all minds. If you wish to know what you are, whence you sprang, to what class of beings you belong, or what is your destiny-how the misery of the one part of your nature is compatible with the grandeur of the other-you must enter into the school of Christ, who imparts that wisdom which is to make us "wise unto salvation." There is in human nature, my brethren, great traces of grandeur, a vigour of thought, a power of transmitting our ideas into futurity; at the same time, man is subject to so many disappointments and miseries, and to such uncertainty in all his pursuits, that he may well be impressed with the notion of his alliance to the beasts, as if his all were to eat and to drink, for on the morrow he dies. The first of these sentiments taught him to be proud, the other sunk him into brutishness. Revelation only shows him the reality of his condition, that Christianity is intended to restore him to that grandeur which he has lost by sin, and that reconciliation with God is the only remedy for his woes. Thus the greatness of man does not elevate or inflame him.

Secondly. The knowledge of God will correct the vanity of our pas

sions.

It is confessed that innumerable evils occur by pursuing the object of our passions; but this conviction does not correct our mistakes, unless we have a principle of piety. As no two examples are perfectly alike, we imagine that we shall be able to secure to ourselves a portion of good; and are thus induced to commit ourselves upon the ocean of life, depending on our own strength and wisdom. Every man without piety is a prey to some passion or other. At one time he wishes to acquire great renown in the world; at another time, he would pursue the pleasures of sense or of reason, or of gayety and dissipation; and thus the soul is perpetually torn by contrarieties. Religion composes the mind to tranquillity; for when the love of God becomes the predominant passion, no worldly advantage is regarded, but what seems compatible with the fear and love of God as our perpetual portion. With this feeling, the Christian dwells in a continual calm. No man can be found who is not conscious of a void which none could fill: hence some have been disposed, by a system of philosophy, to destroy the passions. Reason, it is true, will baffle these passions when it does not conquer; it will show the nakedness and deformity of the epicure, and make him more miserable, by knowing that he is miserable but religion alone, by concentrating our trust in God, as the chief good and the great Supreme, can supply a remedy to all these diseases. Nothing can be truer than that declaration," There is no peace to the wicked." Whatever evils or trials may befall us, when properly improved, they will lead us to God. Sanctified afflictions are the means of bringing men to Him, and leading them to receive the full impression of this truth, that there is no peace but in Him.

Thirdly. The knowledge of God will correct the vanity that attaches to every state and condition in life.

Every one must perceive that an almost universal discontent with their condition pervades mankind. Every one is anxious to change his own state for another, in which he imagines that he shall be more

happy. Religion reverses this disorder of mind, which springs from the corruption of our nature; it shows us our unworthiness on account of sin; and while it produces content with the place we are in, it makes us dissatisfied with ourselves, so that the state and external condition in which we are found will have very little influence upon the mind. The man of the world is reconciled to his sins, and not to his state. The man of piety is in hostility to his sins, and reconciled to his state. The men of the world are always changing their state, and imagining a happiness which continually flies from them. It is the same in ev. ery period of life. In youth, the objects of the world not being tried, they think themselves at liberty to take excursions after happiness, and place it in the gratification of their passions. Weary of these, they become men, and effect a grave and dignified course; they then pursue riches, and aspire after grandeur and consequence, but soon find that these have their cares and anxieties. When they become old, they look with equal contempt upon both periods; for both appear to them like a confused dream, that leaves nothing but a succession of images, which have lost their charms. But piety will produce satisfaction with our condition, and prevent the indulgence of the passions. In fact, in every way and at all periods, it will preserve them; in youth, in manhood, and in advanced age. It will teach men that they have one solid good to obtain, and that time is short for attaining it. Dejection and gloom can have no place in that man who, having spent his life in serving God, looks forward to glory, honour, and immortality; for he "runs without being weary, and walks without being faint." He has exchanged the vigour of youth for the full growth of the Christian, and is ready to say, with the apostle, "I have fought a good fight; I have finished my course: I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me at that day."

