and rebukes the wind. The language of the church is, The Lord hath chastened me sore; but he hath not given me over to death. Thou hast thrust sore at me, that I might fall; but the Lord hath helped me. While the church is, as it were, girt round, and assaulted with fear and destruction, she yet retains her confidence. She says, Open to me the gates of righteousness; I will go into them, and, I will praise the Lord. Indeed, wherever the elect of God are, there his power and love are conspicuous; there we behold those special revolutions, which come so seasonably to save the rest, and to re-assemble the ship-wreck, when we believed that all was lost. God, very often, waits till things are in such a situation, that it may the more sensibly appear, he is the deliverer of his people.

It is true, that as there are favorable revolutions, so there are revolutions of a dreadful description; it is true, that if sometimes the deliverance of God approaches, when things are brought to their extremity, sometimes also, he gives a free course to events, insomuch that second causes act in all their extent, and produce all their effects. The flocks subsist in tranquillity; the face of the church is smiling and pleasant; the powers of the world afford her protection under a legitimate ministry; the people are instructed in the knowledge of the word of God, and formed for his service; a holy discipline maintains their order; the flocks unite with one heart to call upon God, and with one

voice to sing his praise. Times of affliction come forward; the corruption of the world slides into their courts, and even into the sanctuary itself; the cloud is withdrawn from the tabernacle; the blessing of the Lord, as formerly, is not upon his heritage; the inclinations of those in authority are changed; the hearts of the people are alienated, and the enemies of the church make use of these conjunctures, as favorable to their designs: then this grand building is shaken and falls to pieces; the violence of the torrent carries all before it; there are no more banks to resist the flood; as far as it reaches, there is nothing but desolation. A fire devoureth before them, and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness: yea, and nothing shall escape them. What are become of so many churches founded by the apostles, so flourishing in their age, and since? The world and its vices gradually slid in amongst them, and brought down upon them the judgments of God. They are fallen by the hands of men whom God made use of to punish his own people; so that of those societies nothing more remains than their memory. Even our own age is not without an example of the afflicting changes which take place in kingdoms; and these events prove, that God puts out and re-kindles his torch among a certain people, whensoever he pleases.

Yet, even in these periods, the orders and ways of providence, when properly considered, afford us Bb 2 much

much consolation: for, accurately speaking, this light is never extinguished; it is only concealed, or sent elsewhere. God removes his candlestick, is

the language of scripture concerning these revolutions. People know the truth, but they do not obey it. God sheds abroad on others those favors which they despised; thus, the Creator of all men, shews himself successively their father. He calls sometimes one people, and sometimes another. Israel is chosen, and the Gentiles are rejected; the Gentiles are called in their turn, and the Jews are given up. The light of the gospel illuminates the world as the sun; not all at once, but by making a circuit, according to a settled regulated motion: thus, the covenant of God with men, always subsists in its purity and strength, though the church is not always in the same place, but is found sometimes in cities, and sometimes in deserts; and in these different states, the church is always supported nor can the gates of hell prevail against it.

We may also add, that with respect to those places where these judgments are displayed, though for a season, they are like an inundation which carries all before it, yet this season passes away, and that which the torrent destroyed, is, in due time, again re-established. In these periods, it is, as in the night, when it is much obscured, and we can see no light; we say, nature is condemned to perpetual darkness; we see not how the sun hastens its circuit round the other hemisphere to rise

again on ours, again to illuminate this part of the earth. So, in these events, all hope seems to be given up; but though we see not by what means the providence of God prepares a remedy for us, yet, it thus works in our favor; and, in due season, this will infallibly appear. Truth, when resisted and opposed, is like trees agitated by the wind; sometimes it only makes them bend; sometimes it breaks off the branches; sometimes it plucks them up; but even then, the roots are safe and shoot out afresh.

Consider all the history of the church, it is nothing else but a perpetual succession of such events; unequal, indeed, as to their intervals, as days and nights are of unequal length, but not, on that account, of an order less constant. Sometimes truth is proposed and received in its purity; at another time, it is mutilated. At one time, they who profess it, are tolerated; at another they are dispersed and destroyed. But when persecutors have proceeded to the utmost violence; when they imagine they have gained a complete victory over truth, and over them that profess it, yet we have seen, at a distant period, the root and seeds remained to spring up afresh, and stronger than before. Thus, it appears, we should only wait with patience; the work of God will be carried on to the end, and that which seems contrary to it, will, at last, advance it. Times of danger pass away, and better times succeed: for this reason, Jesus Christ exhorted his disciples to possess their souls in

patience;

patience and God says the same thing by the mouth of Isaiah; Come, my people, enter into thy chambers, and shut the door about thee; hide thyself, as it were, for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.

But in those seasons, we may further observe, that God takes care of every one who puts his trust in him. It is here, as in battles, all are exposed to danger, but all lose not their lives. All are in the same peril, but God is with them that fear him to defend them, and finds sufficient means to distinguish them from others, and to provide all that is necessary. He strengthens them in proportion to the trials through which he compels them to pass; he inspires them with firm and exalted sentiments, and gives them victory over the world by faith. He also knows how, whenever he pleases, to grant them special protection. Such was David's confidence in God. He said, In the time of trouble, he shall hide me in his pavillion; in the secret of his tabernacle he shall hide me; he shall set me upon a rock. David has also given the same assurance to all the faithful: For this, says he, shall every one that is godly pray unto thee, in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him. In the shipwreck of St. Paul, the vessel was lost, but all the crew were saved; some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship. It happens thus to the church; it is sometimes as it were ship

wrecked;