throw of his country. When the men of Nineveh prayed and humbled themselves before God, on hearing his will by the mouth of Jonah, he marked their humiliation, and shewed to it a special regard for Blessed are the poor in spirit: blessed is the man that can come down, when God rises up. God resisteth the proud, but he giveth grace unto the humble. Thus saith the high and Lofty One, that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy, I dwell in the high and holy place; with him also that is humble and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at my words, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. Go," as if he had said, "and read my history, from beginning to end; and you will find that one great leading characteristic of my government is, that, while I resist the proud, I give grace unto the humble."

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Brethren! there are few, I suppose, present who would attempt to deny any of these truths: but let us beware that we do not rest in the public confession and acknowledgment of general truths. The word that was read in the ears of Josiah, is the word that is read in our ears every Sabbath Day: so that we, as well as the king, are favoured with knowing the mind of God. But now the grand question that we have to ask ourselves, is this, What is the state of our minds on hearing this word? We have seen what the Lord marked in Josiah but the question is, what he is marking at

this time in us; for every one of us must give an account of himself to God.

A great multitude heard the word of God on the day of its being discovered; but they remained as they were before. One went to his farm, and said, "The word of the Lord hath been preached;" but concerned himself no further. Another went to his merchandize, and carried the news. Another married a wife, and forgot every thing that was said. But God has said; "I will bring evil and déstruction upon the man that forgets me"-for the wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God!-Let us apply the case to ourselves. We have heard, as the king and his people did, the word of God. We now know his mind; for he changes not: he is the same now as he was then, and must continue unchanged to all eternity.

Let us then ask ourselves, What effect has the word of God had upon us! Do we remain as we were before we heard it? Are we walking after the course of this world? Has the word no place nor authority in our consciences? Has it never brought a charge against us as sinners? Has it never put us on praying to God, that we may be delivered according to the multitude of his mercies? Has he never seen our hearts tender? Has he never marked that we have humbled ourselves before God, when we heard what he spake in his word? If we have never rent our clothes, yet have we never wept

before him?-Certain it is, then, that, whatever we think of ourselves, we may know from this history the mind of the Lord concerning us:-We have heard the word of God as the Israelites did; but it has not been mixed with faith in us who have heard it.

Who hath believed our report? says the prophet. What is this report?-that we have erred and strayed like lost sheep, and that there is a Shepherd who has laid down his life for sinners, and proclaims his mercy in their ears, and calls them that they may come to him and have life.

Do you ask me, why such good news as this is not received? Because men's hearts are not tender. They have not humbled themselves before the Lord, like this prince. They never rent their clothes, nor wept over their condition: and, therefore, being yet hard-hearted, proud, and unbelieving, they cannot receive the truth. The seed may be sown, and it may be good seed; but the ground of their hearts is either hard, or stony, or thorny, and there is no fruit brought to perfection.

If I am preaching to any persons in such a state as this, it becomes me to exhort them to pray earnestly to God, who is sowing the seed, that he would prepare the ground of their hearts: that he would give them this tenderness of heart, this humility of spirit, tears of true repentance, lively faith, and a hope that maketh not ashamed. Then they will understand the text experimentally,

better than I can explain it. And they shall understand, moreover, that God, who promised his blessing and mercy to Josiah, has also blessing in store for every contrite and believing

and mercy

soul.

Am I speaking, as I trust I am, to those whose hearts God has, by his grace, made tender; proud and hard as they are by nature? Hast thou humbled thyself before him? Hast thou laid to heart what he declares concerning a wicked and unbelieving world, and what shall be its end? Dost thou believe his threatenings as well as his promises? Dost thou believe that the end of the wicked shall be, that they shall become a desolation and a curse, as the text expresses it? and hast thou, as one wicked by nature, wept before him; so that he may say concerning thee, as he did concerning Ephraim, I have surely heard Ephraim bemoan himself: I have heard him say, Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned? Hast thou thus wept before the Lord? take then thy comfort from the words of the text, for they are good words, and comfortable words to such a heart as thine.

The state that I am describing, which was the state of the king's heart, will be a token for good, and a pledge of God's future favour; for the evangelical promise is fulfilled:" I will take away the stony heart, and give a heart of flesh: I will

enable a man to feel, who did not feel: I will enable a man to listen, who did not listen: I will enable a man to submit to my righteousness, who used to glory and boast in his own."

Proud unbelieving persons with whom you may live, may sneer at what God has wrought, and attempt to put a misconstruction on what you are endeavouring to do: in their ignorance and pride, they may say, that you are become a strangera singular character; that you have lost your courage and your spirit; that you could once resent things and revenge yourself, but that now you walk humbly before God, and commit all to him. They may scorn that Gospel, with its promises and threatenings, which you now believe, and to which you now bow down.

But are such persons as these to be heard? are men like these, though they walk on every side, and talk proudly, are they to judge?

No! Brethren! we will hear the judge himself. We will hear HIS sentiment on this subject: and may God grant, that we may determine to abide by that judgment, and by no other! that will bear us out in time, and that will bear us out to eternity. Now says the Judge, Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a pharisee and the other a publican. publican. The pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself: God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican: I fast twice.