than Balak himself had devised for the destruction of his enemies;-he advised him to tempt Israel to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab, to join in their sacrifices, and to bow down to their God. His counsels were followed; the people transgressed; and for it they were visited with a dreadful pestilence. Moab was destroyed by the sword of Israel, and Balaam himself perished in the slaughter.

Let the man, then, whosoever he may be, that dares to provoke the unequal combat with sin, go and make the trial; but let him recollect at the same time that his eternal welfare depends upon the issue. In either condition, in poverty or wealth, equal will be his danger in throwing himself out of the appointments of Providence, by impatiently pursuing things which He has not bestowed, and by placing his supreme happiness in gratification here. It is a mad and endless pursuit. When the imagination is once heated, new and fancied scenes of higher indulgences and greater splendor will present themselves,— and new and bolder plans will be formed

and executed. In vain the voice of Heaven is heard; in vain the awful warnings of conscience are felt; the blinded man will still pursue his course, will labour to devise excuses for what he is doing, and to make it even a doubt with himself whether he is about to do amiss: but he who deliberates will assuredly be lost.-Of all dangers that is the most fearful, which has its source in security, and the opinion of our own strength. If we are persuaded within ourselves that we are not as other men have been, yet, I would ask, is this owing altogether to our steadiness of soul and unshaken virtue? May we not rather have cause to bless the things and events under which we may have often complained;

-namely, those obstacles in our lives which interrupted our too aspiring attempts,those disappointments which have brought us back again to our former humble and secure level,—and those heavy sicknesses, which disarm temptations, and kill the seeds of evil inclinations in the heart? By these powerful springs the Great Governor of all regulates the movements of

us His creatures; by them His mercy controls our perverseness, and guides our blindness. And when swelled with prosperity we have thrown off our duty together with our discretion, He by these timely visitations bids peace to the wild uproar within us, and speaks to our tumultuous passions, "hitherto shall he come, " and no farther."

But it is too much to expect that man will be able to maintain a long and successful warfare against his own heart and inclinations merely by his own strength; we must, therefore, seek for an aid which we possess not of ourselves. There is outstretched towards us a hand mighty to save, even that Holy Spirit, which Christ promised to send down upon all, who humbly ask it, and sincerely purpose to use it; and to that let us raise our hopes and wishes. Let it be the frequent prayer of our lips that our heavenly Father will continue, by such ways as seem best to Him, to hold us in obedience to His law, and resignation to His will, and to preserve us from all presumptuous reliance on

66

our own righteousness; and then, with this powerful aid we may be enabled to keep innocency, and take heed unto "the thing that is right;" and we shall thus happily find that “ this," and this alone, "will bring us peace at the last."

SERMON XII.

2 SAMUEL Xii. 13, 14.

David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against

the Lord. And Nathan said unto David,

The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.

Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.

IT is no uncommon practice with wicked

men, who will not resolve to cast off their evil ways, to endeavour to quiet their hearts by persuading themselves that the punishments, which religion denounces against sin, do not always happen, or at least do not always fall so heavy as they