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ered fishermen speak with tongues; the dead shall arise; all these things shall be dissolved, and "new heavens, and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness," shall be expanded, to endure for ever and ever.

Having premised these things, not altogether foreign, we trust, to our subject, we proceed to the farther prosecution of a history, as singular, and as instructive, perhaps, as any in scripture.

adversary. We find him on other occasions, appearing to direct the wandering, to protect the weak, and to succour the distressed; as in the case of Hagar, Lot, and Jacob: but the face of the Lord is set against them that do evil. And now behold him in the way to check the progress of pride, violence, and covetousness. The great enemy, foe to God and man, is termed by way of distinction the adversary but lo! that awful character is assumed by a very different being-by one, infinitely greater and mightier than him; whose wrath is infinitely more terrible; who has power to save and to destroy; and, if he take upon him that form, it is still in consistency with his gracious characters of good and merciful: it is to humble the proud, to prevent and counteract the causeless curse; to disappoint malice, and make the purposes of revenge recoil upon itself; it is to support the friendless, to guard the innocent, and to relieve the miserable.

Balaam having obtained what he was willing to believe the consent of God to his journey into the land of Meab, for we easily believe what we wish, loses not a moment in making preparation for it. He is mounted, and on his journey by the first dawning of the day, as if afraid of prevention, by a revocation of the permission; ill at ease in his mind, but smothering conviction, in the exultation of having princes in his train, and in the prospect of all the riches and honour which confederated kings had to bestow. Scripture gives us the idea of a holy violence This formidable apparition was observed offered unto God, with which he is well neither by the prophet nor his servants. pleased, and to which he graciously submits Neither the natural vision of the latter, nor to yield; as when it is said, "the kingdom the extraordinary and supernatural sagacity of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent of the former, discerned any thing save take it by force." Hence the command- empty space, where the dullest of brute animent, to "strive to enter in at the strait mals descried the presence of Him, who gate," to wrestle and make supplication, "to makes all nature tremble at his nod; who pray always and not to faint." But there is "giveth understanding to the prudent, and to also suggested the idea of an impious, a pre-him that hath no might increaseth strength." sumptuous, and a fatal strife and contention Is not this a striking representation of what with our Maker, in which, wo be to the man that prevails. Such was the violence which worldly minded Balaam offered; and how could he think to prosper? God, justly displeased at his perseverance in a cause which he knew to be disapproved of Heaven, leaves him not long in uncertainty respecting his will.

The princes of Moab, it would appear, had now left him, and were proceeding with a quicker pace to apprise their master of the prophet's approach; and Balaam remains attended by only two of his own servants, when the angel of the Lord places himself in the way for an adversary against him. We shall find, in the sequel, the person styled the angel of the Lord, as in other places, so here, assuming the character and exercising the prerogative of Deity: for he it is that afterwards says, "The word that I shall speak unto thee, that thou shalt speak." We are to understand, therefore, by this designation, the mighty, the uncreated Angel, by whom God made the worlds; the eternal Word, which was in the beginning, which was with God, and which was God, and which, in the fulness of time was made flesh, and dwelt among men: " And they beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."* But never, till now, did he appear in the character of an

* John i. 14.

daily comes to pass in the course of provi-
dence? We see men soaring in the clouds,
with their eyes and imagination, while with
their feet they stumble and fall into the ditch
that is before them; possessing every kind
of sense, except common sense: pretending
to superior refinement, and yet stupid and
gross, in the plainest and most essential
things. Thus the simplicity of the gospel
was "to the Jews a stumbling-block and to
the Greeks foolishness" and on this very
account, the condescending Saviour of man-
kind is represented as rejoicing in spirit, and
saying, "I thank thee, O Father, Lord of
heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these
things from the wise and prudent, and hast
revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father,
for so it seemed good in thy sight."*
God destroyeth the wisdom of the wise, and
brings to nothing the understanding of the
prudent."+

Thus

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put an end to the life and madness of the prophet! But he chose to employ a meaner instrument, and thereby to vindicate to himself higher praise.

me.

