PAGE Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow, XXXI. MATTHEW XIV. 1. 2.-At that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus, and said unto his servants, XXXII. ROMANS VI. 21.-What fruit had ye then in those XXXIII. PROVERBS XIX. 27.-Cease, my son, to hear the XXXIV. LUKE XVI. 31.-And he said unto him, If they hear 125 . 138 . 153 . 168 XXXVI. MATTHEW XII. 36. But I say unto you, That XXXVII. EPHESIANS IV. 28.-Let him that stole steal no more; but rather let him labor, working with his hands PAGE XL. MATTHEW XIII. 29.-But he said, Nay; lest, while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. 294 XLI. MATTHEW XXVI. 41.-Watch and pray, that ye enter XLIII. COLOSSIANS III. 1.-If ye then be risen with Christ, XLIV. JAMES III. 17.-The wisdom that is from above, is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated: full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and with- XLVI. JOHN III. 19.-This is the condemnation, that light is XLVII. JOHN v. 44.-How can ye believe, which receive XLVIII. MARK VIII. 38. Whosoever therefore shall be PAGE XLIX. 2 CORINTHIANS V. 10. 11.-We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he L. PHILIPPIANS II. 6-11.-Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but made himself of no reputation, and took on him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and be- came obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that DISCOURSES. SUMMARY OF DISCOURSE XXV. PSALM LXXVII.-VERSES 9, 10. PART I. THE text shows that the author of this psalm was manifestly under great dejection of mind when he penned it; as he speaks of himself here and in the following verses as deserted of God, and preyed on by the sorrows of his own tormented heart. The particular grief is not mentioned; the sting of it however lay in this, that the Psalmist apprehended himself to be forsaken of God, which is doubtless the most insupportable and incurable of all afflictions, and one which neither medicine nor reason can assuage; for the soul refuses to be comforted. These fears and sorrows belong not to the vicious and profligate, who have not God in all their thoughts: they live without reflection, and therefore without concern, and can be diverted by hearing or seeing what modest and humble sinners suffer from a sense of religion: but their day of fear is not far off; and when it comes, it will convince them that the heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. There is a great difference between the misgivings and misapprehensions of a religious. SHERL. VOL. II. A 1 mind, and the fear which sinners often experience: this difference explained; whence we can distinguish between the fears to which religious men are subject, and the fears of the guilty; the former of which alone our text leads us to consider. The Psalmist manifestly speaks of the sorrows of a well-disposed heart, from the description which he gives of his conduct under distress; though he might doubt as to his own condition, and the favor of God towards him, yet of the being, power, and wisdom of God he never doubted. This faith was the sheet-anchor of his salvation. A consideration of this afflicted good man's train of thought, and of what he regarded his only comfort and support, recommended. Whether the calamities which afflicted him were public or private, yet as long as his thoughts dwelt on them, and led him to expostulate with God for the severity of his judgments, he found no ease nor relief: a weak man cannot judge rightly of the actions of a man wiser than himself; much less can a man judge of the ways of God, to whose councils he is not admitted: this topic enlarged on. Since then it is weakness to complain, and folly to judge, of the methods of God's providence, what part must we take? Must religion be senseless and stupid, and shut out all reflexion on the ways of God? No: one way is open to us; to trust and depend on God; which is so far from being senseless and stupid, that in the pursuit of it we shall see opening before us the noblest views which reason or religion can afford. The method here prescribed is that which the Psalmist prescribed to himself. God has not left himself without witness: the great works of nature and of grace proclaim his loving kindness to men; hence we must admire his power and adore his goodness; and therefore throw ourselves on his protection. Here then was the comfort of the Psalmist here the cure of his grief, though the scene around him was dark and gloomy. The text then leads us to consider: I. that all complaints against Providence proceed from |