SERMON XV*. PSALM Xxvii. 16. O TARRY THOU THE LORD'S LEISURE: BE STRONG, AND HE SHALL COMFORT THAT this life is not, and was not intended to be, a state of perfect happiness, or even of constant ease and tranquillity, is a truth which no one will be disposed to controvert. That we are beset with dangers, and exposed to calamities of various kinds, which we can neither foresee nor avert, is equally certain. It is a fact, which, probably, most of those who now hear me know too well, from their own experience; and the rest will most assuredly know it, full time enough for there cannot be a weaker or more childish imagination, than * Preached at St. Paul's on the Thanksgiving-day for His Majesty's recovery, April 23, 1789. than to flatter ourselves with the hope of passing through the world without our share of those calamities, which are inseparable from mortality. Affliction, then, of one kind or other, being unavoidable, it is evidently matter of the very last importance to every human being, to enquire carefully what are the best and most solid supports and consolations under it; where they are to be found, and how to be secured. Now the shortest and most effectual way of obtaining satisfaction on these points is, to apply to men of the best judgment, and most experience in the case; to those who have themselves passed through the greatest variety of sufferings, have sought for every possible 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 description, we shall find few persons better qualified to give us complete information on this head, than the Royal Author of the text before us. He was initiated early in the school of adversity; and though he was afterwards raised, by the hand of of Providence, to a throne, yet in that exalted situation he experienced a long succession of the severest trials, and the bitterest afflictions, that are incident to human nature. How much he felt on these occasions, is sufficiently evident from his writings, in which he gives vent to the distress and agony of his soul in the strongest and most impassioned language that grief can dictate. Yet with these complaints are mingled generally the warmest expressions of gratitude and thankfulness, for the unspeakable 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 these comforts and these hopes derived? This is the great question; the great object of our present inquiry. 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 distress, his shield, his rock, his castle, his house of defence, his best and firmest stay under all his various misfortunes. This holy confidence is, indeed, the most striking and prominent feature feature in his character. It discovers itself in every page of his writings. It sometimes throws a ray of cheerfulness even over his gloomiest moments, and unexpectedly turns his heaviness into joy. "In the Lord put 66 I my trust," says he, 66 to my soul, that she should flee as a bird "unto the hill? The Lord is my refuge, " and my God is the strength of my con "how say ye then "fidence. In the multitude of the sorrows "that I had in my heart, thy comforts have "refreshed my soul. They that know thy 66 name will put their trust in thee, for thou, "Lord, hast never failed them that seek "thee*." And again, in the words of the text, "O tarry thou the Lord's leisure: be 66 66 strong, and he shall comfort thine heart; " and put thou thy trust in the Lord." This great example, then, is a powerful recommendation of that sovereign medicine to the afflicted soul, TRUST IN GOD. But does Christianity also encourage us to have recourse to it? And does it promise us the same consolation that the Royal Psalmist derived from it? It promises to us, that if we faithfully serve the great Author and Preserver of * Psalm xi. 1. xciv. 22. ix. 10. our 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 66 gether for good to them that love him *" He expressly tells us, that "whom he loveth, "he chasteneth, and scourgeth 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 salutary, though unpalatable medicines. They are, in short, 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 sanctity of life, which are necessary to qualify us for the great purpose of our creation, the attainment of everlasting happiness in another and a better world. These considerations are a solid ground for that firm TRUST in the wisdom and the goodness of God, which will be sufficient to support us, even when his hand lies heaviest upon #Rom. viii. 28. VOL. II. Heb. xii. 6. Y us. |