No. XXI.

In him there is found some good thing towards the Lord God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam.

1 KINGS, chap. xiv, ver. 13.

Or the entire family of mankind, every one of whom is continually sustained by Almighty power and love, and hourly indebted for all he possesses and enjoys to the Divine care and beneficence, how small a portion acknowledge their obligation, or regard the Father of mercies and the Giver of every good: and among that small portion, how languid and defective is this devout principle! Yet, however mixed in the crowd, or retired and secluded from human observation; whether of high or of low degree; the All-seeing Eye is ever upon that few, marking their ways, and impartially estimating the exact degree of their attachment to Him, with all the circumstances that are favourable

or unfavourable to its existence and growth. Happy that soul, within whose bosom this genuine principle is implanted! There, although like a grain of mustard-seed, it will continue to increase and flourish, till it is fully matured, and fitted to be transplanted into a more congenial soil.

Traveller, you are toiling on: whether ascending the hill, or pacing the lowly vale, you pursue your journey heavily laden with plans, and schemes and projects, on which to erect some future imagined good but be persuaded to examine your stuff; of what motley materials is it composed of every shape, and of every hue! Search diligently; leave no secret corner of the receptacle unexplored. Alas! that among all your stuff there should be found no good thing towards the Lord God of Israel!' that most valuable of all commodities; that which only will avail at the end of your journey, when all else must be cast away as refuse, and for ever lost! How forlorn that being, thus toiling his way through a wilderness, only

intent on accumulating its unprofitable productions, when he must so shortly quit his grasp and lose his all. Into what a state of irremediable poverty will he then sink; for should there be no good thing found in him towards the Lord God of Israel,' much of a directly opposite nature will be discovered: all the affections of his heart are at enmity with Him; and while there exists no good thing within, there is none without, that shall eventually operate to his advantage, even in this wilderness, and before he makes his final exit: on no spot shall he set his foot, that is not cursed for his sake, refusing to yield to him that plenteous increase, which he had anticipated as the reward of his toils.

What a contrast does this form, even to yonder traveller; who, with all his imperfections, which he deeply deplores, has nevertheless that good thing in him, although it may be so faint and feeble, as by himself to be scarcely perceptible; while his too eager affections for earthly

objects is glaringly manifest. With little hesitation, perhaps, he could decide of most of these objects the exact degree of estimation in which they are held by him, and what place they hold in the secret recesses of his heart. The creature he feels that he loves; but is often in much doubt and perplexity as to the Creator; especially as his God and Father in Christ.

What, then, is that good thing, which constitutes a difference so essential in its nature, so important in its consequences? Is it a regard to the true God, in opposition to idols? Certainly this is essentially requisite. Jeroboam had set up gods of gold, before which he called Israel to bow, professing still a higher regard to the one true God. This was something better than the heathen idolatry; for there was an acknowledgement of Him who made the heavens and the earth. Yet was his house cursed! And the reason is obvious: it was a worship paid, indeed, to God; but by unauthorized means: and the effect was, as it ever has been, and

ever will be, to divert the mind from the great object of all worship, and to fix it upon forms and ceremonies-upon the creature, rather than the Creator. Let us not attempt presumptuously to add to or diminish aught from the instituted modes of Divine appointment.

But if mistakes may be made in the rituals of worship, which may be offensive to God; how much more offensive must be any mistake concerning the essential mode of approaching God acceptably, which consists in our coming to him through the mediation of his appointed Messiah. He that hath not the Son,

hath not the Father.' This constituted the difference between those early worshippers, Cain and Abel. The one, as a sinner, brought the lamb for a sacrifice, looking by faith to the promised deliverer; the other brought of the fruits of the ground-productions of his own rearing. There is no good thing in the heart of him. who is yet unhumbled by a sense of sin, and disregardful of the one only sacrifice.