"throne of David, blessed with prosperity "at home, triumphant over all his ene"mies abroad." Quite the contrary. Joash the King of Israel conquered him in battle; took him prisoner; plundered him of all his treasures; and broke down the walls of Jerusalem. And afterwards, the subjects of Amaziah conspired against him; and when he fled from them for his life, they followed him to Lachish, and there slew him. "But

cr

whence," you ask, "was this unexpected "result. The hundred talents were resigned; "yet Amaziah lives in calamity, and dies by "violence and treason! Did the Lord God, "the God of goodness and truth, forsake "His servant?" No. The Lord forsook Amaziah, because Amaziah drew back from being His servant. Amaziah, when he had destroyed the Edomites, brought with him to Jerusalem their idols; and with the infatuation which belongs to presumptuous weakness, set them up to be his gods, and burned incense to them, and worshipped them. Yet the sword of divine justice paused in its scabbard. Where sin abounded, grace much more abounded. The Lord Jehovah, instead of immediately cutting off the King in the midst of his ingratitude and impiety, was mercifully pleased again to send a prophet to rebuke him and call him to repentance.

And

And the prophet said unto him; Why hast thou sought after the gods of the people of Edom, which could not deliver their own people out of thine hand (i) ?" How did the King receive the message from God? When the former prophet had delivered his message, Amaziah obeyed the command. Did he now humble himself before His Maker? Mark how obstinately his heart was fixed in apostacy. He charged the prophet with insolent obtrusiveness for daring to reprove him: and ordered him to be silent on pain of punishment. The King said unto him; "Art thou "made of the King's counsel? Forbear. Why "shouldst thou be smitten?" Then the prophet, perceiving him not to be reclaimed, pronounced his doom. "I know that God hath "determined to destroy thee, because thou hast "done this, and hast not hearkened unto my

counsel." Hence followed the disastrous re→ sidue of his life, and his miserable end. Learn from this example that no former acts of righteousness, no former sacrifices of present interest for conscience-sake, will avail an excuse for indulging afterwards in sin. If the rewards which are proyou would reap vided through the blood of Christ for those former acts of righteousness, for those for

(i) 2 Chron. xxv. 15, 16.

you as

mer

mer sacrifices? seek the grace of the Holy Spirit, that you may continue a consistent and zealous servant of your God and Re-' deemer to the end of your life. Trust not in strength of your own. How were you turned unto God from your original corruption? Entirely by the renewing influence of His Spirit. How are you to be enabled to persevere? Entirely by the operation of the same Sanctifier. But I beseech you, my brethren, that ye receive not his grace in vain. Be not you of the number of those who draw. back unto perdition. If any man draw back, My soul, saith the Lord, shall have no pleasure in him. When I say to the righteous that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness and commit iniquity, all his righteousness shall not be remembered, but for his iniquity that he bath committed he shall die for it. When the righteous turneth away from his righteousness and committeth iniquity, and doth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doth; shall be live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die (k).

(k) 2 Cor. vi. 1. xviii. 24.

Hebr. x. 38, 39.

Ezek. xxxiii.

13.

SER

SERMON X.

On CHRISTIAN BOUNTY.

DEUT. XV. 11.

Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy.

THE word of God, solicitous, while it commands obedience, to approve its precepts to the understanding, very frequently accompanies the injunction with a brief remark suggesting the reasonableness of the duty. How manifest is the obligation to love God, when we are instructed to love Him because he first loved us (a)! How equitable the love of man, when we read that, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another (b)! How satisfactory the argument for universal forgiveness of injuries: Even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye (c)! How decisive the plea for the reception of

(a) 1 John, iv. 19. (b) 1 John, iv. 11. (c) Col. iii. 13.

the

the stranger as a brother: The Lord loveth the stranger in giving him food and raiment: love ye therefore the stranger (d). How obvious to the man who feels the truth of the intro

ductory memento, The Lord thy God blesseth thee (e), is the duty of opening the hand wide to the brethren, to the poor, to the needy!

What then if, for an instant, we might suspend, in our own case, the obligation to Christian bouuty, on the truth of that introductory memento as applicable to ourselves? What if, placing out of sight every other passage in the Scriptures which can be supposed to bear, either in the way of commandment or of exemplification, upon the duty, we rest the authority of the precept before us as to ourselves, the authority of the only precept, according to our present assumption, which prefers a claim to our regard on the subject of bounty, upon the result of the enquiry, Has the Lord our God blessed us? Be it allowed, for a moment, there to rest it! Has the Lord our God blessed us? Be the enquiry proposed. What is he who suggests it? What are they to whom it is suggested? My brethren; What are we? We are intelligent beings; beings formed out of nothing; beings in

(d) Deut. x. 17—19.

(e) Deut. xv. 6.