SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.

Morning Lesson, 2 Samuel xii.

Evening Lesson, 2 Samuel xix.

Epistle, Rom. vi. 3.
Gospel, St. Matt. v. 20.

COLLECT.

O GOD, who hast prepared for them that love thee, such good things as pass man's understanding. Pour into our hearts such love toward Thee, that we, loving Thee above all things, may obtain Thy promises, which exceed all that we can desire ; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

There is scarcely any Collect more beautiful, or one which appeals more directly to our best wishes and feelings than the present. As in the Collect for last Sunday we prayed for the peace of the Church on earth, so in this we pray to be made partakers of the joys of the Church in heaven; while with that comprehensiveness, devotion and wisdom which mark all the prayers of our Liturgy, we are taught how to obtain that felicity which not even hope itself can adequately conceive. The promises of eternal bliss, won for us by our blessed Redeemer, exceed indeed all that imagination can frame; but of this we are certain-they can be enjoyed only by

those whose hearts are prepared by a love of God for the attainment of them; for happiness can be conferred by no state, consisting as it does entirely in our inclinations and tastes being fitted for its reception.

The Epistle accordingly reminding us of the obligation of our baptism to put away all our corruptions, and to lead a godly life, urges us, in the strongest terms, to conform ourselves to Christ's example, dying to sin and living to righteousness; thus corroborating the great truth that without holiness no one can see God. The Gospel, in the same spirit, warns us, on the authority of our Lord himself, against placing religion in mere external observances. It again enforces the great principle of universal love, charity and forbearance, binding the moral law in an enlarged sense upon us, by His explanation of the spirit of the sixth commandment, and shewing us that a failure in love towards man is an effectual bar to a participation of that bliss which eternal love has prepared for the faithful in heaven.

The Proper Lessons speak the words of most serious admonition to ourselves. That for the Morning, by the frightful excesses to which the least entrance to sin may lead, shews us in the sad instance of one so eminent for his piety and virtue as the holy David, the necessity of the most vigilant circumspection over our looks and thoughts. There is perhaps no instance on record that teaches us a deeper lesson

Eminent for

of humility than the fall of David. piety, endowed with the finest qualities both of mind and heart, beloved of God and honoured by men; a single act of indiscretion led him into a depth of guilt which astonishes the most depraved. Not only to the men of his own day, but to those of all others has the unhappy monarch given cause to blaspheme. Would that all, however, instead of dwelling on his guilt, would imitate his penitence; that, self-convicted of sin, they would humble themselves as he did, till through contrition and prayer like his, they too might receive the joyful assurance that God had put away their sin. Instead of rash censure or weak surprise, let us learn to distrust ourselves; and before we presume to pass the bitter sentence of condemnation upon him, let us be well assured that our conscience will not turn upon ourselves in the words of the Prophet and proclaim, "Thou art the man!"

The fearful consequences of guilt either directly in our own persons or to others connected with us, are strikingly exemplified in the Evening Lesson. David's sin was indeed pardoned; but his punishment was not remitted. In his agonizing lamentation for his beloved but wicked Absalom we see not only the grief of the parent for the loss of a favourite son, but the anguish of a pious mind at the unprepared state of that unhappy offender. He had been an instrument in the hands of God of chastisement to his father; and parent and son are alike

punished in his premature death. So little has the sinner to urge against the strict justice of God, so greatly may the most favored of his servants fear his impartiality. Domestic troubles or public disorders are ever the attendants of a departure from virtue, nor can returning prosperity, on our repentance, be entirely unalloyed in feeling, or perfect in degree.

2 SAMUEL Xix. 2.

And the victory that day was turned into mourning unto all the people; for the people heard say that day how the king was grieved for his son.

"O ABSALOM! my son, my son,

Would God I'd died for thee!"
Such was the plaint of Israel's king
Who wept that victory.

And ever as he went he cried,

"O Absalom! my son,

Would thou wert living, and thy sire
His weary course had run."

We stand amazed at such fond grief

For one so lost to shame;

For one so dead to gratitude,

So worthless of his name.

Oh! guilt, that thus a son could lead
A parent's heart to wring;

And wound the anointed of the Lord,
His father, and his King.

Could he forget the gentle care

That every want supplied,