It is essential to

"The spirit of

contrite ones,"

Would you return to

This disposition must

to the wisdom and authority of God. Humility, then, is the first step in our return to him, and in the way to reconciliation with him. repentance, and a ceasing from sin. the humble, and the heart of the mark the same character. God and seek his favour? result from a conviction of the folly and guilt of your departure from him. It must excite you to humble your souls before him, on account of those manifold offences and aggravated provocations with which you stand chargeable in his sight. Open your eyes, then, to a just view of yourselves; of your ignorance, impotence, sinfulness, misery, and danger. Do you need the assisting grace of Heaven to recover you from this undone condition? Be assured that the deeper your sense is of this your need, the better prepared will you be to receive, and the more likely will you be to obtain assistance from above. "For God giveth grace to the humble." When they shall be thus qualified, by his word and spirit he will lead them on in the paths of righteousness, he will strengthen them against temptations, support them under trials, guide them by his counsel and grace whilst here, and receive them to glory hereafter. Though heaven be his throne, and the earth his footstool; though he be the high and lofty One, inhabiting eternity, and dwelling in light unapproachable; yet to this man will he look, even to

him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at his word-with him also will he dwell, to revive the heart of the humble, to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

SERMON XI.

CONTENTMENT.

PHILIPPIANS iv. 11.

For I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

CONTENTMENT with our worldly condition and circumstances is an important branch of the Christian temper, a noble attainment in the divine life, after which we should be always striving. Each of us should be able to adopt the language of the Apostle. What he had so happily learned, the Gospel requires us to learn. In the subsequent discourse, therefore, it is proposed to describe its nature, and give some directions for its attainment.

The word in the original Greek, rendered content in the text, imports self-sufficient; but this, in its strict sense, pertains to the self-existent Being only, and can be understood of no creature considered abstractedly from Him in whom all fulness dwells. St. Paul's assertion is not to be taken in this sense. On the contrary, it is with reference to his interest

in God and expectations from him, that he declares himself satisfied in any condition. God and his providence are the ground of his self-sufficiency or satisfaction. He elsewhere thus explains his meaning, "Our sufficiency is of God." Having God for his portion, and receiving all his supplies from the divine bounty, he declares himself full and satisfied with any measure of temporal good allotted him by his heavenly Master, whether it be greater or less, abounding or scanty. This seems to be the obvious import of his assertion, the contentment to which he had attained. He had lately received a generous donation from the church at Philippi, which he gratefully acknowledges; but at the same time assures them, that he rejoices in it, not so much on account of its relieving his personal necessity, as on account of its being a proof of their regard for the Gospel, and of the happy fruits produced by his preaching among them. He wishes them not to infer from his present expressions of thankfulness, that he had been unhappy, or impatient of the straits and difficulties to which he had been subjected before the reception of their bounty. "I speak not," says he, "in respect to want; for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and how to abound. In every place and in all conditions, I am instructed, both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer

ed. I am sufficient for all things through Christ

who enables me."

Here again you will observe that Christ is the basis upon which he rests all his sufficiency and satisfaction. As united to him and deriving from him all his present supplies and future hopes, no temporal changes, whether in themselves prosperous or adverse, greatly move him, or disturb the inward composure and tranquillity of his mind. To the ancient philosophers of Greece and Rome this source of human felicity seems to have been unknown; yet it is certain that the temper here exhibited by the Apostle, is a qualification essentially necessary to the true happiness of a rational, moral being. Without contentment, such a being cannot be happy in any situation. Of what avail are all the means of enjoyment to that man, whose state of mind is such as renders him incapable of deriving any satisfaction from them. This is undoubtedly the case, to a great degree, with all those who are strangers to the exercise of piety, and destitute of its principles. Insensible of the hand of God in the events which befall them and in the vicissitudes which they experience, they can find no arguments sufficient to quiet the tumult of their thoughts and passions when they meet with crosses and disappointments.

Such persons may have no spiritual anxieties, they may be at ease about their souls and the concerns of eternity. In the school of sin and Satan, they may have learned in whatever state they are with respect to God and another world, therewith