vengeance in profane scoffing, drunkenness, and revelry. But it is the glorious privilege of the regenerate and spiritually minded believer in God's Word alone, to be able to say from his heart, in the beautiful language of the Psalmist, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me."

These words, my Beloved Brethren, naturally lead us to consider, First, What the state of the Psalmist's mind was when he wrote them. Secondly, What it was that produced in him this state of mind. And, Lastly, To make a practical application of the subject to our own hearts individually. And may the Lord bless it to all our souls! First, with respect to the state of David's mind when he wrote the words of our text. We may observe, that he does not shrink with terror from the idea of dying; but, on the contrary, entertains and reflects upon it with coolness and deliberation. He first realizes to his mind the solemn fact, that he must "walk through the valley of the shadow of death;" and then prepares himself, with holy fortitude, for the passage. As if he had said, Though I were even now walking through the valley of the shadow of death, as I know that I one day must, still I am determined to be afraid of nothing, for I am sure that no evil can happen unto me. Its darkness shall not terrify me, neither

shall any thing that I may meet with on the way dishearten me. I am resolved to pass through this black and dismal valley boldly and cheerfully. Why? Because Thou, oh my God and Saviour, art with me. Thy gracious presence shall cheer my fainting spirits; the light of Thy countenance shall illuminate my dreary path; the rod of Thy omnipotence, shall defend me from all the powers of darkness; and the staff of Thy redeeming love shall comfort and support my trembling soul, through all the pains and terrors of dissolution, until it is safely arrived at the happy region of light, glory, and immortality."

Such, my Beloved Brethren, seems to be the substance of the Psalmist's words in our text; from which we may collect further, that while he thus contemplated his own death with holy courage and composure of mind, he at the same time regarded it in some degree with the natural feelings of a man. His determined fearlessness to meet it, by no means proceeded from that vain-glorious contempt of death, which is so much applauded by most worldly people, and which, where it is not mere pretence, is the mark of a profane and reprobate mind. It is no token of true courage, and still less of true religion, my Brethren, to despise or think lightly of death. Considered in whatever point of view, it is, without doubt, an evil-awful and terrible to flesh and blood; and as such our

Creator intended it should be regarded; otherwise He would not have pronounced it to be the consequence and penalty of sin. For "by one man," we are informed, "sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death has passed upon all men, children as well as adults, forasmuch as all have (in Adam) sinned."

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Hence we learn that death, considered simply as the dissolution of our mortal bodies, is indubitably a curse: The wages of sin in this world is death." And, as "fools alone make a mock at sin," so also is it a manifest proof of depraved infatuation, to make a mock or speak lightly of that which is the consequence of sin. One thing is certain, that they who affect to speak most contemptuously of it, have in reality the greatest reason to dread it: yea, it is set down in Scripture as one of the characteristics of "the wicked," that “they have no bands in their death;" that means, they frequently appear to meet it as a trifling matter, and without the pains and terrors which others experience from it.

But such is not the case with those who really fear God, and believe His word. Such was not the case with the good king Hezekiah, of whom we read (38th chap. of Isaiah) that he wept sore at the thoughts of dying, and prayed earnestly to be delivered from it. Such was not the case with the blessed Jesus, of whom we are informed, that His

sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling to the ground, and that He thrice petitioned His Heavenly Father, that if it were possible His cup of mortal agony might pass away from Him. Or if this be not admitted as a case in point, let us take David himself, as an instance of death being terrible to the natural mind of man. Hear what He says in the 55th Psalm, " My heart is sore pained within me, and the terrors of death are fallen upon me, fearfulness and trembling are. come upon me, and horror hath overwhelmed me." And again, in the 116th Psalm, "the sorrows of death compassed me round about, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me, I found trouble and heaviness; then called I upon the name of the Lord, O Lord, I beseech Thee, deliver my soul." Or once more in the words of our text, "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death." He acknowledges, we find, that it was a valley of shadow, a land of darkness and gloominess, which tended to excite dismal forebodings in his natural mind. But though this was the Psalmist's natural view of it, yea, though as the most terrible evil, the highest point of the climax of mortal suffering that could be imagined, he must walk through the valley of the shadow of death; still, whatever others might do, "he should fear no evil.”

Seeing then, my Brethren, that this fearlessness with which the Psalmist contemplated his dissolu

tion, was by no means the resuit either of apathetic indifference, nor yet of fool-hardy desperation; from what, let us ask, did it proceed? This leads us to the second consideration proposed, namely, What it was that produced in David this blessed frame of mind which dictated the words of our text? And the answer to this question will be found in the preceding verses of the Psalm from which it is taken.

"The Lord," he says, "is my Shepherd, I shall not want." It was the consciousness that he was one of the Lord's sheep, the certainty that he was under the ever-watchful care of the "Good Shepherd," and defended by His Almighty power, which inspired the Psalmist's mind with such intrepidity at the thought of death; for if the Lord was indeed his Shepherd, i. e. his guide and protector, he knew that he could want no good thing, either living or dying. He had found, from blessed experience, that "there is no want to them that fear Him." He maketh me," he says, "to lie down in green pastures," i. e. He supplied him with abundance of temporal and spiritual nourishment, as a careful shepherd brings his flock to the most verdant part of the field. "He leadeth me beside the still or gently-flowing waters," alluding to those ordinances of grace and out-pourings of the Spirit, with which his soul was from time to time cheered and comforted, as with those refresh

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