have continued so had they not been grafted anew, by a power from above. Never any good tree grew of itself; it is " the planting of the Lord," and therefore he must in it be glorified. (Isaiah lxi. 3.) "The trees of the Lord are full of sap." The righteous man is placed by the means of grace, here called "the rivers of water," those rivers which "make glad the city of our God:" from these a good man receives supplies of strength and vigour, but in secret undiscerned ways. His practices shall be "fruit abounding to a good account." (Phil. iv. 17.) It is expected from those who enjoy the mercies of grace, that both in the temper of their minds, and in the tenor of their lives, they should comply with the intentions of God, and then they bring forth fruit, and, be it observed, to the praise of the great Son of the vineyard, they bring forth their fruit, that which is required of them, in due season, when it is most beautiful and most useful; improving every opportunity of doing good, and doing it in its proper time. The profession of the righteous shall be preserved from blemish and decay--"his leaf also shall not wither." Those who bring forth only the leaves of profession without any good fruit, even their leaf will wither, and they shall be as much ashamed of their profession as ever they were proud of it; but if the word of God rules in the heart, that will keep the profession green both to our comfort and to our credit. Prosperity shall attend them wherever they go-the prosperity of the soul. Whatever they do, as obedient to the will of God, it shall prosper with success, and above their hope.

In reading these verses, being duly affected with the malignant and dangerous nature of sin, the transcendant excellences of the divine law, and the power and efficacy of God's grace, from which our fruit is found, we must teach and admonish ourselves, and one another, to watch against sin and all approaches towards it-to converse much with the word of God, and abound in the fruit of

righteousness; and in praying over them, we must seek to God for his grace, both to fortify us against every evil word and work, and to furnish us for every good word and work.

The Psalmist thus continues, "The ungodly are not so but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish."

The ungodly are the reverse of the righteous, both in character and condition. It is written here that " they are not so:" they are led by the counsel of the wicked, in the way of sinners, to the seat of the scornful; they have no delight in the law of God, nor ever think of it; they bring forth no fruit, they cumber the ground. Whereas the righteous are like valuable, useful, fruitful trees, the ungodly are "like the chaff which the wind driveth away," light as the chaff, which the owner of the grain desires to have driven away. Would you know. their value? Would you weigh them? They are like chaff; of no worth at all in God's account, how highly so ever they may value themselves. Would you know the temper of their minds? They are light and vain, they have no substance in them, no solidity; they are easily driven to and fro by every wind of temptation, and have no steadfastness. Would you know their end? The wrath of God will drive them away in their wickedness, as the wind does the chaff, which is never gathered for the food of man. The chaff may be for a while among the wheat, but He is coming "whose fan is in his hand," and who will "throughly purge his floor." They that by their own sin and folly make themselves as chaff, will be found so before the whirlwind and fire of Divine wrath, (Psalm xxxv. 5,) so unable to stand before it, or to escape it. (Isaiah xvii. 13.) Read the doom of the

ungodly. They will be cast upon their trial as traitors convicted-"They shall not stand in the judgment," that is, they shall be found guilty, shall hang down the head with shame and confusion, and all their pleas and excuses will be over-ruled as frivolous. Have you seen a felon in the dock? cast by his jury and sentenced by his judge, what signify his pleas and excuses?

There is a judgment to come, in which every man's present character and work, though never so artfully concealed and disguised, shall be truly and perfectly discovered, and appear in its own colours; so every man's future state will be a doomed and certain sentence determined for eternity. The ungodly must appear in that judgment, to receive according to the things done in the body they may hope to come off, nay, to come off with honour, but their hope will deceive them; "they shall not stand in the judgment;" so plain will be the evidence against them, and so just and impartial will the judgment be upon it. They will be for ever shut out from the society of the blessed; they shall not stand in the congregation of the righteous-not in that court, wherein the saints, as assessors with Christ, shall judge the world, those holy myriads with which he shall come to execute "judgment upon all:" nor shall they sit down in heaven. There will shortly be a "general assembly of the church of the first-born, a congregation of the righteous," of all the saints, and none but saints, and saints made perfectsuch a congregation of them as never was in the world. (2 Thess. ii. 1.) The wicked shall not have a place in that congregation. Into the new Jerusalem none unclean or unsanctified shall enter; they shall see the righteous enter into the kingdom, and themselves, to their everlasting vexation, thrust out. The wicked and profane in this world ridiculed the righteous, and cared not for their company; justly therefore, will they be for ever separated from them. Hypocrites in this world, under the disguise

of a plausible profession, may thrust themselves into the congregation of the righteous, and remain undisturbed and undiscovered there; but Christ cannot be imposed upon, though his ministers may: the day is coming when he will separate between the sheep and the goats, between the tares and the wheat. That great day will be a day of discovery, a day of distinction, and a day of final division between the righteous and the wicked.

The reason is here given of the different state of the godly and wicked. God must have all the glory of the prosperity and happiness of the righteous. They are blessed, because "the Lord knows their way," he knows them that are his, inclines them to choose it, leads and guides them in it, and orders all their steps. Again, sinners must bear all the blame of their own destruction. Therefore the ungodly perish, because the very way which they have chosen and resolved to walk in leads directly to destruction; it naturally tends towards ruin, and therefore must necessarily end in it. Or we may take it thus; the Lord knows, that is, he approves of and is well pleased with the way of the righteous, and therefore under the influence of his gracious smiles it shall prosper and end well but he is angry at the way of the wicked; all they do is offensive to him, and therefore it shall perish and they in it. It is certain that every man's judgment proceeds from the Lord; and it is well or ill with us, and is likely to be so to all eternity, according as we are or are not accepted of God. Let this support the drooping spirits of the righteous, that the Lord knows their way, knows their hearts, knows their secret devotions, knows their character, how much so ever it is blackened and blemished by the reproaches of men, and will shortly make them and their way manifest before the world, to their immortal joy and honour : let this cast a damp upon the security and jollity of sinners, that their way, though pleasant now, will perish at last.

But the righteous man trusts not to his own righteousness-in his own good works. He knows enough of himself to know that he is guilty and vile by nature, and he knows of Christ that He is the alone Saviour and Redeemer of his people, and he knows that before he can enter heaven he must be sanctified, and that the Holy Spirit is the Sanctifier of all who believe in God through Jesus Christ.

In singing these verses or praying over them, let us possess ourselves with a holy dread of the wicked man's portion, aud deprecate it with a firm and lively expectation of the judgment to come, and stir up ourselves to prepare for it, and with a holy care to approve ourselves to God in every thing, intreating his favour with our whole hearts.

MORNING & EVENING CONSIDERATIONS.

MORNING.

"Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my medita-tion. Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray. My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee; and will look up." (Psalm v.1-3.) "As for me, I will call upon God, and the Lord shall save me. Evening and morning, and at noon will I pray cry aloud; and he shall hear my voice." (Ps. lv. 16, 17)

"When Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber towards Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime." (Dan. vi. 10.)

“And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed." (Mark i. 35.)