in our obedience. We must stand fast for God in times of the greatest defection. We must not follow the multitude, to do evil; but follow the Lord. We must keep our eye on one perfect example; and ask ourselves, how Christ would have acted in similar circumstances. We must never be satisfied till we obtain full possession of the promised resta state of perfection, including full conformity to God, and complete enjoyment of him.

III.

BALAAM'S WISH.

NUMB. Xxiii. 10.

Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his.

THE man who uttered this exclamation gave very awful proof of his being a bad man. He loved the wages of unrighteousness; he longed to obtain liberty to curse those whom he knew God had resolved to bless; and, what was the vilest of all, he taught Balak to lay a stumbling-block before Israel, that so he might partially prevail against them, by tempting them to displease their omnipotent protector.

Doubtless, he uttered the wish expressed in the text, under a strong, though a transient conviction of the happiness of the righteous. However, it was not granted; but he evidently died the death of the wicked. xxxi. 8.

Can there be any of my hearers so thoughtless and inconsiderate, as never to have felt a similar wish? Or would you dare to prefer an opposite request Let me die the death of of the wicked, and let my latter end be like his.'? Surely not. While we show, however, the reasonableness of this man's language, let us remind you of the necessity of carrying your concern farther than his, and of being careful that you do not deceive yourselves as he did. Let us therefore inquire,

FIRST, What inducements may excite even a bad man to exclaim, "Let me die the death of the righteous."

A bad man may be fully aware that he cannot always

live here, that there can be no long continuance on earth. He may sometimes have an alarming prospect of the near approach of death; from the death of others, from threatening personal disease, or surprising accidents. A man destitute of the grace of God may have a strong foreboding of a future state, and of the awful consequences which await the wicked in the other world. He may have a considerable conviction that an awful discrimination will take place at death, that there will be a vast difference in a future state. He may be strongly persuaded of the happiness of the people of God; may know that God has a peculiar people; be constrained to admit that some of his acquaintance are of that number; and be obliged to respect them, even though he loves not to be at present in any close connexion with them.

Yet the man who is thus constrained at times to exclaim, "Let me die the death of the righteous," &c. may be more influenced by the fear of hell, than by any love to heaven: or he may be convinced of the future happiness of the righteous, without any distinct idea of the nature of it, or any true relish for that wherein it will chiefly consist. Though he may chuse heaven in preference to hell, yet he would chuse earth in preference to heaven. He may not judge that to be the worst part of hell, which the Christian accounts so; nor that the best idea of heaven which is so esteemed by the believer. And as to the present life, he may be still more sensibly averse to the Christian's lot, who is so often exposed to contempt, persecution, and various trials. leads us to inquire,

This

SECONDLY, What objections have many to live the life of the righteous, who, occasionally at least, wish to die their death?

God has not exempted his people from sufferings and trials in the present life, and many of them have a large share of them. There are not many rich, great, or wise among them; but God has chosen the greater part of his people from among the poor; and if a few others should be connected with them, they must share in their reproach, and sympathize with them in their sufferings. Moses, for example. Oftentimes, and in many places, a connexion with God's people will expose a

man to great contempt, and even to violent persecution. Hence, many who sometimes wish to die their death, are often unwilling to be numbered with them in life.

Many, who sometimes express such a wish, know nothing of the way in which they may be made righteous. They are neither sensible of their need of Christ's righteousness to insure their acceptance with God, nor of the renewing of the Holy Spirit to make them upright in heart. God's appointed way of salvation is too humiliating to suit the pride of the self-righteous; and the way of obedience is too strict to suit the friend of sin. Matt. v. 29, 30. And to become a stranger and pilgrim does not suit one who idolizes the world. Some, who have a superficial notion of salvation by grace, deceive themselves, by falsely inferring that it supercedes the need of holiness. Some, who have a blind notion of morality, deny their need of Christ, and satisfy themselves with external regularity, without any change of heart. Each of these classes separate what God has joined.

