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folemn and repeated denunciation must be verified, Whatsoever a man foweth, that shall be alfo reap*.

But the obedient and devout foul, which looks beyond worldly appearances, and refts itself on the Divine Providence, is entitled, whatever outward commotions happen, to the trueft, the fteadieft, the moft delightful inward compofedness; to that peace of God, that fense of being in friendship with him, that feeling of comfort and joy flowing from him, which paffeth all understanding, exceeds the conceptions of those who have not experienced it, and shall exceed hereafter the present conceptions of those who have. Yet the fincerely good may not conftantly enjoy a very high degree of this. The imperfection of their goodness, the lowness of their fpirits, errors of judgment, fudden alarms, afflictions uncommonly grievous, may leffen, may interrupt it; or God may, for fecret reasons of infinite wisdom, hide his face from them † for a time. But, ordinarily fpeaking, their tranquillity and confolation will be found proportionable to their improvements in real religion. And, though undoubtedly feasons of difficulty and hazard will give fome uneafiness to the best minds, yet no more than is moderate and very tolerable, no more than leaves them, on the whole, in a peaceful ftate; and able to cast if not all, as they should, yet the most of their care on him, who careth for them .

Let us therefore try ourselves by this rule, whether we have indeed practical faith and confidence in the Almighty. And if not, let us inftantly labour to obtain it, by a total forfaking of our iniquities, which have separated between us`and bim §, and humble addresses for grace to help in time of need ||The common refource is to the help of man alone; there be many that fay, who will shew us any good? but the language of a well-inftructed heart is, Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us. Some put their truft in chariots, and fome in borfes: but let us remember the name of the Lord our God**: provide for our fecurity with the utmost prudence, and defend our çaufe with the boldeft zeal: but ftill rely on him alone, who giveth victory unto kings tt. Every other

Gal. vi. 7.

§ Ifa. lix. 2.
?' Pfal, xx. 7.

+ Pfal. xiii. 1.

Heb. iv. 16.
it Pfal. cxliv. 109,

1 Pet. v. 7.
¶ Pfal. iv. 6, 7,

other aid may fail, but God cannot. He is able to fave by many or by few*: to break the arm of the wicked, and difappoint the devices of the crafty. He filleth the raging of the fea, the noise of its waves, and the madness of the people§. Under his conduct, the things, that seem the moft against us, may prove the very means of our deliverance; and the fierceft ftorms drive the fhip with more fpeed into a fafe harbour. Therefore fay to them that are of a fearful beart, Be Strong, fear not: behold your God will come with a recompence; be will come and fave you ¶. All who are penetrated with thefe truths, though timorous naturally, and while the danger is diftant, fhall, when it draws near, out of weakness be made ftrong, and wax valiant in fight ** : not with a tumultuous and tranfitory animal courage, but a calm and ftedfaft refolution, keeping, as the apoftle expreffes it, their bearts and minds, quieting their paffions, fixing their judg ments, and by confequence determing their behaviour. The reafonings of fuch perfons will be thofe of the pfalmist: God is our hope and strength, a very present help in trouble. There fore will we not fear, though the earth be moved, and though the bills be carried into the midft of the fea; though the waters rage and fwell, and though the mountains shake at the tempeft of the fame. The rivers of the flood thereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the Moft High. God is in the midst of her, therefore shall she not be removed: God fhall help ber, and that right early. The nations make much ado, and the kingdoms are moved: but God beweth his voice, and the earth shall melt away. The Lord of hofts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge +. These are the grounds, and there cannot be ftronger, on which a good perfon, unless he is wanting to himself, will not be afraid of any evil tidings: for his heart ftandeth faft, and believeth in the Lord 11. Nay, were it not the pleafure of God to deliver his people from their enemies, even in that cafe, they would be enabled to fuffer according to bis will, and commit the keeping of their fouls to him in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator §§.

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*I Sam. xiv. 6.
§ Pfal. Ixv. 7.

Heb. xi. 34.
1 Pet. iv. 19.

4 Pfal. x. 15.

Gen. xlii. 36.
it Pfal. xlvi. -7.

