whatever visitation God calls us to it, effectual to the amendment of our lives if we recover, and to our acceptance at God's hands if we depart, it is first particularly necessary to convince ourselves, that our present pains are no more than the very least part of that punishment, which, for our sins, we justly deserve. And thus regarding sin alone as the cause and root of the evil, to direct all our prayers to God to purify our soul from that inward taint, and to dispose of our bodies as seemeth best to His wisdom and mercy. And, if we firmly and fervently persevere in prayer for the obtaining of this one thing, forgiveness of sins,—we shall soon find all our immoderate desires of life abate, and our wishes completely satisfied by that single assurance,-" Son, thy sins are forgiven thee!" For wherefore should the pardoned offender desire a longer life,-why should the soul, that is escaped, desire a return to her cage and her abode of trial? Are not the merits of Christ enough for us, or the pardon which He so freely pronounces? Why then linger in the suburbs of the world, and cast those wistful looks behind us on those dangers from which we are delivered?-O, my friends, let it be, first of all, the object of your prayers, your constant and healthy prayers, that, when disease and danger overtake you, you may so

have lived, as that they shall be accounted nothing dangerous !

But, in the second place, when the thing which you have feared, is come upon you; and the arrows of the Lord stick fast in your soul; then pray to Him, not for long life, but for genuine repentance; - not for strength of body, but of faith and pray Him, above all, that His Holy Spirit would descend upon you, that His comfortable whispers may say to soul; your "I am thy salvation; "—and that the Holy Ghost may bear witness in your heart, as He now spake to the paralytic sufferer, "Son, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee!

SERMON LIII.

TWENTIETH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.

[FOR THE SACRAMENT OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.]

MICAH, vi. 8.

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.

THESE words are taken from the affectionate remonstrance of the Almighty with his people Israel, as delivered to them by the prophet Micah; wherein God, to reprove their ingratitude and disobedience, first, gently reminds them of the mercies which they had received at His hands; and urges, in the second place, the easiness of that service, which only He requires from them in return. “O my people,” are the words of the Most High, "O my people, what have I done unto thee, or wherein have I wearied thee? Testify against me! For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted; and what Balaam, the son of Beor, answered him from

Shittim unto Gilgal; that ye may know the righteousness of the Lord. Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the High God? Shall I come before Him with. burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?"

These two last sentences have been strangely considered, by some learned men, as part of a discourse, which passed, as they suppose, between Balak and Balaam, on the best manner of propitiating God; and to contain the question proposed by the king, and answered in these words by the prophet. But of such a question and such an answer not the slightest mention can be found, in the books of Moses; nor is it easy to say, by what other authentic writer, or by what continuance of tradition, the memory of such a fact, if true, was likely to be handed down, so as to be familiar to the recollection of the Israelites, so late as the time of Micah, who lived under king Hezekiah. It is better, therefore, surely, and more natural, to understand the mention here made of Balak and Balaam, as

referring merely to the disappointment of their hostile designs against Israel, as among God's most remarkable mercies to the chosen race; and to regard the question which follows, on the best means of pleasing God, as a natural demand of those to whom Micah bore the message of the Lord; when their souls were astonished with the greatness of His mercies; and they felt their own insufficiency by any human power to render Him any worthy service. "What have I done," the spirit of Jehovah's words may seem to run, "what have I done, O my people, that ye are weary of following my laws; that ye have turned away from having the Lord for your God? Testify against me! what greater claims can possibly be offered, than those which I possess on your love? What more could have been done, than I have done for my vineyard ? Have I not brought your nation out of slavery? Have I not revealed to you My name, and the knowledge of My name, by Moses, Aaron, and Miriam ? If you would know, how tenderly, how righteously I have acted towards you, recollect how I disappointed the malice of Balak, king of Moab; and how I turned into a blessing those curses, which the prophet Balaam meditated against you; why then do you refuse to render in return the only recompense of love and duty, to which your Maker, your Preserver, your Deliverer, so justly lays a claim ?" "But alas," the Jews are made to