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I. The war in which the tribes of Israel were engaged was of Divine appointment. It was a holy war,-not originating in the enmity or ambition of the people who undertook it, but in the sovereign will and pleasure of God, who had promised ages back to put them in possession of the land of Canaan; but resolved, for the wisest ends, that the actual possession of it should be the fruit of conquest.

The warfare in which Christians are engaged, in like manner, is of Divine prescription; it is one to which they are solemnly called. The enemies they are called to combat are God's enemies; and it is his will that we shall yield ourselves as instruments in his hand for their destruction.

In resisting the world, the flesh, and the devil, we are executing his commands, and are consecrating our services to the Most High. To be resolute and determined in this warfare is to enter into the very essence of our Christian calling; and it is the principal test of our fidelity and allegiance to the King of kings. Our Saviour has distinctly exhibited them in his word, has set us in battle array against them, and says to us, These are my enemies, and also yours, and you must destroy them.

While we remain in a state of unregeneracy, we are scarcely aware of the existence of these enemies. We have no apprehension of danger, and consequently seem to ourselves to be in a [region] of peace and safety. But no sooner are the "eyes of the understanding enlightened," than a new scene presents itself, and we perceive ourselves to be encompassed with foes, and are at once convinced that no representation of the Christian calling is more just than that which likens it to a warfare.

II. The nations of the Canaanites, whom the Israelites were commanded to expel, were extremely numerous and formidable. So they appeared to the spies who were sent by Moses to search out the land. "The land," say they, "floweth with milk and honey: nevertheless, the people be strong, and the cities are walled, and very great: and we saw the children of Anak there. We be not able to go up against this people, for they are stronger than we; all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature; and there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight."*

Moses himself frequently reminds the Israelites of the obligations they will be under to love and serve God, when he shall have "subdued under them nations stronger and more numerous than they."

Here we may infer with certainty, that there was naturally no proportion between the strength of the Israelites and that of the people they were appointed to subdue. The victory to which they aspired was not to be achieved by their own power;-they were encouraged by the assurance that the Lord would fight for them,—which is abundantly verified in the events recorded in the book of Joshua. Thus the enemies which obstruct our salvation are numerous and formidable, for exceeding our active powers of resistance; so that we could

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entertain no hope of success, were we abandoned to our own unassisted efforts.

Who could flatter himself with the expectation of vanquishing the assaults and escaping the snares of his great adversary; quelling the motions of the flesh, and overcoming the temptations of the world, if he had no hope of superior succour? Never were forces brought into the field more unequally matched, than the power and subtlety of Satan, enforced by the influence of the world and the treachery and corruption of our own hearts, and the naked, unaided efforts of a feeble

worm.

When we consider the perfect subjection to which the far greater part of mankind are reduced under these their spiritual enemies, and the havoc and destruction they are continually making of souls, we shall be convinced of the propriety of Scripture language, when it speaks of "the powers of darkness;" "To turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God." These enemies have triumphed over the greatest potentates, have held in invisiblé chains the greatest of men, and tyrannized, with little or no resistance, over those who have been the terror of the mighty in the land of the living.

III. God was pleased to assign to the people of Israel a leader who, under God, was to marshal their forces and direct their operations. The name of this great captain was, by divine authority, called Joshua, his original name was Hoshea; but when he was marked out for the office he afterward sustained, it was changed into JOSHUA, by inserting one of the letters of the tetragram, or the incommunicable name, into his, to denote his partaking of the Spirit, and being invested with a portion of the authority of God.

The word Joshua imports a Saviour, and it is precisely the same in the Hebrew with that which was given to our Saviour, because he was to "save his people from their sins."

Under the conduct and command of this great captain it was that the people of Israel were to expect victory, and to him they were commanded to pay implicit obedience.

In leading the church militant, Jesus Christ, who is by name and by import the true Joshua, is appointed to the supreme command; and one of the most distinguishing characters under which he appears is that of "the Captain of our salvation."* He said to Joshua, "As captain of the Lord's host am I come," and he is set up and proclaimed as the great antagonist of Satan, and of the powers of darkness; and it is only under his auspices, and in consequence of being strengthened and sustained by him, that we can indulge the hope of victory.

His "grace is sufficient for us; his strength is made perfect in our weakness." "I can do all things," said St. Paul, "through Christ, which strengtheneth me." He is given as a "leader and commander to the people. He appeared to John in the Apocalypse, under the character of leader of the hosts of God. "And I saw heaven opened,

* Heb. i. 10.

† 2 Cor. xii. 9.

+ Phil. iv. 13.

Isaiah lv. 4.

completely of their enemies, had they availed themselves more diligently of their first advantages. Afterward their enemies were suffered to remain for their trial.*

VII. The people were dismayed at the report of the spies: a lively resemblance to the conduct of too many who set out towards the heavenly Canaan, but in the contest suffer themselves to be dismayed.

XXI:

ON THE LAW OF GOD IN THE HEART.

PSALM XXXVII. 31.-The law of God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide.

