Moses, he made all his goodness pass before him, saying, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands. Trust then in this perfection of the Lord. Be assured, that while he afflicts, he tenderly feels for you, and pities your affliction. He knoweth your frame: he remembereth that you are but dust. He will not lay more upon you than he will enable you to bear. He will not lay more upon you, than he sees is eventually connected with your advantage. Whenever your present darkness can be removed consistently with your own good, it will most surely be taken away. For the Lord delighteth in mercy.

Remember that God is Faithful. He is the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him.-Heaven and earth shall pass away, but his words shall not pass away.-Neither shall there fail one word of all his good promise. Trust then in his faithfulness and truth; those glorious perfections which he has so fully manifested in his dealings with the children of men. Hath he not said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. They that wait the Lord shall re

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new their strength.—Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me? Is he not faithful who hath pro

mised? Though you walk in darkness and see no light, is there not a ground of strong consolation in the following declaration of the Lord by his prophet Isaiah? I will bring the blind by a way that they know not; I will lead them into paths that they have not known. I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them*.

Call to mind the endeared relation, in which this great and glorious Being condescends to stand connected with you. He is your God; the God who hath declared of all that embrace his covenant, They shall be my people, and I will be their God. Yes: thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, the God whom thou fearest, the voice of whose servant thou obeyest; the God, in whose name thou trustest, and on whom thou stayest, is thy God. He is thy God, though thou art not sensible that he is. He is present with thee, though thou seest him not. All his glorious perfections are engaged to preserve, to deliver, and to bless thee. In a little wrath he hideth his face from thee for a moment: but with everlasting kindness will he have mercy upon thee. For a short season he may seem to rebuke and chasten: yet his re

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*Isaiah, xlii. 16.

bukes and chastenings are expressions of his love, and in the end will surely yield the peaceable fruits of righteousness to them, which ure exercised thereby. The clouds which obscure thy prospects, will be soon dispersed. Thy night shall be turned into day. Thy sun shall no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself. Secure at length within the wished-for haven, thou shalt look back on the gloomy and tempestuous ocean, on which thou hast been tossed, and with heart-felt thankfulness shalt say, It is good for me that I have been afflicted.--Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down and the feeble knees. Believe and fear not. With David, encourage thyself in the Lord. With David, in the prospect of approaching deliverance, exclaim, Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou so disquieted within me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance and my God.

But are there not others, to whom also the subject may be profitably applied: others, who fear not God, and obey not the voice of his servant? To such indeed the text speaks not Consolation: but it suggests some highly solemn and momentous reflections. Can you, my brethren, plead an exemption from all those troubles, to which the Godly are exposed? Have you made a covenant with ad

you

versity? Are you at an agreement with affliction? Though your mountain now standeth fast, may it never be moved? Though at present light shineth on your paths, may you never walk in darkness? Be not deceived. How oft is the cundle of the wicked put out! You have no security against worldly losses and calamities, against bodily pain and sickness, against those dreadful forebodings, and overwhelming terrors, which the prospect of death continually inspires. In such seasons of darkness and dismay, whither will you flee for light and comfort? You can have no confidence towards God; for fear him not. He is not your God; for you obey not the voice of his servant. You cannot trust in his name: all his perfections are pledged to effect your ruin. You cannot stay upon his arm it is lifted up for your destruction. Will any of your idols, whom you have feared and obeyed instead of God, in that day afford you Consolation? Will they sustain your trembling steps, will they cheer your sinking spirits, when distress and anguish come upon you? Ah! No. They are all lyeing vanities, which cannot profit. They are all broken reeds, which only pierce the hand of him who leans on them. Your Rock is not as our Rock. Hear your doom pronounced by the

voice of him who cannot lie. Thus saith the Lord, Cursed is the man, that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.-Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves with sparks, walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shali ye have of mine hand, ye shall lie down

One only way of escape remains. Now, while the evil days come not, make God your friend. Sanctify the Lord God of Hosts himself, and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. Obey the voice of his servant. Obey the voice of his Son: that Son, whom he has from heaven commanded you to hear that Son, whom he hath sent into the world to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide their feet into the way of peace. No longer be deaf to Him, who speaketh. No longer shut your eyes against the truth. Lay hold of the hand stretched out to save you. So shall you find rest unto your souls. The Lord shall be your hope in the day of evil, and his light shall shine upon your paths.

* Jeremiah, xvii. 5. Isaiah, 1. 11.