strange, if a duty so becoming us as dependent creatures, and so necessary, besides, to all our well beings, had been placed out of the reach of any in some measure to put in practice; and, for this reason, there is scarce any lot so low, but there is something in it to satisfy the man whom it has befallen; Providence having so ordered things, that in how bitter soever, man's cup, every there are some cordial drops, -some good circumstances, which, if wisely extracted, are sufficient for the purpose he wants them, that is, to make him contented, and, if not happy, at least resigned. May God bless us all with this spirit, for the sake of Jesus Christ! Amen.

SERMON XVI.

THE CHARACTER OF SHIMEI.

2 SAMUEL Xix. 21.

But Abishai said, Shall not Shimei be put to death for this?

IT has not a good aspect.-This is the second time Abishai has proposed Shimei's destruction; once in the 16th chapter on a sudden transport of indignation, when Shimei cursed David." Why should this dead dog, cried Abishai, curse my lord the king? let me go over, I pray thee, and cut off his head."-This had something at least of gallantry in it; for, in doing it, he hazarded his own; and, besides, the offender was not otherwise to be come at. The second time is in the text, when the offender was absolutely in their power, when the blood was cool, and the suppliant was holding up his hands for mercy.

Shall not Shimei, answered Abishai, be put to death for this? So unrelenting a pursuit looks less

like justice than revenge, which is so cowardly a passion, that it renders Abishai's first instance almost inconsistent with the second. I shall not endeavour to reconcile them, but confine the discourse simply to Shimei, and make such reflections upon his character as may be of use to society.

Upon the news of his son Absalom's conspiracy, David had fled from Jerusalem, and from his own house, for safety: the representation given of the manner of it is truly affecting :-never was a scene of sorrow so full of distress!

The king fled with all his household, to save himself from the sword of the man he loved; he fled with all the marks of humble sorrow,-" with his head covered and barefoot ;" and as he went by the ascent of Mount Olivet, the sacred historian says he wept some gladsome scenes, perhaps, which there had passed, some hours of festivity he had shared with Absalom in better days, pressed tenderly upon nature;-he wept at this sad vicissitude of things; and all the people that were with him, smitten with his affliction, "covered each man his head,-weeping as he went up."

It was on this occasion, when David had got to Bahurim, that Shimei the son of Gera, as we read in the 5th verse, came out. -Was it with the choicest oils he could gather from Mount Olivet, to pour into his wounds?-Times and troubles had not done enough; and thou camest out, Shimei, to add thy portion!

"And as he came, he cursed David, and threw stones and cast dust at him; and thus said Shimei, when he cursed: Go to, thou man of Belial, thou hast sought blood,—and behold thou art caught in thy own mischief; for now hath the Lord returned upon thee all the blood of Saul and his house."

There is no small degree of malicious craft in fixing upon a season to give a mark of enmity and ill

will: a word,—a look, which at one time would make no impression,-at another time wounds the heart, and, like a shaft flying with the wind, pierces deep, which, with its own natural force, would scarce have reached the object aimed at.

This seemed to have been Shimei's hopes; but excess of malice makes men too quick-sighted even for their own purpose. Could Shimei possibly have waited for the ebb of David's passions, and till the first great conflict within him had been over, then the reproach of being guilty of Saul's blood must have hurt him his heart was possessed with other feelings,-it bled for the deadly sting which Absalom had given him;-he felt not the indignity of a stranger:- "Behold, my son Absalom, who came out of my bowels, seeketh my life!--how much more may Shimei do it!-let him alone; it may be the Lord may look upon my affliction, and requite me good for this evil.'

An injury unanswered, in course, grows weary of itself, and dies away in a voluntary remorse.

In bad dispositions, capable of no restraint but fear, it has a different effect;-the silent digestion of one wrong provokes a second.-He pursues him with the same invective:-" and as David and his men went by the way, Shimei went along on the hill's side over against him; and cursed as he went, and cast dust at him."

The insolence of base minds in success is boundless, and would scarce admit of a comparison, did not they themselves furnish us with one, in the degrees of their abjection, when evil returns upon them:-the same poor heart which excites ungenerous tempers to triumph over a fallen adversary, in some instances, seems to exalt them above the point of courage, sinks them, in others, even below cowardice:-not unlike some little particles of matter struck off from the surface of the dirt by sunshine,-dance and sport there whilst it lasts,—but

the moment 'tis withdrawn,-they fall down;-for dust they are, and unto dust they will return;→ whilst firmer and larger bodies preserve the stations which Nature has assigned them, subjected to laws which no change of weather can alter.

This last did not seem to be Shimei's case: in all David's prosperity, there is no mention made of him; he thrust himself forward into the circle, and, possibly, was numbered amongst friends and well wishers.

When the scene changes, and David's troubles force him to leave his house in despair,-Shimei is the first man we hear of who comes out against him.

The wheel turns round once more; Absalom is cast down, and David returns in peace:-Shimei suits his behaviour to the occasion, and is the first man also who hastes to greet him;-and, had the wheel turned round a hundred times, Shimei, I dare say, in every period of its rotation, would have been uppermost.

O Shimei! would to Heaven, when thou wast slain, that all thy family had been slain with thee, and not one of thy resemblance left! but ye have multiplied exceedingly, and replenished the earth; and, if I prophesy rightly,-ye will in the end subdue it!

There is not a character in the world which has so bad an influence upon the affairs of it, as this of Shimei. Whilst power meets with honest checks, and the evils of life with honest refuge, the world will never be undone : but thou, Shimei, has sapped it at both extremes; for thou corruptest prosperity, -and 'tis thou who hast broken the heart of poverty; and, so long as worthless spirits can be ambitious ones, 'tis a character we shall never want. O! it infests the court, the camp, the cabinet! -it infests the church!-go where you will,-in every quarter, in every profession, you see a Shimei

following the wheels of the fortunate through thick mire and clay!

-Haste, Shimei!-haste, or thou wilt be undone for ever.-Shimei girdeth up his loins and speedeth after him.-Behold the hand which governs every thing,-takes the wheels from off his chariot, so that he who driveth, driveth on heavily. -Shimei doubles his speed,-but 'tis the contrary way; he flies like the wind over a sandy desert, and the place thereof shall know it no more :stay, Shimei! 'tis your patron, your friend,-your benefactor; 'tis the man who has raised you from the dunghill!-Tis all one to Shimei: Shimei is the barometer of every man's fortune; marks the rise and fall of it, with all the variations from scorching hot to freezing cold upon his countenance, that the smile will admit of.-Is a cloud upon thy affairs? -see, it hangs over Shimei's brow.-Hast thou been spoken for to the king or the captain of the host without success?-Look not into the court calendar;-the vacancy is filled up in Shimei's face. -Art thou in debt?-though not to Shimei,matter;-the worst officer of the law shall not be more insolent.

-no

What then, Shimei, is the guilt of poverty so black,—is it of so general a concern, that thou and all thy family must rise up as one man to reproach it? when it lost every thing,-did it lose the right to pity too? or did he who maketh poor as well as maketh rich, strip it of its natural powers to mollify the hearts and supple the temper of your race?— Trust me, ye have much to answer for; it is this treatment which it has ever met with from spirits like yours, which has gradually taught the world to look upon it as the greatest of evils, and shun it as the worst disgrace;-and what is it, I beseech you; what is it that man will not do to keep clear of so sore an imputation and punishment ?—is it not

P