THE temporary prosperity of the wicked has in every age afforded a trial to the faith and patience of the righteous. Often are they doomed to behold the contemner of God "flourishing like a green baytree," abounding in sensual pleasures and luxurious enjoyments, and elated with pride, as though the world were made only for them; while such as fear his name are crushed under the rod of power, and subjected to the greatest privations and sufferings. Such is the scene of providence, a scene which appears to have given birth to the composition of this psalm, in which the impatience and discontent which such a spectacle is apt to occasion is corrected, the brevity of the worldly prosperity of the wicked is foretold, and the final happiness and triumph of the righteous is asserted. The [righteous] are assured of the powerful protection of the Supreme Being, whose favour they at present enjoy; whose wisdom is continually, though invisibly, operating in securing their future good. "The Lord loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off. The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever."t

In opposition to the transient prosperity and the fugitive pleasures enjoyed by the wicked, the righteous are distinguished by the possession of permanent principles and unfading prospects. He is upheld by an invisible but abiding power, and his character and conduct partake of the unchangeableness which belongs to his interior principles: "The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide."

By "the law," in this passage, it is probable we are to understand the word of God in general, with a particular reference to the preceptive part, in the same sense as it must undoubtedly be taken throughout the 119th Psalm. The preceptive part forms so essential a branch of

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every system of revelation, that it may with great propriety impart its peculiar name to the whole, agreeably to which even the gospel is denominated "the law of faith."*

These words present us, first, with a view of the internal principle which actuates a good man," the law of God is in his heart;" next, with its effects on his external character and conduct," none of his steps shall slide."

Ì. The inward principle which actuates him: "the law of God is in his heart." This implies,

1. An acquaintance with the law, considered as the standard of holiness, as the rule of action. A precept may be known which is not obeyed; but it is impossible it should be obeyed when it is not known. Nor will ignorance of the will of God excuse the disobedient; since such ignorance must be voluntary, the consequence of "loving darkness rather than light." The time is long past when such a pretence might have been urged with some plausibility. That period is elapsed when it was necessary for men "to feel after God," like persons who grope in search of an object in the dark. "The day hath dawned, the day-star hath risen," the light of revelation shines with a brilliant effulgence, and the path of duty [is] made so plain, that the "wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein." When ignorance of the will of the Great Supreme arises from inattention, from carnal security, from a passive indifference whether he be pleased or displeased; instead of mitigating, it aggravates the guilt of disobedience. "They are a people," saith the prophet, "of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, he that formed them will show them no favour." How different is it with the good man! "As the eyes of servants look unto their masters, and the eyes of a maiden into the hand of her mistress; so his eyes wait upon the Lord;" that he may attend to his directions and receive his orders. Conscious that he is made for God, he carefully explores his will, and he "meditates on his law day and night."

By a careful perusal of the sacred volume, by diligently weighing and pondering the precepts of revelation, he is constantly enlarging his conceptions of duty, and arriving nearer and nearer to a full and perfect comprehension of the spirit and import of its sacred injunctions. His fear of God is not taught by the commandments of men, stands not in human observances and will-worship, but in a solid acquaintance with the dictates of inspiration. Hence the service he presents is a reasonable one, the offspring of an enlightened faith, such as it is becoming man to offer, and God to accept.

By seriously applying the mind to the exhortations and injunctions of the sacred page, a good man arrives at a "quick understanding in the fear of the Lord," and his senses are "exercised to discern between good and evil.”

2. The man of God is distinguished by an habitual [reference] to his mind and will. He is not merely acquainted with it as a branch

*Rom. iii. 27.

VOL. III.-H

† Isaiah xxxv. 8.

† Isaiah xxvii. 11.

of speculation, which serves to extend his knowledge, and to recommend itself to his understanding, while it seldom mingles with the ordinary current of his thoughts; it is not merely deposited in that department of his mind which seems a cabinet for the preservation of what is curious, rather than the reception of that which he has daily occasion to use. The precepts of God occupy much of his thoughts, and engage much of his attention. The knowledge of them is continually revived, the remembrance of them refreshed, by daily mental recollections, by reiterated acts of attention, such as it becomes us to exert towards the counsels and ordinances of the Great Eternal. It is thus, and thus only, that knowledge becomes practical and influential; that the light which first pervades the intellect descends into the heart, and diffuses itself through all the faculties of the soul.

"And these words," said Moses, "which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up." 99*

The original word is extremely expressive," thou shalt whet them on thy children," [or whet thy children upon them,] in allusion to the practice of giving the necessary edge to certain instruments, by continual friction with hard substance. Thus a good man whets the word of God on his own mind [so as to sharpen it] by successive acts of serious attention, [and thus acquires] an aptitude in applying it to its proper purpose. In the most busy and tumultuous scenes of life, it naturally occurs to his recollections, it instantaneously presents itself to his thoughts; while to the wicked the "judgments of the Lord are far above out of his sight," and it is with great difficulty that he raises his mind to such high and holy meditations, and, after all, it is a painful and short-lived effort.

3. The good man is impressed with a deep sense of the obligation of the law of God, accompanied with a sincere resolution of implicit and unreserved obedience. He is not only acquainted with the rules of duty, he does not merely make them the object of his serious and habitual attention: he accedes to the justice of their claims; his conscience is enlightened to discern their equity and their obligation; and he humbly but firmly resolves, in the strength of divine grace, to yield a practical compliance. Far from arraigning the precepts of God as too strict, too extended, or too spiritual, he entirely acquiesces in their justice and propriety, and turns the edge of his censure and reproaches on himself only. "O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes!" He is perfectly satisfied that, however he may be "carnal, sold under sin," the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good." He blames himself only, not the strictness of the precept; he laments the weakness and corruption of the flesh, not the purity of the divine command. Although he perfectly despairs of yielding such an obedience to its requisitions as shall justify him in the sight of God, he maintains a steady and conscientious respect to

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