they preserve their dignity of character, their eyes are terrible to the breakers of the law. This awe of royalty is impressed by God upon the minds of men, for the peace and benefit of human society, and kings are obliged to use that authority with which the Most High has dignified them as his ministers, for the encouragement of virtue and the suppression of vice. Kings in our days don't sit on the throne of judgment in their own persons, but by delegates, but both they and those who are employed by them as judges, are bound to observe this rule. Kings are accountable for the choice they make of persons to be employed under them for the administration of justice, and those that serve them must account also to the King of all the earth.

How tremendous is that Eternal King, whose eyes are like a flame of fire, and how shall sinners be able to stand before him, at whose presence the heaven and the earth flee away, and no place is found for them! How can men presume that the Judge of all the earth will suffer sin to go unpunished, when he will not permit his vicegerents on earth, to leave open wickedness to go unpunished. But earthly kings can punish only the outward enormities of men's lives. The universal Judge brings every work into judgment, with every secret thing. Earthly kings reach only the bady, but the King of heaven can destroy both soul and body in hell fire.

Ver. 9. Who can say, I havé made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin ?

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, for we were conceived and shapen in iniquity, and unless our hearts are made clean, we must remain for ever abominable in the sight of the most holy God. The depravity of the human race is not here expressly asserted, but it is taken for granted, as an incontest◄ able truth.

The call of God to sinners is, Wash ye, make you clean; Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, purify your hearts, ye double minded. But neither our righteousness nor our strength lies in ourselves. Except Christ wash us, we have no part in him, and remain under the reigning power of sin. But even those that are washed by his blood and spirit, cannot say that they have made their hearts so clean, that they are entirely pure from their sin. They are daily employed in cleansing themselves from all pollutions, and yet the leprosy of sin will cleave to their earthly tabernacles, till they are pulled down by death.

If sin dwells in the best of us, our dependence must be on the grace of the Redeemer, by whose blood our sins are expiated, and by whose powerful agency we crucify the flesh with its affections and lusts. Purity of heart ought to be our constant sudy, for so far as our hearts are cleansed, we are pure from our sin; and under all the imperfections of our holiness, we have reason to join thanksgiving with our sorrows, for although no man on earth can lay claim to perfect purity, yet every believer in Jesus has abundant encouragement to hope that he shall be presented in due time, without spot or blemish, before the throne of God.

Ver. 10. Divers weights and divers measures, both of them are alike abomination to the Lord.

Once hath God spoken, yea twice have we heard this, that unjust weights are detested by God *; and it is plain that unfair measures come under the same condemnation. But here they are expressly mentioned, so that no man can pretend to observe the letter of the law, whilst he transgresses the spirit of it. If a man keeps one measure or weight for selling, and another for buying, or if he keeps one for selling to people

* Chap. xi. 1. xvi. 11.

that have too much skill to be cheated, and another for selling to the ignorant and unwary, he exposes himself to the hot anger and severe vengeance of God, who hates all unrighteousness, especially that which lies in perverting the means of justice *.

If the perversion of the instruments of just trade is detestable to God, how much does he abhor the perversion of law and justice, and every kind of partiality in those whom he entrusts with the adminstration of government, in church or state. Injustice in merchants is very bad, but unrighteousness in those that bear the sword for God, or rule in the name of Christ, is a great deal more dishonourable to God, and offensive to the eyes of his glory.

Ver. 11. Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure and whether it be right.

Except ye be converted, says our Lord, and become as little children, ye cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Sincerity is one of those qualities wherein we ought to resemble children, for they cannot disguise their inclinations, but a little attention to their childish talk and behaviour will enable a person to discover their present dispositions, and to form a probable conjecture concerning their future behaviour.

One thing appears in the behaviour of children with too much evidence, that they are the descendants of Adam. The selfishness, vanity, and revengeful spirit, that appears in all of them, are lineaments of the image of the first transgressor. But there is a very great difference among them in their temper, which may be justly considered as an indication of a greater difference in the manner of their conduct, when they arrive at manly years. Some are kind and obliging, and easily managed, others are intractable, sullen, and spiteful;

* Micah vi.

and it is the duty of parents to improve and cherish the good dispositions which they discover, and to check every appearance of vice, before it is matured by time into settled habits. Parents generally consider the genius and inclinations of their children, to direct them in the choice of a profession, but they ought to be no less careful to consider their turn of mind in their earliest years, to direct themselves in their religi ous education. Herein several parents discover their partial fondness for their children, regarding with applause every appearance of goodness as a happy presage, but considering every instance of perverse behaviour as an instance of childish ignorance, which time will reform of course; but Solomon tells us, that their bad, as well as their good behaviour, when they shall become men, may be conjectured from their childish doings.

Children of a pleasant disposition may disappoint the expectations that have been formed of them, but in that case parents may generally thank themselves for neglecting to avail themselves of their good dispositions, to graft on them religious instructions, or for permitting them to fall into the dangerous society of those that not only live in sin, but, like Jeroboam, make Israel to sin.

When bad dispositions appear in children, it is necessary for parents to use betimes those means which God has appointed for reclaiming them. The rod and reproof give wisdom; and when these, and the like means, are neglected, or not accompanied with fervent prayer, parents have great reason to reflect on themselves with shame, if their children prove thorns in their eyes, when their vices have attained the vigour of riper years, and confirmed custom.

There is an old proverb that says, a young saint makes an old devil, but Solomon was not the author of it. C 3

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Ver. 12. The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made even both of them.

And did he not make every other part of our bodies, as well as the eye and the ear? No doubt, but we ought not to rest in general truths, when we contemplate the wonderful works of God. It is highly proper for us, to survey with attention the particulars of what the Lord hath done for us, and we shall find abundant materials for gratitude and praise, in every member of our body, in every faculty of our soul, and in every event of our life.

It is said that the famous physician Galen learned the absurdity of atheism from the consideration of the human eye. The structure of it clearly displays the amazing wisdom of God, and his goodness shines with no less brightness in the pleasures and advantages derived from the ministry of this admirable organ. The ear is that sense by which we enjoy the pleasures of society and friendship, by which we learn the most inte resting and entertaining truths, and by which we receive the instructions of life.

It is by the kind agency of our Maker that our eyes see, and our ears hear, for in him we live and move, When he pleases to withhold his influence, we see, and do not perceive, like Hagar at Beer-lahai-roi. We hear a voice, and know not what it says, like the companions of Saul in his journey to Damascus.

To use these instruments of sense as inlets to temptation and sin, is as unnatural as for infants to rend that breast which gives them suck. How shocking is it to deserve the reproof that the prophet gave to Belshazzar! "The God in whose hand thy breath is, and all thy ways, hast thou not glorified." We are God's creatures. Our senses are his; our souls are his; all our enjoyments are from his bounty, and our activity depends upon his all-governing providence. Whether,