On the whole, we learn that the knowledge of God, and that substantial piety which flows from it, will ensure an eternal happiness. Remember, my brethren, that death roams abroad, and reason and faith ought to set the distance aside. You are going into the presence of God; and all that now amuses you will then appear as a dream. Resolve to spend this year for God and religion. Through want of watchfulness, resolutions are ineffectual; yet no man can be wise unless he resolves to be so. Go to that God who has promised to give wisdom, and beg that he will teach you the knowledge of himself, who is the source of happiness to all beings, and supports the saints under affliction, and in the hour of death. Entreat that he would give you of the fruit of that tree of knowledge, of which whoever tastes will live, and appear spotless before the throne. In comparison with this, all the riches of the world are folly, all its grandeur is meanness, and the universe but dust. "Know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and a willing mind.”

VOL. IV. Cc c

LIV.

THE SOLEMN ENGAGEMENT.*

2 CHRONICLES, Xv., 15: And all Judah rejoiced at the oath; for they had sworn with all the heart, and sought Him with their whole desire; and He was found of them; and the Lord gave them rest round about.

[Preached at Broadmead, Bristol, Thursday evening, Feb. 8, 1827, preparatory to the Lord's Supper.]

Ir is a sufficient apology for adducing Old Testament subjects for the encouragement and direction of Christians, that, though the Old Testament dispensation has passed away, so that the precepts and observances are not to be enforced, except as they are corroborated by the New, yet we are informed that the Jewish nation and economy, generally, was a type of the Church of God. The dispensations of God's providence towards it represent corresponding dispensations of providence now. The things that happened to them, says Paul," happened to them as ensamples"-types, patterns.

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The Old Testament is replete with typical persons, typical ceremonies, places, things, events, institutions, especially its sacrifices. was throughout, the apostle informs us, a shadow of good things to come." We are to compare one with another. We discern in the gospel that finished work of which the Law was the commencement. In both dispensations we trace that identity of feeling which pervades all good men. The expressions of David of old are the expressions of our devotion now: "As face answereth to face in a glass, so doth the heart of man to man."

We must confess that care is necessary not to press the comparison of the two dispensations too far, so as to lose sight of the difference between the two. We must not apply immediately to the state of Christians every promise in the Old Testament. Some of the promises were confined to the Mosaical economy: some of the prophecies, also, received their accomplishment in the age when they were delivered, or in those immediately following, and, therefore, are not to be fulfilled now. Similar cautions may be extended to other points in the comparison between the Old and the New Testament.

But, to leave this digression, or, rather, introduction to our subject, we have before us an account of the reformation in religion made by King Asa. Abijah, his father, had encouraged idolatry; he had followed the last days of Solomon; but Asa's heart had been touched with the fear of God at an early period; and, throughout his reign, it was perfect before God, allowing for some serious drawbacks. Piety is no protection against external calamities. An invasion of an Ethiopian prince took place; probably the troops were composed of some tribes of the Cushites of Arabia, or the neighbouring parts. Ethiopi

* From the notes of the Rev. Dr. Wilson, now Bishop of Calcutta.

ans in Scripture generally mean the Arabs, and not the inhabitants of the country south of Egpyt. This prince came upon Judah with a million of forces. Asa applied in prayer to God, and pleaded that it was nothing with Him to help, whether with many or with them that have no power; and that in his name he went against the multitude of his enemies. "Let not man, O Lord," concludes the pious monarch, "let not man prevail against Thee."

Thus he rested; cast himself upon God, who justified his confidence and heard his prayer. Asa not only drove back his enemies, but enlarged his own territory; he recovered Gera, which had been taken by the Philistines. Azariah, the son of Oded, a prophet, of whom we read nothing but on this occasion, met Asa immediately upon his victory; and after appealing to the dealings of God with Israel in past times, and solemnly warning him of the consequences of disobedience, invited Asa to return to the Lord, and institute a national reformation. From this time Asa took courage; assembled the people, and attempted a serious and important reformation; removed the abominable idols; renewed the decayed altar of the Lord; re-established his worship at the temple; deposed Maacah the queen, and cut down her idol, and stamped it, and burned it at the brook Kedron, as an expression of abhorrence. Then he engaged his people in a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers: "And they sware unto the Lord with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets." This was a repetition of the covenant made at Mount Sinai.

