To them his yoke is easy and his burden light. His ways are ways of pleasantness, and all his paths are peace.

2. They bear fruit unto holiness. "A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit; wherefore, by their fruits ye shall know them." Being grafted into Christ, the living vine, they partake of the root and fatness of the vine; and "if the root be holy, so are the branches;" and if the branches are holy, so, also, is the fruit. Abiding in Christ, and Christ abiding in them, they bear much fruit-much holy fruit.

3. They are heirs of everlasting life. As children of God, they are assured of their heirship to an inheritance which is incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away; reserved in heaven for them. While in their minority, as children, they endure chastisement; for whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. As obedient children, they endure hardness, even as good soldiers, having respect unto the recompense of reward-the promised inheritance. They glory in the cross of Christ, knowing that, if they suffer with him, they shall be, also, glorified together, and that the sufferings of this present life are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in that day, when they shall be installed as kings and priests unto God and the Lamb for ever. Fondly as we cling to life, were the Christian assured that this life was to be eternally perpetuated, in connection with its infirmities and sorrows, it would deprive him of his richest joy and brightest prospects. Yea, he could not so much as endure the thought; but, with an imploring look, and in tones of sorrow, would repeat the sentiment,

"I would not livé alway; I ask not to stay,

Where storm after storm rises dark o'er the way." But being well assured that, when the few remaining years of his pilgrimage have passed away, he shall receive a

release from earth, and a passport to heaven, where he will for ever dwell, associated with the spirits of just men made perfect, and with angels, and be in the immediate presence of God and the Lamb, he with transport sings:

"In rapturous awe, on him I'll gaze,
Who bought the sight for me;
And shout, and wonder at his grace,
To all eternity."

SERMON XXVIII.

BY REV. WILLIAM HERR.

THE REASONABLENESS AND NECESSITY OF THE DIVINE LAW, AND THE BLESSED RESULTS OF OBEDIENCE.

"O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea," Isa. xlviii, 18.

THE purport of this chapter is a solemn expostulation of Jehovah with the Jews, for their wickedness in forsaking him, and their folly in withdrawing their trust from him, and placing it in idols. He shows their foolishness, in attributing that to the agency of idols which was manifestly the work of his own hands; and, also, the impotency of their idols, when contrasted with the divine prescience and power. He, also, tenderly appeals to former manifestations of his goodness in their behalf; and would thus provoke them to obedience, assuring them of assistance, beautifully represented by images borrowed from the exodus from Egypt-that as, in former times, "they thirsted not when he led them through the deserts: he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them: he clave the rock, also, and the waters gushed out;" so, in like manner, he would deliver them from all their enemies, by his gracious inter-> position.

With this brief view of the import and scope of the chapter, I shall proceed to an examination of the text, noticing,

I. THE MORAL GOVERNMENT OF GOD.

II. THE BENEFITS RESULTING FROM OBEDIENCE TO GOD'S

LAW.

I. The moral government of God is implied in the exclamation in the text, "O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments!"

It is evident that Jehovah could not require his creature, man, to hearken to his commandments, unless they had been announced; and they would not have been given, unless it was his intention that they should be obeyed. With regard to the commandments of God, too few have a proper conception of them. It may not, then, be amiss to say, that they are admirably adapted to our condition as moral agents, and, so far from being burdensome, require nothing more at our hands than what we are fully capacitated to perform, and what is in accordance with our best and dearest interest; for He who makes the requirement, has promised assistance, in order to our rendering obedience, and expressly invites all who are heavy-laden to come unto him for rest, assuring them that they shall find his yoke easy and his burden light. It is presumed that none will deny God's right to govern, implied in the text; for he who is superior in all things-who has brought us into existence, and continues to preserve us, is, doubtless, entitled not only to our gratitude, but cheerful obedience.

The commandments of God are not imposed, to restrain us in the use of our mental or physical powers, in the pursuit of happiness, but for the purpose of keeping us from the commission of sin, which is the bane of human felicity, stopping the current of our joys, which an observance of these commandments tends to enlarge. Look at society. What would be the condition of man, unrestrained by

human laws? In the language of one, imagination must cower her wing, unable to fetch the compass of that depth of guilt and iniquity into which the human family would plunge. Man, unrestrained by law, would speedily become the victim of anarchy, confusion, and distress.

If, then, in the management of matters which are in a great degree subordinate, government is so necessary, we would put the question to every intelligent mind, where is the inconsistency or unreasonableness of God's moral government—of a code of laws framed for the rule of our conduct, more just than ever originated in the mind of the wisest jurisconsult? where the injustice of God in rewarding us according to the deeds done in the body, by bringing the obedient to inherit eternal life, and consigning the disobedient to everlasting punishment? Leaving these questions to be answered by the unprejudiced, we inquire, what would be the condition of things, if God's moral government were laid aside, and the divine jurisdiction unacknowledged? in a word, if such opinions were afloat and fully believed, as that, when man dies he ceases to be; that there is neither a heaven nor hell; or, in the language of infidel Hume, "that all the religions which have prevailed in the world, are nothing more than sick men's dreams, or the playsome whimsies of monkeys in human shape, rather than the serious, positive, dogmatical asseverations of a being who dignifies himself with the name of rational?" Alas! the bloodiest page in the history of the past will fully attest. Turn your attention to France, at that period when God's law was trampled in the dust-when the jurisdiction of heaven's high King was unacknowledged. Another such scene of confusion and bloodshed the world never beheld. Vice triumphed over virtue; innocent citizens, parents, and defenseless youth, were torn from each other's embrace, and hurried to the fatal guillotine, to swell that mighty torrent of human gore which deluged the streets of

Paris. It seemed as though the vials of divine wrath were poured out upon that infidel city—as though the inhabitants were made the punishers of their own iniquity; and nothing but an acknowledgment of a supreme Ruler of the universe and of his law, could possibly have restored this people to the peace and tranquility which they formerly enjoyed.

Hence, it will be perceived that there is a necessity for some rule by which human agency shall be regulated. But does one inquire, "Where is that rule to be found, the observance of which will make for my peace and eternal welfare?" I answer, in the Bible. Hearken to the commandments of the Lord; walk in them; then shall thy peace be as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea. In the word of God the path of duty is clearly indicated, and we are called upon to walk in it, assured that it is a path of peace and safety. To it we are wooed in the melting tones of the Redeemer, and warned not to depart from it by the most emphatic and unequivocal language of inspiration. To secure our best interests, there is an uncontrollable necessity in our rendering obedience to the divine law; for if God be what he declares himself to be-a rewarder of the just and a punisher of the unjust—if his government be exercised in truth and righteousness, it follows as a natural consequence, that, if there be an infringement of his law, on the part of any of his moral subjects, the hottest indignation and wrath, if they persist in their rebellion, must inevitably be their portion for ever.

It is natural for all to expect to receive good at the hands of God, if they act according to his will; but the same principle that prompts to this expectation, and the same reason that sustains such a hope, assure us that, if any fail to comply with the precepts of God, as the slothful servant who knew his master's will but did it not, was beaten with