must live above it or be condemnei vii . If you walk with it for a season the ping the v

come. Whatever

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to make your setinery &

that it shall be at the woriz

noble declaration were

"As for me and my

Lord."

Joshua's dying to one a

the last thing we insane saints of all times be

one thing hath failed" of al all has been fulled to te

God is no hard Mase v z on any of His servants: flatter and betray by making a bestowing but scanty gif sometimes expect too mu

it is that He loves them at

their path smoother, and

the fault is there By Trener de them that this wa

the immediate bidding of heaven; no manna is rained down upon us, morning by morning, so that we see it like hoar frost upon the ground, and may gather in our day's store without exertion or forethought. Our supplies are of another kind. By His word He teaches us; by His Spirit He guides us; through His Son, if our prayers be fervent and sincere, the utterance of faith and love, He promises not pardon only, but favour, rich and free and lasting, with spiritual gifts surpassing our desires, and meeting all our wants. He denies us what we ask for in our folly. He makes us wait many a time for the blessing which is doubly precious when He has trained us for its use. He leads us often by a way that we know not, and teaches us, by His own methods, to cease from man," and to trust only in Him. But of the "good things," which He has spoken concerning His people, not one has failed, or shall fail, or can fail, through eternity.

66

You never heard, any one of you, of the dying saint who complained that he had built too confidently on God's word, or warned his friends to be more wary than he had been before they began to serve Christ. Ten thousand witnesses to the world's hollowness and falseness have said, "Be wise in time; waste not your lives as we have done; seek God in your healthy times, and then you will not find your props and comforts all gone when you want them most;" but believers have another tale, and often, when it is told for the last time, in words few and solemn, while the eye glistens with feeling, and the

heart overflows with tenderness, men listen as to a prophet's message, and treasure it up as a precious record for all time to come. "God is true," they say, "though all men should prove liars. liars. He has kept me thus far, and will keep me, I know, through the struggle that is close at hand. I trusted my soul long ago to the good Shepherd's care, and marvellously has He kept me through dangers of many kinds. He kept alive my faith when it was like the bruised reed or the smoking flax. He bore with me when my love was cold, and hath made it warmer as I tasted more largely of His grace. He promised that 'sin' should not have dominion' over me, and in the faith of that promise I have fought against my worst enemies till they gave way before me. The last enemy is near me now; but my Lord has conquered death, and my life, my higher life, is hidden with Him in God.' It were wickedness and folly and base ingratitude to distrust Him now, when He has upheld me thus far, and blessed me at every step. One more step remains, and then the promise shall be fulfilled which even now transports my soul with joy; I shall behold my Saviour, and be near Him, and like Him, for ever."

My dear brethren, may we glorify God and encourage our brethren by a dying testimony such as that! May our lives be useful like Joshua's, and our end be peaceful and glorious like his! May we, like him and his faithful brother, "follow the Lord fully!" Then a better possession shall be

136 THE WARRIOR, IN PURSUIT, AND At rest.

ours in a yet more fruitful Canaan. The Captain of our salvation will divide the inheritance to us which is His by right of purchase and conquest, even the "incorruptible inheritance" which " eye hath not seen, nor the heart of man conceived, but which God has prepared for them that love Him."

SERMON IX.

THE KING AND THE PROPHET; OR, THE

BLINDING POWER OF SIN.

2 SAMUEL Xii. 5—7.

"And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die: and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity. And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man."

(Sixth Sunday after Trinity.-Morning.)

MANY reflections are forced upon us as we read out the sad story of which these words form a part. The first, perhaps, is this;-How very strange that a man who sinned as David did, should ever be called the man after God's own heart! Here is a King, bound to protect his subjects, and to render equal justice to all, first invading Uriah's home, and then contriving a false charge to take away his life. Here is a man, venerated hitherto for his piety, bringing shame upon God's cause, and doing that for which the profane might point