there is no peace to the wicked. It is this indeed, which has always so sorely perplexed the religiously-disposed, to see the ungodly in such prosperity. For independent of the declarations of the word of God, there is a strong natural feeling within us, which leads us to anticipate punishment as the certain consequence of sin. It is only, when by experience we find, that this anticipation meets not with any adequate confirmation from the state of the world, that it becomes fainter and fainter. Our first impression is that of wonder, that no direct visitation from God overtakes the sinner. But by degrees we become familiarized with what at first excited our surprise; and we find out, that it is nothing at all uncommon for a man to be rebelling against God, and yet to be well off in the world. It becomes to us matter of constant experience, that prosperity shines upon many, who, if there be any thing wrong in sin, are continually by their way of life provoking God to anger. They seem even not to care what sins they commit, and yet they prosper. They have wealth, it may be, at their command; comfortable homes; happy families; numerous friends; many to look up to them, and not a few to flatter them. Perhaps, they are too high-minded to pay any attention to religion, even for decency's sake; or if they attend to it at all, it is in a proud, patro

nizing spirit, as if they were doing some great thing, in coming each Sunday to church, and thus apparently confessing their dependance upon Almighty God. They live at their ease; they appear to be happy; and yet all the while they are living in sin. Now this state of things, being directly the reverse of what we should have expected from all that we are taught in Scripture of God's displeasure against sin, is apt to make us qualify the emphatic declaration in the text"There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." For here, with our own eyes, we see peace or something very like it, enjoyed by thousands, who have evidently no devotional spirit; no desire to give glory to God. What then are we to think of this? Are we to conclude, that there is peace to the wicked, in spite of what God has said to the contrary? Are we to point to the apparent comfort and prosperity, in which the ungodly live, and rest in the belief, that there is an embarrassing inconsistency between the word of truth, and the facts of human life? No, my brethren, the word of truth has taught us to expect just this very state of things. What it insists upon is, as already mentioned, that sooner or later sin is sure to find the sinner out, and that all men will ere long see, that opposition to God is sure to result in the misery of man.

But, besides what we witness in the case of others, that, which we experience ourselves, may incline us to doubt the truth of the statement, contained in the text. We may know within ourselves, that our hearts are not set upon righteousness; we may feel that we have little real desire to live to God; the world, we may be aware, is our all in all. We may prefer its pleasures to the joys of religion. We may conform to its ways; we may love its society. And yet we may appear to pass our days in peace. It is true, at times we may experience dissatisfaction; weariness may not unfrequently come over us; indistinct fears may occasionally arise, and disturb our repose. But still, in the main, things may go on smoothly. We may come into no misfortune; we may have every thing in our business and at our homes to bespeak a prosperous condition; and this being the case, we may, content with this, count ourselves happy men. We may, possibly, not so much as wish to be more religious, than we have hitherto been. We may be free from any distressing anxiety in regard to our souls, and we may feel heedless indifference as to being at peace with God. Now this is no uncommon case. The description takes in a large number of Christians. And their experience of God's dealing with them in times past encourages them to hope for the like favour

for the time to come. Accordingly, they arrive at the conclusion, on this ground also, that the wicked do have peace.

But here let it be remembered, that there is a false peace, spoken of in Scripture, against being deceived by which we are expressly warned. God sent His servant in former times to proclaim woe to the false prophets, who said, "peace, peace," when there was no peace. And we are told, that at the end of the world, when men shall be saying peace and safety, sudden destruction shall come upon them unawares.

There is then a counterfeit kind

of peace, by which the soul may be deluded, and unsuspectingly brought to ruin. Many may live to their very last moments in ignorance of their danger. They may not even discover the truth this side the grave. They may leave the world blindfold, full of fallacious hopes, and utterly unfit to die. Their minds may be little disturbed at the remembrance of their mis-spent life. The fear of God's wrath may not agitate or distress them. They may breathe their last, not indeed in the confidence of christian hope, but without any agonizing apprehension of the sinner's doom. They may sink under the stroke of death, pleased with the kindness of surrounding friends, comforted with their consoling words, but yet quite unprepared for eternity. Yea, they may seem to

depart in peace; they may die, as it is said, happily; and after death a calmness, awful in its very stillness, may be seen in their looks; and yet, for all this, they may have died impenitent, unreconciled to God, with an overwhelming load of unpardoned sin upon their souls.

Awful, my brethren, unspeakably awful is this consideration, and yet strictly true. For, are not multitudes deceived all their life long by the arts of Satan? And is it not certain, that numbers die without shewing any symptom of deep-felt contrition, without any change of heart, without any love of God, without any aspirations after heaven? Or are we to suppose, that in every case, or at least in most, the soul, ere the last summons comes, is made to see its real condition, and to fly for safety to the mercies of God in Christ? Does the approach of death invariably lead to a confession of the folly of a life of sin? Does it universally open the eyes to the reality of eternal things? No, let us not deceive ourselves. Let us not think, that a life of carelessness is always, or even usually, succeeded by a death-bed of repentance. There is much mischief in the off-hand utterance of such expressions, as "a happy death," and "a happy release." It is not man, but God who has said, "There is no peace to the wicked." No imagination or wish of man, therefore, can