the king took down his body and cast it into an ignominious grave. Unhappy end of an unprincipled life! You are, doubtless, anxious to know how the king received the tidings of this extraordinary issue of the battle. Words cannot express his grief. His parental tenderness, the struggles of nature, are so beautifully described by the sacred historian, that I must give you the scene in his own words: "And David sat between the two gates, and the watchman went up to the roof over the gate unto the wall, and lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold a man running alone. And the watchman cried and told the king. And the king said, If he be alone there are tidings in his mouth. And he came apace, and drew near. And the watchman saw another man running; and the watchman called unto the porter, and said, Behold, another man running alone. And the king said, He also bringeth tidings. And the watchman said, Methinketh the running of the foremost is like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok. And the king said, He is a good man, and cometh with good tidings. And Ahimaaz called, and said unto the king, All is well. And he fell down to the earth upon his face, before the king, and said, Blessed be the Lord thy God, who hath delivered up the men that lifted up their hand against my lord the king. And the king said, Is the young man Absalom safe? And Ahimaaz answered, When Joab sent thy servant, I saw a great tumult, but I knew not what it was. And the king said unto him, Turn aside, and stand here. And he turned aside, and stood still. And, behold, Cushi came; and Cushi said, Tidings, my lord the king; for the Lord hath avenged thee this day of all them that rose up against thee. And the king said unto Cushi, Is the young man Absalom safe? And Cushi answered, The enemies of my lord the king, and all that rise against thee to do thee hurt, be as that young man is. And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept; and as he wept, he covered his head, and cried, O, my son Absalom! my son, my son Absalom, would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!" Not the victory over his enemies, nor all the gratulations of his friends, could solace his sorrows for the melancholy fate of his rebellious child. The utmost wickedness had not exhausted his parental love. Like the Eternal Father over our fallen race, his pity yearned over the misfortunes of his son; and the profligate youth, as is generally the case, occasioned more grief at his death, than he had done good in his life. From this interesting story, which we have thus imperfectly contemplated, we may derive many useful reflections. In the first place, it teaches us all, and especially the young, the solemn importance of acquiring a control over our passions and desires. These, if left to be their own directors, may make us base, will make us miserable. To what duplicity and rashness; to what barbarity and guilt; to what unhappiness and ruin, was Absalom led by his ungoverned anger and ambition! It is probable, in the first determinations of his mind, not half the wickedness into which he should be drawn was foreseen. A brother's blood, a parent's anguish, perfidy and parricide, are objects, methinks, at which the most monstrous nature would, at first, recoil. But passion is an infatuating master. When it has bent the man to the attainment of its object, thought, mercy, duty, a parent's claims, God's positive commands, all fall before it. It makes a man, in its haste, what he would shudder to be in the most vicious moments of reflection. While we mourn its effects, in the beautiful Absalom, let us learn the wisdom, let us see the necessity, of early and steadily bringing every thought of our hearts under the discipline of reason and religion. The story further teaches parents the solemn importance of implanting and cultivating in their offspring, those principles which are the only sure preservatives from debasement and crime. Happy for David, had he been more severe with his darling son. Not that we plead the cause of justice, and chide the weakness that spared his life. For who can wonder that the arm was feeble which should have been lifted for the destruction of a child? But he was evidently too indulgent. It should seem impossible that such hypocrisy, treachery, and cruelty, such a total destitution of moral feeling, could exist in a bosom which had early and properly been formed to the sensibilities of virtue and obligations of religion. The probability is, that delighted with the graces and accomplishments of his external form, he vainly doated on his beauteous boy, and neglected to form in him the principles of truth and duty; the better beauties of a virtuous mind. Sad were the fruits of his indulgence and neglect. Let parents learn from it, as they value their peace, and their offspring's felicity, to consider good principles and upright habits as the best gifts they can bestow upon their children. We may, thirdly, learn from this history the barbarity and odiousness of filial disobedience. Who can behold the good king, and "sweet singer of Israel," driven in old age from his house and city, and read, that he "went up barefoot, by the ascent of Mount Olivet, and wept as he went up," without feeling his bosom rise indignant at the monstrous son, who could thus destroy a fond father's peace? When we hear the parent, unsubdued by the indignities of his child, saying to the captains of his hosts, as they went forth to the battle, "Deal gently, for my sake, with the young man, even with Absalom," who can help remarking the strength and disinterestedness of the affection which lives in a parent's breast, and feeling the sacredness of the duty which we owe to our fathers and mothers? Well may filial ingratitude wear the stamp of baseness in every clime. Justly does it deserve the pointed displeasure of the common Father of men. Observe what shame and wretchedness it brought upon Absalom, and mark the source from which hist punishment came. "The Lord had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that the Lord might bring evil upon Absalom." Finally. We may learn from our subject the folly and danger of priding ourselves in the possession of personal accomplishments and external charms. We see, in the case before us, that this may be joined with all that is odious in nature; that VOL. II.-14 they may conceal a heart and cover a disposition which excite our abhorrence. Pride, too, in these exterior excellences, in the graces of person or human accomplishments, is apt to render men negligent of more solid and useful, nobler, and more permanent qualities. Had Absalom thought less of his beauty, he would have thought more of virtue. Had he trusted less to his cunning, he would have depended more upon his God. As if to punish this foolish vanity, external endowments, when unaccompanied by the excellences of the heart and mind, are generally sources of misconduct and disappointment to their possessor, and often are the causes of disgrace. Beautiful were the locks of Absalom; with pride he polled them every year, and weighed the produce after the king's weight. But, alas, vain youth! He was caught in the tree by his flowing hair, and the occasion of his pride was the instrument of his ruin. Let every one, then, be induced to build his complacence only on the excellences of an amiable heart and upright mind. Let us cultivate those principles and habits which shed a genuine, permanent, and protecting lustre upon life. Let us seek the glory which cometh from God only, and array ourselves in the beauty of that wis dom in which we may be truly lovely while we are here, and "shine as the stars for ever and ever” in another and a better world. SERMON XXIII. ON THE CHARACTER OF THE ETHIOPIAN EUNUCH. ACTS, viii. 39. He went on his way rejoicing." THAT his creatures, is a grand and joyous truth. The contemplation of it, as it is discovered in the works of nature, pleases and consoles the mind. We behold it with wonder and instruction in the history of elapsed time, and in the occurrences of life. The little tales which elucidate it catch the attention; and when their heroes are renowned, or their events great, they equally amuse and improve. The sacred Scriptures, all written for our benefit, abound with valuable information clothed in this kind of garb; and some of the best instructions concerning the duties and the government of life are to be collected from their historic records of extraordinary persons and events. One, most abounding with moral suggestions, most evincive of the divine providence and goodness, and most meet to be remembered and improved, is that concerning the blessed mortal of whom it is said, "He went on his way rejoicing." Such an emphatic attribution of happiness to a pilgrim in this vale of misery cannot but excite our curiosity concerning the person of whom it is asserted. Both social and self-love must feel inquisitive about the source of his superior fortune; and no humane |