ing, and earnestly desiring, the coming of the day of God, which would so greatly promote an elevated spirit of devotion, and an unearthly spirit of public benevolence. How completely would it tend to eradicate the lust of covetousness, and the aspirings of worldly ambition, if men and Christians were expecting, as they have good reason to expect, the day of God, when the earth, and all the works that are therein, shall be burnt up! Would they then lay up their treasure here, where moth and rust corrupt, and thieves break through and steal; and where the whole is doomed, by the righteous Providence of God, to one general and all-consuming conflagration? Oh! alas for that day, when it shall be said, "Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for the miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten; your gold and silver is cankered, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire-ye have heaped treasure together for the last days;" injustice, and luxury, and niggardliness in the cause of righteousness, marked your course on earth; and now ye receive the fruit of your own doings.

But it is not to unbelievers that I now address my exhortation, it is to the parents, and children, and kindred, of those who have received precious faith. Endeavour, my brethren, to let the exhortation of the Apostle be reduced to a practical influence on your minds. Let your hearts be in heaven, and your expectations and desires have a reference to the last day. In prosperity it will induce you to spend much for God, to give your property to his cause; your time to his cause, your persons, soul, spirit, and body, to his cause; which is, whatever some may think, a reasonable service. And, in adversity, it will induce you to be patient unto the coming of the Lord. Time, and suffering-Oh! how short! Eternity, and enjoyment-Oh! how long! "I reckon that the sufferings of this present time, which are but for a moment, are not worthy to be compared with that exceeding great and eternal weight of glory" which shall be conferred on all God's people; through our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, Amen!

DISCOURSE XXII.

TRUST IN THE MOST HIGH, THE BEST DEFENCE AGAINST FEAR.

PSALM LVI. 2, 3.

"O thou Most High,—what time I am afraid I will trust in Thee,"

THESE are the words of one of the most extraordinary men, whose names, from a high antiquity, have descended to us, either in sacred or profane history. In early life he was a simple shepherd, on the hills of Judea. Whilst yet young, his musical talents, under Providence, caused him to be brought to the court of king Saul; from which time he became a warrior, and the leader of a brigand. After being long persecuted, and hunted from place to place by the jealous monarch, he at last himself ascended the throne of Israel; where war, and poetry, and sins, and reverses filled the latter period of his days. David, the beloved son of Jesse, and the sweet singer of Israel, the devout poet of Judea, penned the words of our text.

The commencement of his exaltation was the beginning of a continual series of anxieties and difficulties. His heroic conduct in the affair of the gigantic Goliath, excited against him the envy of his sovereign, who foresaw that the young shepherd, the fair and ruddy minstrel, was destined by Providence to succeed to the throne; and, with a sort of fatuity, he sought to thwart Providence, by attempting the life of David with his own hand; and,

be desolate." "Whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he." Christians, "Cast all your care upon him, for he careth for you."

Thus, my brethren, I have quoted largely from inspired witnesses-from Kings, and Priests, and Prophets, and Apostles, by whom the Almighty spake to man; distinctly setting before you, the divine permission for frail, sinful, human creatures to trust in God when fear cometh; and whilst doing this, you will have perceived very clearly, that it is a sin not to do so; that to trust in self, or in creatures, or in silver or gold, is not only useless but wicked; is a spiritual idolatry, perhaps not less offensive to heaven, than bowing down to stocks and stones.

I might, in discoursing on this subject, dwell at length on the glorious perfections of the Most High God, to whom we should cling in the day when fear cometh. His omnipotence, by which he created and controls the universe; every creature, from the highest angel to the meanest insect; every element of the physical world, in all their most minute and most tremendous combinations; the storms and tempests of the atmosphere, the raging of the sea, the volcanic fire, and the trembling earthquake; plague and pestilence, the devouring sword and pale famine-all wait on his Almighty behest. And to this omnipotent power is joined omniscience, omnipresence, infinite wisdom, inflexible justice, inviolable truth, boundless goodness and mercy. We presume not to think that we can describe adequately the incomprehensible God; but, my fellow-men, these are some of the perfections of the High God, who commands our reverence, and requires our trust and he is in Christ reconciling the world to himself.

