rience know it, in its direct, specific operation of giving us quietness and assurance for ever? Amidst the perturbations of this fallen world, which are the same in every age, (for only in outward form do they differ,) are our souls kept calm and tranquil by their rest and stay on a watchful Father's love? Is our peace of conscience of a pure, scriptural cast? or, are we mistaking for it any indifference of mind, the sleep, as it were, of the soul, the deadness of the spiritual vision, or the hardness of the unchanged heart? You, if unhappily there are any such here, that do not read your bibles, may deny the existence or possibility of such a mistake; but you who do read them, know better than I can tell you, that in none of his wiles is the enemy of souls more successful, than in luring his victims to the belief that all is with them, 66 peace, peace, when," saith the inspired word, "there is no peace."

Oh! then, when you return to your homes, pray that the enlightening Spirit may teach you, in what tranquillity of mind, and in what resignation of will, as well as in what confidence of hope and expectation, consist "the quietness and assurance for ever”—promised in the text. When it has its reign in renewing and converting grace, peace is the very charm of life, but better by far that you should pass all your days here in turmoil and disquietude, that the repose of a saved

soul may be yours at last, than that you should go through a whole existence here, in one long unbroken calm, to issue in the end in that eternal and hopeless ruin, which all who leave this world without an interest in "the Prince of Peace," must encounter!

H

98

SERMON VII.

THE BELIEVER LONGING AFTER GOD.

PSALM xlii. 1.

As the hart desireth the water-brooks, so longeth my soul after thee, O God.

NOTHING seems more clearly or decidedly to indicate the moral state of the mind, than the tone and character of its chief prevailing desire. Without some such desire, it is probable that no mind can be found or even conceived-no mind, I mean, the intellectual faculties of which are in a healthy condition. In the man of science, for instance, the distinguishing taste and impulse are seen by all and cannot be mistaken by any : to him are congenial every person, acquirement, and plan, at all calculated to draw out or enlarge his stores of knowledge in the department which has engaged his deep inquiry and attention. With a different eye, again, from all others, the

painter looks on nature animate or inanimate,on the mighty or minute, on the beautiful or deformed, and almost unconsciously finds food for his engrossing taste in each figure, scene, or landscape that passes before his eye. The merchant has his thoughts constantly lost in the exchange or the counting-house; the musician in the enchantments of his fascinating melody. The man of letters cannot exist out of his study, nor the man of pleasure in it. The miser cares for nothing but the augmentation of his acres and his money: the prodigal for nothing but their wasteful expenditure in riotous and destructive revelry. And thus, in the vast panorama of life, the motley family of man daily reflects, as from a mirror, the thousands of vari-coloured features which characterise the ruling passion in each particular class.

Totally distinct from all these, and, I may add, infinitely superior to them all, though alike in its absorbing influence, is the desire of the renewed soul towards the blessed God. For it is not less true of the Lord's people than of the people of the world, that, where their treasure is, there their heart will be also.

In this psalm, written by David when he was by Absalom's rebellion driven from Jerusalem to the country beyond Jordan, we find him professing his unwearied confidence in God, and, while taking encouragement to continue waiting

on him, earnestly arousing and exhorting others also to trust wholly in him, and not in any creature. Not only had he been taught by the illuminating Spirit, that "it is better to trust in the Lord than to put any confidence in man," but he had in his own career often shown the presence and power of that principle which turns the eye of the soul constantly on and to the living God. When persecuted by Saul, his restless and malignant foe, towards whom he had himself ever showed the most forbearing temper, and the most sincere allegiance, he was led more closely to seek the Lord; and he sought not in vain, for we hear him saying, Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me :" and "in the multitude of my thoughts within me, thy comforts delight my soul." Well could he affirm with the prophet, "The desire of our soul is to thy rame, and the remembrance of thee;" or, in the words of our text, "As the hart desireth the water-brooks, so longeth my soul after thee, O God."

Now, though none of us, my brethren, are circumstanced as David was, each of us will find it a happy day indeed when with equal truth we can exclaim, My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God; when shall I come to appear before God?" And as in our course through