O! let us bless God if he has made us wise; and pity, pray for, and expostulate with others.

If any man begins to perceive his lack of wisdom, let "him ask of God who giveth liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him.”

XXVIII.

GOD THE SUPREME GOVERNOR.

PSALM XCVii. 1.

The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice; let the multitudes of isles be glad thereof.

THOUGH the fool hath said in his heart, There is no God; and though the carnal heart is unwilling to realize and submit to his government; yet every wise and good man will rejoice in his highness, and be thankful that his kingdom extends over all. Therefore the Psalmist looked forward with ineffable delight to the period when his authority should be acknowledged all over the earth, and the most distant coasts should exult in the extent of his spiritual kingdom. Let us consider the nature, extent, and happy consequences of his government.

FIRST: He reigns in the natural world.

And is it not desirable that he should do so? or had you rather embrace the idea that all things around you sprang from the fortuitous concourse of senseless atoms, which may be again disorganized by some new turn of chance, than ascribe creation to an intelligent first cause? And had you

rather trust to chance, or fate, or nature, for protection and preservation through life, and for all possible expectation of conscious existence after death, than to the will of a Supreme Intelligence? There is strong proof that some wide extended catastrophe has formerly overwhelmed this globe. Had Had you rather believe that a number of floods have taken place accidentally, without God, than admit that Jehovah once destroyed mankind by a deluge, but has promised that he will do so no more? Do you like better to suppose such an event may take place in your time, without any intention to punish sin?

Are you willing that more partial calamities should be ascribed to some inferior cause, or do you wish for no protector superior to yourself? Surely, believers in revelation have ground to rejoice in the existence of one glorious Being, who superintends all he has created. We have no other security for continued seasons, nor for the limitation of natural disorders; no safety by land or sea. But winds and waves, lightnings and earthquakes, are controlled by him; pestilential disorders are limited by him; yea, individuals are noticed by him. He can control the laws of nature, or withhold so interfering; he can preserve you. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without him. How much better to be at the disposal of infinite intelligence, combined with infinite goodness, than to be left to shift for yourself amidst jarring elements, controlled by no superior being!

I rejoice that Jehovah reigneth, and should regret that I ever came into existence, if I thought there was no God. I shall not enlarge on the comparison between Jehovah and false gods. None of you would prefer a multitude of inferior gods, whose moral characters should resemble those which heathens ascribe to objects of their worship; partial, passionate, envious, cruel, subjects of every vile affection and hateful passion which can disgrace men. We are glad they are banished from Europe. May God utterly abolish them from the earth!

SECONDLY: He reigns over intelligent creatures, so as to control all their operations, notwithstanding their rebellion and disorder.

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The most depraved of free agents are under his absolute control. He can check or restrain them in a thousand unknown ways; setting bounds to their outrageous passions, and frustrating their daring designs. He can cause those whose inclinations are most opposed to his holy purposes to subserve his own intentions; so that the wrath of man shall praise him, and the remainder of wrath will he restrain.” This will hold good, both on the smallest scale and on the largest. When Esau sought to slay Jacob, God delivered him not into his hands. He protracted the life of Isaac; preserved Jacob in Mesopotamia; and when he returned, caused

Esau to lay aside his murderous purpose. He restrained the Canaanites from revenging on Jacob's family the cruelty of Simeon and Levi towards the Shechemites. When Joseph's brethren envied and hated him, they were not suffered to take away his life; but, by selling him to those who carried him into Egypt, became instruments of fulfilling the prophetic dreams they meant to frustrate. The like might be said of the revenge of Potiphar's wife. Thus the worst individuals are under divine control. Shimei could go no farther, in showing his malice against David, than was permitted for his farther humiliation by God, who utterly frustrated the counsel of Ahitophel, a far more formidable foe. So God had before preserved him from the machinations of Saul. Ps. xxxvii. 32, 33. And as to more extensive and public calamities, inflicted by man upon man-the horrid scourge of war, in which one party must always be wrong, and in which both are generally exceedingly guilty; and though good men have seldom had power to prevent the unjust or imprudent measures of their rulers, yet they are liable to be involved in the awful consequences; still it is ground of joy that the Lord reigns. While the authors of the contest indulge their evil passions and animosities, God can overrule the distress of nations for the good of his people, and will be their refuge in time of trouble. He has often used those who hated his people for their attachment to him, to correct their lukewarmness and other sinful defects, and stir them up to fervent prayer. The Assyrian was the rod of God's anger. The divine indignation was the staff in his hands; "howbeit he meant not so, neither did his heart think so: but it was in his heart to destroy nations not a few." But though the sinners in Zion were afraid, yet the Lord was the confidence of Hezekiah, who spake comfortably to the people. 2 Chron. xxxii. 7, 8. The sword cannot come upon a land without a divine permission; and let the motive of the instruments be ever so bad, God's design is right, wise, and good; though this is no excuse for them that delight in war. But he can stop the progress of the most powerful foes at his pleasure; like Sennacherib: and we have another example in modern times. Or he can cause them to treat his people well in

