and into which all other nations of the world had by this time fallen. It is a happiness to know, that where the heart is really right with God, where the strong and habitual principle under which we act is the desire to live in all holy obedience to God's glory, where the general tenor of the conduct is regulated by the Divine commands, God will not judge as the world judges, and consider every deviation from the strictest line of his commandments, an unpardonable sin, and a sentence of eternal banishment from his redeemed family. Well has David said, in reference to this, " If thou, Lord, shouldest be extreme to mark what is done amiss, O Lord, who could stand?" This, whilst it holds out not the slightest encouragement to Antinomianism, affords much comfort to the penitent and deeply sorrowing sinner. It shows him, that there is pardon, that there is grace, that there is a way open to every repentant prodigal, to return to the arms of a Father, who has never utterly discarded him, never ceased to view him as a son, although a guilty one. Yes, blessed be God, none ever sought his face in vain; the man whose sins have banished him the farthest from the face of the Almighty, shall yet, if he come in penitence and faith, find Him willing to welcome

him, for the sake of the great atoning sacrifice, and the merits of that Saviour who ever liveth to make intercession for him.

EXPOSITION XXXIV.

NUMBERS Xxiv. 1-13.

1. And when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he went not, as at other times, to seek for enchantments, but he set his face toward the wilderness. 2. And Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel abiding in his tents according to their tribes: and the Spirit of God came upon him.

3. And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor hath said, and the man whose eyes are open hath said:

4. He hath said, which heard the words of God, which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open :

5. How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel!

6. As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river's side, as the trees of lign aloes which the Lord hath planted, and as cedar trees beside the waters.

7. He shall pour the water out of his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters, and his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted.

8. God brought him forth out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn: he shall eat up the nations his enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce them through with his arrows.

9. He couched, he lay down as a lion, and as a great lion: who shall stir him up? Blessed is he that blesseth

thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee.

The farther we advance in this remarkable history, the more we see the extreme folly and wickedness of the parties concerned. Balak resolving to obtain his end, and if possible to procure the curse of Balaam upon Israel, still perseveres in his efforts and his sacrifices. Balaam does much the same, but evidently far more hopelessly. We read at the commencement of the passage, that he did not go, on this occasion, as he had on the two preceding, "to seek for enchantments," but finding that he was totally foiled, resigned himself at length into the hands of God. But this declaration, that he had hitherto gone to seek enchantments, is sufficient to show us, that he was not willingly a follower of Jehovah, and that when he spake the words of the Lord, he spake them, as we have seen, by compulsion, and simply because he was irresistibly impelled to do so. We are told that " the Spirit of God came upon him," and thus with his mighty power constrained him to bless, where

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every desire and thought of his own wicked heart was engaging him to curse. He makes, indeed, a mighty boast, a twice repeated declaration, that he was a man "whose eyes were open," but alas! how imperfectly, how darkly were they so! His eyes were opened to see the future prospects and glories of Israel, but they were closed to all the iniquities of his own conduct, and the miseries of his own fate. Such will, at all times, be the state of those who have knowledge without faith, a perception of Divine truth, but no love to that blessed and holy Being from whom it flows. It is difficult to conceive a more fearful state than his, who possesses an enlightened mind, and an unchanged and unholy heart. His life will be, like Balaam's, a struggle between his desires and his convictions, and his death, like that of the apostate prophet, only the sentence of eternal banishment from all joy, all hope, all peace.

10. And Balak's anger was kindled against Balaam, and he smote his hands together and Balak said unto Balaam, I called thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast altogether blessed them these three times.

11. Therefore now flee thou to thy place: I thought to promote thee unto great honour; but, lo, the Lord hath kept thee back from honour.

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12. And Balaam said unto Balak, Spake I not also to thy messengers which thou sentest unto me, saying,

13. If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the commandment of the Lord, to do either good or bad of mine own mind: but what the Lord saith, that will I speak?

Yes, here was the confession of Balaam himself, to the truth to which we have so often referred, "I cannot go beyond the commandment of the Lord to do either good or bad of mine own mind;" not, " I will not," but," I cannot ;" I am restrained by a power over which I have no control, and by which I have been compelled to say all that I have said, or shall say. Thus was the covetous prophet " kept back from honour," and dismissed, poor as he came, to his native land.

How different would have been the feelings with which Balaam would have performed his solitary homeward journey, had he, like Moses, in a far higher sense than any with which his worldly mind was acquainted, really “ had respect to the recompense of the reward," and been content to choose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures" of Balak. Then would the exulting language of his heart have been, Thank God for thus per