God.

Abijah realized his name, denoting in the Hebrew "The Lord is my Father," in his filial regard and resemblance to his heavenly Father.

4. The smallest degree of real religion does not escape the eye of God. In the son of Jeroboam there was probably but a little of enlightened piety; his virtue was probably very crude and imperfect. Still, though but little, there was "some good thing :" the minute seed of the mustard-tree is not undervalued by Jesus Christ. He is a most compassionate, as well as a most discerning Judge; He despises not the day of small things: like Jacob's herdsmen, the good Shepherd drives his flock tenderly; bears the lambs in his arms; helps the weak. In the beautiful language of the prophet, "The bruised reed He will not break; the smoking flax He will not quench." Let none be discouraged: He sees the rising of trembling penitence; He detects the least beginning of good within. If you arise to return, the heavenly Father is ready to meet you on the way, while you are yet

afar off.

5. Early piety, always pleasing to the Lord, is pre-eminently pleasing when it appears amid an irreligious family; as it appeared in the case of Jeroboam's son. This is an instance that local impediments to piety can never become insurmountable: none can be so circumstanced as to be cut off from the possibility of repentance: God has never beset the way of eternal life with impracticable obstructions. Piety, in unfavourable situations, has the charm of a myrtle or a rose in the desert, lovely in the eye of God and man. And it is possible that even the surrounding evils may be made to work for the good of those that seek God: profaneness and profligacy may serve as an awful beacon if you listen to the inward voice, you may thus be warned by such frightful examples: if you are earnest in the great concern of man, you may be instructed even by the sight of vice and crime they may show you the horror of irreligion, if not the beauty of godliness; they may seem, in effect, to say, "This is the way, walk in it; turn not aside to the right hand or the left."

But there are others, of an opposite character, who, with good examples given, turn their backs on what they cannot but approve; others, who at once are compelled to venerate, and determined to forsake, the guide of their youth; who rebel against that excellence which they cannot but envy. Against such, the pious son of Jeroboam will appear as an awful witness at the last day! Tyre and Sidon and Nineveh will be their judges! Better to have never known the way, to have been the offspring of the most reprobate parents, to have never seen the light that lights every man born into the world, than, seeing, to despise it! Thus, in either case, family connexions cannot essentially affect us; they are but transient; we shall soon be left alone; every individual must stand isolated from the nearest relations, and give account of himself to God! Only be in earnest; determine that you will be saved; that you will not let God go, except He bless you; and nothing in heaven or earth can prevent your salvation Whosoever will call on the Lord, he shall be saved.

6. Yet early piety affords no security against an untimely grave. Long life was then a promised blessing to the followers of heavenly wisdom: yet even then, as the text presents an instance, it was not always dispensed to them; for it would have required a perpetual miracle to have afforded such an exemption from the uncertainty of this frail life. Now, however, there is no such promise: there is, indeed, a tendency in religion to preserve and prolong life, by its regulation of the passions and habits; but life is uncertain to the pious as well as others; the ripest for heaven are often the earliest to be gathered: God has reserved, under the gospel, far brighter rewards than any of a temporary nature, than the addition of a few more fleeting years; even the reward of eternal life through Jesus Christ, who says, "I give unto my sheep eternal life!" And who that has the dawn of that life, the day-star of that glory rising in his heart, ever regretted his approaching departure from mortality? No, he has rather a desire to depart and to be with Christ! Death more than ever corrects and clears his view of things; he sees this world in its utter vanity, and looks only for eternal things.

7. Lastly, early piety, though cut off in its opening bloom, has a record in heaven and earth; there is a fragrancy in its remembrance. "All Israel mourned him." When a child dies in his sins, the only alleviation left to his disconsolate parent is to forget his loss, to retire within himself, and aim to lose himself in the higher scene before him but how cold is such consolation compared with that which the pious parent enjoys, whose child, as he has every reason to believe, is only glorified before himself, and waits to welcome him ere long! Who can console a parent for the eternal destruction of his own flesh and blood? How should this idea urge every parent to labour, both by example and instruction, to secure, as far as in him lies, the immortal welfare of his offspring, and train them up for God! Remember that, without religion, all the ornaments of education are only like preparing a richer sacrifice for the tomb.

