entertain no hope of success, were we abandoned to our own unassisted efforts.

Who could flatter himself with the expectation of vanquishing the assaults and escaping the snares of his great adversary; quelling the motions of the flesh, and overcoming the temptations of the world, if he had no hope of superior succour? Never were forces brought into the field more unequally matched, than the power and subtlety of Satan, enforced by the influence of the world and the treachery and corruption of our own hearts, and the naked, unaided efforts of a feeble

worm.

When we consider the perfect subjection to which the far greater part of mankind are reduced under these their spiritual enemies, and the havoc and destruction they are continually making of souls, we shall be convinced of the propriety of Scripture language, when it speaks of "the powers of darkness;" "To turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God." These enemies have triumphed over the greatest potentates, have held in invisible chains the greatest of men, and tyrannized, with little or no resistance, over those who have been the terror of the mighty in the land of the living.

III. God was pleased to assign to the people of Israel a leader who, under God, was to marshal their forces and direct their operations. The name of this great captain was, by divine authority, called Joshua, his original name was Hoshea; but when he was marked out for the office he afterward sustained, it was changed into JOSHUA, by inserting one of the letters of the tetragram, or the incommunicable name, into his, to denote his partaking of the Spirit, and being invested with a portion of the authority of God.

The word Joshua imports a Saviour, and it is precisely the same in the Hebrew with that which was given to our Saviour, because he was to "save his people from their sins."

Under the conduct and command of this great captain it was that the people of Israel were to expect victory, and to him they were commanded to pay implicit obedience.

In leading the church militant, Jesus Christ, who is by name and by import the true Joshua, is appointed to the supreme command; and one of the most distinguishing characters under which he appears is that of "the Captain of our salvation."* He said to Joshua, “As captain of the Lord's host am I come," and he is set up and proclaimed as the great antagonist of Satan, and of the powers of darkness; and it is only under his auspices, and in consequence of being strengthened and sustained by him, that we can indulge the hope of victory.

His "grace is sufficient for us; his strength is made perfect in our weakness." "I can do all things," said St. Paul, "through Christ, which strengtheneth me." He is given as a "leader and commander to the people" He appeared to John in the Apocalypse, under the character of leader of the hosts of God." And I saw heaven opened,

* Heb. ii. 10.

† 2 Cor. xii. 9.

Phil. iv. 13.

Isaiah Iv. 4.

and beheld a white horse; and he that sat thereon was called faithful and true, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war: and the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations."*

From him supernatural succours are derived to all who are enlisted under his banner. "All power is given to him in heaven," for the express purpose that he may give eternal life to all his followers; and if "the sun stood still in Gibeon, and the moon in the valley of Ajalon," the whole course of nature is under the control of Christ, and all the operations of Providence are rendered subservient to the salvation and victory of his church. And Christians are not dismayed at the powers and numbers of their adversaries, as often as they realize the character of their leader, who is able to make them "more than conquerors."

As it is frequently remarked in the history of the conquest of Canaan that the Lord fought for Israel, so it may be equally affirmed at present with respect to the church of God.

IV. The war with the Canaanites was a bellum internecinum—a war which was never to be terminated but in the destruction of the inhabitants. Having exhausted the patience of God by their crimes and impieties, he was resolved to cut them off, and was pleased to employ his chosen people as the instruments in accomplishing the purposes of his justice. Hence they were strictly prohibited from making any league or truce with them, or seeking their peace or prosperity in any shape whatever. How often are they admonished with respect to the duty of declining affinity with them, and of contracting any social ties !

The character of this war was peculiar to itself, in its not being intended to recover violated rights, or to procure indemnity for past injuries, or security against future; but to vindicate the cause of God against the incorrigible, and to exhibit them as examples of divine retribution. Regard to the interests of those who engaged was not the only or the prevailing principle of this war. In all these respects it exhibits a striking figure of the warfare the church of God is called to maintain with its spiritual enemies.

Like that waged with the Canaanites, no suitable measures are to be relaxed, no idea of concession or treaty admitted, no thought indulged of future amity and reconciliation. Our eyes must not pity, nor our hands spare; no tenderness must be indulged towards our spiritual enemies, no thought admitted but of pursuing them to destruction. We are to" crucify the flesh with its affections and lusts ;"‡ to mortify, or, in other words, put to death our members that are in the earth, to endeavour that "the body of sin may be destroyed, that henceforth we shall not serve sin."§

As the people of İşrael were forbidden to inquire in what name the Canaanites had served their gods, and were not to take their name into their lips; so Christians are to have no communion with the "unfruitful

Rev. xix. 11-15,

† Rom. viii. 37.

+ Gal, v. 24.

Rom. 6.

works of darkness" but to "reprove them," while “fornication, uncleanness, and covetousness, which is idolatry, are not to be so much as named among them, as becometh saints."* Every fibre of corruption is, if possible, to be extirpated, every part of the old man to be laid aside, "old things" universally renounced, and "all things to become new." Hostilities are never to cease till the enemy perishes out of the land.

V. Though God could easily have destroyed the Canaanites at once, though he could have crowned [his people] with immediate and decisive victory; yet he chose rather to do it, as he informs them by Moses, "by little and little."

He adopted this method to exercise more fully their faith and patience. "I will not drive them out from before thee in one year, lest the land become desolate, and the beasts of the field multiply against thee. By little and little will I drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land."t

For wise and mysterious ends, in like manner, he permits his church to attain but a gradual victory. It is by slow degrees, and by a long succession of conflicts, that conquest is achieved: the force of the enemy is gradually weakened, and it is long ere the church is permitted completely to rest from its toils.

