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storms and tempests which disturb the elements, destroy the fruits of the earth, and send the poor distressed mariner to the bottom of the sea. Such are the effects of those vices, which the evil spirit infuses into the hearts of men; their lives are rendered vain and miserable, and their souls are shipwrecked.

Compare the two states of the man, whose case we have been considering: think what he was, when he was wandering among the tombs and mountains; and afterwards, when he was sitting quiet in his right mind with Jesus Christ. Compare these together, and consider, which you would chuse; for you have the one or the other, as you think proper. The same difference, which you see in this man, is to be found in different people at this day; and which do you think are the happier? A company of drunkards and profligates, who are raving and swearing, and quarrelling and blaspheming over their liquor; or a society of Christians, singing Psalms and hearing the word of God? The former sort can never expect their happiness from such a way of life, till the Devil is in them; and when he has got possession of them, nothing is to be wondered at. But the sober and the godly have the advantage of them every way, both in this world and the world to come: for here, they are with Jesus Christ and in their right mind; and when the others shall exchange their false mirth (which is now no better than madness) for weeping and wailing and gnashing of the teeth; when they shall lose their lusts and their Saviour besides, who will not remain in their coasts; they who have been cured of their sins and miseries in this mortal state, shall no more be separated from him; they shall be ever with the Lord; publishing his praises to saints Ꮓ

VOL. III.

and angels, in such terms as the Holy Spirit hath already suggested to us-O give thanks unto the Lord for he is gracious, and his mercy endureth for ever: let them give thanks whom the Lord hath redeemed, and delivered from the hand of the enemy. Psalm cvii. 1, 2.

SERMON VI.

THE SAME NIGHT PETER WAS SLEEPING BETWEEN TWO
SOLDIERS, BOUND WITH TWO CHAINS; AND THE
KEEPERS BEFORE THE DOOR KEPT THE PRISON.
AND BEHOLD, THE ANGEL OF THE LORD CAME UPON HIM,
AND A LIGHT SHINED IN THE PRISON; AND HE SMOTE
PETER ON THE SIDE, AND RAISED HIM UP, SAYING,
ARISE UP QUICKLY. AND HIS CHAINS FELL OFF FROM
HIS HANDS. ACTS xii. 6, 7.

THE mind of man is formed for thought and meditation; and the pleasure of the understanding, where it has proper matter to exercise and amuse it, is far preferable to the indulgence of the passions. Happy should we be, if we could always think so!

The best matter in the world for meditation is that of the holy Scripture; first, because it is selected for us by the wisdom that made the world. The thoughts which men suggest to us in their conversation or their writings, have too frequently their beginning and their ending in this world; and are either imaginary and false, or earthly and unprofitable: and the meditation arising from such matter, how finely and elegantly soever it may be, will at last be slender and useless as the web which the spider draws from its own bowels. Secondly, because the matter of the Scripture not only affords a more rational amusement to the mind in this life, but is always of service to help it forward to the enjoyment of a better. It nourishes

the spirit, while it engages the imagination. The body, be it never so well supported, must sink and perish at last; but the soul that is nourished up in the words of faith, and of good doctrine, shall never die.

Among the great variety of subjects treated of in the Scripture, none are more profitable than the miracles it has recorded; which generally are capable of a two-fold application. They serve as so many evident acts of a divine power, to confirm some doctrines revealed to us from heaven: and they are likewise in themselves so many contrivances of divine wisdom, to figure out and represent to us the doctrines they are intended to establish. A miracle is a seal of some divine truth; but if the seal bears the image and superscription of the truth, it will have a double value.

This is generally true in the miracles in the Old Testament; but of those of the New in a more particular manner; which after they have confirmed the words of the gospel, preach the sense of it over again to us, as signs or figures of it. You will understand what I mean from an example or two. Our blessed Saviour, as a proof of his divine mission, cleansed a leper; not merely for the healing of the body, which was but a temporary consideration; but to shew, by the choice of the miracle, that it was he who should take away the sin of the world, and cleanse the soul from so loathsome and infectious a distemper: for sin, like the leprosy, is hereditary to man. When he opened the eyes of a blind man, he added to the miracle this interpretation, to shew the meaning of itI am the light of the world-As if he had said, I who now give sight to the eyes of the body, do this to signify, that I myself am the true light to the eyes of the understanding as the eyes that were blind are

restored to sight, so shall the mind that is dark and ignorant be made wise to salvation, and recover the use of those faculties, which sin had extinguished: he that followeth me, shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

Thus in like manner, when he set open the doors of a prison by the ministry of an angel, which is the miracle related in the text, what did he, but shadow out to us thereby that great and glorious effect of his own incarnation upon all believers, that eternal redemption, which the prophet long ago described as an opening of the prison to them that are bound? Isa. lxi. 1.

But before I proceed to particulars, I must take the liberty which St. Paul took with King Agrippa: he put this question to him, "King Agrippa, believest "thou the prophets?" I must put a like question to those that hear me, and say, believest thou that a state of sin is a state of imprisonment; and that the service of God, to which the gospel hath called thee, is perfect freedom? If not, all the moral reflections I can suggest to you upon this deliverance of St. Peter out of prison, will make but little impression, and be very imperfectly understood. I will therefore presume, as the Apostle did, and answer the question for myself

"I know that thou believest:" and may God give you his grace, that what I am now going to offer upon the mystery of God manifest in the flesh to destroy the works of the Devil, may fall into the ground of an honest and good heart, and bring forth fruit an hundred fold. With this desire I shall endeavour to shew, that the miraculous deliverance of St. Peter out of prison, is not a matter of private interpretation, which looks no further than to the apostle himself; but is intended for public use; holding forth to the Church, and to every individual member of it, an in

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