space. This is no fauciful sentiment, | The preceding argument may derive 2369 opinion of the Supreme Being, who In estimating the extent of this In the passage already It may be thought, that even in this "Consider, he observes, "the lilies 1 mon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” Here again the inference is strong and beautiful. "If God so clothe the grass of the field which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, how much more shall he clothe you, oh ye of little faith?" The whole then of our Saviour's argument on this subject may be briefly exhibited as follows;-if your heavenly Father be so careful for the inanimate parts of the creation which are insensible of fatherly regard, if in a still higher degree his providence is interested for animals, or creatures endowed with animal existence, who, although they be insensible of his loving kindnesses, are yet capable of praising him according to the instinct he has given them-who shall express his measure of concern for every creature of his own rational creation? Surely the least of them need not fear, for he is of more value in the sight of God than many sparrows. ration of those secondary causes, the Great Cause, to which all things appear to be subjected, and think, that having once begun this order, and established these forms for its continuance, the Creator takes off his hand, withdraws his presence, and leaves his creation to itself. But our Saviour cites these wonders of nature in testimony, not only of the power which made, but of the providence which watches over all things. It is God, he saith, who every season clothes the grass of the field, and gives to the flower its beauty; and who, therefore, cannot overlook the least of those, for whose use the herbs of the field, and the fruit of the tree, were designed, and upon whom by the charter of creation they were bestowed. Let it further be remembered, that he who spake these things was true and very God; he, therefore, describes to us a providence, in the exercise of which he partakes; and from such an authority, upon such a subject, an appeal to others would manifestly be as superfluous as it would be unwarrantable and impious. Indeed, by the good and virtuous part of mankind this doctrine is approved almost as soon as it is uttered; it is so excellent in itself, and so full of comfort to mankind, that the heart bounds with joy at the first hearing of it, and meets it with an irresisti is the man whose heart refuses to rejoice in the belief that he is individually an object of his Creator's regard? Who does not feel that the whole character of his existence is affected by such a doctrine?—that with it, every changing scene may be made to yield an extract of happiness-while without it, life would become a burthen scarcely worth the bearing ? While the mistaken humility of some inclines them to doubt, whether the High and Holy One who inhabiteth eternity will humble himself to behold the things that are in heaven and on earth; and while the hard-heartedness of others hinders them from seeing how his existence can be so perfect as to admit of his personal regard to every individual part and member of his creation, it is of some consequence that the doc-ble impression in its favour. Where trine of his particular providence should be fully and rightly understood. To both one and the other, therefore, of these characters is recommended the careful consideration of those discourses of our Saviour just recited; and especially, let the application of his words be carefully borne in mind. It has often happened, it not unfrequently happens even now, that when men survey the beautiful appearances of nature-when they gaze upon the heaven above, and behold the sun when he shines, and the moon walking forth in brightness—or when they look upon the earth beneath, and see the wonders of vegetation, and the beauties of the meanest flower-it often happens, I say, that men forget that those heavens do still declare the glory of God-that that firmament still showeth his handy work-that this earth also is still the Lord's, and that he careth for all things that are therein. They lose, in admi | Is there one here who prefers to consider himself the sport and play-thing of fortune, or accident, or chance, let him distrust his heart, for it cannot be for nothing, that he thus does choose to live without God in the world; but because he has that within him which makes him overlook and dread the notion of such a particular providence. In a word, his heart condemns him, and he naturally fears a God who is greater than his heart, and knoweth all things. He therefore escapes, or thinks he escapes, into the arms of fate or chance, or whatever else it be, that implies no reckoning for sin, and threatens no account of the deeds done in the body. But whether men will acknowledge God's particular providence or no, they must not think of escaping it. Ourselves, our fortunes, our pursuits, our times, all are in his hands. Whatever be our condition for a moment, we are not in it but by his concurrence; yea, although our own will may appear to be the only power concerned on the occasion. Wheresoever we remain, or whithersoever we go, we are never out of the limits of his dominion: whether we repose in the bosom of our home, or traverse the regions of a country which is not ours; whether we abide in the fancied security of the land, or commit ourselves to the manifold dangers of the deep, whatsoever step we take, whatsoever course we pursue, it is subject to his ordering and disposal. There may be, as there often is, much planning