and the opposition which [exists in their religion?] The opposition, in this respect, between the Romans and the Jews was as great as can well be imagined. The Romans were devoted to idolatry, and looked upon the Jews, who refused to join in the worship of idols, as a sort of atheists; they hated them for their singularity and their supposed unnatural antipathy to all other nations; and, at this time, despised them as a conquered people. The centurion, though he had been nursed in these prejudices, and was now, by very profession, employed in maintaining the Roman authority over Judea, yet " loved the Jewish nation, built them a synagogue," and sought an interest in the affections of that people; so that the Jewish elders, sympathizing with him under his distress, are the bearers of his message to our Lord. Let us attend to the hints of instruction suggested by the character which they here give of the centurion.

I. "He loveth our nation."

We have already remarked the superiority to prejudice which this trait in his character implies. We now observe, his attachment to the Jewish nation rested on solid grounds; it was such an attachment that it was next to impossible for a good man not to feel. The Jews were the only people in the world, before the coming of Christ, who were taken into an express covenant with God. To them he stood in a relation different from that which he sustained towards any other people. He was their proper national head and king. The covenant on which he became so was entered into at Mount Sinai, when Jehovah descended in a visible manner, uttered his laws in an audible voice, and, by the express consent of the people, communicated to Moses those statutes and ordinances which were ever after to form the basis of their polity, civil and religious, and a perpetual barrier of separation between them and other nations. Conducted by a train of the most astonishing miracles to the land of Canaan, God was pleased to dwell among them by a miraculous symbol, and to make them the depositaries of true religion. Thus the will of God was known and his worship celebrated, while surrounding nations were sunk in the deepest ignorance. A succession of prophets was raised up at different periods; a body of inspired truths was communicated; a peculiar system of providence established, as far as their affairs were concerned; and a series of predictions preserved, by which an expectation was excited of the appearance of a divine person of their race, who was to be the "light of the gentiles," "the glory of Israel," the person in whom