PSALM 11. 3. "My sin is ever before me." Should "our sin" always be before us? In one sense it ought; in another sense it ought not. In its guilt, we must get rid of its weight by the application of a Saviour's blood, or it will prevent us from "walking with God as dear children." In its humbling, self-abasing properties, the sight of our sin should live and die with us; for in this way it may be made profitable to our souls. 66 I was conversing with a high-flying professor, but a careless walker, when she raised objections against a passage in the Communion Service. The expression at which she took offence was this: "The remembrance of our sins is grievous unto us, the burden of them is intolerable." This she pronounced to be at variance with the finished work of Christ, by which the sins of the believer were cast into the depths of the sea" (Micah vii. 19); so that, when looked for, "they should not be found." (Jer. 1. 20.) Her objections to the passage rose to such a height, that she absented herself from the table, and in the end quitted the Church, "to join,” as she termed it, "some more scriptural communion." Either she was tired of her new church members, or they were tired of her, for she went from one sect to another, restless as "the troubled But to return to our subject. As I before observed, the burden of our sins is to be laid, at once and for ever, on the Great Burden Bearer; and when so laid, they may be viewed with profit and safety. They may be viewed with safety, because, if viewed upon the cross, they will not sink us in despair; and they may be viewed with profit, on account of some of those effects which I will now name: 1. With regard to the besetting sin of our unrenewed days. When David says, "My sin is ever before me," he refers to one special sin, namely, his conduct in the matter of Uriah. We have each of us some one besetment, which may form our besetting sin. To indulge this sin, every corrupt affection of the mind will lend its aid; yea, the eye will see for it, the ear will hear for it, the tongue will speak for it, and the hands will work for it. Have you found what it is in your case? It is the first to live, and the last to die. Every thing ministers to it. It is with us when we are awake, and often flits before the imagination in the season of repose: it is, in fact, our second self. Now, this is the sin upon which the eye is to rest. Observe, if we think of it with any other feeling than that of abhorrence, we act it over again in the sight of a heart-searching God, and shew that it is not duly repented of, and consequently unforgiven. 2. But the workings of our besetting sin, even since we have known better, will, on reflection, strike us still more forcibly. How will this work? It will lay us in the dust at the sight of our black ingratitude. Grace, vows, resolutions, and every obligation which love and mercy could lay upon us, will witness against us. When "our sin is before us" in this light, we become more and more vile in our own eyes, and wonder that we have not been "cut down as cumberers of the ground." This, under the Divine blessing, will produce a holy mourning, for we shall " sorrow after a godly sort." 3. A further benefit to be derived from having our "sin ever before us," is this: it will make us prayerful and watchful against its influence: we shall feel, in reference to Christ, that "Every sin we dare commit, If we indeed have tasted grace, More sharply pierc'd those hands, those feet, How it goes to a gracious heart, when it occasions Jesus to be "wounded in the house of his friends!" It is not the dread of hell which makes such an one weep in bitterness of soul; but it is the thought of having torn open afresh the wounds of "the Son of God, and having put him to an open shame.” Hence he strives, in the Divine strength, to "keep himself from his iniquity:" the place, the persons, the occupations which minister to his besetment are avoided, and this holy fear keeps him from the path of the destroyer. 4. But there is another bearing, in which the reflection on our sin may turn to profit; and that is, in connecting with it the mischief which we have thereby done to the circle in which we have moved. 66 It is often said by the ignorant, that such and such an one was no one's enemy but his own." This is more than we can tell; for the effect of any one sin cannot be told before we reach the eternal world. Are we conscious of any case in which we may have hardened others, or cast a stumbling block before those who were entering upon the divine life? If such are yet within our reach, yet on this side of eternity, we shall omit no means in our power for remedying the evil, if "God peradventure may give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth." The following fact will be read with interest, as affording an instance of this description: In the summer of 1816, Captain H. having obtained leave of absence from his regiment, visited London. At this time he was what would be called an honourable, upright young man, but a stranger to the value of his soul, and living" without God and without hope in the world." God, in his infinite mercy, brought this young man under the influence of the truth; and it was then that we first became acquainted. I shall never forget the deep anxiety he expressed for the state of his brother officers, on the eve of embarking for foreign service. One case above all rested upon his conscience, and made him very miserable: Lieutenant G. had joined the regiment about two years, when Captain H. having surprised him reading his Bible, boasted before