they cared not whether God forsook them

or not.

The words which are the subject of our present meditation, afforded him to whom they were addressed, strength, consolation and support, in the government of God's people, and in the wars with their enemies; and, applying as they do, as much to our necessities as they did to Joshua's, are they not calculated to give us all consolation and support, in the government of ourselves, especially when we recollect that "we wrestle not against. flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places?"* The world, the flesh, and the devil, are the enemies which at every step of our lives, in some shape or other, wage war against the peace and salvation of our souls; and with what success will be best known to the consciences and hearts of each indiEphesians vi. 12

vidual. None are free from the attacks of these adversaries; none, therefore, are secure and although their united efforts often succeed in lulling the mind, and in blinding the understanding and judgment, in shutting up, at least for a time, all those avenues of thought which would bring conviction of its sinfulness to the soul still we cannot persuade ourselves that there are not some moments known to every Christian, through God's grace, in which consciousness of infirmity, transgression and sin, is felt, and judgment apprehended; and it is in such moments as these, a prayer will be breathed that God may not in anger either fail or forsake the weak creature of his hand.

The young among us may go thoughtlessly on in a career of idleness and vice, utterly forgetful of every appointed duty, and inattentive to each warning; in the words of Solomon, they may "cheer them in the days of their youth, and walk in the ways of their heart, and in the sight of

their eyes;"* but we will not believe that they do not thus often quench the Spirit of God within them, and stifle the remonstrances of a faithful warning conscience. We will not believe that they do not sometimes think of "righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come,"† -of the rewards for those that do well,— of the punishment reserved for the unthankful and evil. And those, too, who yield their mind and better judgment to all the idle vanities of this world, who find their greatest pleasure in worldly ambition and pride, in feelings of envy and jealousy, and in an excessive and unbecoming attention to their dress,-could we believe them, were they to tell us, that amidst all the trifling scenes in which they live, and in the apparently entire want of every serious thought, they do not sometimes look beyond the present hour, and with somewhat of a troubled heart contemplate the last dress they shall wear in this world,

Ecclesiastes xi. 9.

+ Acts xxiv. 25.

the winding sheet and the shroud? No, brethren, we could not believe them, we know better; we know, and with the deepest gratitude, that it is the merciful intention of God to save to the uttermost ; we know that unless hopelessly driven from the sinner, by persevering disobedience, and continued rebellion, He will not fail him nor forsake him, but will strive with him to the last, to work a conviction of sinfulness in his heart, and bring him to true repentance and amendment of life.

What, then, should be the first impulse of our heart, when we thus view the longsuffering mercy and goodness of God?— Should it not be the devoutest gratitude? Should we not bless him that, notwithstanding all the provocations we have given him,—all the open and secret sins we have committed against him,—all the warnings and admonitions we have slighted -all the means of his grace we have received in vain, he yet has delayed to send forth against us the well-merited

doom-" Cut them

they the ground ?"*

down; why cumber Should we not bless him that the dews of heavenly grace, though falling for a long time, as it were,

66

on the stony rock," and "the wayside," have still been permitted to descend upon us, in the hope that the hardness of our impenitent hearts may at length be softened in the bright sun-beams of God's love, and that we may be enabled to "bring forth fruit, some thirty, some sixty, and some an hundred fold."†

Let us, then, humbly to our knees, and offer the prayer of earnest thanksgiving that we are still in the land of the living, and in the place of hope; let us bless God, that in all the varying shades of circumstance which have characterized our past lives, we have neither been forgotten nor forsaken; and let us earnestly pray that in all the changes and events which may await us betwixt the present moment and the grave, "in all our trou† Matthew xiii. 8.

* Luke xiii. 7.