and it is one that I pray may bring on him and on his subjects the blessing promised to the merciful-" even that they shall receive mercy." SERMON IV. ON OUR DUTY TOWARDS GOD. 1 CHRONICLES XXVIII. 9. Thou, Solomon, my son, know thou the God of thy fathers, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind; for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever! If the wisdom and strength of man be insufficient for his entire guidance and protection; if there be times and circumstances, under which his reason falters, and his footsteps fail; if distress can shake, and sickness overcome, the nerves and faculties of the proudest philosopher; if humanity be frail and feeble, and liable to ills and misfortunes which no powers of its own are competent to prevent or cure; in short, if every day and every hour be pregnant with calamity and death to many who deemed themselves far distant from their approach, then must this dying charge of the Royal Prophet to his son come home to every bosom, with a pathos so touching, a hope and it is one that I pray may bring on him and on his subjects the blessing promised to the merciful-" even that they shall receive mercy." SERMON IV. ON OUR DUTY TOWARDS GOD. 1 CHRONICLES XXVIII. 9. Thou, Solomon, my son, know thou the God of thy fathers, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind; for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever! If the wisdom and strength of man be insufficient for his entire guidance and protection; if there be times and circumstances, under which his reason falters, and his footsteps fail; if distress can shake, and sickness overcome, the nerves and faculties of the proudest philosopher; if humanity be frail and feeble, and liable to ills and misfortunes which no powers of its own are competent to prevent or cure; in short, if every day and every hour be pregnant with calamity and death to many who deemed themselves far distant from their approach, then must this dying charge of the Royal Prophet to his son come home to every bosom, with a pathos so touching, a hope so animating, a confidence so irrefragable, and an application so appropriate, that the passage must seem to have been handed down to posterity for the immediate use of the individual who peruses it. In discoursing from this impressive text, I shall consider 1st, the necessity of knowing God; 2dly, I shall advert to his omniscience, which "searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts ;" and, 3dly, I shall conclude with some reflections on his promises to them who "seek him," and his threats against them who "forsake him." I. To each individual among my present hearers, I repeat the solemn injunction of the king of Israel; "know thou the God of thy fathers." As the knowledge of him who made you, who preserves you, who has power over you, who can befriend you when human assistance is of no avail, and who at last shall everlastingly reward or punish you, is a science of far greater importance than any other species of wisdom; so must the necessity of early instruction in the book of God's gracious revelation, which contains all the rudiments of that science, be obvious to every intelligent parent and guardian of youth. At the first dawn of reason, there are in most minds a curiosity and an earnestness on this subject, which only require to be directed into a proper channel; and however some sceptics, and I am sorry to say some |