Evening, September 21. Gather not my soul with sinners. Psalm 26, verse 9. Fear, made David pray thus, for something whispered, Perhaps after all thou mayest be gathered with the wicked. That fear, although marred by unbelief, Springs in the main from holy anxiety, Arising from the recollection of past sin, Even the pardoned man will inquire, what if at the end my sin should be remembered, and I should be left out of the catalogue of the saved? He recollects his present unfruitfulness, so little grace, so little love, so little holiness, And looking forward to the future, he considers his weakness and the many temptations which beset him, and he fears that he may fall and become a prey to the enemy. A sense of sin and present evil, and his prevailing corruptions, compel him to pray in fear and trembling, Gather not my soul with sinners! Reader, if you have prayed this prayer, and if your character be rightly described in the psalm from which it is taken, you need not be afraid that you shall be gathered with sinners. Have you the two virtues which David had, the outward walking in integrity and the inward trusting in the Lord? Are you resting upon Christ's sacrifice, and can you compass the altar of God with humble hope? If so, rest assured, with the wicked you shall never be gathered, for that calamity is impossible. The gathering at the judgment is like to like. Gather ye together first the tares and bind them into bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn. If then thou art like God's people, thou shalt be with God's people. You cannot be gathered with the wicked, for you are too dearly bored. Redeemed by the blood of Christ, you are His forever, And where He is, there must His people be. You are loved too much to be cast away with reprobates. Shall one dear to Christ perish? Impossible! Hell cannot hold thee, heaven claims thee. Trust in thy surety, and fear not.