The text then assures us of the manner and spirit in which the engagement was made. They " rejoiced at the oath," and especially because of the unanimity which accompanied it. This was attended with instruments of music, and shouting, agreeably to the splendour of that dispensation, when instrumental music was peculiarly appropriate. We read of similar reformations under Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, and, lastly, under Josiah; in each of which the proceedings were national. The king took the lead, for the kingdom and the Church were the same; the king was the head of the Church, though he was not permitted to interfere with the priesthood; he was the vicegerent and lieutenant of the Almighty; for God himself was their supreme Lord and King, and the kings had a delegated power under Him. This was designed to unite the nation under one and the same species of government, for the preservation of the purity of worship, and to perpetuate the statutes and ordinances given by the hand of Moses.

Let us, then, consider, I. The nature of the engagement, and its connexion with our duty now; and, II. The spirit with which that engagement was entered into, and especially the joy and satisfaction which accompanied it.

I. It was an engagement to return to that covenant which God had made with their fathers, by which He avouched them to be his people, and entered into alliance with them as their God. This embraced the exclusive worship of Jehovah, and an acknowledgment of the duty of cultivating all those affections, and performing all those

actions, which are due to Him. It was an engagement to serve God supremely and entirely; to love Him with all their heart; to place their dependance upon Him; and to regulate their conduct by his will. Real engagements with God are, under all dispensations, substantially the same. For Jehovah is the same, He changes not, and man is the same; and the nature of that religion of which God is the object cannot change, though it may be distinguished by different circumstances, and by various degrees of light. This engagement is called an oath; and it is said, "they sware unto the Lord;" though whether they took the oath in the formal terms, and with the solemnities observed in judicial matters, may be doubted. But, as they publicly appealed to God for the sincerity of what they professed, the engagement had all the force and sanction of an oath. Let us observe,

1. When the Christian convert first engages in the service of God through Christ, who is the object of his obedience, love, confidence, and trust, this engagement may be termed an oath. Every one who enters into covenant with God, enters into an engagement equivalent, in force and solemnity, to an oath it implies a solemn appeal to the omnipresent and ommiscient God. A formal oath cannot bring with it any thing more awful than the making God the inspector and judge of the sincerity of our declaration; except, perhaps, as to our fellowcreatures not being witnesses so distinctly of the transaction, as in the case of oaths in civil and criminal proceedings. But as to the substance of the appeal, every conversion to God implies an engagement equivalent, in seriousness, to that of the people under Asa. The vows of God are upon the convert. He appeals to the Supreme Creator, the Searcher of hearts; which amounts, in fact, to an oath. He acknowledges himself to belong to Christ. He avouches the Lord to be his God. He feels and confesses that he is not his own, but bought with a price, that he may glorify God with his body and with his spirit which are God's.

2. On the public profession of our faith before the Church at our baptism, we enter into covenant with God, we repeat and renew the engagement more privately made between God and our souls. This is a most solemn transaction, a declaration and engagement as solemn as words and actions can convey. By being baptized into the name of each particular person in the Godhead, we recognise each particular person as our Lord and our God, according to the parts which they bear in the mystery of our salvation: we recognise and subject ourselves to God the Father, as our Father, who hath loved us, and given his Son for us; to God the Son, as our Saviour, who became incarnate and died for our redemption; to God the Holy Spirit, as that Divine Agent by whom we are enabled to believe in Christ, and are united to Him and the Father in love: we enter into an engagement which has the nature of an oath, to be the Father's, the Son's, and the Holy Spirit's. We have the marks and signs of the covenant Holiness is the grand qualification for serving God. He has appointed an element to be used in baptism which is ordinarily used in purifying the body from defilement, in order to represent the pu

upon us.