David would find and enjoy God, not only as his habitation, but as his "strong" habitation-such an habitation as would not fall by decay, nor be thrown down by violence, nor entered by any enemy; in which the inhabitant would not only be free from danger, but feel himself secure. But every earthly strong-hold, however befriended by nature or indebted to art, is only a shadow of the safety the believer finds in the perfections and covenant engagements of God. No force, no stratagem of men or devils can prevail to destroy or injure him who has made the Lord his trust. He is kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation: and when he can realize it by faith, his soul dwells at ease; and he is in quiet from the fear of evil.

He would also make use of him under the charac ter of his strong habitation-" Whereunto I may con tinually resort." Would he then want to repair to him always? Our necessities, our work, our danger require it constantly. We are commanded to pray without ceasing. And if, while we acknowledge and feel the obligation, we are renewed in the spirit of our mind, we shall not lament it. Loving him as well as depending upon him, we shall find it good to draw near to God, and delight ourselves in the Almighty. And we shall never find him, when we want him, inaccessible. There is a way to our strong habitation, and we know the way. There is a door, and we have the key. No sentinel keeps us back; the dwelling is our own; and who dares to forbid us all its accommodations and contents?

Kings, however disposed, cannot be always ap proachable. Owing to the multitude of their claims, and the limitation of their powers, and the importance

of keeping up a sense of their dignity, they are only accessible at certain times, and with stately formalities. But the King of kings allows us to come boldly to the throne of grace: and enjoins us in every thing, by prayer and supplication, to make known our requests unto him. We cannot be too importunate, or by our continual coming weary him.

Who is like unto thee among the gods? Teach and enable me to improve my privilege. Thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.

JUNE 2.-EVENING.

"They went to Baal-peor, and separated themselves unto that shame." Hosea ix. 10.

THAT is, to that shameful idol. Many seem disposed to consider idolatry rather as a foolish and harmless thing than as a serious evil. But the Scriptures speak of abominable idolatries, and always connect such worships with the most infamous passions and vices. History attests the same fact; and the more fully and faithfully the subject is examined, the more will idolatry appear to be nothing better than evil personified, the devil deified, and hell formed into a religious establishment. What a force must revenge, cruelty, drunkenness, and sensuality acquire when not only exempted from punishment, but turned into acts of devotion, and considered as services which would render them acceptable to the divinity adored! We cannot enter into exemplifications-It were a shame to speak of those things which were done of them in secret. Who would not encourage Missionary exertions! Who would not cry, day and night,

Let thy way be known on earth, thy saving health among all nations!

But what is said of Baal-Peor will apply to any kind of transgression. When you addict yourselves to sin, you separate yourselves to shame. Hence, says God, "Thou shalt remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth more, because of thy shame," that is, thy sin. Sin is very properly called shame, for it is the most scandalous business in the world, and sooner or later will cover a man with ignominy. It degrades every thing pertaining to him, and makes him viler than the earth. Indeed nothing else is truly shameful. It is not shameful that you are obliged to labour; though it is shameful if you do nothing, or have nothing to do-I would rather, says Seneca, be sick than idle. It is not shameful that you are poor: unless your indigence is the offspring of vice. It is not shameful to suffer, unless you are the mar tyrs of Satan-But it is shameful to be a sinner. Is it not shameful to go uncovered and naked? To possess reason, and play the part of an idiot? To be a coward and flee when no man pursueth? To have liberty at command, and submit to be a slave? To be a thief, and a robber of churches? To be a traitor to the best of sovereigns; a betrayer of the kindest of friends? To be admitted by a benefactor to his table, and enjoy every supply and indulgence; and then endeavour to stab him to the heart? They who are familiar with the word of truth know that these and many other images are employed by the sacred writers to express the disgracefulness of the sinner's conduct.

We may consider the shamefulness of sin three

ways. First, as a penal effect-This is principally future. Of Israel we read, "They shall never be ashamed or confounded, world without end." And John tells us that Christians will "have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming." But the reverse is true of the wicked, and we are assured that they will "rise to everlasting shame and contempt." And no wonder-when they find what they have sacrificed, and for what they have parted with it; when they find what they have incurred, and how they were warned of it, and admonished against it, and might have escaped it; when they find how they are laid open from every disguise and concealment, and their secret sins published in the hearing of men and angels as well as of the Judge-Then will they call upon the rocks and mountains, not so much to crush as to cover them from the scorn of the universe. But the penalty begins here; even here a wicked man is loathsome, and cometh to shame; and, even when secured from legal inflictions, he draws upon himself disgrace, and has "many a curse."

Secondly, as a natural emotion. Thus, when Adam and Eve had transgressed, they hid themselves among the trees of the garden; so closely did shame tread on the heels of sin. This class of feelings may in a great measure be subdued by continuance in sin, which is of a hardening nature. We read of some who "hide not their sin, as Sodom." Jeremiah says, "Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? Yea, they were not ashamed, neither could they blush." But though shame is not a universal, it is a very general sentiment; and it is not easy or perhaps possible to get rid of it entirely. Before their fellow-creatures, men may profess what is very inconsistent with

their convictions alone; they may pretend to laugh, and to enjoy self-approbation, while their understandings reproach them as much as their consciences condemn. Why do the wicked repair to corners and elude observation, if they were not doing what tended to their disparagement, for in many of these cases they run no risk unless with regard to their reputation? If not ashamed of their practices, why attempt to deny or palliate? why frame excuses and apologies? why plead ignorance, mistake, surprise, temptation? why ascribe their sins to necessity, or weakness, rather than inclination and choice, unless they deem them reproachful?-Hence too the sinner cannot endure to be alone: and, though naturally full of self-love and admiration, he slips away from his own presence, and shuns intercourse with his greatest favourite, himself, because he cannot bear to reflect upon his conduct. Hence too after a while he renounces the moral world, and mingles only with those of his own quality, where mutual wickedness prevents mutual accusation, and censure, and scorn.

Thirdly, as a penitential experience. This is the result of divine grace. It regards not so much the opinion of our fellow-creatures as the judgment of God; not so much our character as our guilt; not so much the punishment as the pollution of sin; not so much its consequences as its odiousness and desert. And this extends to every thing sinful. For some sins are generally if not universally offensive; but all sin is the abominable thing which the soul of a true penitent hates. When a man is enlightened to see sin in the glass of the law, and in connexion with the glory and goodness of God, and in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, what self-condemnation and re