towards a place of which the Lord said I will give it you, come w us and we will do thee good, for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel.

3. Love and study the scriptures. He that avoids reading a portion of them daily, forsakes his own mercy and is so far regardless of his safety, welfare, and comfort. Therefore bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck. When thou goest, it shall lead thee: when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee; for the commandment is a lamp: and the law is light ; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life.

Precious bible! like thy blessed author, our sun and our shield, thou giver of grace and glory, thou guide through all this gloomy vale, to our everlasting home, how many advantages have we already derived from thee. Thou hast often solved our doubts, and wiped away our tears. Thou hast been sweeter to our taste, than honey and the honey comb. Thou hast been better to us in our distresses, than thousands of gold and silver. Unless thou hadst been our delight, we should have perished in our afflic

tion.

No wonder Job esteemed thee more than his necessary food. No wonder David chose thee as his heritage for ever, and found thee to be the rejoicing

of his heart. No wouder the noble army of martyrs parted with their estates and with their blood, rather than with thee. May we value thee as our richest jewel, may we love thee as our dearest good, may we consult thee as our surest counsellor, may we follow thee as our safest rule.

Send out thy

And O thou eternal Jehovah ! light and thy truth: let them lead me: let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles. Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God, my exceeding joy; yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God, my God.

DISCOURSE XXIV.

SIN RUINS A KINGDOM.

(FOR A FAST-DAY.)

Only fear the Lord, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he has done for you; but if ye shall still do wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both ye and your king.-1 Sam. xii. 24, 25.

SUCH was the language of Samuel to the Jews. The words have a peculiar force in them-and it arises from the wisdom of the address. How could he have given them a better representation of their duty! And how could he have more powerfully recommended it?

-He requires of them nothing superstitious; nothing merely ritual and ceremonious, nothing only external and temporary-but the exercise of piety flowing from the fear of God,

and accompanied with sincerityand fervor in serving him: this is all.-Only fear the Lord, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he has done for you. This he enforces by two motives. The one drawn from gratitude, and the other from interest. He has been your friend; he can be your enemy. He has done great things for you; and he will do great things against you. Consider this-Consider how great things he has done for you. But if he shall still do wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both ye and your king.

And

Already I hope you have dropped Judea, and fixed your attention on your own country. The words could never have been more applicable to the Jews, than they are to us. hence we have been led to choose them on this solemn occasion, when we are called to assemble together, to acknowledge our sins, and to implore the divine mercy.

To render the scripture useful we must consider persons in former ages as specimens of human nature in general; and the dispensations of providence towards them as holding forth the unchangeable perfections of Jehovah. Thus individuals, families, churches, nations became exemplary, and by their welfare or ruin encourage our hope, or awaken our fear.

Among all the nations of the earth there is no one to which we can so properly refer as the jews-not only because their history is true, and events are traced up to their proper causes -but because there is a greater correspondence between them and us, than between us and any other people. They only of all the nations of antiquity worshipped the same God with us. They only like us were under the reign of grace as well as providence, and enjoyed religious and spiritual privileges blended with civil and natural. Let us attend to this.

1. Samuel tells them that the Lord had done great things for them. David could not review their history without admiration. And what one nation in the earth is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to himself, and to make him a name, and to do for you great things and terrible, for thy land before thy people, which thou redeemedst to thee from Egypt, from the nations and their gods? Moses at a much earlier period gave them a pre-eminent blessedness. Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people, saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee, and thou shalt tread upon their high places.