the feelings of the king are abforbed in the concern of the worshipper for the ordinances of religion. Infidels may indeed endeavour to explain this, by fuppofing that David was a man of a melancholy turn of mind, and that like other weak and gloomy perfons, he fought relief in devotional exercises, when he should have been engaged in forming wife counsels, and adopting vigorous measures. But let us attend to his real character. He was the hero of the age, and had immortalized his name by numerous exploits. In him were united the prowefs of the foldier, and the skill of the general; and a fucceffion of the most brilliant victories had procured for him the higheft confidence, as well as the highest honour. He was qualified to rule as a judge, and to govern as a politician. To all these he added the charms of poetry and mufic, and "the harp of the fon of Jeffe ftill continues to drive away "the evil spirit." Nevertheless he paffes by all these distinctions; every other exercife, every other pleafure, gives place to ONE; in this he centers all his happinefs" ONE thing have I defired of the Lord, that "will I feek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beau66 ty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple. "How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of Hofts!" "Blessed are they that dwell in thine house; they will "be still praifing thee." "For a day in thy courts " is better than a thousand; I had rather be a door"keeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the "tents of wickednefs." Such was the language of his decided preference; nor was it the ebullition of enthufiafm. He fpeaks "the words of truth and fober

66

66

"ness ;" he gives folid reasons for his predilection. The house of God had afforded him multiplied advantages; there he had experienced divine manifestations and influences; there he hoped to enjoy fresh communion, and renewed fupplies; " FOR the Lord God " is a Sun and Shield; the Lord will give grace and glory, and no good thing will he withhold from "them that walk uprightly." Let us examine these words in a fenfe more detached and general. Let us contemplate "the Lord God" we adore in the fanctuary; let us confider what He Is—“ A SUN AND "SHIELD." What He GIVES "GRACE AND GLO"RY." What He WITHHOLDS—“ ΝΟ GOOD 64 THING ;" and whom He REGARDS—“THEM THAT 66 WALK UPRIGHTLY."

•

PART I. If God, my brethren, speaks to man, He must condescend to employ human language, not divine. He has done fo; and behold nature and art lending their combined powers to aid the weakness of our apprehenfion. Nature furnishes us with a fun, and art with a shield; and all that is implied in these images, and more than all Is God to his people.

He is a "SUN." Who can be ignorant of the glory and importance of this luminary in the system of nature; always the fame; difpelling the horrors of darkness; making our day; gladdening, fertilizing, and adorning the whole creation of God? Every thing here below is changeable and perifhing; "the grafs "withereth, the flower thereof falleth away;" man himself partakes of the general inftability. How many empires has the fun beheld rifing and falling! how many

very

generations has it feen fucceffively defcending into the grave! how many new poffeffors have occupied yonder eftate! how many fresh claffes of labourers have toiled in yonder field! while the fame fun, from the beginning, has annually called forth the produce. At this moment I feel the very fun which "beat upon the "head of Jonah." While I fpeak, mine eye fees the fame fun which fhone on "the dial of Ahaz ;” and "ftood ftill in the valley of Ajalon;" the very fame fun which faw our Saviour "going about doing "good;" Noah stepping forth from the ark; Adam walking in the garden of Eden. It has fhone near fix thousand years, but it is unaltered; it has been perpetually difpenfing its beams, but it is undiminished it has bleffed myriads, but it is not lefs able to cheer us. Kindle a thousand lamps or fires, they will not enable you to discern the fun; the fun can only be seen by his own light. As he discovers himself, so he renders every thing else visible; by means of his rays the volume charms us, we hail the fmiling face of friendship, we purfue our callings, and fhun the dangers to which we are expofed. "If any man walk "in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world." "The fun arifeth;" "man go"eth forth to his work and to his labour until the "evening." The illumination of the fun is progreffive. The dawn is neither clear nor dark; night reluctantly refigns its fway; it ftruggles for a while, but by and by it yields; the shadows retire, the clouds disperse, the mists and fogs evaporate before the rifing orb; and "the fhining light fhineth more and more "unto the perfect day;" and "truly the light is

66

"fweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold "the fun." Nature fmiles; the birds welcome his approach; the lark rifes up, and fings as he afcends; the little lambs are sportive with the sympathy; children are eager to go abroad. How welcome is the return of the fun after the dreary hours of night, and the chilling weeks of winter! See those poor creatures, who are bleffed with it only a few months in the whole year; fee them on its return, climbing to the tops of their frozen mountains, with longing eyes, straining to catch a greedy glance! Though the fun be fo immensely remote, we feel him near; what a penetration, what a potency is there in his rays! how he warms, enlivens, fructifies! David tells us, "there "is nothing hid from the heat thereof:" Mofes fpeaks of " the precious things put forth by the fun." For without his influences, vain would be the labour of the ox, and the fkill of the hufbandman; he produces the lovelinefs of fpring, and the abundance of ઃઃ He renews the face of the earth; he decks all nature in charms. I imagine myself abroad in the depth of winter; I look around me; all exhibits a scene of defolation; the earth is covered with fnow; the rivers are fealed up with ice; the vegetable tribes are dead, and the tuneful dumb; favorite walks and beloved gardens, like friends in adverfity, are abandoned by their admirers; "He fendeth abroad his ice "like morfels, who can ftand before his cold?” I rufh in; and after the lapfe of a very few months, I come forth, and take a fresh survey. I am filled with wonder. The ground is dreffed "in living green;" the woods are covered with foliage" where the birds

autumn.

"who

"build their nefts," and indulge their fongs; "the "flowers appear on the earth.” What has the fun been doing? He has perfumed the rofe, he has painted the tulip, he has made "the vallies to stand thick "with corn, and the little hills to rejoice on every fide;" " he has made all things new." And who is not reminded by all this of One, "is the Father of lights, with whom there is no va"riableness, or shadow of turning?" And He only can be known by his own discoveries; "as it is writ"ten, eye hath not feen, nor ear heard, nor have "entered into the heart of man the things which God "hath prepared for them that love him. But God "hath REVEALED them unto us by his Spirit : for the "Spirit fearcheth all things, even the deep things of "God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, "fave the spirit of a man which is in him; even fo the "things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of "God." "God is light;" he fcattered "the dark"nefs which covered the earth ;"" through the ten"der mercy of our God, the day-spring from on high "hath vifited us, to give light to them that fit in dark"nefs, and in the fhadow of death, to guide our feet "into the way of peace." "He who commanded "the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our "hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the "glory of God in the face of Jefus Chrift." He has opened “the eyes of our understanding;" fubdued our prejudices; fixed our attention; and given us a taste capable of relishing the fublime truths of his word: He" has called us out of darkness into his "marvellous light." His people are not strangers to