and it affords a striking illustration of the tender compassion of Almighty God: Hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men that rule this people, which is in Jerusalem;* because ye have boasted of your security, and have made lies your refuge, and have despised me, therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah; even yet I will not forget my loving-kindness; Behold I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation; he that believeth shall not make haste. But judgment also will I lay to the line and righteousness to the plummet.

The figure under which the Messiah is here represented is principally that of a stone as the foundation of a building, the foundation of the spiritual church. The description, which is in these words given of that stone, is intended to show its fitness, its excellence, and its stability; it is a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation.

(1.) It is a tried or an approved stone. The prediction here recorded was made upwards of seven hundred years before the days of the Messiah; but that God, to whom a thousand years are as one day, speaks of it as an event already at hand: as if the trials, which proved

* Ver. 14.

the suitableness of Christ for the work of salvation, had already been made. The expression is meant to intimate the perfect acquiescence of the Most High in His beloved Son, and His unqualified approbation of Him as the Redeemer of the world. Thus, in another part of the same book He says, Behold my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my soul delighteth; and to the same purport in after ages, when the Son of God was just commencing his public ministry, was heard a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. He had not yet encountered the temptation in the wilderness, or the contradiction of sinners against Himself; He had not yet proved by His labours and His sufferings that He was able to bear in His own person the iniquities of the world and to subdue our spiritual enemy: nevertheless, so perfectly qualified did He appear to answer the divine purpose of grace, that the Father represents Him as already tried and approved. Was there none among the hosts of heaven who might have become the foundation of a spiritual church? Without controversy, great is

* Isaiah xlii, 1.

+ Matt. iii. 17.

who renders all His appointments subservient to the benefit and the happiness of His people. This will be the sure result of a lively sense of the omnipresence of God. But we confine our remarks, at present, to the mode of producing that perception; and in this view it is extremely useful to refer all things to His disposal, and to acknowledge in all things His gracious interposition.

Thirdly, this end will likewise be greatly promoted by the regular worship of God.

In attending the public services of religion, we virtually acknowledge that God is present in our assemblies; and if our hearts be engaged in devotion, we feel the force of the conviction. But so apt are these public duties to degenerate into form, that without the daily exercise of private prayer they will usually cease to produce any lasting impression. The man who habitually presents himself, in the retirement of his own chamber, before the throne of grace, has in these acts of devotion a great additional security that he shall not become insensible to the divine presence. For how is he occupied ? In appealing to the Almighty, as acquainted with every purpose of his heart; in thanking Him for the mercies which have been recently

vouchsafed, and confessing himself unworthy of the least of them; in soliciting His continued favour and direction under every circumstance of life, and in recommending to His grace and goodness all those who have an interest in his affections, and whose welfare is connected with his own. Let occupations of this kind frequently occur; let them engage the mind at the opening and the close of every day, and they will generally produce a lasting effect upon the disposition and character; for prayer is indeed among the chief means by which all spiritual blessings are procured; and he, who would obtain the communications of the Spirit, must thus diligently seek them. But we are speaking here chiefly of their effect in producing an habitual sense of the presence of God: and although even this benefit is not derived from any virtue or excellence in the prayer itself, yet we may mention this as a natural result of the practice, because it can scarcely be long pursued without an operation upon the mind in some measure correspondent with it.

The last remark which we shall offer, points to the importance of fixing these impressions in early life.

Would you wish your children to remember

their Creator as they advance in years? Teach them to do so in the days of their youth. Would you wish them to act in their future intercourse with the world as in the presence of Him who will one day call them to account? Let them be taught while they are yet unacquainted with its temptations, and while they have no particular motive for resisting the truth, that there is an eye which pursues them even to the deepest retirement; and that however they may escape human observation, they cannot screen themselves from the notice of God. Let them be instructed in the relation which they bear to Him, and be told with what compassion He looks down upon them that fear Him. Let them learn to lift up their little hands in prayer, to thank Him for the mercies which they are conscious that they enjoy, and to entreat that favour and protection of which they stand in need. Will the lessons thus imparted be forgotten in advancing years? The assurance of the wise man, that a child trained up in the right way, will not depart from it,* may convince us that the seed which is thus sown will rarely be lost. Impressions, which seem almost to be obliterated, are not unfrequently renewed by

*Prov. xxii. 6.