kindled, may never be extinguished;

that every

"heart may there be fixed, where true joys are to be found, through Jesus Christ our Lord."

SERMON IX.

HUMBLE YOURSELVES UNDER THE MIGHTY

HAND OF GOD.

1 PETER V. 6.

Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.

THERE is nothing, which more peculiarly marks the character of the faithful Christian, than the manner in which he submits himself to the appointments and dispensations of his God. The worldly and carnal spirit either frets and repines under the visitations of misfortune, or is disconsolate and cast down; or, at the best, bears up with a mere animal fortitude against them it finds no comfort to flee unto,

:

but such as is afforded by the vain world, in which it has already met with vexation and disappointment; and if the world is unable to secure a continuance in prosperity, still less is it able to provide a refuge in the dismal days of sorrow.

So lamentably indeed has this truth been experienced by many, that they have been driven to the fallacious and fatal expedient of attempting at once to drown their cares in intemperance; they have found nothing in the world sufficient to satisfy their reason, or to soothe their irritated feelings; and therefore have destroyed their faculties, that they might not reflect; and cut short the thread of that life, which they imagined themselves unequa to support: and some indeed have had recourse to a more speedy and awful means of delivering themselves from the burden of mortification and grief; ill prepared as they were, their own hand of violence has hurried them into the presence of their Judge. And even they, who have been preserved from these most

miserable extremities, have sufficiently testified by their conduct, that the world has nothing satisfactory to offer, for the healing of a wounded spirit, or the removal of a load of sorrow.

Religion, the religion of the gospel, is the only source from which true comfort or support can possibly be drawn; and we see her triumphs manifested in the most blessed and remarkable manner, when the faithful servant of God is overwhelmed with trouble; we perceive his mind in a state of tranquillity, under a conviction, that the Lord "doeth all things well;" and remembereth mercy, no less in chastisement, than in the time of prosperity; his unquiet emotions are subdued into holy subjection to the divine will; his affections are set the more earnestly on things above; the vanities of earth have lost their hold; and there ariseth in the heart that " peace of God, which passeth

all understanding."

They who have been much conversant with scenes of sickness or of sorrow, can

not fail to have observed the truth of these remarks, to have been struck with the vast difference in the behaviour of men, in proportion as they have imbibed the true spirit and principle of the gospel. Some we have seen dismayed, disturbed, and restless; with nothing in their countenance, but vexation or anguish; others, cheerfully bearing up under the evils which have befallen them; and, by their expressions of joyful resignation, delighting and comforting the friends, who were shedding over them the tears of sympathy; the power of the word of God, the "joy of the Holy Ghost" has been visible in their very features. Those persons, who have beheld such an example, have been favoured with an instructive lesson, which they should "grave on the tablet of their heart;" a lesson teaching them, faithfully and forcibly, where to look for aid in the reverses and afflictions of life.

Yet, in order to lead us more effectually to cultivate, and to reap the benefit of, this heavenly frame of mind, let us

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