And let the young now be faithful to their convictions! now make that choice which alone they can approve! now resist whatever they cannot but condemn! Let none defer the work of God to a more convenient season; no season can possibly arrive so convenient as the present: difficulties will only increase by repeated habits of neglect ; they can never be so small as they are now. The chains of sin will only be riveted by wearing: until God will wait no longer for the procrastinating trifler, but say, as He said by the prophet, "Let him alone; he is joined to idols; let him alone!" This has been the ruin of millions: let it not be that of any here! It is but few that deliberately reject religion; their sin and ruin lie in procrastination: they look forward to a day of repentance that never arrives! Now is the accepted day! This is our only inheritance of time; all beyond this is God's, enveloped in the secret of his purpose! Let us all, therefore, now set ourselves with new devotedness for heaven; that, when the Lord shall come with his fan in his hand, we may not be cast out as the chaff and refuse for destruction, but be gathered with the precious wheat into his eternal garner!

LIII.

DAVID'S CHARGE TO SOLOMON.*

1 CHRONICLES, xxviii., 9: And thou, Solomon, my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve Him with a perfect heart and a willing mind.

[Preached to young persons, at Cambridge, Jan. 2, 1802.]

THIS was the exhortation of King David, a little before his death, addressed to his son Solomon; and the advice upon which he most emphatically insists is, to adhere closely to God, and to make it his first and chief care to serve and please Him. As there never was but one acceptable way of serving and pleasing God, this exhortation is as applicable to every individual as it was to Solomon, and is recorded for our instruction," upon whom the ends of the world are come." Each of us, therefore, should consider himself as deeply interested in the words, "Know thou the God of thy father, and serve Him with a perfect heart and a willing mind."

David means to include in the knowledge of God, the dispositions which should influence us in our approaches to Him: "He that cometh unto God must believe that He is." It is a belief in the perfections of God, including all his natural and moral perfections-his goodness, his mercy, his truth, his justice, his immutability, and his faithfulness; in short, an acquaintance with Him as the moral governor of the world. For it is to no purpose to be acquainted with the abstract perfections of God, unless we seek Him as the Ruler and Controller of all his creatures, and feel such a subjection of the will to Him as implies our weakness; a deep conviction that God rules, and that every other being is but an instrument in his hands. David intimates that he would have Solomon know God as "the God of his father;" that is, know Him in those ordinances of his worship that had been made so delightful to himself, and have supported the pious in all ages. For there never was but one religion; it was taught to our first parents after the fall, and was the religion of Abraham, of Isaac, of Jacob, and of David. In the New Testament, we are farther instructed that in Jesus Christ is to be found that knowledge which will influence the heart, and lead us to imitate Him, and to make Him our portion. The veil which hangs over us in nature and in providence is removed by Jesus Christ; that vague and scientific sense of God which philosophy taught is taken away; and he has given us that true knowledge of God which replenishes the heart, and draws us to seek after Him as the ultimate good. "I have manifested thy name to the men which thou gavest me out of the world; thine they were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word." The apostle says, "We know that

From the notes of John Greene, Esq.

we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness; and we know that the Son of God is come, and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is true; and we are in Him that is true, even in his Son, Jesus Christ." To true Christians God does not impart truth merely to the understanding, but to the heart; in consequence of which, that otherwise mysterious promise of our Lord is made known to them: “If a man will love me, he will keep my words; and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." In this important sense we are to know God, the God of our father; and the design of it is, that we may serve Him with a "perfect heart and a willing mind." One of the great peculiarities of the truth of Christianity is, that it is altogether practical; and no knowledge of God can be of any use to us but what is so. has revealed his majesty to us, in order to be loved and obeyed. All high and sublime speculations that do not partake of the doctrines of Christianity do not sanctify; they may enlarge the understanding, but do not influence the heart. The service of God stands opposed to three things:

First. To a profane contempt of God.

