[Preached at the Celebration of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper.]

SERMON

VI.

PSALM, Ixxiii. 28.

It is good for me to draw near to God.

IN

N this psalm the pious author describes himself as suffering a great conflict within his mind. His observation of the course of Providence, did not present to him such an order of things as was to have been expected from the justice and goodness of Heaven. The wicked appeared flourishing and triumphant, while the worthy were destitute and oppressed and much disorder and darkness seemed to prevail in the course of human affairs. Hence his mind fluctuated

His SERMON

for a while amidst doubts and fears.
trust in the divine administration was even
so far shaken as to create a suspicion, that in
vain he had cleansed his heart, and washed
his hands in innocency: till at last he went
into the sanctuary of God, and was there
taught to view the state of human things
in a juster and truer light. He then saw
the vanity of that earthly prosperity which
bad men appear to enjoy; and the happy
issue of all things at the last to the pious
and good.
He saw the divine presence
ever surrounding them, and though with
invisible guidance, yet with unerring hand,
bringing them in the end to glory. His
mind returned to tranquillity; and, struck
with compunction for his past errours, he
rose into those high and memorable ex-
pressions of devotion, which we find in the
verses preceding the Text. Thou shalt guide
me with thy counsel, and afterward receive
me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but
thee? and there is none on earth that I
desire besides thee. My flesh and my beart
faileth; but God is the strength of my heart,
and my portion for ever. His fixed prin-
ciple and resolution, upon the whole, he
VOL. V.
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declares

i

SERMON declares in the words of the Text, It is good VIII. for me to draw near to God; words which

will immediately occur to you as particularly suited to the solemn service in which we are to be engaged this day. In discoursing from them, I shall endeavour to show what is implied in drawing near to God; and what reason we have to agree with the Psalmist in judging this to be good for us.

To draw near to God, is an expression of awful and mysterious import; in explaining which, we have much reason to be sober and modest, and to guard with care against every enthusiastic excess; remembering always that, rise as high as we can, an immeasureable and infinite distance must ever remain between us and the Supreme Being. There are two senses in which we may be said to draw near, in such a degree as mortality admits, to God: either by the general course of a pious and virtuous life; or in solemn acts of immediate devotion.

I. By the practice of holiness and virtue throughout the general tenour of life, we +3

may

VIII.

may be said to draw near to God; for it SERMON is such an approach as we can make to the resemblance of his moral perfections. After the image of God, man was created. That image was defaced by our sin and apostacy. By a return to God and our duty, that image, through the intervention of our Saviour, is renewed upon the soul; man is said to be regenerated or born again, and is in some degree restored to that connexion with God which blessed his primæval state. He who lives in the exercise of good affections, and in the regular discharge of the offices of virtue and piety, maintains, as far as his infirmity allows, conformity with the nature of that perfect Being, whose benevolence, whose purity and rectitude are conspicuous, both in his works and his ways.-Worldly and corrupt men, on the contrary, estrange themselves from all that is divine. They degrade their nature by unworthy pursuits, and are perpetually sinking in the scale of being. By sensuality they descend to the rank of the brute creation; by malignity, envy, and other bad passions, they connect themselves with devils and infernal spirits. Hence

M 2

VIII.

SERMON Hence they are said in Scripture to be alienated from the life of God; to be without God in the world. Though in one sense God is ever near them, as he surrounds and encompasses them on all hands; yet, in a spiritual sense, they are farther removed from him than any distance of place can separate bodies from bodies from one another. Whereas a virtuous man, whose pleasure it is to do good, and his study to preserve himself upright and pure, is in the course of constant approach towards celestial nature. He is the lover of order, the follower of that righteousness of which God is the author and inspirer. He accords with the great laws of the universe, and seconds the designs of its Almighty Governour. He is, if we may so speak, in unison with God. Hence piety and virtue are described in Scripture as friendship with God, as introducing us into his family, and rendering us members of his household. Strong expressions are used on this subject by the sacred writers. A good man is said to dwell in God, and God in him*. If a man love me, says our Lord, he will