THIRDLY: What reason have we to fear that our wish of dying the death of the righteous will be of no avail, if we are averse to live their life?

Alas! though you are aware all is not right at present, yet you hope all may be well at last; but how futile are these hopes! What ground have you to expect they will ever be accomplished? Do you ever pray for it? Do you know how you can be put among their number? how you, a sinner, can be made righteous? Have you" fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before you in the gospel."? Have you been born again? Are you a companion of those that fear God? Do you love the service of God now? If not, how will you bear heaven?

You hope, perhaps, for a change before death; but when will that more convenient season come? You have promised it yourself a long while. Shall you get all your companions to be of one mind, to turn with you? or some of your nearest connexions, at least? Will the world attract you less when you have got more of it? or will your heart become softer by continuing longer in sin? or shall you have more ground to hope that God will be gracious to you when you have offended him several years longer?

Will

But will it not do, (you will perhaps say,) to return to God on a death-bed? Are you sure you shall have one? May you not die by an accident? be choaked, or drowned? or die by an apoplexy? or by palsy? or by a fever that will be attended with delirium? Shall you have no interruption from vain company, or injudicious friends? Shall you know how near you are to death? Will no physician, or other attendants, flatter you? or will you be sure not to flatter yourself? not carnal relations keep ministers from you? or charge them not to say much to you? May not even good people, through false tenderness and excess of charity, help to deceive you ? Will it not be very difficult for any one then to be faithful? And though God will not, even at the eleventh hour, reject any one who may apply for mercy in the name of the Redeemer; yet is it certain that you will thus apply? or that the Holy Spirit will then effectually incline you to do what you never were willing to do before?

Oh my hearers! May God apply these thoughts to your hearts. To day hear his voice. Delays are criminal and dangerous. Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord. If a man be in Christ, and Christ in him, on him the second death hath no power. How happy are true believers! The death of the righteous is always safe; generally instructive and comfortable and often triumphant.

IV.

THE CHRISTIAN'S RETROSPECT.

DEUT. viii. 2.

And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldst keep his commandments, or no.

THE whole of that solemn discourse, which Moses addressed to the Israelites, just before his death, and their entrance into the promised land, not only was admirably calculated to edify them, but is replete with instruction suited

to profit every reader. Much of it is applicable to the case of those who live under the gospel dispensation, and would answer many valuable purposes for their admonition and direction; while its consolations are applicable, in the noblest sense, to all true believers. This verse especially will teach us in general, the duty of noticing the dispensations of providence, and the design of God in his dealings with the children of men. And it will apply to true Christians with peculiar propriety and emphasis, equal or superior to what attended the original address to Israel after the flesh.

FIRST: It becomes us, as rational creatures under a dispensation of mercy, gratefully to recollect the divine conduct towards us, all through the journey of life; and to consider the end of the dispensations of divine providence, and the improvement we ought to make of them.

Though we are not, like the Israelites, journeying from Egypt to Canaan, nor from one country to another; yet we are, as I may say, all in a travelling state; and really, though secretly, under the conduct of the Almighty, who hath led us and fed us, all our life long, though many of us know him not unto this day. We need, therefore, an instructive memento, like that which Moses gave Israel. Remember, who it

was that called you out of non-existence; who gave you being at first; and preserved you unto this day. Remember, that the present is a transitory state, and that the journey of life will soon come to an end. With many, it is doubtless near its close already. And the youngest, or the healthiest, are as dependent on the will of God, for the continuance of life, as the eldest or sickliest. Remember

the many mercies you have received from God all your life long. How distinguishing has his goodness been to you, above many others! How evidently have some of your temporal comforts been bestowed upon you, without being the fruit of your own contrivance, or efforts! And if, in other instances, you have been more active in promoting your own. lawful temporal interest, what reason have you to acknowledge that the divine providence succeeded the attempt! Otherwise, all your efforts might have been rendered as unsuccessful as you have seen those of others to be,