VI. To suffer our spiritual enemies to remain unsubdued is uniformly productive of effects analogous to those which the Israelites were warned to expect from sparing the Canaanitish nations. "They shall be as pricks in your eyes, and goads in your sides, because you will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you. Then it shall come to pass that those which ye let remain of them shall be as pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell. Moreover, it shall come to pass that I shall do unto you as I thought to do unto them." It is one thing to suffer our enemies to remain unmolested, and another to commiserate their existence.

There are seasons when the Christian, overdone with continual opposition, is ready to yield himself to the love of ease, and, relaxing in his opposition and vigilance, permits the enemy to gain some advantages; but if he hopes thereby to procure lasting tranquillity, he is greatly mistaken. There is that irreconcilable hatred between the principle of grace and the principle of corruption, between the new and the old man, Christ and Satan, that nothing is gained by an attempt to compromise their differences, or amicably to adjust their claims.

Our spiritual enemies are never capable of being softened by indulgence, of becoming neutral, much less of being converted into friends. They will be incessantly plotting our destruction, and watching for our unguarded moments, in order to catch every possible advantage of us; and the only safe way is [for us also] to be always on the watch, always distrustful of them, and hostile.

The people of Israel might have rid themselves much more

Eph. v. 3.

Exod. xxiii. 29, 30.

↑ Num. xxxiii. 55, 56, &c.

completely of their enemies, had they availed themselves more diligently of their first advantages. Afterward their enemies were suffered to remain for their trial.*

VII. The people were dismayed at the report of the spies a lively resemblance to the conduct of too many who set out towards the heavenly Canaan, but in the contest suffer themselves to be dismayed.

XXI:

ON THE LAW OF GOD IN THE HEART.

PSALM XXXVII. 31.-The law of God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide.

THE temporary prosperity of the wicked has in every age afforded a trial to the faith and patience of the righteous. Often are they doomed to behold the contemner of God "flourishing like a green baytree," abounding in sensual pleasures and luxurious enjoyments, and elated with pride, as though the world were made only for them; while such as fear his name are crushed under the rod of power, and subjected to the greatest privations and sufferings. Such is the scene of providence, a scene which appears to have given birth to the composition of this psalm, in which the impatience and discontent which such a spectacle is apt to occasion is corrected, the brevity of the worldly prosperity of the wicked is foretold, and the final happiness and triumph of the righteous is asserted. The [righteous] are assured of the powerful protection of the Supreme Being, whose favour they at present enjoy; whose wisdom is continually, though invisibly, operating in securing their future good. "The Lord loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off. The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever."t

In opposition to the transient prosperity and the fugitive pleasures enjoyed by the wicked, the righteous are distinguished by the possession of permanent principles and unfading prospects. He is upheld by an invisible but abiding power, and his character and conduct partake of the unchangeableness which belongs to his interior principles: "The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide."

By "the law," in this passage, it is probable we are to understand the word of God in general, with a particular reference to the preceptive part, in the same sense as it must undoubtedly be taken throughout the 119th Psalm. The preceptive part forms so essential a branch of

every system of revelation, that it may with great propriety impart its peculiar name to the whole, agreeably to which even the gospel is denominated "the law of faith."*

These words present us, first, with a view of the internal principle which actuates a good man," the law of God is in his heart;" next, with its effects on his external character and conduct,-" none of his steps shall slide."

I. The inward principle which actuates him: "the law of God is in his heart." This implies,

1. An acquaintance with the law, considered as the standard of holiness, as the rule of action. A precept may be known which is not obeyed; but it is impossible it should be obeyed when it is not known. Nor will ignorance of the will of God excuse the disobedient; since such ignorance must be voluntary, the consequence of "loving darkness rather than light." The time is long past when such a pretence might have been urged with some plausibility. That period is elapsed when it was necessary for men "to feel after God," like persons who grope in search of an object in the dark. "The day hath dawned, the day-star hath risen," the light of revelation shines with a brilliant effulgence, and the path of duty [is] made so plain, that the "wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein." When ignorance of the will of the Great Supreme arises from inattention, from carnal security, from a passive indifference whether he be pleased or displeased; instead of mitigating, it aggravates the guilt of disobedience. "They are a people," saith the prophet, "of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, he that formed them will show them no favour." How different is it with the good man! "As the eyes of servants look unto their masters, and the eyes of a maiden into the hand of her mistress; so his eyes wait upon the Lord;" that he may attend to his directions and receive his orders. Conscious that he is made for God, he carefully explores his will, and he "meditates on his law day and night."

By a careful perusal of the sacred volume, by diligently weighing and pondering the precepts of revelation, he is constantly enlarging his conceptions of duty, and arriving nearer and nearer to a full and perfect comprehension of the spirit and import of its sacred injunctions. His fear of God is not taught by the commandments of men, stands not in human observances and will-worship, but in a solid acquaintance with the dictates of inspiration. Hence the service he presents is a reasonable one, the offspring of an enlightened faith, such as it is becoming man to offer, and God to accept.

By seriously applying the mind to the exhortations and injunctions of the sacred page, a good man arrives at a "quick understanding in the fear of the Lord," and his senses are "exercised to discern between good and evil.”

2. The man of God is distinguished by an habitual [reference] to his mind and will. He is not merely acquainted with it as a branch

*Rom. iii. 27.

VOL. III.-H

† Isaiah xxxv. 8.

Isaiah xxvii. 11.