July 15

truth: he has the witness in himself. It tends to preserve him in the way everlasting; and serves to recall him when he backslides. For he may be allured and drawn away for a time by other lovers; but he can never lose the relish he has had in the enjoyment of his God and Saviour: and the remembrance will excite him and reproach him, and make him long for it to be with him as in months past, when the candle of the Lord shined upon his head, and when by his light he walked through darkness; when as yet the Almighty was with him—"Then shall she say, I will go, and return to my first husband, for then it was better with me than now." Yea, this will always serve as a stimulus to urge him on in following hard after God. A person might have been ready to say, If David had seen God, why was he not satisfied? But he was not satisfied because he had seen him. He did not indeed want more than God, but he wanted more of him. His enjoyment only increased his appetite, and his experience only provoked his desire—"To see thy power, and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary."

But what brings others to the temple? What brings you? Is it custom? or curiosity? Do you come to please your connections? or to appease conscience? It is surprising that some of you attend the service of the sanctuary so regularly and constantly as you do. You never saw his power and glory there. You never prayed to see them before you went. You never inquired whether you had seen them after you returned. This has been the case with some of you twenty, forty years. Will such an attendance do for a dying hour? Where now are all the ordinances you have been favoured with? all the sermons you have heard? In the record of your guilt and condemnation, ready to be produced at the last day.

But a real Christian needs not threatening and authority to constrain him to attend the means of grace. He feels them attractive; he has found it good to be there—There he has found the house of God, and the gate of heaven, and can say—

"I've seen thy glory and thy power, Through all thy temple shine; My God, repeat that heavenly hour, That vision so divine!

"Not all the blessings of a feast Can please my soul so well, As when thy richer grace I taste, And in thy presence dwell."

JULY 15.—"The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth; for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid."—Zephaniah 3:13.

Or the subjects of divine grace here spoken of we may remark—Their number: "a remnant." A remnant is a small part compared with the whole. We should be liberal in our opinions of men, but we are not to sacrifice truth upon the altar of candour: and we should always speak, not from our feelings, but from our convictions; and always make our appeal to the law and to the testimony. Some think few are wicked enough to be turned into hell, and that very little is required to constitute a claim to eternal life. But the sentiment is very injurious. It allows them to be satisfied with the state they are in themselves, and keeps them from endeavouring to

save their fellow-creatures, whom they view as safe already. Nor is it less false. Take the characters of real Christians as they are found in the faithful word, and compare them with those who are living around you, and how few will come up to the representations? And does not the Scripture tell us that they are "jewels," for their rareness as well as worth; that they are "a little flock" in a large field; that they are "a garden" in a vast wilderness; that they are "as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uttermost bough, four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof?" Strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. Yet God has never left himself without witness: he has always had a people for his Name; and this has been our case as a nation; "for except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah." But though the remnant has been small relatively, it has been considerable in the aggregate; and is now increasing; and will increase. We have seen great things; and our children will see yet greater; for "he shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit."

Of their sanctity: "they shall not do iniquity." This must be taken with some restriction. We would not plead for sin; but we must not oppose the testimony of God, which assures us that "there is not on earth a just man that doeth good and sinneth not." "If we say we have no sin," says John, "the truth is not in us." And James says, "In many things we offend all. But they are not "workers of iniquity," and "evil doers." Sin does not reign in them; they do not obey it in the lusts thereof. There is no sin in which they knowingly live. They hate every false way; and esteem all his commandments concerning all things to be right. He that has "true holiness" cannot be satisfied without perfect holiness. He therefore prays to be sanctified throughout, body, soul, and spirit: and whatever falls short of this is matter of grief and humiliation to him.

Of their sincerity: "they shall not speak lies, neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth." A part is put for the whole; and the quality of their speech is designed to express the inward temper of their minds. They shall be Israelites indeed, in whom there is no guile. Every thing is lies with God that does not accord with the state of the heart; and only an upright spirit can maintain a deceitless tongue. The fruit partakes of the nature of the tree. What is in the well will be in the bucket: what is in the warehouse will be in the shop. "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things; for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." Infirmity is not hypocrisy. They are not mere pretenders. They do not draw on a fine white glove over a filthy leper's hand. They are not like a painted sepulchre, fair without, and rottenness within. They are not mere actors on a stage; but are really what they appear to be. Their integrity is peculiarly known by this—there is nothing of which they are more afraid than self-deception. They therefore come to the light. They examine themselves by the rule of the word. They implore the inspection of God himself: "Search me, O God, and know my