of each prayer. It is by endless disputations such as these that many a convert falls fearfully short in the race which is set before him. When he should be fixing the eye of faith upon Christ, and pressing forward toward the mark, he stands. gazing on the lukewarmness of his zeal; he will not enter upon the path which lies before his feet, because he has not at this moment the assurance which he desires, nor can realize a full measure of spiritual joy. But to adopt a course such as this, is to foster the doubt which he desires to dispel. In such an hour let him rather commit his way to the Lord, and, trusting in Christ for the acceptance of his efforts, let him vigorously prosecute his onward career.

But having committed to the Lord the burden of y your eternal interests, hesitate not to entrust to him the cares of your temporal estate. It is a grievous spectacle to behold the children of this world hasting to rise up early, and late taking rest, and eating the bread of carefulness, while God is not in all their thoughts. Some are overwhelmed with an apprehension that they shall never have a sufficiency; they are ever in fear lest, notwithstanding all their care, they should at length be reduced to poverty. Their minds are perplexed: as the troubled sea, they know no rest, but are still tossed to and fro by every wind

that blows.

Whatever the event which has transpired, it becomes to them a source of fresh anxiety. However ample the supply which the tender mercy of their Lord has at present provided, they dare not trust him for the future, but harass their souls in devising an escape from the anticipated evil. Infatuated slaves of a fallen world! has the Lord prepared a kingdom for his people, and will he not furnish provision by the way?

At his first entrance upon the cares of life, it is the privilege of the Christian to commit his way unto the Lord. Very interesting is the prayer which Solomon preferred upon his accession to the throne. He forgot not the precept of David his father, but in 1 Kings iii. 7 presents this supplication at the mercy-seat: "And now, O Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father; and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in. And thy servant is in the midst of thy people whom thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great people ?” And is it Solomon alone, or such as Solomon, whose privilege it is to commit his way unto the Lord? Doubtless all who have first given them

selves to him may and ought to spread before him their temporal wants, to implore his guidance, and to entreat his blessing. It is thus that every calling becomes sanctified to its possessor, free from disquietude, and prosperous in its issue.

Again, the text forbids us to envy the prospe rity of the wicked, or to be provoked by their success to an imitation of their deeds. Many are beguiled to a violation of the sabbath by the prosperity of a sabbath-profaner. But what saith the psalmist ?4 “ Trust in the Lord, and do good :" "Fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.”

In like manner, when smarting under a recent injury, or anticipating one to come, when aspersed with the reproaches of a slanderous tongue, in this, and, in short, in every other perplexity, "commit thy way unto the Lord."

Such is the precept: a precept which, although generally regarded in the light of a privilege only, is nevertheless binding as a duty, and condemnatory, fearfully condemnatory, of their unbelief who are either careful and troubled about many things, or making flesh their arm. On the precept which follows, and the concluding promise, our limits compel us to be brief. And indeed the lengthened discussion of the first head of the text will afford a clue to the remainder for those who would pro4 Verses 3, 8.

secute in their retirement the subject of our consideration. A few comments on each head shall, however, be suggested.

To the precept, "commit thy way unto the Lord," the psalmist adjoins the exhortation, "Trust also in him." So also in verse 7,

Rest

in the Lord, and wait patiently for him." It is indeed to no purpose that you commit your burden to the Lord in prayer, if you again take it to yourself, and bind it afresh upon your back. Leave it with him. Having made it the subject of your devout supplication, await calmly the result.

Now some there are who in an hour of difficulty and danger will commit their way to the Lord, but they repose no trust in him, nor expect the fulfilment of their request. They design their prayer as an experiment, and await curiously, rather than faithfully, the event.

Others, again, have so often, and apparently with so little success, made known their request to the Lord, that they have now ceased to trust him for the fulfilment of their desires. But what saith the psalmist to supplicants such as these? "Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart; wait, I say, on the Lord."

And must it not be confessed that many among

us, who have had long experience of their Lord's faithfulness, who have had occasion to raise many an Ebenezer, to commemorate that hitherto he has helped them, yet in a more than ordinary embarrassment are prone to speak against God, not indeed by presumptuous reproach, but as the Israelites "spake against God," when they said, "Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can he give bread also? can he provide flesh for his people?"5 Whatever the utterance of your lips, if this, brethren, be the language of your heart, you can expect no reply to your petition. He that would obtain must "ask in faith, nothing wavering."

If, when you have committed your way unto the Lord, you also trust in him, " He shall bring it to pass." This is the promise. How abundant may be the fulfilment of your desire, or by what precise method it shall be accomplished, is at the will of him who doeth all things well. It may be within a hair's breadth of a failure that the Lord may give effect to your heart's desire. Thus was it with Paul. In the tempest by which he was assailed, the word of his God was the ground of his confidence. The Lord had promised de

5 Ps. lxxviii. 19, 20.