and devising on our part, but he knows how our plans and devices will end; and also, that they will end only as he would have them. In a word, what he wills, that must be done, in heaven above and in the earth beneath. Blessed be his name for the assurance we have, that he will do nothing for us but that which is for our good; and he only knows what is truly for our good: we know it not ourselves, however we may think to the contrary. In this assurance lies the secret power which can carry us with equanimity through all the changes of life, and strengthen us to meet with fortitude the terrors of approaching death-this it is that teaches us to be moderate in every period of happiness, and enables us to say, Thank God under every circumstance of affliction. A Sermon DELIVERED BY THE REV. B. NOEL, AT ST. JOHN'S CHAPEL, BEDFORD ROW, JAN. 23, 1831. 1 Samuel xii. 20, 22.-" And Samuel said unto the people, fear not : ye have done all this wickedness: yet turn not aside from following the LORD, but serve the Lord with all your heart; and turn ye not avide: for then should we go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver, for they are rain. For the LORD will not forsake his people for his great name's sake: because it hath pleased the LORD to make you his people." THOSE Who have but little knowledge of God as revealed in Scripture, are apt to pass rapidly from a state of presumption to a state of despondency. Both these states of mind are unjust to God; both being founded on an ignorance of his real attributes. Presumption springs often from the idea that God takes no notice of common affairs, and does not view sin in that serious light in which he is represented in Scripture to regard it; and then, despondency comes from that doubt, whether God is a pardoning and merciful God, which persons in distress of mind are apt to entertain. It was so with the Israelites at the time when the prophet Samuel addressed to them the words that form our text. They had been previously governed by God himself, who was their king at this period. Towards the close of the life of Samuel, when he was now grown aged, dreading an invasion from the neighbouring people, the Amorites, they begged that Samuel would select for them a king. "Ye said unto me, nay, but a king shall reign over us.' To this they were prompted by the hope, that their king being warlike, and employing the various methods which a warlike prince would have at command, would be able to defend them better against the perpetual inroads of the foes that surrounded them. That these were their motives, you find, when in making the request to Samuel, that he would appoint for them a king, they alleged this reason, "We will have a king over us, that we may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles." Unwilling to trust the immediate providence of God, they hoped that by likening their civil polity, and their military preparations, to those of the enemies by whom they were encompassed, who were warlike and successful, they would insure the same success themselves. The Prophet says, "Before this time the LORD your God was your King." He had previously fulfilled this office, he had undertaken to preserve them at home from invasion, and to lead them forth in war. Had they trusted his providence he would have fulfilled all the functions of a King, guarding them against all the evils to which they as a nation might be exposed. When they, therefore, determined to have an earthly sovereign, it was, because they could not trust to their Divine King to perform the functions of government for them; they, therefore, did virtually reject him; and this was the complaint which the Divine Being himself made against them by his prophet Samuel. "And the Lord said to Samuel, hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee; for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them." Not that they meant to renounce the worship of God, but they rejected him as their king; rather trusting to the po licy and military skill of an earthly sovereign, than to the direct promise of God, who had engaged to be their sovereign; and it was to this that the prophet Samuel referred when he said, "Ye have this day rejected your God, who himself saved you out of all your adversities and your tribulations and ye have said unto him, nay, but set a king over us." : The civil government under which the Jews have lived since that time, and under which men live now, are therefore greatly distinct from that theocracy under which the Jews had previously lived; and in which a crime against the state, and a crime against God, not as w distinct, the one to be punished by the Almighty, the other to be visited by man, were the same crime. The same crime that was committed against God, he being the king of the state, was committed against the law, and was punished as a civil as well as a religious offence. This state, including vast privileges to that people, they chose to reject, and on this, the prophet Samuel, anxious to fasten upon them the charge of guilt, collected them shortly before his death, and tells them,-"Now, therefore, stand and see this great thing which the LORD will do before your eyes." At the voice of his prophet, he sent an unusual storm in the heavens which lasted for a considerable time, and evinced thus, by this miraculous interference of Providence, that their sin was such as the prophet represented it to be. "I will call unto the LORD, and he shall send thunder and rain: that ye may perceive and see that your wickedness is great, which ye have done in the sight of the LORD, in asking you