freely and securely indulged. They invigorate our graces, encourage us in duty, and urge us onward in the heavenly journey. Behold, brethren, and admire this distinguishing glory and prerogative of true religion. She again unites what sin had totally separated; she reconciles our pleasures and our safety, our enjoyment and our salvation. Her paths are peaceful as well as pleasant. This may imply,

3. That religious pleasures are constant and lasting in their duration. The pleasures of sin are but for a season. They may possibly attend their votaries as far as the gates of hell; but there the sinner and his pleasures must forever part. There will be no gluttonous entertainment, no strong drink, no sensual gratification. "The triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment." This being the case, what peace can the sinner experience, even in the midst of carnal mirth and jollity? All his pleasures must, of necessity, be disturbed and interrupted by the recollection that they must soon forever cease. This apprehension must operate as a material drawback from the sum of his worldly delights. The pleasures of religion, on the other hand, are such as death cannot destroy; such as eternity itself shall not exhaust, but only confirm and perfect. They are therefore consistent with peace, because not disturbed by any foreboding as to the future, nor diminished by the fear of their ultimate termination. Such as the sinner's pleasures are, he cannot fully enjoy even those poor and paltry gratifications. He is troubled, like Belshazzar in the midst of his feasting, by the handwriting on the wall, which foretells a speedy end of all his delights.

In applying the subject let me address,

1. Such as have imbibed false notions of religion, and, supposing it to be ever allied with gloom and melancholy, are deterred from embracing it. It is not holiness, but sin, that is wedded to misery, both here and hereafter. He that lives in sin shall die in sorrow. Let the young, in particular, lay this to heart. Resolve, by the help of God, to abandon sinful pleasures, and make trial of religion for yourselves.

2. Such as have abandoned wisdom's ways. What have you gained? A few temporal and short-lived gratifications. But what have you lost? The pleasures of grace, the testimony of a good conscience, the communion of saints, fellowship with God, and the hope of glory. Is it not so? Was it not better with you once than now?

3. Such as are in the act of entering on a religious course, and find the passage of the gate to be hard and painful. Yield not to discouragement. The ascent may be tedious; but the prospect, when once gained, will repay your toil.

4. Such as are in the ways of piety. Be thankful that duty and pleasure are thus united. Cultivate habitual cheerfulness of manner and aspect, as the proper expression of your inward peace and pleasure. Let not religious pleasure degenerate into sinful levity of spirit, or into a desire for worldly joy. Remember that pleasure will be proportioned to your diligence in duty and your progress in holiness. Walk closely with God. Are the consolations of God small with you? Then search and try yourselves. And, finally, persevere. The end of all shall be the best of all. Peace in the way, and heaven in the end. Pleasure in the contest, and victory at its close. Happiness in death, and glory to all eternity!

Vol. I.-15

XII.

THE CHOICE OF MOSES.

PART I.

BY FAITH MOSES, WHEN HE WAS COME TO YEARS, REFUSED TO BE CALLED THE SON OF PHARAOH'S DAUGHTER; CHOOSING RATHER TO SUFFER AFFLICTION WITH THE PEOPLE OF GOD, THAN TO ENJOY THE PLEASURES OF SIN FOR A SEASON; ESTEEMING THE REPROACH OF CHRIST GREATER RICHES THAN THE TREASURES IN EGYPT: FOR HE HAD RESPECT UNTO THE RECOMPENSE OF THE REWARD.-Hebrews xi, 24-26.

"THOU shalt have none other gods but me," is a precept which the one eternal and true God has placed at the beginning of the moral law, and made the first commandment of the first table. Every human crime proceeds from the violation of this solemn injunction—this leading and essential principle of genuine morality. All sin, however diversified in its circumstances and operations, may be ultimately resolved into the transgression of this one fundamental law. The whole world lieth in wickedness; and that wickedness mainly consists in its abandonment to spiritual, if not to literal, idolatry. Such is the degraded state of our fallen nature, that a considerable majority of the human race now are, and for many past ages have been, totally destitute even of the knowledge of the true God, and obstinately attached to the follies and superstitions of paganism. Nor are the generality of the more instructed part of mankind, who have been favored with divine revelation, and have been called out of the darkness of heathenism into the marvelous light of Christian truth, less chargeable than their pagan neighbors and ancestors with the sin of idolatry. They acknowledge Jehovah, indeed, with their lips; but they deny him in their lives. Their understandings are convinced of his existence and supremacy; but their affections and their practice belie and contradict the decisions of their judgment. Their idolatry is more refined than that of heathens, but not

less criminal or less dangerous. They do not worship the luminaries of the sky, or bow down to the animal creation: their idols are neither beasts nor birds, neither fishes nor insects, neither wood nor stone. But they love the praise of men more than the honor which is from above. They love pleasures more than God—"having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof." Their affections are placed, not on things above, but on things below; not on spiritual, but on carnal enjoyments. In this idolatry the people of Europe and of Asia, the sinners of London and of Otaheite, are much upon a level. Unconverted men, in every clime and every age, alike rebel against the Trinity of the Bible-the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost-one Jehovah, blessed for evermore; and alike worship the trinity of the world, honor, pleasure, and wealth. This is the Baal to which they bow; this the idol to which they sacrifice their time, their talents, often their health of body, and always their peace of mind; in a word, their salvation here, and their happiness hereafter.

Yet, amidst this general departure from the true faith and spiritual worship of the one Creator, God has never left himself wholly without witness. When absolute heathenism has most prevailed, so as to cover the earth with its darkness, and the people with its gross darkness, there has always been, in some corner of the globe, a favored and faithful seed, who acknowledged and served no god but Jehovah. And though spiritual and practical idolatry has been still more widely spread, the mercy of God has always raised up and preserved a small remnant, who have been as the salt of the earth; who have been faithful among the faithless; who have dared to say to a wicked and persecuting generation, "We will not bow down to the idols ye have set up." Among the heroic few, whose praise is not of man but of God, Moses shines with distinguished luster. He is accordingly mentioned by St. Paul, with peculiar commendation, in the chronicle of ancient worthies which this chapter contains.

In discoursing on the text I shall request your attention, at this and several subsequent opportunities, to four particulars which it suggests:

I. The duty to which Moses felt himself called.

II. The sacrifices and sufferings which it involved.

III. The cheerful resolution with which he performed it, notwithstanding its many difficulties.

IV. The considerations by which that resolution was sustained.

I. The duty to which Moses was called: namely, the abandonment of Pharaoh's court. For the proper explication of this point, it will be necessary to premise a short summary of the history of Moses, and especially of that important part of it to which the text refers. This will be best done in the words of Stephen, as recorded in Acts vii, since that man of God, in his closing speech before the Jewish council, not only epitomizes the leading facts concerning Moses already narrated at length in the book of Exodus, but also relates several other particulars not elsewhere supplied. "So Jacob," says he, "went down into Egypt, and died, he and our fathers. But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt, till another king arose, which knew not Joseph. The same dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil-entreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end they might not live. In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father's house three months: and when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son. And when he was full forty years old it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel. And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian: for he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not. And the next day he showed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another? But he that did his neighbor wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us? Wilt thou kill me, as thou didst the Egyptian yesterday?