the day of calamity; Jeremiah, Daniel, &c. He knows the end from the beginning. He inspired Daniel to foretel the rise and fall of four monarchies. The machinations and contests of the Ptolemies in Egypt (the king of the south.)-And that of the Seleucidæ in Syria (the king of the north.)-The division of the Roman empire into ten kingdoms. The rise of the Popedom; (the little horn of the fourth beast.) And of the Turks (the little horn of the goat.) His plan is laid in consummate wisdom, and shall terminate in the universal establishment of the kingdom of his Son. He exercises a moral government over intelligent creatures, subjection to which would insure their happiness. All the misery of man results from his attempt to cast off the divine yoke; or from transgressing the divine law, which is summed up in the word Love; and would unite all our race together, by uniting them first to God as the centre of the moral world. "Love worketh no ill to his neighbor." Love bringeth no mischief on man. To love God is a privilege, as well as a duty; and surely God is good in requiring all men to love you, and cannot be otherwise in requiring you to love them. And now, though man has rebelled against God, yet God and his throne are guiltless ; nor will he abdicate his throne, nor abate his law; but has fixed a day wherein he will judge the world in righteousness. To every good being this is ground of rejoicing; and though to sinners it is just ground of alarm, yet it ought not to be of complaint; nor can they excuse their disaffection. But

THIRDLY, He has set up a spiritual government, or a kingdom of grace over renewed souls; and will in his own time cause it to extend over all the earth.

In this, above all, have we reason to rejoice. Grace reigns, not on the ruins of righteousness, but through righteousness unto eternal life. The seat of this kingdom is internal. Happy is every one in whose heart it is set up : for it consists in righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. God, however, did not send his Son to betray his government, and compromise with rebels by repealing the law which offended them. He sent his Son to vindicate and establish his holy law; and while he redeemed them from the curse they had deserved, to bring them back to the

obedience of the same law from which they had revolted. "He died the just for the unjust, that he might bring us unto God." When this kingdom is set up in the soul, the natural, providential, and moral government of God will appear infinitely desirable. The believer will rejoice in God's highness, and consider it a happy thing for all events to be at his disposal, and all creatures under his control. And he will long for others to become his willing subjects, and for him to reign from shore to shore. This is the kingdom foretold by Daniel. ii. 35. 44, 45. vii. 27. It is begun, and it must increase.

The consummation of God's word approaches. The Western isles have been made to rejoice, and the farthest isles of the East shall soon partake of the joy. Blessed is every individual in whose heart it is erected; but when it extends universally, wars shall cease to the ends of the earth. The creatures shall no longer be abused and subject to vanity; but the creation shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption, in the glorious liberty of the sons of God. We need not fear lest God should reign too absolutely. His understanding is infinite; his perfections are unsullied with a single blemish; his plan is perfect, and he will execute infallibly. Immense advantages shall result, even to superior beings that never sinned; and all the awful consequences of rebellion shall be removed from the saved, and confined to the finally impenitent, who would not that Christ should reign over them, and would not come unto him for life.

XXIX.

THE DESIRABLENESS OF A SPIRITUAL TASTE.

PSALM CXix. 66.

Teach me good judgment and knowledge: for I have believed thy commandments.

THE subject proposed for our consideration this evening is the desirableness of a spiritual taste. Before I enter directly on this subject, you will allow me to remark that there is no part of the divine word in which the peculiar feelings of a