a king." From the impression produced by that miraculous interference of God,-that direct and obvious interference of Providence,―the people were immediately driven to great terror, lest the Lord should break forth in destruction on a people who had rejected him to be their sovereign. They said, therefore, to Samuel, "Pray for thy servants unto the LORD thy God, that we die not: for we have added unto all our sins, this evil, to ask a king." Now, it was to them in this state of apprehension, that the Prophet addresses the words before us; and there is a very striking analogy between the relation into which God had brought that people to himself by a national covenant, and the relation into which believers are brought by the spiritual covenant between God and them. We are continually in the old Testament, the old covenant, receiving from the dealings of God with his people, illustrations of the way in which he deals under the new covenant with believers. And it is manifest, that the same address belongs expressly, and can most suitably be applied, to those believers, those disciples of the Lord, who on account of committing sins are now under apprehension of present or even eternal wrath. To the people then, standing trembling before the wrath of God; and to any of you, my brethren, who may dread the anger of God, on account of known and recognized sins, does our text contain four points of instruction. First, it urges upon such trembling backsliders that they should take care not to proceed one step further in their declension from God. "And turn ye not aside for then should ye go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver, for they are vain." It directs then, Secondly, to confide in God with a sure and filial confidence, that they might not wander from him by declension. "Fear not: ye have done all this wickedness; yet turn not aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart." It assures them, in the Third place, of the grounds on which their confidence may rest, namely this, that God, whatever their sins may be, will not forsake them. "For the LORD will not forsake his people." And Fourthly, it tells us why he is thus gracious-It is because his own glory is involved in that mercy. "For his great name's sake: because it hath pleased the LORD to make you his people." With these truths we are most of us familiar; yet on that account they may not be the less improving to us. When truth has been lodged in the understanding, it may serve as good a purpose, when we reflect seriously and with prayer upon it, as though new instruction from the word of God were communicated to us. In a serious strain of mind, with an earnest desire after the divine blessing, may we all attend to these points of instruction; and, especially, they who are conscious that perhaps in their late conduct, they have in any degree departed from the living God." The first point of instruction addressed to such is, THAT THEY SHOULD NOT PROCEED ANOTHER STEP IN THEIR BACKSLIDING. "Turn ye not aside: for then should ye go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver, for they are vain." Every such backslider from God, the first moment he discovers his fall, should ponder, and stop, and turn again to the Lord, and take heed that he does not take another step in his declension; for in such a state, we know full well, how very rapid the declension may be, how one sin leads rapidly to another, and has often in its sad train, sin after sin, plunged the soul, if not into destruction, at least into perpetual and enduring sorrows. And for what is it that a person thus forsakes the Lord? What can he hope for by proceeding in this declension? What are those things which he is in such eager chase of, that he can forsake the blessings he has already enjoyed? Once he knew what it was to hold filial communion with God, he was delighted in his way, he took pleasure in the way of God; and the ordinances of grace were sweet to him. It was not long since, when he found himself consistently walking among his brethren, and enjoying with them a Christian fellowship. It was not long since, he was useful in the church, and in the world; perhaps, the most flattering and delightful prospects of increasing usefulness were opening around him daily. For what has he forsaken all these-for the backslider has forsaken them all? Is it not for some "foolish and hurtful lust that drowns the soul in destruction and perdition?" The love of money it may be; or it may be a lust after fame, or a love of intemperance, or a love of pleasure, or some such foolish, hurtful and impetuous desire, for which he has deprived himself of these great blessings. And are the things which he thus eagerly and foolishly follows, are they profitable? Can he say he is in a better condition now, than when he walked sincerely with God? Can he say he has found a higher state of happiness or an enlarged degree of it. No; for if it is not profitable, and he cannot say it is, the backslider knows what a miserable exchange he has made. Can he say that they can deliver him? The Prophet Samuel says, "These things are vain, and cannot profit nor deliver;" and I ask any backslider, who may be here to night, whether those things he is in chase of can secure him from perpetual chagrin and melancholy? Can he find repose in the things he has sought? Can he protect himself from the continual uneasiness which he feels while departing from the living God? Oh, how often has the backslider found it true what the Psalmist says-" While I kept silence, and refused to confess humbly and sincerely my sin before God, my |