neck, shall suddenly be cut off and that without remedy." Things seen and temporal outweighed in his view things not seen and eternal: present gratification, present enjoyment, these had his heart. Shortsighted estimate! it hath cost many an one their soul, drawn "Time many away from happiness in God. will yet be mine to return unto the LORD;" this thought helps to blind him to the consequences of his sin. Perhaps no sinner, as he yields to the solicitations of sin, but what promises himself a season of repentance, proposes to himself a time when with his whole heart he will yield himself to the service of God, but multitudes have found such hopes to be in vain, and have rued too late, like Balaam, the deceit they have practised on themselves; nor did even present success attend him.

III. Disappointed in His Expectations, he receives even in that disappointment another message of warning from the LORD. Again and again hath he stood by the sacrifice, and the utterance of his lips been eagerly waited for by the princes of Moab; but fruitless is the effort to curse those whom God hath blessed, no alteration of His purpose is gained by the many altars raised-the sacrifices offered: more and more stringent are the

announcements of blessings to Israel, until, in addition, he is compelled to denounce woe against those who sought to him for aid. Ah! does it cross the mind of any as they call evil good and good evil, that all is not as God's word represents it to be-that "ye shall not surely die." I know that this delusion does hold many, nay, will hold them to the last; but it must, one day, be dissipated. Brethren, it will flee away as a dream in the morning of the resurrection. ... As it regards Balak, too, he was disappointed; he has come on this evil errand contrary to the corrections of conscience, contrary to the warnings of God; he has come in hope of favour and reward, and what is the result? Read that result in the words of Balak, as in anger he dismisses him from his presence: "Therefore now flee thou to thy place; I thought to promote thee to great honour; but lo, the LORD hath kept thee back from honour." Disgraced and discarded must he now return unto his home. And shall it be otherwise with those that are now following with eager pursuit the world and its idols? Can that world help them when itself is involved in ruin? To whom then will ye flee, to whom will ye direct your

' Numbers xxiv. 11.

cry for help? is it to the god of this world, or to those in the same broad way who now cheer you on and bid you fear not? At that coming day these cannot aid, nay, what awful reproaches may then be poured forth by the lost against those that have led them into sin ! Disappointed too how deeply in his own heart! there, is the pang of remorse; there, is the bitterness of self reproach as he bends reluctantly his way, by the coast of Arnon, towards home. . . . . Here, indeed, we seem to lose sight of the history of Balaam, and well were it for our hope concerning the prophet had no more been known; but my text, as well as the 16th verse of the 31st chapter of Numbers, reveal more concerning him, and awful are the features laid open. Guided by the word of Truth, we are compelled to speak of him finally, as

IV. Reckless in Sin. Debarred by a certain dread of God's anger from cursing the people of Israel in words, yet still eager for those rewards which in his late dismissal by Balak were still sounded in his ears, he ponders (it would seem) by what device he may prevail; "he casts about for ways to reconcile wickedness with duty," nor are evil sugges

can he draw down vengeance from on high on the people of the LORD; fearful indeed is that way, but the depraved appetite has become sharpened, and, being disappointed of its prey, it heeds no restraints, it tramples under foot the law of God, it will dare all, that it may win somewhat of this world's prizes; he, by profession the prophet of the LORD, will become in practice the angel of Satan; he, who should be the guide to holiness, will be in reality the instructor in iniquity; he, from whose lips such words of enlightenment fell, will now proclaim his own degradation before the heathen princes of Moab: "the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication." It was the counsel of Balaam that caused the children of Israel to commit trespass against the LORD. Dismissed then, he must have returned once more to Balak, either sent for, or of his own accord; he no longer rears altars or presents sacrifices to the LORD; from beneath are his hopes now; his plans are deeply laid, they are but too successful against the people of God, though they answer not fully the desires of the enemies of ' Numbers xxxi. 16.

the Most High. Four and twenty thousand fall by a plague from the LORD!' over whose burial place might be written "The Graves of Lust."

Brethren, dread a seared conscience: such, we fear, was Balaam's; he bears out that truth written so many years after, “evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived." Oh dread, I say, a seared conscience; thoughts of evil, habits of sin, knowledge not carried into practice, all these are working towards this bitter result; you cannot judge of sin in its end by sin in its beginnings, the wedge is thin at the edge but driven in it will split the heart of oak; the sting of the asp is, how slight! but it introduces the poison of death into the whole frame. What is there in a glance of the eye? yet it cost David a broken heart, and brought adultery and murder in its train. "Lodge here this night," were words few, and it would seem at first of little import, but eternity alone can open their fearful consequences; step by step the progress of sin may be almost imperceptible, but if we accustom ourselves to silence the remonstrances of conscience, if the rebukes of His word are less 1

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