"In all troubles and adversities then, of what kind soever, under all afflictions that may befal us, of loss or pain, of poverty or sickness, of reproach or persecution for righteousness' sake; and under the most fearful apprehensions of danger and distress, to all human appearance inevitably threatening us, in our persons and private concernments, or with relation to the public peace and tranquillity, or to that which ought to be infinitely dearer to us than all these,

obedience to heaven, are universally liable to fears and apprehensions concerning possible or probable evils. Much suffering and manifold calamities have been induced by sin. Our bodies are liable to numerous diseases, painful and distressing, and to eventual dissolution and death, at which nature usually shudders and shrinks back. There is much injustice and violence in the earth, and there are millions, in various lands, who tremble at the oppressor's frown. A little experience in the world teaches the uncertainty of every thing future, and exhibits many instances of the most afflictive changes, and sad reverses, by which a prosperous family, with an affectionate and powerful protector at its head, is reduced to want, and to widowhood, and to a fatherless or orphan condition.

And there are moral causes of fear, when convictions of sin wound the troubled spirit, and perhaps keep it in a state of dejection for years, or rouse it at once to acute and scarcely tolerable anguish.

But the prevalent defect in human nature is, that it fears the less evil, and is fearless concerning the greater. It is often afraid on account of apprehended natural evils, such as sickness, poverty, man's contempt or scorn; whilst it remains callous as to spiritual evils, unremoved guilt, impending eternal death, and the wrath of God.

The fear of man, how prevalent in our day, both with the pious and the impious. With many pious people, and pious ministers in the land, how much trimming, lest ecclesiastical dignitaries, or those in affluence and authority, should think them righteous over much! And with men, who seem to have no fear of God, how much dread of man's opinion. The unfortunate tradesman or merchant, the proud man in military or other professions, fearless of the displeasure of the Almighty, often rushes headlong on death by self-destruction, because of the fear of disgrace, or the bad opinion of fellow mortals; and those fellow mortals, not the wise and good, but rather the impious and profane. This is one of the instances of fear, which is wholly without a true and justifiable foundation, more so perhaps than the visionary fears of the superstitious, who tremble at the

signs of heaven which indicate nothing, or the terrors of those, in many parts of the world, who dread the wrath of dumb idols, which can do no harm. There are, it is manifest, times and occasions of fear, either well or ill grounded, to which, more or less, all human beings are subject, in every period of life.

Second place, to notice some of the improper and inefficacious means resorted to for the removal of fear.

Some endeavour to work up their minds to a proud self-confidence, and a fool-hardy denial that they are afraid; or they boldly, but without reason, affirm that there is no cause of fear. The fear arising from a guilty conscience, and anticipated death and judgment, they attempt to get rid of by adopting the gratuitous assumptions of infidelity, on the one hand; or by trying to forget and disregard the subject for the time being, and so put the evil day afar off.

Many of the well-educated and opulent drown all serious reflection in a whirlpool of giddy, unintermitted amusement, and frivolity; whilst men of business produce the same effect, by immersing themselves in worldly affairs, and schemes and speculations, to increase their wealth, which pursuits and anxieties swallow up all other considerations.

And there are those who confide in their riches, and vainly expect that wealth will ward off every evil, and remove every cause of fear. "The rich man's wealth is his strong city, and as a high wall in his own conceit."

Some bolster up their spirits by the vain imaginations of self-righteousness. They think they have not been very great sinners. And to help out this idea, they cherish partial views of the divine character, forgetting his holiness, truth, and justice, and remembering only that he is merciful,

There are those of our fellow creatures who possess authority, and power, and influence, who seem to forget that they also are under authority, and have as much

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