He

David was exceedingly intent upon being a restorer of the worship of God, and the builder of a temple for Him, as appears in the following words: "Hear me, my brethren, and my people: as for me, I had in my heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and for the footstool of our God, and had made ready for the building: but God said unto me, Thou shalt not build a house for my name, because thou hast been a man of war, and hast shed blood. And he said unto me, Solomon, thy son, he shall build my house and my courts; for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his Father." There are those who set their tongues against the heavens, who speak bold and impious things, who say that it is a vain thing to serve God, and what profit is there in his ordinances? In opposition to such a spirit, we are commanded to fear his name, to reverence his worship, to keep the holy solemnity of the Sabbath, which he has appointed, and thus to distinguish ourselves from the world.

Secondly. The service of God is opposed to a temporal morality. It is true that religion prescribes all the parts of morality; but here is the difference, it prescribes the same duties, but upon higher principles. It enlists all morality into its service, and places it upon a superior foundation. Are we, for instance, commanded to be chaste, temperate, and sober: the intention is not merely to preserve us from the diseases which those vices might bring with them, but that we may become temples of the Holy Ghost. It teaches us to do good; not that we may be applauded for our benevolence, but that we may "be perfect, even as our Father in heaven is perfect." It teaches us to bear injuries with calmness, and to forgive our enemies and persecutors; because "great is our reward in heaven." In short, there is no part of virtue, as it respects ourselves or the world, but Christianity presses it into its service. It embraces and imbodies all that imagination has conceived, and all that religion has sanctioned.

It must be evident to every reflecting mind, that this conscientious practice of all virtue-this attention to the purity of our motives-this steady and devoted service of God, which Christianity requires, is very distinct from that which the men of the world think necessary and inexpressibly superior.

Thirdly. The knowledge and service of God is opposed to that kind of religion which entirely leaves out the affections.

There are those who think it necessary to attend religious worship only to pacify conscience or to comply with the necessary customs of society. This, it is to be feared, is the religion of great multitudes, and of those who, though shocked at open impiety and profaneness, bave never entered into the real sanctuary of religion, or felt devotedness of heart to God. They have never tasted of the richness of his promises, have never experienced that delight in Him which engages all the powers and faculties of the mind in his service-which makes duty our delight, and cuts off temptations to sin and concupiscence. God demands the heart: "My son, give me thine heart;" and justice requires that the greatest being should have the largest share in our affections, and thus become the voluntary object of our minds. By what MOTIVES shall we impress this knowledge of God upon your minds? By what motives urge you to "know God, the God of your father, and to serve Him with a perfect heart and a willing mind?" The knowledge of God will correct the vanity of every other kind of knowledge-the knowledge of God will correct the vanity of our passions-the knowledge of God will correct the vanity that attaches to every state and condition in life.

First. The knowledge of God will correct the vanity of every other kind of knowledge.

When Solomon had taken a survey of the stores of nature, this was, in his view, the conclusion of the whole matter: "Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man." This is the consideration which will render our inquiries sober; and it is for want of this that knowledge only "puffeth up." Those persons are in the greatest danger of becoming atheists (next to such as live in the indulgence of their passions) who are in the habit of looking at second causes they acquire that sort of knowledge which becomes as a veil to hide God from view. Knowledge, it must be considered, is not to be sought simply for its own sake; for, till we possess piety, or a sense of God, we find no ultimate end in its acquisition, and no satisfaction to our inquiries. It is the knowledge of God alone that furnishes any rest or peace to the mind: destitute of this knowledge, we see ourselves but as atoms, surrounded with infinite objects that we know not. On the one side we see the weakness and misery of our nature, so as to "say to corruption, Thou art my father, and to the worm, Thou art my mother and my sister;" and, on the other, we see our dignity as beings connected with immortality. The knowledge of God teaches us that our grandeur is the relict of that image of God which was lost by sinning against Him; and thus it gives repose to our inquiries, by fixing them upon Him who is the centre and rest of