SERMON XV*. PSALM XXVII. 16. TARRY THOU THE LORD'S LEISURE; BE THINE HEART; AND PUT THOU THY TH 1 HAT this life is not, and was not intended to be, a state of perfect happinefs, or even of conftant ease and tranquillity, is a truth which no one will be difpofed to controvert. That we are befet with dangers, and expofed to calamities of various kinds, which we can neither forefee nor avert, is equally certain. It is a fact, which, probably, moft of those who now hear me know too well, from their own experience; and the rest will moft affuredly know it, full time enough: for there cannot be a weaker or more childish * Preached at St. Paul's on the Thanksgiving-day, April 23, 1789. imagination, imagination, than to flatter ourselves with the hope of paffing through the world without our fhare of thofe calamities, which are infeparable from mortality. Affliction, then, of one kind or other, being unavoidable, it is evidently a matter of the very laft importance to every human being, to enquire carefully what are the best and most folid fupports and confolations under it; where they are to be found, and how to be fecured. Now, the shortest and most effectual way of obtaining fatisfaction on these points is, to apply to men of the best judgment, and most experience in the cafe; to those who have themfelves paffed through the greateft variety of fufferings, have fought for every poffible alleviation of them that could be found, and are therefore the best able to decide on the value and the efficacy of the remedies they have actually tried. If we turn our thoughts to men of this defcription, we fhall find few perfons better qualified to give us compleat information on this head, than the Royal Author of the text before us. He was initiated early in the fchool of adverfity; and though he was afterwards raised, by the hand ́ ́of Providence, to a throne, yet, in that exalted fituation, fituation, he experienced a long fucceffion of the fevereft trials, and the bittereft afflictions, that are incident to human nature. How much he felt on these occafions, is fufficiently evident from his writings, in which he gives vent to the distress and agony of his foul in the strongest and most impaffioned language that grief can dictate. Yet with these complaints are mingled generally the warmeft expreffions of gratitude and thankfulness, for the unfpeakable comforts he frequently experienced under these calamities, and the hopes he entertained, not only of being enabled to bear them patiently, but of finally triumphing over them. From whence, then, were thefe comforts and thefe hopes derived? This is the great queftion; the great object of our present enquiry. And the answer to it is in few words. They were derived from TRUST IN GOD. This it was which he declared to be his great refuge in diftress, his fhield, his rock, his castle, his houfe of defence, his beft and firmeft ftay under all his various misfortunes. This holy confidence is, indeed, the moft ftriking and prominent feature in his character. It dif covers itself in every page of his writings. It fometimes fometimes throws a ray of chearfulness even over his gloomieft moments, and unexpectedly turns his heaviness into joy. "put I my trust," fays he, "In the Lord "how fay ye "then to my foul, that she should flee as a "bird unto the hill? The Lord is my refuge, "and my God is the ftrength of my confi"dence. In the multitude of the forrows "that I had in my heart, thy comforts have "refreshed my foul. They that know thy will put name will their truft in thee, for thou, "Lord, haft never failed them that feek "thee*." And again, in the words of the text, "O tarry thou the Lord's leifure; be "ftrong, and he fhall comfort thine heart; "and put thou thy truft in the Lord." This great example, then, is a powerful recommendation of that fovereign medicine to the afflicted foul, TRUST IN GOD. But does Christianity alfo encourage us to have recourse to it? And does it promise us the fame confolation that the Royal Pfalmift derived from it? It promises to us, that if we faithfully ferve the great Author and Preferver of our being, he will permit nothing to befal us but what is upon the whole beneficial to us, and that " he will make all things work to gether for good to them that love him." He exprefsly tells us, that "whom he loveth, he "chaftneth, and fcourgeth every son whom "he receiveth +." Afflictions, therefore, far from being any marks of God's displeasure, are proofs of his kindness to us. They are fatherly corrections, they are friendly admonitions, they are falutary, though unpalatable medicines. They are, in fhort, instruments in the hands of our Maker, to improve our minds, to rectify our failings, to detach us from the present scene, to fix our affections on things above, and thus form in us that humble and devout temper of mind, and unblemished fanctity of life, which are neceffary to qualify us for the great purpose of our creation, the attainment of everlasting happiness in another and a better world. These confiderations are a folid ground for. that firm TRUST in the wisdom and the goodnefs of God, which will be fufficient to fupport us, even when his hand lies heaviest upor |