YOUR fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever? But my words and my statutes, which I com- manded my servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? and they returned and said, Like as the Lord of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways KNOW therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not AND Moses charged the people the same day, saying, These shall stand upon mount Gerizim to bless the people, when ye are come over Jordan; Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Joseph, and Benjamin: And these shall stand upon mount Ebal to curse; Reuben, Gad, and Asher, and TRY me, O God, and seek the ground of my heart: prove me, and examine my thoughts. Look well if there be any way SERMON I. NO PEACE TO THE WICKED. ISAIAH lvii. 21. "There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." Ir is evident from this solemn announcement, that however abundantly external things may appear to contribute to the prosperity of such as are living in sin, there is in reality no peace for them. Our happiness entirely depends upon the good pleasure of Him in whom we live, and move, and have our being, and it is His declaration, that to the wicked there is no peace. And yet the world can hardly be said to believe this. For, in spite of the truth of the text having been announced by God Himself, men do expect, though living in sin, to be possessed of peace. How is it then, let us enquire, that the expectations of men are thus in opposition to the declarations of divine truth? No doubt, every expectation, that we form, has some foundation on which to rest. There is always something to which our minds revert, as sanctioning our hope B of good. And men of the world, therefore, while living in sin and yet expecting to prosper, have something or other to which they trust; something whereon their expectations lean. What then is there, to which a sinner can refer, as justifying his hope of enjoying peace? Holy Scripture is manifestly against him. It speaks decisively that sin is an evil and a bitter thing. It tells the ungodly that his sin is sure to find him out, and that he must eventually lie down in sorrow, if he persist in rebelling against God. But whilst Holy Scripture is against him, as testifying, from first to last, of the misery of sin, yet his observation of the world around him, and his own personal experience may lead him to doubt the truth of the testimony it gives. It cannot be denied, that a man may look around him, and see many a one living in sin, and at the same time, to all appearance, in the possession of peacepeace, I mean, in the sense of prosperity. This state of things, however, is throughout anticipated in the Scriptures. While we are continually reminded, that there is no peace to the wicked, the fact is recognized, that the wicked are to be seen flourishing in the world. The pros perity of the sinner is no new or unexpected phenomenon. Sinners might be seen prospering in the world at the very time, when God said |