There is a striking progress described in the mode of admonition and reproof, administered to the prophet by the successive actions of the dumb creature. First, "he turned aside out of the way, and went into the field;" a plain intimation to his accustomed rider, that something extraordinary obstructed his path. Thus, in many passages of scripture, the common instincts of the dullest animals, are employed to expose the greater thoughtlessness and folly of rational beings. "Ask, now, the beasts," says Job, "and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee: or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee; and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in all these, that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this?""* "Hear, O heavens;" says God by Isaiah," and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken: I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider." "Yea, the stork in the heaven," saith God by another prophet, "knoweth her appointed times and the turtle, and the crane, and the swallow observe the time of her coming; but my people know not the judgment of the Lord." Thus, in the passage before us, a more indirect reprooof was given to the eagerness and speed of Balaam, pricked on by the spur of covetousness and ambition, by the action of the ass, in deviating from the right path; and had not the eyes of his understanding been blinded by the wages of unrighteousness, this, without the vision of an angel, might have taught him that the way in which he went was perverse before God. But following only the blind impulse of a carnal mind, he wreaks, in reiterated blows upon the unoffending brute, the resentment which ought to have been levelled against his own rashness and presumption. Who was here most worthy of stripes? Let the adage of the wise man determine. "A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fool's back."

Behold the patience and longsuffering of God. The ass, by dint of blows, is forced back again into the road, and the angel himself gives place and retires. Folly and obstinacy seem to have carried off the victory; but alas, how short is the triumph of impiety! If omnipotence yield, it is only to meet the sinner on ground more difficult and danger

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arm of the great Archangel, in front, to oppose. There is no way of safety but in turning back and fleeing for life, and yet he will madly push on to his own destruction. When men are once engaged in a way that is not good, difficulty only stimulates their ardour; they rush on through danger to danger, till they involve themselves in inevitable destruction; according to the fearful progress described by the prophet--“ Fear, and the pit, and the snare shall be upon thee, O inhabitant of Moab, saith the Lord. He that fleeth from the fear shall fall into the pit, and he that getteth up out of the pit, shall be taken in the snare: for I will bring upon it, even upon Moab, the year of their visitation, saith the Lord. They that fled stood under the shadow of Heshbon, because of the force; but a fire shall come forth out of Heshbon, and a flame from the midst of Sion, and shall devour the corner of Moab, and the crowd of the head of the tumultuous ones."*

The reproof now becomes more distinct and direct. The wretched animal, urged on by his furious rider, hemmed in with a wall on either side, and opposed in front as with a wall of fire, in making a desperate effort to pass by and advance, thrusts herself close to the wall, and crushes the prophet's foot. Thus slow, thus reluctant, is a merciful God to proceed to judgment. He first warns and threatens; then touches the extremities, if peradventure the sinner will take warning, and turn back: and not till all means have been tried and found ineffectual, is he provoked to strike the deadly blow that reaches the heart.

Mark on the other hand, by what dreadful degrees sinners harden themselves against God, till they become lost to feeling. The commission of one sin as naturally leads to another, as every step down a steep place accelerates the speed of that which is to follow: and yet transgressors vainly imagine it is in their power to stop when they please, or to turn against the bias. One of the most fearful symptoms of a reprobate mind, is, when the very means of awakening, convincing, and converting, serve as opiates to the conscience, and increase that insensibility which they were meant to cure. If the constitution of the patient be so vitiated as to convert medicine into poison, dissolution cannot be at a great distance. Affliction, that wholesome, though unpalatable potion, never leaves the mind exactly where it found it. A cure is either begun by it, or the distemper is confirmed. The history of Balaam is the illustration of this position. The pain of his foot has only served to whet the asperity of his disposition; and the more he is opposed, the more earnest he is to get forwards. O that the children of light were thus perse

Jeremiah xlviii. 43-45.

verant in a good cause, and not weary of well | pleasure elevate it to a higher, or depress it doing.

