SERMON XVIII.

ON THE CONSOLATIONS WHICH THE GOSPEL AFFORDS UNDER THE NATURAL EVILS OF LIFE.

ST. JOHN ix. 1.

"And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth-And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?-Jesus answered, neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him."

AMONG the questions which were proposed to our Saviour by his disciples, there is scarcely any one of a deeper or more interesting nature, than that which is related in the words of the text. Wherever we pass through life, we see scenes of melancholy, of misfortune, and of wretchedness; and the great question of every human heart, is What is the end or purpose of these afflictions of our nature; and upon what principle are we to account for them, in the administration of a benevolent God? It is a question which has been asked in every age, and which has received various solutions, according to the knowledge and capacity of those who examined it.

But it is in the power of the Son of God alone to give the satisfactory solution; and it is one of the greatest privileges of his followers to know the reply.

All the evils or calamities with which human nature is afflicted, are reducible to two great classes, or divisions; and in one or other of them, every suffering or sorrow may be included.

The first and the greatest of these is, that which arises from ourselves; the sufferings which arise from errour, or from sin. To this important class of human miseries, the answer of our Saviour in the text does not apply; and with regard to such evils, there are two very important observations to be made both with regard to their origin, and their end.

Such evils, be they of what extent or of what magnitude they may, are not the appointments of God, they are the productions of our own will, -they are the consequences of our own conduct; —and so far are they from arising from his will, that they all arise from opposition to it, and from neglect or disobedience of those great moral laws, which he has given as the fundamental principles of our being, and of our happiness. The second observation which applies to this class of miseries is, that, while they derive their origin from our own infirmity or guilt, their final purpose is to restore us, by repentance, to the innocence and the happiness we had lost. It is

for this great end, that every vice and every folly has its own appropriate and proportioned suffering;-it is for this purpose, that the bosom of the guilty is filled with so many dark and instinctive fears;-it is for this purpose, that evil, in so many awful and conspicuous shapes, is made to pursue sin, that even the spectators of the scene may be made wise by the sufferings of others, and return from the deepest tragedy of their nature with hearts made wiser and better. With regard to this first class, then, of human miseries, it is obvious, that it derives its origin from man alone, and that, even amid all its prevalence or intensity, the spirit of God is ever operating "to overcome evil with "final good."

The second class of human sufferings are those which arise, not from ourselves, but from the laws to which our nature is subject ;-the evils which the ignorant every where ascribe to chance and to time, and which the wise and the pious ascribe to the will and providence of God. Of such evils, the world affords us many examples ;-of such, our own hearts are ever forming many fears ;and with regard to such, it is of deep consequence that we should listen, not to the voice of our own despondent hearts, but to the blest revelations of religion. When, either in ourselves or in others, we see it is guilt that is punished; we feel the justice, and we perceive the end. But when innocence suffers ;-when it is upon the head of the

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pious and the good that afflictions fall, we are not so easily satisfied; and it is often the most cruel aggravation of calamity itself, that the innocent sufferers are apt to doubt the mercy of Heaven; to fear, like the disciples in the text, "that they "or their parents had sinned," and that the misfortunes they endure are rather punishment than trial. It is this class of evils, peculiarly, to which the ever memorable answer of our Saviour has respect. It was an innocent sufferer whose misfortunes he then commiserated and cured; and it is to such, in every future age, that the mighty and consoling language of his reply is addressed. The subject, therefore, my brethren, is one which has its interest to every human heart; and what this incident contains for our comfort and instruction, I shall now endeavour very briefly to explain

to you.

1. You will observe then, in the first place, the situation and condition of the poor sufferer in the text. It is not easy to conceive any being belonging to the race of man more obscure or depressed, He is a blind man ;-he is left by his parents (as we learn in the sequel of the story,) to the compassion of the world ;-he sits by the wayside to implore it; and it is accident alone which seems to bring him within the notice of our Saviour and his disciples. No situation of human nature can be conceived more lost, more insignificant, or more forgotten than this which first presents itself in the

picture; and yet, when we learn the whole, when we see the conclusion of the story, over this deserted and hopeless being we see the eye of Providence immediately impending, we see, even before his birth, the important destiny determined, which his calamity was to fulfil ;—we see, that in him, the "works of God were to be made man"ifest ;" and that the cure of an individual, sọ neglected and obscure that we know neither his history nor name, was yet to be the source of instruction and of comfort to many millions of mankind, in every succeeding age of the Gospel. There is nothing in language, or in all the powers of reasoning, which can so powerfully evince to us the great truth of the Providence and perpetual care of God, as this simple and unadorned fact. It tells us, at once, that to his eye all hearts are open, all sorrows known, and that no secret suffering is hid from him; that wherever the creation of God extends, the works of God will be per. formed; and that wherever, in his system, there are mourners, in the same system there are the means of consolation.

2. You will observe, in the second place, my brethren, the nature of the calamity which is represented to us in the words of the text. It is that, of all human sufferings or misfortunes, which is at once the most hopeless and the most irremediable; in which no exertion of the sufferer himself can avail, and in which no benevolent labour