you may learn to love and trust in him, to bear crosses for his sake: and count the cost of a truly holy life-the contempt of the wicked, and much self-denial and tribulation--that so, having suffered with Christ here, you may reign with him hereafter. Be sure of this: whatever motive of a worldly or prudential kind influence you in religion-whether it be affection to others, as in the case of Orpah, or whatever else, if this be all, it will leave you short in the day of trial: nothing will stand the test of God's judgment, and carry a man through the self-denying course of a truly godly life, but believing views of the glory of Christ, of his salvation, and the pleasures which he has to bestow, with the earnests of them tasted here, the perfection of them expected hereafter.

(2.) A word to those who have indeed chosen this Saviour, with his cross as well as his crown, and all things that belong to the way of godliness. Often may you be tempted to think yourselves void of godliness, because of the great quantity of corruption still remaining in your hearts; but you are distinguished from the wicked by your prevailing desire to follow the Lord, and your restlessness with respect to sin. Cherish the Divine determination of soul by that which first gave it birth,-faith's view of Christ bringing into the heart the sweet sense of God's salvation. Thus shall temptations be overcome, and the truth flourish

in you: thus shall you persevere, and enjoy Gospel liberty, boldness, and delight in God's ways. When you feel the want of these fruits of the Spirit, then pray for the view of Christ and his salvation: by that only do they live and flourish. This was the method of the great grandson of the woman of whom we have this day spoken, David, the man after God's own heart. Read it, in the sixth division of the cxixth Psalm. "Let thy mercies come also unto me, O Lord, even thy salvation, according to thy word. So shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me: for I trust in thy word. And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth, for I have hoped in thy judgments."

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SERMON XXIV.

DAVID'S FORBEARANCE.

2 SAMUEL xvi. 5-14.

"And when king. David came to Bahurim, behold,

thence came out a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera: he came forth, and cursed still as he came. And he cast stones at David, and at all the servants of king David: and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left. And thus said Shimei when he cursed, Come out, come out, thou bloody man, and thou man of Belial: the Lord hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead thou hast reigned; and the Lord hath delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son: and, behold, thou art taken in thy mischief, because thou art a bloody man. Then said Abishai the son of Zeruiah unto the king, Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? let me go over, I pray thee, and take off his head. And the king said, What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah? So let him curse, because the Lord hath said unto him, Curse David. Who shall then say, Wherefore hast thou done so? And David said to Abishai, and to all his servants, Behold, my son, which came forth of my bowels, seeketh my life: how much more now may this Benjamite do

it? Let him alone, and let him curse, for the Lord hath bidden him. It may be that the Lord will look on mine affliction, and that the Lord will requite me good for his cursing this day. And as David and his men went by the way, Shimei went, along on the hill's side over against him, and cursed as he went, and threw stones at him, and cast dust. And the king, and all the people that were with him, came weary, and refreshed themselves there.

A VERY extraordinary transaction surely! A king, the greatest and most powerful I suppose of his time, and the first character of the age-most distinguished as a warrior, a statesman, a poet; renowned for wisdom and a series of shining actions-is insulted, in the manner we have read, by one of his subjects; is treated with all possible indignity; yet he meekly bears it! He had only to nod, and hundreds of his warlike troops besides Abishai would have dispatched the foul-mouthed slanderer. But he chides Abishai for giving way to the thought he thinks only of bearing and of yielding; and the meanest poltroon cannot be more tame than this mighty warrior. But David has one character more, he is a saint, and surely a most eminent one. It is in that view that I would exhibit him for our use this day. His other characters may not be needful to us, nor at all attainable; but a saint you must be, however you may be disposed to sneer at the Scripture term, if you mean to arrive at the

mansions of heaven; and one eminent branch of the saint's character lies in the meek passiveness for which the man after God's own heart so distinguished himself in the story before us. Let us only beware that we do not hinder ourselves from profiting from this story, because we think David acted very differently to Shimei afterwards. The truth seems to be, that David, and other public characters of the Old Testament, did, in their regal or prophetic characters, several things, by Divine inspiration, which must not be drawn into precedents. I apprehend this plain consideration would rectify many mistakes which have been made in considering Scripture characters.

But let us see David's reasons for his passiveness; thence we may be enabled to hold him forth for an example of instruction to ourselves.

First, He considers the situation in which he then was. His own son, Absalom, was seeking his life. An unnatural rebellion had spread through the land. And he was then, in most afflicted circumstances, fleeing from his capital into the wilderness. It seems, within a few days so extraordinary a change of his affairs had been brought about, that, from the most powerful and prosperous of monarchs, he was reduced to the lowest scenes of distress. He saw the hand of God in all this. He was obliged to bear, and was then bearing, far worse evils than the lying petulance of Shimei's tongue. Now was his time for suffering: he