the mess that he would take him in hand, and cure him of, what he termed, being "righteous overmuch." "Oh!" said he, “I did take him in hand, and I succeeded in laughing him out of his religious impressions; and, under the fear of man, he outstripped his teacher in all the accomplishments of profaneness and impiety. In this state," continued Captain H., "poor G. fell down in the yellow fever. When I saw him dying, and many others dying around him, I felt some little remorse at the part I had taken; indeed I wished I had acted otherwise; but the qualm was momentary, and was buried in the coffin of my unhappy victim. What I now feel," said he, "on looking back upon this bloodguiltiness,' is more than I can express. To repair the mischief is beyond my power, for the grave has closed upon him; so that I am prevented even the opportunity of making the effort." Two years after this, Captain H. was himself numbered among the dead; but, during that period, he adorned "the faith which he had once destroyed," and was honoured of God, in bringing three of his brother officers to confess "the truth as it is in Jesus." It is possible that some of us may be equally guilty with my departed friend, in the injury we have done to the souls of others, and yet we may not have taken it to heart. If, in this respect, "our sin is ever before us," we shall give the Lord no rest in their behalf, till they be made partakers with us of this " grace, wherein we stand;" and where it is practicable, we shall remonstrate with them, that they die not in their sins. When temporal injury has been inflicted, the child of God, on coming to "his right mind," will not be outdone by Zaccheus in "restoring fourfold." Many are the instances upon record, where this has been done in obedience to the whispers of a tender conscience. Where restitution is within our reach, our honesty with God will be very doubtful, if it is not practised; yea, we shall have no peace till it is practised; and we may provoke the blessed Spirit to shut us out from the humbling sight of our iniquity. LAZARUS. HARD TIMES. "Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? For thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this." ECCL. vii. 10. From this passage I would infer— 1. That the complaint of hard times is not peculiar to this age. It was common in the days of Solomon, and it has been common, if not perpetual, at short intervals ever since and will probably continue to be common until men shall generally learn and practically apply the lesson of contentment, in the condition in which Providence has placed them. 2. That in the complaints of hard times, there is a reference to former days, when it is thought such times did not exist. But the fact is, the troubles, the anxieties, the cares, the disappointments, and the distresses of those former days, are apt to be forgotten under existing burdens. So the Israelites in the wilderness sighed for the flesh pots of Egypt, forgetting the insupportable tasks under which they had formerly groaned. 3. That whatever be the hardness of the times which we endure, they are the best for us under existing circumstances, because ordered by a wise Providence, either for correction, or for judgments, or for mercy. And it is foolish as well as wicked, to com plain of his allotments. 4. That hard times are often the results of former waste and extravagance and luxury-the pampering of the flesh-the gratification of the eye—and the pride of life; and they induce in their stead, the habit of self-denial, of economy, of industry, of frugality, and of other virtuous dispositions and exercises, which prove them to be blessings; for "the prosperity of fools destroys them.' And experience proves that ruin very often treads upon the heels of prosperity. 5. That it is wrong to complain of hard times, so long as a kind Providence furnishes us the necessaries of life-food and raiment together with the privileges of a social, civil, and religious society. Look for a moment at former days. Had all our ancestors the privileges we enjoy? Did we possess them ourselves in greater perfection, ten, twenty, or thirty years ago, than now? If so, it has been, perhaps, because we abused the goodness of God, and he is now teaching us, by his chastisements, the true source of all our blessings. And, "why should a living man complain for the punishment of his sins?" 6. That the Christian should complain of hard times, is peculiarly ungrateful, inasmuch as he is but a pilgrim homeward bound, and nearer now to his rest than in former days-and because he is taught that his Father in heaven "withholdeth no good thing from them that love him”—but causeth "all things to work together for their good." And does he wish to go over the journey again to be subject to all its temptations and trials? Or is he not rather called upon to quicken his diligence, and exercise stronger confidence in his supporter, the nearer he is to his final rest? 7. That the best remedy for hard times is, less complainingless extravagance-less hankering after artificial wants-more industry-more economy-greater carefulness to avoid debt, and to let expenses be less than receipts-more contentment, and less speculation and withal to provide for the great debt which we all have to pay, so that we may be sure that there shall be no failure when summoned to render in our account. Alas! too few think of this matter, which concerns all-and too few make to themselves a friend of Him who came to seek and to save them that are lost. THE OIL OF JOY FOR MOURNING. TRUST THOU IN GOD! He knows thy secret grief, |