by His Son and Spirit, will, hereafter, bless them for ever in the glorious mansions of His heavenly kingdom.

SERMON XIX.

HAGGAI i. 7.

Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways. SCARCELY ever hath a message from God unto His people, been delivered with a greater urgency of repetition, or in terms of more commanding import, than this, which I have just recited. All Scripture is given by Divine inspiration, and should accordingly be received throughout with an uniform obedience and respect; yet, lest any should be willing to let it slip, the commandment before us is introduced with a special declaration of it's high authority;" Thus saith the Lord of hosts." Whatever He saith, though once only, we are bound seriously to observe and to obey; but here the same words are delivered a second time by the Prophet in His name. With the omission of a single intervening verse, we have to read,—

Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; "Consider your ways:"-" Thus saith the Lord "of hosts; Consider your ways."

The original occasion of this injunction, re

peated in such an impressive manner, was the unworthy remissness of the Jews about rebuilding the temple of the Lord, after their return from Babylon. By His mercy they had been suffered to go free, and again to occupy their native land. Instead, however, of shewing a zeal to do him honour, commensurate with the great things which He had done for them, "The time," they said, "is not come, "the time that the Lord's house should be "built." The building and adorning of habitations for themselves to dwell in, seemed, in their eyes, of greater importance than the raising up of His holy habitation from it's ruins. That, in consequence of some hinderances which had interrupted their first exertions to restore it, (Ezra iv.) they determined to leave a while longer in the dust, and accordingly took up a habit of asserting, one to another, that the time for attempting it afresh, was not come. Whereupon, the word of the Lord upbraided them, by the prophet Haggai, expostulating,"Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your "ceiled houses, and this house lie waste?" And then he required of them, as I have stated, to consider their ways, signifying that it betokened a wrong bent in them, thus to prefer their own convenience, and was, in fact, causing ill success and unfruitful seasons to be judicially

inflicted on them, by Him, whom they were so shamefully treating with neglect.

At the same time, however, here is surely a requisition well adapted for the admonition of all, and one with which it will behove every man to comply. Be his circumstances what they may, no reasonable creature can properly excuse himself from almost daily considering his ways. I design, therefore, in this discourse, to suppose, that the Lord of hosts hath called upon us to consider our ways, especially on those who are vainly endeavouring to prosper, by seeking other goods before His kingdom and righteousness, and, proceeding thence, to explain,―first, the obligation which we are under, together with the motives which should induce us to do this; and, secondly, how, or on what principles, we must do it, in order to an advantageous result.

First, then; the Person or Being, who saith, "Consider your ways," is the Lord of hosts,— a name sufficiently awful to awaken an instant reverence and attention. To Him-the bearer of this name are subject the principalities and powers, and, in short, all the armies of heaven; much more ought the dwellers upon earth to stand in awe when He speaketh, and yield a ready obedience to his counsels. If any will not do His bidding, what better have they to

expect in the end than judgment, and fiery indignation, although He may bear long with their perverseness? However, the Lord of hosts is to be obeyed, not only, nor chiefly, from fear, but also, and at the least equally, from love. We should observe Him to be, not merely a mighty God, and a terrible, who is able to consume us in a moment, but no less a just and a merciful God in all His dealings with mankind, and entitled to our most affectionate regard. He is our Creator, our Preserver, and our Redeemer,-the God who made, and hath hitherto kept us, both from temporal and eternal death. He it is, whose " eyes did "see our substance, yet being imperfect; and "in His book were all our members written, "which day by day were fashioned, when as "yet there were none of them." (Psalm cxxxix. 16.) He is the God who bringeth food out of the earth, and provideth raiment for our bodies also, which is above all, He once delivered His own Son to die for us, and to rise again, that our souls might be absolved from the guilt, and set at liberty from the bondage of sin, and hath promised to give unto us, on condition that we will ask Him, a sufficient measure of spiritual aid and consolation, during our passage through this troublesome world. Having been made partakers by Him of so