last of hope and happiness; you stand upon slippery ground, and but a little may cast you down. Your plans and prospects may be fair in the morning; and before evening irreversible judgments may fall upon you. These thoughts are serious, because applicable to every sinner unreconciled to God. Weigh them, for the life of the soul. The only place of safety is the church of Christ. Every soul that truly loves him, bears his name, keeps his commandments, and promotes his glory, shall be safe in all the trials of earth and safe for eternity. But to neglect him is a fatal error; to refuse his service is eternal death. Every sinful soul ought to regard it as his very highest privilege that he may know the name of Christ, hear his calls, believe his word, rely upon his promises, and find his salvation. The day of fire shall reveal it. 1 Cor. iv. 13. The great King will then command, "Those, MINE ENEMIES, that would not that I should reign over them, bring them hither and slay them before me.” Luke xix. 27.

LECTURE IX.

THE FALL OF HAMAN

Does it not seem manifestly true to every thoughtful mind, that nothing of all the works of God can afford us better evidence of his being and wisdom, and power, and justice, than the remarkable displays of his providence? This book of Esther, and the narrative it lays before us, seem wonderful beyond the frequent workings of God's hand, only because the truth is fairly brought before us; is comprehended in a brief history; and we see the actors, the designs, and the results, all at one glance of the eye. But a little careful and devout attention would enable us to see things as marvellous in other parts of the history of the church; and indeed we may see no insignificant marvels even in the meaner affairs of an individual believer. God is wonderful in working; and rich in resources. It is as easy to show his glory in small as in great matters; and he can afford to lavish his bounty in what we call minor affairs. The same beautiful colours that deck the heavens in the bright

rainbow or the gorgeous sunset, he can afford to paint with unrivalled pencil upon the modest flower that hides its head in the meadow. We must not judge him by our weakness or our penury. The Creator fainteth not, neither is weary, by the multiplicity of affairs which show his creative power, or receive his providential care. We will not say that God is as much glorified by the meaner as by the great affairs of his kingdom; but we may say, that he is glorified as truly by minor as by greater things. You may stand before a large and magnificent mirror, and it will reflect back your image, one finished and perfect form. You may break that mirror into a thousand pieces, and each piece now will give back an image, not as splendid, but as perfect.* So you may look upon the universe of God as one complete and magnificent whole which only he could create, and which shows forth his wisdom, and power, and goodness; or you may take the minutest fragment of this universe-a grain of sand from the ocean, or a single leaf from the forest, or a tiny mite from the swarming multitudes of animated beings-and each of these minute fragments of a world requires the power of a God for its creation, and the care of a God for its preservation; and his wisdom is exhibited in adapting each particle composing the world to its own place in the world's economy. Or you may

* Charnock.

take the vast providential affairs of the universe; you may see the

Planets, and suns, and adamantine spheres,

Wheeling unshaken through the void immense.

You may consider the infinite wisdom and power that so nicely balances them all; that directs their motions with precision so unerring, that men can calculate the very moment of a distant eclipse years. before its occurrence; and from considering these vast affairs you may turn to the minute and humbler things which some think beneath the notice of His eye, but which are as completely and fully cared for by this infinite God as if he had them only in his mind. For man places in the ground the seed of some tiny flower, and just as correctly as the astronomer can map out the path of the planets, can the gardener anticipate just when the flower, whose seed he has planted, will spring and bloom; just what unrivalled colourings will be painted upon its unfolding leaves, by light-the shadow of God; and to just what purposes that plant can be applied in the period of its maturity. Man has but to study in both cases the laws of God. God's finger is in the great and the small; because no wisdom, no power, no beneficence less than infinite could devise or could execute any part of these plans; and all the parts are so nicely adjusted to each other, and so dependent upon each other, that no mortal mind can say what portion of all God's works could be spared, without damage, or perhaps destruction

to all the rest. In our thoughts upon creation and providence there is no stopping point between the wide extremes. On the one hand, let us deny that there is a God, and consider all these works and all these harmonies the effect of blind chance; or on the other hand, let us wisely and devoutly recognize that God's hand is as truly apparent and as truly needful in small as in great affairs; to uphold the worlds, or to watch a falling sparrow; to guide the destinies of his church, or to care for the weakest believer in Jesus.

But we arrest these reflections to proceed with our narrative.

Haman and his friends have but little time for consultation upon this important and threatening change in his affairs; and the next incident keeps up perhaps, for a little longer season, the deceitful hope for Haman that all is not yet lost. While the wise men are yet talking with him; and possibly before they had time to counsel him at all hazards to make his peace with Mordecai; the chamberlains of the palace came to lead him to that post of unusual honour, at the banquet of the queen. Some suppose that Haman, in his agitation, had forgotten his appointment; and must thus be reminded of it. But thus called before the queen, the pride of the favourite is again aroused; and perhaps he partially forgot his mortification; and with at least some degree of composure, he went to the palace.

The select company are met together at the ban