"ted for deftruction."

"Therefore they shall not

"ftand in the judgment." The poor and diftreffed whom they refused to relieve, the widow and the fatherless whom they oppreffed, the innocent whom they injured, the unhappy wretches whom, by their artifices, they betrayed into the paths of deftruction, fhall rise up and witness against them. Their own hearts will condemn them. The final fentence is pronounced, they are driven from the prefence of the Lord, they are caft into outer darkness, where the worm dieth not, where the fire is never quenched, and it had been happy for them that they had never been born.

You fee, my that a life of

One criminanother, till,

I fhall conclude with one reflection. brethren, from what has been said, wickedness is gradual and progreffive. al indulgence lays the foundation for by degrees, the whole super-structure of iniquity is complete. When the finner has once put forth his hand to the forbidden fruit, and thinks that he can taste and live, he returns with greater and greater avidity to repeat his crimes, till the poifon fpreads through all his veins, and all the balm of Gilead be ineffectual for his cure. Fly therefore, I call upon you in the name of Heaven, fly, from the approaching foe. Guard your innocence as you would guard your life. If you advance one step over the verge of virtue, unless the grace of Heaven interpose, down you fink to the bottomlefs abyfs. Come not then near the territories of danger. Stand back. One fin indulged, gathers strength and abounds; it increases, it multiplies, it familiarizes itself with our frame, and introduces its whole brood of infernal inmates, worse than peftilence, famine or fword.

LECTURE II

PSALM Xxiv.

1 The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world and they that dwell therein.

2 For he hath founded it upon the feas, and established it upon the floods.

3 Who fhall afcend into the hill of the Lord? and who shall fland in his holy place?

4 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lift up his foul unto vanity, nor fworn deceitfully.

5 He fhall receive the bleffing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his falvation.

6 This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face‚0 Ja

7 Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory fball come in.

THIS Pfalm was compofed when Da

vid removed the ark of the covenant from the house of Obededom to Jerufalem. But though it was compofed for that occafion, it is evident, from the latter part of it, that it was ultimately intended for that more illuftrious event, when Solomon transferred the ark from the tabernacle into the temple which he had built. As David was not only the Poet, but also the Prophet of God, he forefaw the future events of the Church, by the inspiration of the Divine Spirit; and by the fame inspiration, he compofed fongs and pieces of music adapted to these events. Thefe

he committed to Afaph, Hemon, and Jeduthum, the prefects of facred poetry, to be fung as opportunities required.

The occafion of this pfalm is one of the grandest and moft illuftrious that any where occurs in hiftory. Solomon, by the divine direction, had now finished the temple, that fuperb monument of oriental magnificence and glory, which drew the princes of neighbouring nations to come and contemplate. The feast of tabernacles, the most folemn and most frequented of the Jewish feftivals, was now at hand. All the tribes of Ifrael, from Dan to Beersheba, were now affembled at Jerufalem to the feaft. It was then that Solomon proceeded to dedicate the temple, and to fix the ark in its appointed place. The proceffion to the temple was grand and triumphant. Solomon, arrayed in all his glory, attended with the elders of Ifrael, and the heads of the tribes went before; after him marched the priests in their facerdotal robes, bearing the ark; to them fucceeded the four thousand facred muficians, clothed in white robes, and divided into claffes, fome of them finging with the voice, others playing upon harps and trumpets, and pfalteries and cymbals, and other inftruments of mufic; behind them followed the whole congregation, with palms in their hands, rejoicing and wondering. Solomon had, on this occafion, made an oblation of twenty-two thousand oxen, and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep, of which the Almighty teftified his approbation and acceptance, by caufing the sacred fire to come down anew from heaven, and confume the facrifice. The Priefts and Levites, as they went along, fprinkled the ground with the blood of the victims, and perfumed the air with frankincenfe and sweet odours. This, with the fumes of incenfe which rofe in clouds from the al

tars, had diffused fuch a potent perfume through the air, that people at a distance reflected on the breath they drew as a celeftial influence, and regarded the ftrains of harmony which they heard, as fomething more than mortal; actually imagining that the God of the Hebrews had defcended from his heaven to take poffeffion of the temple which they had dedicated to his fervice. Nor were they mistaken. For after' the priests had carried the ark into the holy of holies, had placed it between the cherubims, and had reverently withdrawn, the cloud of divine glory defcended and rested upon the house. The Shechinah or divine presence took up its abode in the most holy place. Animated by this fublime occafion, the Pfalmift begins his ode with celebrating the dominion of the Deity over this vaft univerfe, and all its inhabitants, and setting forth their entire subjection to his power and providence.

VERSE 1 and 2. The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. -For he hath founded it upon the feas, and established it upon the floods. David afcertains the fovereignty of God over the world, and its fubjection to him, from his having created it at firft; from his having established it upon the feas, and founded it upon the floods. By this he opposes the fceptics and infidels of those times, who withdrew nature from the Divinity, and denied the interpofition of Providence in human affairs: by this he diftinguishes the God whom he adored, from the idols of the Gentiles around him, who were confined to one part or province of nature: by this he endeavours to infpire the Jews with gratitude and love to their God and King,

GG g

who chose them from among all the nations whom he governs by his providence, to be his favourite people, the object of his particular providence, and peculiar loving-kindness. The Pfalmift next determines where that God whofe perfections he had been defcribing was to be worshipped, and which of his worshippers were to be the objects of his favour and approbation.

VERSE 3. Who fhall afcend into the hill of the Lord? and who shall stand in his holy place? It was usual among the Jews to add the name of God to any thing that was great, that was wonderful, and of which they would give us a high idea. Lofty cedars in Scripture, are called the trees of the Lord: high hills are called the mountains of God: wine, on account of its generous, joyous, and exhilarating qualities, is faid to cheer the heart of God and man. In this place, the phrafe is not to be taken in its usual sense. By the hill of God, is here meant the hill of Zion, which the Almighty had chofen to be the place of his worship, and where he had commanded his temple to be built. Near the fame tract of ground there were three hills. Zion, where the city and castle of David stood; Moriah, where the temple was built, and Calvary, where our Saviour was crucified; but these, for the most part, went under the general name of Zion. By the phrases of afcending into the hill of God, and standing in his holy place, the Pfalmift would point out the persons who are to be admitted to worship God in his temple here, and in confequence of that, to be received into the temple of his glory above, and to dwell for ever with the Lord. We have the character and qualities of these perfons expreffed in the following verfe.