It is astonishing that superstition, if not the fear of God, did not now turn him back. Surely never journey had a more ominous, inauspicious beginning: but the passions, by which he was actuated, are among the last to be discouraged; on he drives, and the angel, in patience mixt with displeasure, continues to retreat, till at length the path becomes so narrow, that it was impossible to turn to the right hand or to the left, when the patient brute, wearied and wasted with stripes, and scared with the dreadful vision immediately before her eyes, at last sinks to the earth under her burden.

This was the third stage of admonition and reproof. God first waves the flaming sword, but cuts not; shakes the rod, but smites not. That being disregarded, he puts forth his hand and smites the heal, but spares the vitals. He then proceeds to block up the way, that the sinner cannot pass; but is constrained to fall down before him. Humanity is shocked as we proceed. "The merciful man is merciful to his beast, but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel." Behold an old, simple, uncomplaining drudge expiring under the angry blows of her unkind master. The very stones of the field are ready to cry out, and to upbraid the harddearted, ungrateful wretch with his cruelty. "Balaam's anger was kindled, and he smote her with a staff."

to a lower sphere; can confer upon it a force unknown before, or deprive it of what it formerly possessed; can break the strength of Egypt, by an army of frogs or flies, or preserve Daniel unhurt in the midst of the lions; can catch the serpent in his own craftiness, and teach the dull ass speech and reason.

The cunning of Satan, and the understanding of man, look out for likely, promising and adequate instruments to carry on their designs. The wisdom of God chooses to execute his by such as are apparently weak, unpromising, and inadequate. To seduce our first parents, the devil employed the agency of that creature which was the most sagacious of all the beasts of the field. The most stupid, in the hand of the Almighty, was sufficient to confound, and to convict, and to condemn, the proudest and most highly gifted of his race. And the gospel of Christ becometh effectual unto salvation, not through the wisdom of words, but by demonstration of the Spirit; for "God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: that no flesh should glory in his presence."

Finally, for we must make an end of our reflections on the subject-What creature In the history of the miracle which follows, so brutish, as a rational being under the doa multitude of reflections crowd upon us. In minion of his lusts! the novelty of an ass the order and frame of nature, every creature speaking, reasoning, remonstrating, seems to of God has a special use and end; neither is have excited no astonishment in the furious there any schism, deficiency, or redundancy, prophet: he is not awakened to one sentiment permitted in the great body of the universe. of compassion, nor of godly fear, by a pheEvery thing is in its place; every thing is nomenon so singular. The only regret he fulfilling the purpose of its Creator; and feels, is the want of a deadly instrument to therefore nothing ought to be mean or con- prosecute his resentment to the full. Men temptible in our eyes. The great Lord of most vainly, and in the face of experience, all, exercises a tender concern about the imagine, that such and such means of conlowest of the brute creation, provides for viction would certainly work their effect. them, and resents the cruelty and injustice "Nay, but if one went from the dead they which are offered them. "He feeds the ra- will repent;" but the truth is too well convens,' ""the young lions ask their meat from firmed by every day's experience, to be called God," "he careth for oxen," "a sparrow fall-in question, that "if they hear not Moses eth not to the ground without our Heavenly and the prophets, neither will they be perFather." And lo, the dull ass findeth com- suaded though one rose from the dead." A passion and an avenger, when under oppres- miracle greater than even opening the ass's sion, from him whom angels worship. Who mouth must be performed, before Balaam be so lofty as to be beyond his reach, as to defy persuaded. A heart wedded to gain, is not his power? What so little as to be beneath to be reasoned out of its favourite pursuit ; his notice, or shut out from his pity. There and unbelief, do what you will, always finds is of consequence a return of attention and a strong hold whereto it can resort, and tenderness due from the human race to every order of creatures below themselves, and whose services, whatever their faculties may be, Providence permits them to employ either for pleasure or for use. The power and wisdom which stationed every creature in its proper place, and preserves it there, can at

which it easily renders impregnable. "Show us a sign from heaven and we will believe." Well, the very petulance of incredulity is humoured, the sign is exhibited, Satan is cast out. Surely they will now believe. No such thing. "This man casteth out devils † Luke xvi. 31.

