tary purge. It is expected therefore that we should be moved; we may speak, but not in a murmuring way Job was moved, and God knows when we are under the rod, we are all moved more than we ought to be in a wrong way; but when it is said here, she shall not be moved, it implies, not totally removed; perplexed, says the apostle, but not in despair: persecuted, but not forsaken: cast down, but not destroyed: therefore removal means destruction: when the earth is moved, the mountains shake, and the waters roar, where can we flee? what can we see but destruction all around us? But, my brethren, since there is a river, the streams whereof make glad the city of God, since God is our refuge, since God is our strength, since God is our help, since God is a present help, since God is a very present help in the time of trouble, since God is in the midst of her, since God causes the streams to make her glad, blessed be God, we shall not, my brethren, be totally moved; nay, though death itself does remove our bodies, tho' the king of terrors, that grisly king, should come armed with all his shafts, yet in the midst of death we are in life, even then we shall not be moved, even though the body is removed in sleep, the soul is gone where it shall be sorrowful no more. One would have imagined that David had said enough, but pray observe how he goes on, he repeats it again, for when we are in an unbelieving frame we have need of line upon line, words upon words, God shall help her; ah! but when? when? when will he help her? when will he help her? why, right early: God shall help her, and that right early. Why sometimes we knock for a friend but he will not get up early in the morning, but God shall help us, and that right early, in the

morning. Ah! but, say you, I have been under trouble a long while;, why God's morning is not come: you said right early; yes, but you are not yet prepared for it, you must wait till the precious right moment comes, and you may be assured of it. God never gives you one doubt more than you want, or even defers help one moment longer than it ought to be.

Now, my dear hearers, if these things are so, who dares call the Christian a madman? If these things are so, who would but be a believer? who would not be a faithful follower of the Son of God? My brethren, did you ever hear any of the devil's children compose an ode, that the devil is our refuge; the God of this world, whom we have served so heartily, we have found to be a present help in time of trouble? ah! a present help to help us after the devil: or did you ever hear, since the creation, of one single man that dared to say, that all the forty-sixth Psalm was founded on a lie? No, it is founded on matters of fact, and therefore believer, believer, I wish you joy, although it is a tautology. Ipray God, that from this time forth till we die, you and I, when under trouble, may say with Luther, Come, let us sing the forty-sixth Psalm.

As for you that are wicked, what shall I say to you? are you in high spirits to night; has curiosity brought you here to hear what the babler has to say on a funeral occasion? well, I am glad to see you here, though I have scarce strength to speak for the violence of the heat, yet I pray God to magnify his strength in my weakness; and may the God of all mercy over-rule curiosity for good to you. I intend to speak about this death to the surviving friends; but, my dear hearers, the grand

intention of having the funeral sermon to night, is to teach the living how to die. Give me leave to tell you, that however brisk you may be now, there will a time come when you will want God to be your help... Some pulpit may e'er long be hung in mourning for you; the black, the dreary appendages of death may e'er long be brought to your home ; and if you move in a high sphere, some such escutcheon as this, some atchievement may be placed at your door, and woe, woe, woe, be to those who in the hour of death cannot say, God is my refuge. You may form schemes as you please; after you have been driven out of one fool's paradise, you may retreat into another; you may say, Now I will sing a requiem to my heart, and now I shall have some pleasant season: but if God loves you he will knock off your hands from that, you shall have thorns even in roses, and it will imbitter your comforts. O what will you do when the elements shall melt with fervent heat; when this earth, with all its fine furniture, shall be burnt up; when the archangel shall cry, time shall be no more! whither then, ye wicked ones, ye unconverted ones, will ye flee for refuge? O, says one, I will fly to the mountains; O silly fool, O silly fool, fly to the mountains, that are themselves to be burnt up and moved. O, says you, I will flee to the sea; O you fool, that will be boiling like a pot: O then I will flee to the elements; they will be melting with fervent heat. I can scarce bear this hot day, and how a hot element? there is no fan there, not a drop of water to cool your tongue. Will you fly to the moon? that will be turned into blood will you stand by one of the stars? they will fall away: I know but of one place you can go to, that is to

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the devil; God keep you from that! Happy they that draw this inference; since every thing else will be a refuge of lies, God help me from this moment, God help me to make God my refuge! here you can never fail; your expecta tions here can never be raised too high; but if you stop short of this, as the Lord liveth, in whose name I speak, you will only be a sport for devils; a day of judgment will be no day of refuge to you, you will only be summoned like a criminal that has been cast already, to the bar to receive the dreadful sentence, Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. There is no river to make glad the inhabitants of hell, no streams to cool them in that scorching element: were those who are in hell to have such an offer of mercy as you have, how would their chains rattle! how would they come with the flames of hell about their ears! how would they rejoice even there, if a minister was to tell them, Come, come, after you have been here millions and millions of years, there shall come a river here to make you glad. But the day is over; God help us to take warning: and oh! with what gratitude should we approach him to night, for bearing with, and for bearing us so long; let each say to night, why am I out of hell? how came I to be damned, when I have made every thing else my God, my refuge for so many years? May goodness lead every unconverted soul to repentance, and may love constrain us to obedience: fly, fly, God help thee to fly, sinner; hark! hear the word of the Lord, see the world consumed, the avenger of blood, this grim death, is just at thy heels, and if thou dost not this moment take refuge in God, to-night before to-morrow, you

may be damned for ever; the arms of Jesus yet lie open, his loving heart yet streams with love, and bids a hearty welcome to every poor soul that is seeking happiness in God. May God grant that every unconverted soul may be of the happy number.

But, my brethren, the most heavy task of this night yet lies unperformed; indeed, if my friendship for the deceased did not lead me to it, I should pray to be excused; my body is so weak, my nerves so unstrung, and the heat beats too intensely on this tottering frame, for me to give such a vent to my affection as I am sure I should give if I was in vigorous health: you may easily see, though I have not made that application, with what design I have chose this Psalm; you may easily see by the turn, I hope no unnatural one, that has been given to the text as we have passed along, that I have had in my view a mournful widow here before me. Did I thing when this black furniture was taken from the pulpit when too branches were lopt off within about a year one after another, both lopt off from on earth, I hope and believe to be planted for ever in heaven, little did I think that the axe was in a few months to be laid to the root of the father little did. I think that this pulpit was then to be hung in mourning for the dear, the generous, the valua ble, the universally benevolent, Mr. Beckman; a benefactor to every body, a benefactor to the tabernacle; he has largely contributed both to the chapel and tabernacle, and my dear hearers, now his works follow him, for he is gone beyond the grave. Such a singular circumstance I believe rarely happens, that though I was last night -åt near eleven o'clock dead almost with heat, I

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