# Job v. 12. qlfa xxxv. 4. # Pfal. cxii. 7.

But

But then we must ever observe, by whose means alone this unconquerable firmness, this inconceivable ferenity, is to be acquired. The peace of God fhall keep your hearts and minds, through Chrift Fefus. For as, without faith in religion, perfons very often have no refuge at all in the storms and troubles that overtake them; fo, without faith in the Chriftian religion, they are liable still to most uneasy and disheartening fluctuations; from doubts, how far providence extends; doubts of their own title to forgiveness and favour, doubts of the existence and duration of a future reward; to all which the gospel hath put the happiest end; informing mankind with certainty of every thing that could induce them to act right with cheerful perseverance; and confirming the highest expectations, which they can poffibly entertain, by that equally convincing and affecting argument: He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall be not with bim alfo freely give us all things? Thus then we have hope, as an anchor of the foul, fure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; lays hold on the promised state of invifible glory, whither the forerunner is entered for us,, to take poffeffion already in our name, even Jefus +: whose gracious words to his disciples we ought to have conftantly prefent to our thoughts, when clouds arife and darken our profpect, hang over our heads, and seem ready to burft upon us. Thefe things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer : I have overcome the world. Peace I leave with you: my peace I give unto you: let not your heart be troubled, neither Let it be afraid §.

*Rom. viii. 34.
John xvi. 33.

Heb. vi. 19, 20. $ John xiv. 27.

VOL. III.

Xx

SER

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(Preached in 1746, on the Victory at CULLODEN.)

ON MERCIFUL DELIVERANCE FROM IMMINENT DANGERS, AND THE DUTY OF GRATITUDE TO GOD ON ACCOUNT OF THEM.

2 COR. i. 9, 10.

But we had the fentence of death in ourselves, that we should not truft in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead : Who delivered us from fo great a death, and doth deliver; in whom we trust, that he will yet deliver us.

OUR gracious fovereign having appointed, of his own mere motion and perfonal piety, a folemn acknowledgment to heaven, for our late victory over the rebels, to be inferted in the prayers of this day, permit me, as far as I am able, to be a helper of your joy* on that happy occafion. And may God effectually difpofe us all to rejoice before bim + in fo wife and religious a manner, as may lay a fure foundation for his rejoicing over us to do us good ‡; for his going on to comfort us again, after the time that he hath afflicted us, the years wherein we have fuffered adversity §.

I hope it may promote this bleffed end, if we confider our condition in the fame views in which the text places before us that of the apostle St. Paul, comprehending an account, I. Of his danger: A great death, of which he had the fentence within himself.

II. Of

* Verse 24.

↑ Deut. xii. 12.

Jer. xxxii. 41.

$ Pfal. xc. 15.

II. Of his defender from it: God, who had delivered, and did fill deliver him.

III. Of the reasons for which he was first permitted to fall into this danger, then brought out of it: that he might not truft in bimfelf, but might truft in God, which raifeth the dead: as accordingly he declares he doth, for deliverances yet fu

ture.

name.

I. His danger: A great death, of which he had the fentence within himfelf. Death being the extremity of temporal sufferings, in the Hebrew idiom, which expreffes every thing ftrongly, fignifies any very dreadful evil or hazard. Thus Pharoah, on the plague of locufts, begs of Mofes : Entreat the Lord your God, that he may take away from me this death only*. But more especially hazard of life goes under that Whence David fpeaks of himself, as counted with them that go down into the pit; free among the dead, like the flain that lie in the gravet. Now St. Paul, to use his own phrafe towards the latter end of this epistle, had been in deaths often ‡. And therefore the term, fo great a death, must denote, that on the occafion, to which he refers, his peril was imminent, peculiarly terrible, and, humanely speaking, unavoidable. His own words are, we were prefed out of meafure, above ftrength, infomuch that we defpaired even of life §. Farther particulars cannot now be discovered, excepting one, which he adds, of fmall confequence to us, that this trouble came to him in Afia. But, by his manner of notifying it, and the warmth of his defcription, it must have been recent, fince he wrote the former epistle.

How lately we have been in like distress you all know. How great a death we must have fuffered, had our enemies prevailed; how total a destruction of every thing valuable to us on earth, that can be deftroyed by man; I endeavoured to fhew you at the very beginning of their attempt; and the whole body of the nation, God be thanked, have expreffed the strongest deteftation of it. May neither the horror of the im pending ruin, nor the frightful probability there was of its overwhelming us, ever be forgot! Recollect, I entreat you, what your fucceffive apprehenfions have been for many months X x 2 pait;

Exod. L. 17.

† Pfal. lxxxviii. 4, 5.

Chap. xi. 23.

§ Ver. 8,

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