will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them.'

While we cherish gratitude for temporal blessings, let us not rest satisfied with them as our portion. God gives these to all, to the wicked as well as to the righteous. To Nabal he gave flocks and herds in abundance, and to Nebuchadnezzar all the kingdoms of the world. But let us rather covet Joseph's portion; not 'the precious things of the earth, and the fulness thereof;' but the good will of him that dwelt in the bush.' With Jabez, let us desire to be blessed indeed;' and with Mary, choose 'the better part, which shall never be taken away from us.'

If to supply all creation, it is sufficient that God opens his hand only, what must the blessings of Redemption be, which could only be procured by the blood of Christ. In respect to power, God was sufficient for the latter, as well as the former; but power alone could not accomplish it. There were difficulties in the way of communicating spiritual blessings, which nothing short of an infinite sacrifice could remove: and of these there is not a gift his hand bestows, but cost his heart a groan.' How invaluable the blessings which come to us through such a medium; and how far superior in importance to all the riches of the universe.

Can we survey these proofs of divine beneficence, and not feel the most powerful motives to kindness and liberality to the poor and needy? Shall we not be followers of God as dear children, and be perfect, as our Father in heaven is perfect; who maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust? The exercise of genuine benevolence assimilates us to his likeness, and confers on us the exalted dignity of participating in his felicity; while selfishness debases us to the lowest state of meanness, and deprives us of the most luxurious enjoyments.

Reader! Has the Lord opened his hand, and satisfied thy desires; are thy garners full, affording all manner of

store?

Remember what the Lord hath commanded thee: 'Thou shalt not harden thy heart, nor shut thy hand from thy poor brother; but thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy winepress; of that wherewith thy God hath blessed thee, thou shalt give unto him.' Deut. xv. 7-14.

VANITY OF THE HUMAN MIND.

The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity. Psal. xciv. 11.

SURELY it is the design of God in all his dispensations and by all the discoveries of his word, to stain the pride of all flesh. The dust is the proper place for a creature, and that place we must occupy. What a humbling thought is here suggested to us. Let us examine it.

(1) If vanity had been ascribed to the meaner parts of the creation; if all inanimate and irrational beings, whose days are as a shadow, and who know not whence they came, nor whither they go, had thus been characterised, it had little more than accorded with our own ideas. But the humiliating truth belongs to man, the lord of the lower creation; to man, that distinguished link in the chain of being, which unites in his person mortality and immortality, heaven and earth. The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.

(2) Had vanity been ascribed only to the exercises of our sensual or mortal part, or of that which we possess in common with other animals, it had been less humiliating. But the charge is pointed at that which is the peculiar glory of man, the intellectual part, his thoughts. It is here, if any where, that we excel the creatures which are placed around us. We can contemplate our own

existence, dive into the past and the future, and understand whence we came, and whither we go. Yet in this tender part are we touched. Even the thoughts of man are vanity.

(3) If vanity had been ascribed merely to those loose and trifling excursions of the imagination, which fall not under the influence of choice, a kind of comers and goers, which are ever floating in the mind, like insects in the air on a summer's evening, it had been less affecting. The soul of man seems to be necessarily active. Every thing we see, hear, taste, feel or perceive, has some influence upon thought, which is moved by it as the leaves on the trees are moved by every breeze of wind. But 'thoughts' here include those exercises of the mind in which it is voluntarily or intensely engaged, and in which we are in earnest; even all our schemes, contrivances, and purposes. One would think, if there were any thing in man to be accounted of, it should be those exercises in which his intellectual faculty is seriously and intensely employed. Yet the Lord knoweth that even these are vanity.

(4) If during our state of childhood and youth only, vanity had been ascribed to our thoughts, it would have been less surprising. This is a truth, of which numberless parents have painful proof; yea, and of which children themselves, as they grow up to maturity, are generally conscious. Vanity at this period, however admits of some apology. The obstinacy and folly of some young people, while they provoke disgust, often excite a tear of pity. But the charge is exhibited against man. 'Man at his best estate is altogether vanity.

(5) The decision proceeds from a quarter from which there can be no appeal. The Lord knoweth it. Opinions dishonourable to our species may sometimes arise from ignorance, sometimes from spleen and disappointment, and sometimes from a gloomy turn of mind, which views mankind through a distorted medium. But the judgment given in this passage, is the decision of Him who cannot

err; a decision therefore to which, if we had no other proof, it becomes us to accede.

But that which is here declared as the result of divine omniscience, is abundantly confirmed by observation and experience. Let us take a brief view of the thoughts of man, as exercised on two general topics :-The world that now is, and that which is to come.

I. With respect to the present world, consider what multitudes of thoughts are employed in vain.

1. In seeking satisfaction where it is not to be found.Most of the schemes and devices of depraved man, go to the indulging of his appetite, his avarice, his pride, his revenge, or in some form or other to the gratifying of himself. Look at the thoughts of such a man as Nabal. 'Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give to I know not whom?* Or of such a man as Haman; now aspiring to be the man whom the king delighteth to honour; now contriving the death of a whole people, in revenge of the supposed crime of an individual.+ Such, alas, is a great part of the world to this day. What desolations have come upon the earth, through the resentments of a few individuals! And those whose situation has afforded them the greatest scope for self-gratification in all its forms, are generally the farthest off from satisfaction.

2. In poring on events which cannot be recalled.Grief, under the bereaving strokes of providence, to a certain degree, is natural, it is true, and allowable; but when carried to excess, and accompanied with despondency, and unthankfulness for continued mercies, it is a great evil. I knew a parent who lost an only child, and who never after appeared to enjoy life. It seemed to me, that if his spirit had been expressed in words, they would have been to this effect: Lord, I cannot be reconciled to

* 1 Sam, xxv. 11.

† Esther iii.

thee for having taken away the darling of my heart, which thou gavest me! All such thoughts are as vain as they are sinful, seeing none can make straight what God hath made crooked.

3. In anticipating evils which never befal us.-Such is our folly, that, as though the evils which necessarily attend the present state were not enough for us to carry, we must let loose our imaginations, and send them into the wilderness of futurity in search of ideal burdens, to make up the load. This also is vanity.

4. To these may be added, the valueing of ourselves on things of little or no account.-If providence has given one a little more wealth than another; if he lives in a better house, eats better food, and wears better apparel; what a multitude of self-important thoughts do such trifles breed in the mind! But all is vanity, and rejoicing in a thing of nought.

5. In laying plans which must be disconcerted.—The infinitely wise God has laid one great plan, which comprehends all things. If our's accord with his, they succeed: if not, they are overturned, and it is fit they should. Men, in their schemes, commonly consult their own private interest; and as others are carrying on similar designs for themselves, they meet, and clash, and overturn one another. Thus men, partly by their plans being at variance with that of God's, and partly with those of their fellow creatures, are ever exposed to disappointment and chagrin. Their lives are wholly occupied in building Babels, having them thrown down, and fretting against God and their neighbours, on account of their disappointments.

In looking at the struggles of different parties for power, whether in a monarchy, an aristocracy, or a democracy, one sees a dangerous rock, which multitudes are climbing at the utmost hazard, and from which great numbers fall and perish and the same spirit operates through all degrees of men, according to the opportunities which they enjoy.