who alone communicatest them to others! How art thou injured, when we imagine that thy service is not perfect freedom! Into what intellectual darkness and depravity are we sunk, when we compare thy service with that of an idol, or of this polluted world! How is it that we do not intuitively perceive that obedience to thee is the true happiness of man, and that we can have peace in our souls in proportion only as our will is united to thine! Dissipate the mists which cloud our sight, and make us to feel that we are wretched when we depart from thee!

III. "If then the Lord be God, follow him."-If, my brethren, you are convinced, as I hope you are, and as I am sure you ought to be, that there is no real peace but in God, determine to seek your happiness only in his service. How this should be done, I shall endeavour in some degree to explain.

1. Be persuaded, that those things in which your corrupt mind promises you pleasure do but deceive you.They are all splendid delusions: they are lying vanities. Have you not found that they have already deluded you? How long must you be misled before you will be convinced? How often be disappointed before you are persuaded that the ways of sin are not happiness, but death?

2. Lay it down as a maxim, that whatever sacrifice for God appears painful, does but appear to be so.To suffer for religion's sake is not so dreadful as you imagine. What though you encounter the frowns of the world; the smiles of God will more than compensate for them. What though self-denial be your lot; yet it carries with it its own reward: and self-indulgence, as you have found, does not give the felicity it promised. Be assured, that God by religion points out the way to happiness, while Satan by sin directs you in the road to misery:-shall you hesitate which path to take?

3. Be persuaded, that true peace and comfort are only to be enjoyed by those whose hearts are right with God.

-To halt between God and mammon is to possess the comforts of neither, but the pains of both. Give yourself, therefore, up unreservedly to God. Act for him openly and explicitly. Renounce all temporising maxims. Shew plainly, that you have cast off the fear of the world, and the love of it; that you are not ashamed to confess Christ before men, nor unwilling to bear his cross.

4. Remember also, that you must be consistent.Your conduct must be good as well as your profession bold. Do not parley with any sin. Do not love the things of the world, while you renounce the men of the world. Endeavour not merely to keep within the verge of salvation, but advance into the midst of the Church of Christ. A lukewarm, temporising spirit has been your bane. To combine a little, and only a little, religion, with much of the world, has been your fault. Thus you have done the work of the Lord deceitfully, Now be honest and sincere in his service.

5. Make a stand against whatsoever you know to be wrong-Reverence your conscience. One single compliance makes a dreadful inroad upon your peace. It brings darkness and guilt into your soul. "Beloved,” says St. John, "if our conscience condemn us not, then have we confidence towards God."

6. And lastly, walk in the Spirit.-Look to Jesus Christ, the Author and Giver of all spiritual strength. Let all that is past teach you this great truth, that if left to yourself you will either have no religion, or that only from which you will derive a poor lifeless form of godliness without spirit or power. Christ must be all in all to you, and in the power of his Spirit you must trust. Consider, that he is made of God unto us wisdom and righteousness, sanctification and redemption. Severed from him, you can do nothing. Abide therefore in him: pray to him, confide in him; read the promises of his word for the confirmation of your faith Receive him as your Prophet, Priest, and King; and then you shall know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

SERMON XVIII.

THE FALL AND PUNISHMENT OF DAVID

ILLUSTRATED.

2 Sam. xii. 7.

And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man.

IT is a circumstance worthy of notice in the Sacred Historians, that, in their accounts of the servants of God; they record their vices as well as their virtues: they represent them in their real character, and attempt neither to palliate their faults nor to exaggerate their excellencies. The history of David is, in this respect, remarkable. He is represented, on the one hand, as zealous in the service of God, attached to his worship, in no instance giving way to idolatry, the prevailing sin of the times, and as honoured for these qualities with the high title of "the man after God's own heart." On the other hand, his character is described as stained with some gross offences; and both these offences, with all their aggravations, and the exemplary punishment which followed them, are faithfully recorded.

The sins of David, to which the words of my text refer, and the effects which followed them, are the subjects I would propose for our consideration on the present occasion; in order to which, I shall examine in detail several parts of his history.

1. The circumstances of David previous to his fall deserve our attention -For several years he had been in a state of great trouble. Even his life had been often endangered. He was haunted by Saul like a patridge upon the mountains, and compelled to take up his residence in the caves of the desert. But it was not in this state of trial and affliction that he offended. During this period, we see him exercising, in a remarkable degree, the faith, the resignation, the humility, the patience, the meekness of the servant of God. But now God had brought his troubles to a close. He had bestowed on him, first, the crown of Judah, and afterwards that of Israel. He had blessed him with prosperity on every side, and had given him "the necks of his enemies." For some years he had been the most powerful monarch in that quarter of the world. These were his circumstances when he fell. Now it would be too much to affirm that these circumstances were the direct causes of his sin. They may, however have tended indirectly to it, by inducing that state of the heart in which it is least qualified to encounter temptation. Such is often the effect of prosperity. It cherishes a worldly and sensual taste. It indisposes. the soul for self-denial, watchfulness, and humility; graces not called into exercise in prosperity. It relaxes our application to the Throne of Grace; for where there is a fulness of enjoyment, there is likely to be little ardour in prayer; where the soul is satisfied with earthly blessings, it does not aspire to such as are spiritual and heavenly. Perhaps prosperity thus operated upon David. Perhaps he had become less watchful, less fervent in secret prayer, less afraid of sin, more vain, more confident, more disposed to the enjoyment of sensual pleasures. And thus temptations, not formidable

in adversity, at once overwhelmed the soul disordered and enervated by prosperity.

Surely this statement may teach us to recognize and lament the depravity of human nature. The very mercies of God are made the occasions of sin. Such is man, that he would probably be less guilty if God were less compassionate. This statement also may serve to reconcile us to the afflictions which prevail in the world. Perhaps the removal of these might tend, more than any other cause, to the increase of sin; and thus, in the end, to the final increase and aggravation of misery.

II. Consider, next, the peculiar temptation which is suffered to present itself to David, and the way in which he encountered it-This, my brethren, is a world of trial. Christ himself was tempted; and it is in the order of Divine Providence, that no one should wholly escape it. Temptation indeed has its uses as well as its dangers. Perilous as it is, the Lord can and will overrule it for good, to those who humbly and devoutly call upon him. But let us follow David through his trial. The temptation arose a temptation sudden and great. Now then was the trial, in what manner he would act; and doubtless there had been times innumerable when this servant of God would at once have fled from the temptation, and thus have broken its spell. He would have "resisted the devil," and the "devil would have fled" from him. But now alas! he gives way to the seduction. He calmly descends from his palace with a determination to bring the evil of his heart into act, and to perpetrate the crime which the tempter had suggested to him. This we may conceive to have been the turning point in David's career. No man can altogether resist the approach of unsolicited temptation. No man can, perhaps, entirely prevent such temptation laying hold of the imagination and feelings. But to parley with it, this is a voluntary act. And it is in

this, in its being a voluntary act, that the guilt of sin consists. Thus, in the case of David, "lust conceived, and brought forth sin." The "anointed of the Lord" VOL. I.

26