cherish anxiety, and suffer their hearts to be oppressed by any cause whatever? O that they might blush at such deportment! Lift up your heads therefore, ye who are dear to God as the apple of his eye! Bid adieu to care! Whatever occurs to you in the world, there is for you no harm in the pot. Grace mingles itself with every thing, and renders it salutary. Amen.

VIII.

THE MAN OF BAAL-SHALISHA.

LUTHER having one day received some mournful intelligence, observed, "The Gospel brings glad tidings, and they are certainly true. But in other respects, I know of little that is good or new in this miserable world." The man of God might well express himself thus; for such is really the case.

But what is the best news which the Gospel brings to sinners? It is that sinners are justified in the sight of God. That God has his balances in heaven, in which he weighs mankind, is beyond a doubt. Justice and judgment are the habitation of his throne. You know also the

appalling characters which the invisible hand wrote on the wall, concerning the king of Babylon, in Dan. v. 27, and which are written in the life of every one who is out of Christ, whether he is able to read and interpret them or not -I mean the appalling words, "Thou art weighed in the balances, and found wanting."

Thou art placed in

Yes, whoever thou art, thou wilt eventually be placed in the balances of eternal justice. What will then be the result? The weight which is laid against thee, is the law with its demands and its curses. the other scale; and now to the test. Thou hast all thy good works with thee; but the scale in which lies the law is not even moved by them, much less raised. Thou art permitted to increase thy weight with thy resolutions and thy vows; but they are like the dust of the balance. And even if thou hadst added thousands of alms to thy weight,

and possessedst a righteousness which is admired by a whole world, O, it would be only like the foam of the ocean, and the spider's web. It would not weigh a grain, how then should it be able to poise and elevate the heavy weight of the law? And wherewith wilt thou counterbalance the weight of punishment, which thou hast deserved by thy sins? Dost thou think that the handful of sufferings which thou hast endured in the world, stands about at par with the curse thou hast drawn down upon thyself? I pray thee, reflect, that the punishment with which thou art menaced, is endless damnation; how then canst thou have endured it already by a little earthly incon. venience during the present life? If thou art also placed in the balances of the sanctuary, as one who is separated from Christ, the result is no longer dubious. The word Tekel-weighed and found wanting-shall no longer be written with the sceptre of righteousness as a warning for thee on the wall, but branded on thy forehead, as a sign of thy perdition; and thou be cast howling down into the fiery gulph, amidst the triumphant shouts of mocking devils.

Who then will possess the requisite weight in the awful scales? He only, who posseses Christ, and is become one with him. A mighty addition is made to his scale, which is nothing less than the merits of Christ, as if they were his own. The atoning blood of Christ outweighs the curse, which man had drawn down upon himself, and the obedience of Christ, the demands which man ought to have fulfilled. O wondrous sight! the scale of the law mounts upwards like a feather; and that of the sinner sinks! The sinner has more than the requisite weight. The angels and the spirits of the just made perfect see it, and exult over the new fellow-citizen of the eternal kingdom.

Christ's obedience unto death is therefore of incalculable worth; this is evident if you behold the Surety himself. That obedience elevated him to the throne of glory. All the glory and bliss of heaven was connected with it as the reward of the Father. If this obedience therefore belongs to us, how can it weigh less than it did for him? It translates us also into unspeakable riches. But the first and most considerable treasure which it procures us, is, the heart, the love of God, that paternal affection which cares and provides all.

It is consolatory and encouraging to contemplate the governance of this love in the circle of its children. The present occasion affords us a desirable opportunity of doing so. Certainly, the paths of this love are often wonderful, and enveloped in the shades of night; but as a divine seer observes, "On all the glory shall be a covering."

2 KINGS IV. 42-44,

"And there came a man from Baal-shalisha, and brought the man of God bread of the first-fruits, twenty loaves of barley, and full ears of corn in the husk thereof. And he said, Give unto the peo

ple, that they may eat.

"And his servitor said, What, should I set this before an hundred men? He said again, Give the people, that they may eat: for thus saith the Lord, They shall eat, and shall leave thereof,

"So he set it before them, and they did eat, and left thereof, according to the word of the Lord."

The typical nature of Elisha's person, life, and times presents itself to us in an increasingly prominent manner, and we are ever the less liable to mistake its New Testament impress. The subject of our present discourse also reminds us strongly of a similar one in the Gospel. It is

not indeed so stupendous as the latter; since in comparison with it, it is only like a gentle prelude to the complete symphony, or as a single ear of corn compared with the contents of a whole sheaf. But the single stalk bears also its precious fruit. If we rub the ear with caution, we shall certainly be rewarded for our trouble, and carry home with us many a grain of wheat, full of abundant consolation. THE MAN WITH THE LOAVES, ELISHA'S COMMANDS, and GEHAZI'S CONFUSION, are the titles of the three divisions of our subject.

I.

We find ourselves this day again in the same place, and in the same society, which we left at the close of our last meditation. We are at Gilgal in the circle of the sons of the prophets, who are still in distressing circumstances. Hitherto, the Lord had certainly helped them. The distress presented itself daily; and daily also a glorious deliverance. In the morning, sighing and crying; in the evening, thankfulness and rejoicing. But still they had received no other assurance of security against new perplexities, than that which faith afforded them. The food dispensed to them, served only for a single repast. The Lord dieted them, so to speak, and provided for them by single dishes, and not by sacks or baskets full. Every day therefore brought its care; but when their table was again covered, they were the more certain who it was that covered it, and the bread tasted only the sweeter and more savoury. At length it became apparent to them, that God had accepted them, not only as servants, but as children, and would provide them with food during the whole of their lives, both for body and soul. They looked more confidently into their empty cupboards, and saw hunger