Ahab,

said, Let not the king say so." doubtless, was quite correct in what he said of Micaiah. The holy man, we may well suppose, did prophesy concerning him only evil. The calamities and doom of the wretched prince had been revealed to him, and it was not for him to go beyond the word of the Lord. The king therefore hated him; as he hated his message, he soon came to hate his person. He treated him with habitual contempt, and, as we find from the sequel of the narrative, on the present occasion with tyrannical cruelty.

But we need not go for instruction to the sequel of the history. We need not trace the ruin of Ahab, and the imminent danger of Jehoshaphat. The words of the text contain enough of instruction. May the Holy Spirit fix in our hearts the encouragement and the warning they are calculated to convey!

The practical application, which it becomes us to make of the words of the text, is so plain, that it needs no laboured introduction. Ahab admits that there was yet one man by whom he might inquire of

and to obtain salvation, who yet fear to come to the holy communion. They believe in the Lamb of God as their Saviour, they look upon sin as exceeding sinful, they would desire to live in righteousness and true holiness, but they feel themselves to be miserable sinners: that in every act of faith and obedience there is a mixture of something sinful. Their faith is weak; they are continually giving way to temptation. They would wish to be holy—there is nothing they would wish more; but, alas! for what they are! Have such as they the marriage-garment, required by God in holy Scripture? Can they be received as worthy partakers of that holy table? Yes; they are in a condition to receive its blessings. However small their faith, they may come if they love the Lord, and are striving to live to him. Such as they are expressly bidden to this heavenly feast. What they fearfully regard as their unworthiness, is the very condition which renders them objects of the Lord's compassion. We have been made his children. If we have strayed from his house, he is always willing to

receive us back, if we will retur. le se us afar off; he despises not Lan uns small things.

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the Lord; but adds, as the reason of his reluctance to consult him, "I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil." We all recognise the principle that influenced the mind of Ahab; it is likely we have all more or less felt its influence; let us trace its prevalence, that we may perceive the full extent of the danger.

There are some, who in the business of common life, form schemes so visionary and imprudent, that no one of sound sense and strict honesty can possibly sanction them. They are generally pretty well satisfied of their powers, and are much too well convinced of the justness of their opinions, and the reasonableness of their plans, to think well of the person who doubts the one, or questions the other. Whenever they take the advice of a judicious and candid person, however, they are sure to hear something that shocks their arrogant confidence. Their more prudent friend cannot think as they think. When they see nothing but hope and certainty, he sees uncertainty and doubt. When

they would act with precipitation, he would act with caution. There is no sympathy between them. For though they ask advice, they do not want advice. They have already made up their minds; what they want is encouragement. They want those whom they respect to agree with them. If, on the contrary, they differ from them, and are honest enough to avow their dissent, the respect with which they were regarded is turned to contempt, and the esteem to hatred with Ahab, they hate their adviser, because he prophesies not good concerning them, but evil.

This is a case in which our unwillingness to be thwarted appears most clearly. But it is a common case. It was a proverb among the ancients that truth produces foes. We cannot, however superficially, examine society as it exists around us, without perceiving the agency of the principle that actuated the mind of Ahab. Men will not, even in trifles, submit to be contradicted. If you would have a good name in the world, you must not venture to say what you think of the vices and