light in that which condemns his whole manner of life and daily conversation, and by which he must be continually reminded of the danger of going on in those ways which he has chosen to walk in. In point of fact, my brethren, is it not true that "the ungodly is not so ?" That so far from meditating in the law of the Lord day and night, he seldom thinks of it at all at those seasons? His family is a prayerless family; no united voice of supplication and thanksgiving rises up as incense before the Lord from his household; his children are not early taught to reverence God's holy name and word; nor does he seek his own rule of conduct in that book of wisdom. The pure and holy character of God Almighty, which holy Scripture describes, is a distasteful subject to him, because he cannot but know and feel, that if God be indeed so pure, and if He indeed requireth such "truth" and purity "in the inward parts" of those whom He chooseth and causeth to approach unto Him, he cannot

not "

do

hope to be accepted of Him. Consider, then, my brethren, what are your feelings as to the law of the Lord;" if you delight" in it, and see its blessedness, and count yourselves highly favoured in possessing it, you may behold in this an alarming proof that you are of the number of those whom the Psalmist calls "the ungodly;" and if they are "blessed" who "delight in the law of the Lord," and "meditate therein day and night," they who are not so," but find the word of the Lord a "hard saying," and count His law grievous, must be "rejected and nigh unto cursing ;" and what an awful consideration is this, and how anxious we ought to be to know "what manner of spirit" and character "we are of!"

Hitherto the character of the ungodly has been set forth in the Psalm, simply by a comparison with the character of the "blessed man,' to which it is the direct opposite; it is next described yet more fully by a new similitude. As the blessed man was said to

be" like a tree planted by the rivers of waters, which bringeth forth his fruit in his season," an emblem by which is shown the continual growth in grace, and richness in good works, which marks the character of the man who feareth the Lord; "the ungodly is not so, but they are like the chaff which the wind driveth away." This comparison shows, in a very striking manner, the worthlessness and unprofitableness of the ungodly. However great and exalted in station they may be, and however they may seem to prosper for a while in this world; in the sight of the Lord they are as worthless as "the chaff which the wind driveth away," and which no one thinks it worth his while to preserve from destruction.

We learn, too, the unstable character of such men. While the righteous is like a tree, standing firm, with its roots fixed. deep into the ground, and its branches flourishing with sap, and abounding in useful fruit, that is, firm in the foundation of his faith, rejoicing in a "good hope

the

He

through grace," supported by strength from on high, and standing firm in the Lord and in the power of his might, against all the storms and temptations with which enemy of his salvation may assail him; the ungodly is light and unstable like chaff, which is at the mercy of the slightest breath of wind. He has no sure and settled principles of right conduct. may be carried to and fro by every wind of doctrine; his faith depends, not upon what he has learned of the doctrine of Christ from holy Scripture, and the teaching of the Church and her appointed ministers, but upon the vain and idle opinions of the ignorant and the vicious, who are determined not to forsake their sins, and therefore frame for themselves a creed which gives them full liberty to do as they please. "Unstable as water,' they now and then may form a resolution of amendment, and half determine to lead a new life, when distress or sickness comes upon them; but no sooner does the present danger seem past, than they

return to their old ways again; the vain scoff of the world carries them away, and all good impressions are lost. They are unable to resist either their own evil passions within, or the temptations of the wicked without, and are at the mercy of all the snares and desires of Satan. This mark of the character of the ungodly, viz. their unsettled and unprincipled nature, is most awfully set forth by St. Jude, where, speaking of "ungodly men" who even in those early days had "crept in unawares" into the Christian Church, and "turned the grace of God into lasciviousness," he says, "Clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever."* All these comparisons go to show one thing which particularly marks the character of the ungodly, viz. their instabi lity" they are like the chaff which the

* Jude 12, 13.