tives which induce you to visit the sanctuary of the Lord. With many, we trust, and confidently believe, it is, that with grateful hearts you may join the solemn services of the church, that you may realize the Saviour's promise already alluded to, that "where two or three are gathered together in his name, there is he in the midst of them;" that you may hear from God's ministering servant, the things commanded him of his Divine Master; with that spirit, in fact, which distinguished Ezra, who "prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord to do it ;" or Samuel, when he exclaimed, "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth." Rest assured, if you attend the worship of the sanctuary for these purposes, and animated by these motives, your attendance will not be in vain; you will not have long to wait; the blessing of God will accompany your devotional exercises, and you will thankfully acknowledge the goodness of the Most High in permitting you to draw near to him in his courts. You will find yourselves cheered, comforted, and established, by meeting your fellow-worshippers in the house of prayer. Such meetings are as pools of water to refresh and invigorate you in the wilderness, in your journey to Zion, the city of the living God. Your faith will be increased, your hopes invigorated, and your pious resolutions strengthened; and though you may

have no visible, extraordinary manifestation of the descent of the Holy Spirit, yet will it be obvious, that you are under his guidance, and led by him "into all truth," by a crucifixion of the old man with his deeds, which are corrupt; by a growing conformity to the example of your adorable Master, by a life more and more in accordance with the precepts of the gospel; ("for sanctification is not a point but a progress ;"*) by an increasing readiness to obey all the things which "are commanded you of God."

* Hannah More.

SERMON XIX.

DAVID'S KINDNESS TO THE HOUSE OF SAUL.

2 SAMUEL ix. 1.

"And David said, Is there any that is left of the house of Saul; that I may shew him kindness for Jonathan's sake?"

THE character of David, though declared to be the "man after God's own heart," was by no means perfect. A descendant of fallen Adam, and consequently the inheritor of a corrupt nature, he too frequently testified the power of indwelling sin; and it is at once painful and humiliating to reflect, how frequently the flesh gains the mastery over the spirit, even in the most devoted servants of the Most High; how frequently evil affections are allowed to predominate and evil passions to prevail; all of which

are at direct variance with the law of a holy and righteous God; calculated, not only to bring discredit upon religion, but ultimately to ruin the soul. It is impossible, however, to meditate on the character of the psalmist, and not allow that he was under the influence and direction of the Holy Spirit, and not admit that deep was the sorrow he felt for sin. It is impossible to read the psalms, which are distinguished as penitential, and not discover the workings of a heart that grievously felt its own bitterness; the remonstrances of a conscience deeply wounded by a sense of transgression. It is impossible to view his character as a whole, and not admit that it was distinguished for qualities the most amiable and endearing; the very qualities which are insisted on, in the gospel as evidences of a heart brought under the sanctifying influences of vital religion; "for after all that the utmost ingenuity of malevolence can find out to blame in his conduct, he cannot, by his bitterest revilers, be denied the praise of a most strenuous asserter of God's laws; a most disinterested patriot, the tenderest of parents, and the most affectionate of friends."*

Having in the first place offered a few remarks on the circumstances connected with the inquiry of David in the text, I would advert in the * Bishop Porteus.

second to two particular traits in his character, illustrative of his conduct on the present occasion, and conclude with such practical inferences as the subject naturally suggests.

I. When David made the inquiry, "Is there any that is left of the house of Saul?" he was in full possession of the throne of Israel. Most unexpectedly raised in the mysterious dispensations of Providence from the humble rank of a shepherd boy, and anointed by God's express command to rule over his ancient people, David occupied a prominent station in the high places of the earth. His throne was typical of that which shall endure for ever, on which his exalted Son shall sit, all enemies being put under his feet, when great voices shall be heard in heaven, saying, "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our God, and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever.”

David inquired if there was any left of the house of Saul; of that once flourishing and opulent, and powerful family, but which was now reduced to penury and obscurity, affording a lamentable instance of the instability of all earthly possessions; for, "He who raises the poor out of the mire, and lifts the beggar from the dunghill, that he may set him with the princes, even with the princes of his people," not unfrequently