too, the common bounties of nature, food, raiment, and the like, which are all his gifts, he hath plentifully filled the lot of most, if not of all of us, with enjoyments which move a softer nerve, and call forth every sweet sensibility of our nature. With how many kind friends hath he provided us, whose exertions are continually employed to promote our happiness; whose advice assists us in perplexity; whose smiles double every joy; whose sympathy mitigates every toil; and whose assiduous care indemnifies us for every pain, and sooths the bed of languishing itself. "What remarkable circumstances in Providence may we trace, which occa"sioned the knitting of some bonds of this kind, which, next to those which join our souls to God, we number among the happiest. And in how many instances, when those dear lives have been threatened, lives perhaps more sensibly dear to us "than our own, has God given them back from the borders of the grave; and so added new endear"ments to all our after converse with them. "let us forget in how gracious a manner he hath 46 16 46 66 66 Nor supported some others, in their last moments, and "enabled them to leave behind them a sweet odour "of piety, which hath embalmed their memories, "revived our souls, when ready to faint under the "sorrows of the first separation, and on the whole, "made even the recollection of their deaths delightful."* Were I to enumerate mercies of a more public nature, we should find equal causes of rejoicing, in the kind providence which hath protected us. There has been, in these years, a terrible shaking * Doddridge, Rise and Progress, ch, xxvii, sect. 3. of the nations. Their fields have been laid waste? their cities have been burned with fire; and the blood of men has flowed in streams. But in all our days, tranquillity has been preserved, in all our borders. The sword unsheathed hath not entered our gates. The sweet picture of Jerusalem, in its happiest times, is to be seen in our cities and in our fields. "The streets of the city shall be full of "boys and girls, playing in the streets thereof."* The people "shall sit every man under his vine, "and under his fig-tree; and none shall make them. afraid." Happy should we be, could we know our happiness, as a people protected and saved by the Lord! 66 And is it not to be also acknowledged, as the act of a gracious Providence, that we have been born and preserved, in a land of liberty and light? That, while so many nations are covered by the darkness of Paganism, or blinded by Mahometan delusion, we live beneath the beams of the sun of righteousness? Nay that, while many of the people to whom the name of Jesus has been proclaimed, are prevented, by antichristian tyranny or impos ture, from enjoying the full benefit of the glorious discovery, we have free access to the scriptures of truth; and can not only claim, but are in full possession of the right of worshipping God, according to our consciences, without any to molest us. The persecutors, who scattered the assemblies of the first christians, and "entered into houses, haling "men and women;" yea, who hunted our fathers, in our own land," as when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains,"§ dare no longer disperse * Zech. viii. 5. † Micah iv. 4. Acts viii. 3. § 1 Sam. xxvi. 20 our solemn meetings, or do violence to individuals. Those who adhere to the forms of worship, established by the state, and those who conscientiously dissent from them, are alike protected by mild and equitable laws, and are not compelled, by penalties and pains, to call any one master, in spiritual things, but the Lord Jesus only. “ Praise ye,” then, "the "Lord: for it is good to sing praises unto our God; "for it is pleasant; and praise is comely." "Lord doth build up" our " Jerusalem. He hath "not dealt so with every nation."* taste. “The But the providence of God does not always fill our cup with sweets. It often mingles drops of bitterness, which flesh and blood are unwilling to We are often afflicted with poverty, or with the calumny of the world, or with personal distress, or with what is yet more severe than these, we are wounded by the misfortunes, the distresses, and the deaths of those, in whose welfare we are more keenly interested than in our own. That in these dark features of providence, there should be cause of joy, will seem, to many, an hard saying. That there is, however, is certain, both from the exhortations of scripture to rejoice in them, and from the accounts on record, of the feelings and behaviour of the saints, when beset with tribulations. The exhortation in our text is not limited to times or circumstances. Rejoice evermore :" in adversity, as well as in prosperity; in the day of sickness, as in that of health; in the hour of death, as in the prospect of living many days to see good. On this subject, James is particularly emphatic. "My 66 *Psalm cxlvii. 1, 2, 22. M "brethren, count it all joy, when ye fall into di"vers temptations,"* or trials. Agreeable to these and the like injunctions, do we find the spirit and practice of the primitive christians to have been. "I take pleasure," said Paul," in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake."+ And in his address to the scattered converts from judaism; "Ye had compassion of me in my bonds," saith he;" and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods."‡ 66 66 We have cause of rejoicing in the afflictions of life, as they are the special appointments of God: and more particularly, as they are appointed by him for our good. Our afflictions are the special appointments of God." I form the light, and create darkness: I "make peace, and create evil. I, the Lord, do all "these things."§ Our distresses are not merely the -effects of natural and earthly causes. "Affliction "cometh not forth of the dust; neither doth trou"ble spring out of the ground."|| To be unkindly used by our fellow men is, no doubt, very painful: and if we refer the severe treatment to them as the original cause, it cannot be borne with patience. But the moment in which we view it as the appointment of God, it can no longer be termed unkind or harsh and as his servants, we bow with resignation to the will of our supreme Proprietor and Lord. "The Lord gave," said Job," and the "Lord hath taken away: blessed be the name of "the Lord!" "It is the Lord," said Eli, “let him "do what seemeth him good."** "Let him alone, * James i. 2. + Heb. x. 34. Job v. 6. "and let him curse;" said David to Shimei, "for "the Lord hath bidden him."* And when God's fearful judgments, to be inflicted by the Chaldeans, were intimated to Hezekiah, he replied, "Good is “the word of the Lord." The reflection that all our troubles are appointed by God, the sovereign author and disposer of all events, is not, indeed, of itself sufficient to inspire joy: but it begets resignation; and resignation to the divine will, or, in other words, contentment with our condition, is the first step toward positive happiness. But to the reflection, that God is the author of afflictive dispensations, we have this to add, that he appoints them for our good. The former of these considerations leads the soul to acquiescence; the latter raises it to joy. If the Lord do not " afflict "willingly;" that is, neither out of caprice nor cruelty; he must do it for good and gracious ends. As he is all-wise, he knows the best means for attaining these ends; as he is all benign, he is disposed to adopt these means; and as he is all-powerful, he is able to command them. His people are thus led, by reasoning on his nature, to regard afflictions as evidences of his favour: and to confirm this conclusion, scripture informs us, that they are also the accomplishment of a gracious and fatherly promise. "If his children forsake my law, and "walk not in my judgments; if they break my "statutes, and keep not my commandments; then "will I visit their transgressions with the rod, and " their iniquity with stripes."§ Such is the promise of God, with respect to the beloved offspring of the * 2 Sam. xvi. II. + 2 Kings xx. 19. Lam, iii. 3. |