hath not defied? For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him; lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations. Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel?" Chap. xxiii. 7-10.

The first reflection that naturally presents itself, on hearing these words, is one that has frequently occurred in the course of these exercises, and which it is impossible to repeat too often.-How wonderful, how tremendous, how irresistible the power of God, which has thus all matter, all spirit, at its disposal! which can make the dumb ass speak what naturally he cannot, and the mad prophet to utter what wickedly and perversely he would not: and "out of the mouths of babes and sucklings perfecteth praise." Mark how God brings to nought the counsel of the heathen; writes vanity upon the counsels of princes, and "maketh diviners mad." Thus said Balak; thus did the king of Moab; how poor and contemptible, compared to "Thus saith the Lord." "The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them. Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them; they sank as lead in the mighty waters. Who is like unto thee, O Lord, amongst the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?" Exod. xv. 9-11. Mark how the slow and reluctant prophecy of Balaam accords with the predictions of former times, and the history of periods yet to come. "Look up now," says God to Abraham, "toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he sad unto him, So shall thy seed be," Gen. xv. 5. And lo, the promise is more than fulfilled: it is infinitely exceeded by the accomplishment. "Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel?" Look forward to the days of Solomon, when the glory of Israel was in its zenith, when the descendants of the men in the plains of Moab

were multiplied as the sand on the sea shore; and thence rise higher still, to a greater promise, to a better covenant, to the spiritual seed of faithful Abraham, increased to "a great multitude, which no man can number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, standing before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands," Rev. vii. 9; encamped not in a fertile terrestrial plain, but expatiating through the vast regions of eternal day, and possessing, not a land flowing with milk and honey, but the pure and sublime delights of the paradise of God. How I envy Balaam the prospect from the top of the rock! A rich champaign country, skirted by the silver Jordan, meeting the distant horizon; the tents of Israel spread out like the trees in the forest, and covering an innumerable multitude; a whole nation of men beloved of God, and destined to conquest; the spacious tabernacle, the habitation of the Most High, expanded in the midst, and the cloud of glory, the unequivocal proof of the presence of the great King, resting upon it. How many objects to delight the eye, to swell the imagination, to elevate the soul! No wonder the tongue of envy was charmed from its purpose. But alas! the heart of malice and covetousness remains unchanged; a chest full of gold had been to Balaam a sight more enchanting. Place him in heaven, like Mammon, his father, according to the description of our great poet, his attention had been fixed but on one object:

"Mammon, the spirit least erect that fell

From heaven; for even in heaven, his looks and thoughts
Were always downward bent, admiring more

The riches of heaven's pavement, trodden gold,
Than aught divine or holy else enjoyed

In vision beatific."

The beautiful view beneath, therefore, was to Balaam what the conjugal bliss of our first parents in paradise was to Satan, according to the same great poet; who, beholding their pure and innocent affection, "turned aside for envy," and exclaimed:

"Sight hateful, sight tormenting! Thus these two,
Imparadis'd in one another's arms,

The happier Eden, shall enjoy their fill
Of bliss on bliss, while I to hell am thrust;
Where neither joy nor love, but fierce desire,
Still unfilled, with pain of longing pines."

It was a spirit and a situation not unlike to this, which suggested to the wicked prophet the words of the text; "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!" Verse 10. Unhappy Balaam! he descried from the top of the rocks goodly tents, in which he had no part nor lot; he discerned the happy estate of the righteous, but choose to be a partaker with the ungodly; he admired and envied the happy end of the people of God, but felt his own end approaching without hope; he saw and approved the beauty and loveliness of virtue; he persisted to the last, pursuing and cleaving to the wages of unrighteous

ness.

But what, I beseech you, could dictate this wish to Balaam? What but a strong and irresistible persuasion of the immortality of the soul, and an approaching unalterable state of rewards and punishments? What but a consciousness of having acted wrong, and the dreadful knowledge of his being accountable to a holy and righteous God? And is it really possible for reasonable creatures to fall into such a gross absurdity and contradiction? And can there exist such characters in the world? Let us bring the case home to ourselves. It is too evident to need a proof, that many indulge themselves in very unwarrantable practices, whose religious principles, notwithstanding, are exceedingly sound and just. Try them on the side of soundness in sentiment and opinion, and they talk and reason like angels from heaven: consider how they live, they are mere men of this world. They find a salvo for conscience, by making a sort of composition with their Maker, as some men find a salvo for their integrity,

by putting off their good-natured creditors with a certain proportion of their debt, when they are either unwilling or unable to pay the whole. And, with equal insolence and presumption, the one vainly imagines that his Creator and Lord, the other that his credulous friend may think themselves sufficiently satisfied with such partial payments as they think fit to render. Such of God's commands they will cheerfully obey; but as to others, why, they will make all the atonement in their power, the proud, the ambitious, the covetous, the dissolute, each in a way that shall not clash with his favourite pursuit. One will give his time, another his diligence, a third his money to God, just according as it is the article upon which he himself puts least value, and the conscious deficiency he attempts feebly to eke out, by faint hopes and half resolves, that some time or another he will exhibit a more uniform and thorough obedience to the will of God.

When the command is clear and express, to question and reason on the subject is rebellion. By this the allegiance of man in a state of innocence was assailed; and, listening to this, he staggered and fell: "Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" When temptation of this sort is once listened to, men will gradually come to doubt of every thing, and learn to explain away every thing. Deliberation and doubt in the face of "Thus saith the Lord," are dishonesty and impiety: and to attempt to get rid of one uneasy text of scripture, is a direct attack on the validity of the whole.

When we see a man so intelligent as Balaam, duped by his passions into a train of folly and wickedness so gross and palpable, let us look well to ourselves. The absurdities into which we fall, escape our own notice; but a discerning by stander sees them, smiles at them, perhaps makes his advantage of them. If we are conscious of the influence of any very powerful propensity, or aversion, it is a just ground of suspicion, that we may be tempted to act unworthily; and it is a power

come.

pays

ful admonition to watch our hearts narrowly on the side of that infirmity "which doth more easily beset us.' We see in the dying struggles of Balaam's conscience, a deep, a rooted concern about futurity: a concern which no one, let him say what he will, has been able to overHis ardent wish, "Let me die the death of the righteous," is the involuntary homage which vice to piety. Think what way, live what way men will, they have but one thought, one conviction, one prayer, when they come to die. After the pleasure or the advantage of a wicked action is over, who would not gladly get clear of the guilt of it? But this is the misery; the profit and pleasure quickly pass away, the guilt and pain are immortal. Could a lazy wish or two supply the place of virtue, all would be well: the conscience would go to rest, the "strong man armed would keep the house." But the very wishes of indolence and im piety betray their own flimsiness; and Balaam feels his own prayer falling back with an oppressive weight on his guilty head. Let us be instructed to mend it a little, and say with Paul, "None of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's," Rom. xiv. 7, 8. "To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Lord help us so to live, as to be raised above the fear of death. Let me fall asleep in the bosom of my heavenly Father, and I shall awake in perfect peace.

Happy, unspeakably happy, they, who in reviewing life, and in the prospect of death, can with holy joy and confidence adopt these words of the apostle, and say, "I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. 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, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing," 2 Tim. iv. 6—8,