SERMON XX.

SPIRITUAL IDOLATRY.

DEUT. xxxii. 10, 11, 12.

He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; He led him about, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye. As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: so the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange God with him.

WHEN We read this wonderful and beautiful description of the Lord Jehovah's dealings with His peculiar people Jeshurun; His leading them from the desert; His conducting them through the wilder

ness; His guidance in their wandering; His moral discipline; His paternal care and ever watchful protection; His defence of them against innumerable and warlike enemies; His gradual training of them till they could attain to maturity in their state and policy; His vigilant severity to prevent idolatry and its train of vices from corrupting the purity of the newly-established Church and nation; it must strike us that the whole applies, in a bright and' touching manner, to the spiritual training and conducting of the citizens of the new Jerusalem, the members of the Christian Church, through the wild and gloomy desert of the world, its hopes, its sorrows, its trials, and its wanderings, to the eternal land of promise, "the haven of our rest," where our follies and our errors shall be at an end, and our griefs and fears shall cease for ever. Our Heavenly Father indeed finds us "in a desert land, in a waste howling wilderness." He finds us, in His merciful compassion.

for His lost creatures, though we do not seek Him, though we even ignorantly shun Him, for, when we are found and reconciled, He tells us, "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you."

I. This world is truly "a waste and a howling wilderness," destitute of all the springs of grace, of all spiritual sustenance, of the soft verdure of a living soul! It is a dry, parched, inhospitable region, and, to the mere human eye, which cannot see beyond it, utterly barren and desolate, unsatisfactory in its present aspect, hopeless in its prospects!

There are, indeed, amidst its arid wilds, many sweet oases of consolation, but they are not to be discovered to the worldly wanderer, unless under the guidance of a heavenly hand; he is misled by false appearances of freshness, and delusive indications of all that is pleasant to the eye, and good for food, and desirable to

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"The soft green of the soul."-Burke.

make one wise; but when, after toil and fatigue, he reaches the wished-for spot, he finds rest and refreshment as far distant as before; till, weary with repeated disappointments, his heart dies within

him!

It is, indeed, a dismal scene of empty heartless labour, and bitterness of spirit, to all who make it their home, and will not look beyond it!

But if we follow the pastoral crook of the great Shepherd, who seeks his lost sheep in the wilderness of the world, our journey will be cheered, our toil refreshed, at many sweet fountains and wholesome pastures, which lie concealed in the desert, the comforts of divine affections, of domestic tenderness, of love and friendship, afford to the follower of Jesus Christ many a foretaste of the promised land; and though, even to him, there is much of toil and pain, of remorse and disappointment to be endured, he sees that there is, at no far distance, a boundary to all, be

yond which he can catch glimpses of that heavenly inheritance, "where sorrow, grief, and lamentation are banished away, where the light of GoD's countenance visits and shines continually '."

In the meanwhile, he not only endures patiently the burden and heat of the day, but he rejoices in the power and goodness of that divine Protector, that "shadow of a great rock in a weary land," who "maketh the wilderness a standing water, and water-springs of a dry ground.'

II. When the watchful eye of our Lord finds us wandering in the desert, His warning voice and beckoning hand invite us to the path which will conduct us safely through it. The path is, in many places, narrow, steep, and thorny; often obscure and difficult to be discovered; swept by storms, covered by mists and darkness, threatened by dangers and alarms; the false images of delicious