till " the whole earth is full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea!" Well, certain it is, that this blessed period is fast approaching ; and that " God will comfort, not Zion only, but all the waste places of the earth ; making her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord ; so that in every place shall joy and gladness be found, and nothing be heard but thanksgiving and the voice of melody f." Let us look forward to this time ; yea, let us help it forward to the utmost of our power : and if, but in a single instance, the blind, or deaf, or lame, or dumb, receive the relief which they stand in need of, we shall have no reason to complain that we have run in vain, or laboured in vaing.]
3. What ground for gratitude has every believing soul —
[Who is it that has made you to differ from others ? Who is it that has healed the maladies of your souls, or that has made " your wilderness soul to blossom as the rose ? " This, as we have before said, is the work of God, and of God alone : " He that hath wrought us to the self-same thing, is God." And is this no call for gratitude ? Look at heathen lands, and see their people bowing down to stocks and stones. Or look nearer home, and see the multitudes around you as unaffected with the Gospel as if it had never visited this highly-favoured country. Perhaps your nearest and dearest relatives are at this moment, in respect of spiritual things, as barren as the most dreary desert, and as destitute of perception as if they had never possessed the organs of sight and hearing. Learn to pity and to pray for them, whilst your souls are transported with joy and gratitude for the mercies vouchsafed to you. And now shew, by your fruits, what a change has been wrought within you, and, by the devotion of all your faculties to God, the healing virtue which you have received.]
f Isai. li. 3.
s If this were a Mission Sermon, it would be proper to open this part more fully.