* 1 Cor. i. 27-29.

mute.

by Beelzebub the prince of the devils." The prevail over his enemies, by the power of en eyes of Balaam are blinder, his heart more chantment; the other to possess himself of hard than when the tongue of the ass is the riches and honours of Moab. The one lays aside the state of a king, and advances to his utmost border, out of respect to his expected guest. The other, with more speed than became a prophet, hastens to partake of the prince's repast, little scrupulous whether the bill of fare consisted of things offered unto idols or not. But happily for Israel, God, their protector, had put a hook in his nose, and a bridle in his jaws. He himself feels and acknowledges it, however reluctantly. "And Balaam said unto Balak, Lo, I am come unto thee: have I now any power at all to say any thing? the word that God putteth in my mouth, that shall I speak."*

The prophecy itself, one of the most beau

At length, God vouchsafes to effect that by a second miracle, which had been obvious to a tender conscience, much more to a prophetic eye, without any miracle at all; and the angel stands confest to the sight of the soothsayer, clothed in all his terror. And now violence, ambition, and covetousness stand for a while suspended, swallowed up of fear at this alarming sight. His eyes are no sooner opened to see with whom he had to contend, than he shuts them again in consternation and astonishment; "he bowed his head and fell flat on his face." What a miserable figure a haughty man makes when caught in the snare! How vain the expect-tiful passages in the sacred history, though ation of fleeing from God, or of opposing him uttered by profane lips; and the power of with success! How dreadful it is to meet as God therein exemplified in making the wrath an adversary, Him whose counsels we have of man to praise him, will furnish useful matslighted as a friend! Balaam has now the ter for another discourse. Let what has been unspeakable mortification of discovering that said, be improved as a solemn warning to obhe owed the preservation of his life to the serve, regard, and submit to the admonitions slender sagacity and discernment of the poor of God's word and providence. Wo be to brute whom he had treated so unmercifully; that man who sees no angel standing in the and he is again assured, without reserve or way of a sinful career, till the angel of death disguise, that the design of this journey was stop him with his fatal dart. Let the checks highly odious and offensive to God. Behold, of conscience be listened to. Has the hand, I went out to withstand thee, because thy or the foot been bruised, retreat in time. way is perverse before me. And the ass There is a lion in the way. He that proves saw me, and turned from me these three too strong for his Maker, by a bold persevetimes; unless she had turned from me, sure-rance in an evil course, is only hastening ly now also I had slain thee, and saved her forward his own destruction. The same peralive."* son is the kindest friend, and the most formidable adversary.

But though intimidated and confounded, his heart still cleaves to "the wages of unrighteousness." Disapprobation could not be expressed in clearer and stronger words, than had all along been employed, "thou shalt not go, thou shalt not curse," "I went out to withstand thee: thy way is perverse before me," and yet he has the assurance to make it a matter of doubt whether God were displeased with him or not. A conscience not quite callous, a heart not totally hardened like nis, would have sought instantly to retreat, thankful that his presumption had not already cost him his life; but he cannot give up the hope of getting forward. If it displease thee, I will get me back again."t If it displease thee." Could he doubt it? What kind of assurance would he have had? And yet, wonderful to be told, the angel continues once more to give way; and Balaam has still the hardiness to proceed; and the issue proves the truth of the wise man's assertion: "He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy."

