complaints of many of the children of God. Job. vi. 4. For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, ⚫ the poifon whereof drinketh up my fpirit, the terrors of God do fet themselves in aray against me. Pfal. xlii. 6, 7. O my God, my foul is caft down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar. Deep calleth unto deep at the noife of thy water-fpouts: all thy waves, and thy billows are gone over me. Lam. iii. 1,- -4. I am the man that hath feen affliction by the rod of his wrath. • He hath led me and brought me into darkness, but not into light. Surely against me is he turned, he turneth his hand against me all the day. My fleft and my skia hath he made old, he hath broken my 'bones.'

While this continues, the believer is excluded from his reft; and indeed the more peace he can take in any thing, while at a diftance from God, fo much the worfe fign it is of his character; so much the more fearful fymptom of his ftate. But when the Lord hath loofened his bonds, lifted up his countemance upon him, and given him peace, is it not proper and natural for him to fay, Return unto thy rest,

my foul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. When he hath feen the marks of diftinguishing love in his mercies; when he hath tafted confolation under fuffering, or communion with God, in public or in fecret, will not this difpofe him to rest in God, to improve the happy feafon, and defire its continuance? All things elfe are vain, and have prov. ed their vanity, but complete fatisfaction is here.

R

I have no doubt, my brethren, that this is, if not the only, yet one of the chief fenfes, in which we ought to understand thefe words. Reft, you know, supposes labour, and even wearinefs before. Reft alfo feems to imply that which is the end of labour, or the defire of the weary. It also fignifies that which is to continue, or that we wish to continue without further change. In this fenfe it is used, Pfal. cxxxii. 8. and 14. Arife, O Lord, into thy reft, thou, and the ark of thy ftrength. This is my reft for ever; here will I dwell; for I have defired it:' which refers to the ark of the teftimony taking a fixed abode, and being no more carried about from place to place. The fame fenfe is conveyed to us by Heb. iv. 9. 'There remaineth therefore a rest to the peo'ple of God.' When, therefore, the Pfalmift fays, Return unto thy reft, O my foul, it means that God, and his favour, was his fupreme and ultimate defire, the very centre of his hope. Is it not fo with every real fervant of God? All true religion points to, and ends in this. All religion, without this, is an empty form. And when we return to this, after any interruption, is it not like the distressed mariner, after having been driven about in a tempestuous ocean, and threatened every moment with deftruction by the rifing billows, at last obtaining fight, and entering with heart-felt joy into a haven of fecurity and peace?

3. In the laft place, this expreffion implies a confidence and reliance on God for protection and fecurity against future dangers. This seems neceffary to the completeness and perfection of any deliverance.

The danger may be warded off for a feafon; if there is ground to fear its immediate or speedy return, the ftate is very precarious, and the comfort very imperfect; but those who are delivered from fear of evil, and think they can depend upon their defence and guard, have received a deliverance indeed.

Now, this is the view which a believer is particularly led to take of God, as his fure and all-fufficient help. He confiders the greatness of his power, the operation of his providence, and the faithfulness of his promife. How often does the Pfalmift express, in the most triumphant manner, his dependence upon God? Pfal. xviii. 1, 2, 3. 'I will love thee, O Lord, my ftrength. The Lord is my rock, and my • fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, ' in whom I will truft; my buckler, and the horn ⚫ of my falvation, and my high tower. I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised; fo • fhall I be faved from mine enemies. Pfal. Ixii. 5,

6, 7. My foul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him. He only is my rock and falvation; he is my defence; I fhall not be ⚫ moved. In God is my falvation and my glory; • the rock of my strength, and my refuge is in God. • Pfal. cxlvi. 5, 6. Happy is he that hath the God of • Jacob for his help, whofe hope is in the Lord his God; which made heaven and earth, the fea, and all that therein is, which keepeth truth for ever."

My brethren, this trust and dependence on God is a very confiderable part of the reft and comfort of the believer's foul. He is, on all hands, furrounded with enemies, liable to fuffering, exposed to tempta

Ser. 6. tions. The more he knoweth of himself, the more he feels his own inherent weaknefs and infufficiency. But, in God, he fees full and adequate provifion for all his wants, Pfal. xxxiv. 22. The Lord • redeemeth the foul of his fervants; and none of them that truft in him shall be defolate.'

This truft is alfo, in a particular manner, generated, by remembring the paft goodness, or by a fenfe of the recent mercy of God. We have daily experience of our own weakness and unfteadiness in this re fpect. When our hopes are in any measure disappointed; when calamities threaten; when afflictions vifit us, we are ready to yield to the dark fuggestions of fear and defpondence; but when we contemplate the great goodnéfs of God on former occafions, or when we have met with any fingular manifeftation of his grace and favour, it serves to ftrengthen our confidence, and often, indeed, to cover us with fhame for our unbelief and diftruft. On the whole, then, a believer who imitates the Pfalmift in this expreffion, Return into thy teft, O my foul, may be fuppofed to fay, "Thou hast tasted, Omy soul, of the loving "kindness of God! he hath brought thee out of deep "waters; he hath calmed thy fears; he hath fet thy "feet upon a rock; he hath eftablished thy goings! "Blush, blush! when thou confidereft how eafily "thy confidence was fhaken; how prone thou waft "to fink under affliction; and, upon every new trial, "to doubt his power, and diftruft his promife. But, "now, return unto thy reft; lay afide thy fears,

which have fo unhappy an influence both on thy

"progrefs and comfort. Commit thy ways to him, "and he will bring thy defires to pass."

I come now, in the last place, to make fome prac tical improvement of what hath been faid: And, ft, From what hath been faid, you may observe one great branch of the finfulness of the world in general; forgetfulness of God; and unthankfulnefs for his mercies. How little fenfe of the divine goodness is in the hearts of men? how formal, cold, and frozen their language in praife? how languid their endeavours to ferve him, from whofe indulgent hand every blessing they enjoy flows? One would think that here might be fome hold even of worldly men, who have not wholly extinguished the light of natural confcience. The greatest part of this difcourfe has been directed to those of another character. Suffer me, now, to speak a little immediately to them. You are not infenfible to worldly comforts; on the contrary, you love them too ardently; you feek them too eagerly; you indulge them too liberally. Confider, I beseech you, who it is that beftowed them; who it is, that, when he pleaseth, can blast them to you, or withdraw them from you. O the blindness and infatuation of mortal men! How paffing and tranfitory are all created comforts! how certain and speedy the approach of death and judgment! Think what return you have made for all the goodness of God toward you from the womb even till now. And let me beg every hearer to recollect how far he stands indebted to God for continued health, for plentiful provifion, for remarkable