om the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from y God?"

The great and precious promise of the text seems be given to poor sinners, who had been guilty of eat folly and rebellion against God, but who turned Him in self-upbraidings and godly sorrow, and He ardoned, and sought to give comfort. And surely in is light the word of promise hath a wide application. Te have not been guilty of gross idolatry certainly; e have never made us a molten image, or bowed wn to the stock of a tree; but we may have been olaters nevertheless; we may have made an idol of hes, or pedigree, or wife, or child, or farm, or garn; I know not what, yet an idol, a true idol (a heart age!) Our gracious Father may have expostulated h us; warned us of our folly and sin, and because did not heed, take our idol and break it to pieces ore our eyes. Well! He hath not forsaken us! hath filled us with the fruit of our own ways, 1 made us taste the bitterness of our folly; He h suffered wretchedness, and consciousness of a weak h and trembling hopes to squeeze our poor heart h pain of anguish, but He hath not forsaken us. ! (I repeat it) He hath not. If we have acted as tel of old acted, though in a different sense; if we e sinned as they; if we, in experience perhaps of misery, have used like words of confession; He, God and theirs, uses like remedies for comfort, hath caused it to be set down as a truth of wide

application, "they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength."

Running the chapter through, then, beloved, we are able to gather a meaning suitable to us; and a character which must be ours, before the promise of strength from the Almighty can be claimed as a part of our heritage. "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength."

Consciousness of past sins should not keep us from turning to the Lord and waiting upon Him; it should rather urge us on, for who so welcome to the Saviour as they who feel the burden of their sins? Bitterness of experience on account of former sins and follies, should not prevent us taking hold on the promises of pardon and peace, for who so proper to sue for pardon and peace as they who know the bitterness and misery of transgression? The great enemy ever tries to make the past the model of the future; or a wicked life a ground of wicked continuance in such life. "It is no good for me to try, I cannot manage it; besides, all my neighbours know me so well, that they would laugh and call me hypocrite; I'll go on, and take my chance." How many talk so, or rather act so; but this is folly; think on these words—" He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might He increaseth strength; this will serve thy turn; this will enable thee to manage it (will it not?) thou canst endure thy neighbour's laugh now and charge of hypo

risy-Wait upon the Lord......... But how? How o you say? I will shew thee—

You know how a faithful servant waits upon her histress; it is not simply in the presence of this misess when her eye is upon her, that she is diligent in ithful service; it is not with eye-service that a faithl servant does her business. It is the slothful and ood-for-nothing servant that idles away her time, and bes her own will, and is suddenly moved to bustle, nd great ado, of diligence, when she crieth out to e likes-of-her-' Here is mistress!-Here is mistress!" This much must be said with regard to the Christian rvice; whether we regard or not, our Master's eye always upon us. What a proof of hollow profession it, to do that in secret, because nobody sees us, ich we would not do in public, and before the face our fellow-Christian. Hearken to what the Psalmist ith on this subject-" Behold, as the eyes of servants k unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes it upon the Lord our God, until that he have mercy on us." They who wait upon the Lord go about e house (and this world is the house ;) and do eir business (and every action of life is a part of this siness) having the meaning of these few words stampon their hearts-" Thou, God, seest me." It must so; we cannot wait on the Lord by mere outward bodily service. God is a Spirit, and they who worp Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.

It is the very first thing required of all who would wait on the Lord, to seek a proper spirit; the prayer

is

very suitable-" Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me." If we only wait on the Lord at such seasons as these, in public and formal worship, and not in the sacred places of secresy and loneliness, it will not be enough. We shall be careless even here; not mind what we are about; just sit the service through, and then depart; which will do us no good in the world, but rather a harm. But do not mistake my meaning; the public worship of Almighty God is a plain duty; and unless let or hindered by lawful accident, nobody can say he waits on the Lord who does not attend, and regularly attend too, the public worship of God. Bear in mind with reference to this subject, you must wait on the Lord at Church; not on a rich man, or a minister of Christ, or custom and habit, or even the craving of a conscience that will not rest without.-This is the house of prayer, of praise, and reading, and expounding Scripture. This is the house of the Lord.-Wait on Him in it; wait on Him, I say. But we must follow up our profession with practice-we must wait on the Lord in all the ordinary businesses of life. The clock, which is in the tower of this church, is only wound up once a week, but it goes well every day, and you can tell what a clock it is by looking at the dial. Every-day life is the dial of a man, and you can see what sort of a person he is by it. If you see a man

runken, or a profane swearer, or keeping company with harlots, during the week, you will not give much or his religion on a Sunday; that would be a bad lock which was never right except when you forced he fingers; so he is but a bad Christian who appears ght only on such occasions as these.-Pardon my lainness of speech, dear brethren. I would not deeive you. The beautiful promise of the text will not it every body; it only suits those who wait on the ord; these shall renew their strength. The penitent ho feel how weak they are in goodness and in grace, hese shall renew their strength. The prodigal, who, r away from home, in the midst of misery and nguish, bethinks him of his father's house with longgs of reconciliation, he shall renew his strength. You nd I, my brethren, if we feel, or half feel, the truth what we have been saying this morning in public ayer, we shall renew our strength.

The images made use of are simple, and striking, the eagle soareth on high, rising more and more wards the sun; as the racer yet without his weariss; as the walker yet without fainting, so shall they no wait on the Lord renew their strength. You know -w habits are formed, and how they are confirmed. -om little beginnings, mighty rivers take their rise, d flow and flow on, carrying the freightage of many mes upon their bosom. So the Christian, a well of ter springs up in him, which is the Holy Ghost; it ws on in habitual actings; it becomes broader and