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God can find an instrument to punish, in the meanest and most contemptible creature; therefore despise none, abuse none. Be not weary in well doing. Take an example from Balaam, in respect of perseverance; but choose an honester and worthier object of pursuit. Honour God with your superior reason and use of speech. Behold an ass wise, and a prophet mad: blush at thy own folly, and be humble.

Let us go, as has been already suggested, and learn wisdom from the brute creation. "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib;" be instructed to acknowledge the hand that feeds thee: learn attachment to thy Protector, learn gratitude to thy Benefactor, repay kindness with kindness. Learn industry from the bee. "Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the snmmer, and gathereth her food in the harvest. How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? When wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?" "The hen gathereth her chickens under her wings." "There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise. The

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ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare | their meat in the summer; the conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks; the locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands; the spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in king's

palaces."* May God open our eyes, and dis pose our minds to receive instruction from every thing around us; and preserve us from opposing his will, and make his way straight before our face.

*Prov. xxx. 24-28.

HISTORY OF BALAAM.

LECTURE LXX.

Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his.-NUMBERS xxiii. 10.

HUMAN conduct, as far as it is governed by the spirit of this world, exhibits a wretched and contemptible, but a dangerous and fatal opposition to the will of God. Men would be happy in their own way; but whether they succeed in their pursuits, or whether they fail, they find themselves miserable in the end. God is conducting us, if we would but be conducted, to real and substantial happiness, but it is through a narrow gate, and along a path in many places strewed with thorns. The prosperous successes of vanity and wickedness, like a sweet poison, may afford a transient pleasure in the moment of swallowing but lasting and unutterable anguish immediately succeeds. The bowels are torn with pain insupportable, and the man dies, dies for ever, for the indulgence and gratification of one poor instant of time. But the sacrifices we are enabled to make to God, and to the testimony of a good conscience, are like a nauseous medicine, which by means of a shortlived disgust, rectifies the constitution, sweetens the blood, confirms health, and prolongs a happy existence. The grievousness of affliction in due season, "yields the peaceable fruits of righteousness to them who are exercised thereby."

In whatever way men choose to live, and very different are the roads which they take, they have but one idea, one wish, one prayer, in the prospect of death and eternity. When man finds himself on the brink of the world of spirits, it will afford him but slender consolation, to reflect that he has lived long enough to amass a fortune, to enjoy a banquet, to attain a post of honour, to acquire a name. And he will feel as little pain and mortification, on the other hand, in recollecting that he has passed life in obscurity, that he has struggled with poverty, that he has endured unmerited reproach. But this is the

folly and the misery of man; we eagerly imbibe and follow the spirit of this world while we live; and fondly dream of assuming, in one propitious instant, the spirit of heaven, when we come to die. We think of passing our thirty or forty years with the gay, the giddy, and the vain; as if that could be a preparation for an eternity with God, and angels, and the spirits of just men made perfect. Our understanding and conscience are on the side of wisdom and piety; our passions and habits, and alas! they are more powerful, are of the party of dissipation and vice. "The fool says in his heart, there is no God;" and men, reputed wise, live as if there were none.

The unhappy man, whose character is farther unfolded to us in the text, exhibits a most affecting example of this strange inconsistency and self-delusion. Who so enlightened as Balaam, "which heard the words of God, which saw the vision of the Almighty ?" Who so blind as the covetous prophet who "loved the wages of unrighteousness," whose eyes the god of this world blinded? Hear him speak; the manna of heavenly eloquence falls from his lips: behold him act, and lo, a fiend from hell spreading snares and destruction. Under the control of God, not Moses himself thinks more affectionately, expresses affection more ardently towards Israel, than Balaam. Under the impulse of his own passions, not Satan could plot more malignantly nor more ef fectually. As the prophet of God, who so warm a friend? As the counsellor of Balak, who so dreadful an adversary? In the pros pect of death, who more devout? In life, who so profligate? In judgment and opinion, who so clear and sound? In practice, who so prostitute and abandoned?

In the face of a prohibition, the clearest

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