and they would of course be but little inclined to look for comfort there.

But, O ye sons and daughters of affliction, allow me to present religion to you under another aspect, which is perhaps new, but which ought to be peculiarly interesting to you.-l propose it as the best and surest source of peace. This it professes to be: let it be our part to make the trial. The Scripture declares, that God will keep that man in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on him. Give credit to this declaration. Do not practically deny the truth of a revelation which you profess solemnly to believe. Remember that this is not a detached and solitary position. It is not one passage of Scripture only which declares, that true peace is to be found by trusting in God; but the doctrine is every where interwoven into the very fabric and texture of Divine truth. Happy would you be if you would give entire credit to it.

The words of my text naturally suggest three points of consideration:

I. The nature of the duty here commended, that of staying the mind on God.

II. The blessing annexed to it; a state of permanent and perfect peace; and,

III. The reason assigned for communicating this blessing, because confidence is placed in God.

My chief object in this discourse will be to explain the first of these; namely, the nature of the duty here commended.

To stay the mind on God is to trust in him confidently; to repose securely on his care and protection; to be persuaded that he will order and appoint all things well; to place a firm reliance on the goodness of his nature, and on the certainty of his over-ruling provi

dence.

But here we should very carefully distinguish between a just and well-founded confidence in God, and a confidence not just, and not well-founded, which is too often mistaken for it.

Many persons entertain a kind of trust in God, neither founded on the principles nor warranted by the authority of Scripture. They conceive of God as of a being infinitely kind and good, who pities the miseries of his creatures, and though circumstances mav not admit of the entire removal of them at present, will yet, in a short time, effect his gracious purpose, and either make amends to them in this life for their sufferings, or give them ample recompence in the life to come.. According to this system, therefore, there is evil in the world, which seems to have sprung up independently.as it were, of God, the progress of which he is continually counteracting and will ultimately overcome; though time must elapse before he completes the triumph. And the duty of man therefore is, to suffer with patience and cheerfulness, in a full persuasion of the power and goodness of his Creator, and that he will make all things work for good.

The system is the more dangerous, because it wears the mask of piety. By representing God in an amiable point of view, as a most gracious benerolent being, it appears as if framed to do him honour, while it is in fact a misrepresentation of his nature; and directly contrary to the character he has given of himself. Being well suited to a sceptical turn of mind, it is a favourite system with Deists and freethinkers of all times. And tending necessarily to allay all apprehension of God's wrath, and to prevent all remorse or compunction for sin, it leads men quietly on in the path of destruction, even while they flatter themselves that theirs are the most exalted conceptions of the Deity, and the only just views of his religion. - Moreover, it is no novelty. The error of the Manichees, an heretical sect in the early ages of the Church, was at bottom very much the same. It supposed, that there were twe beings or principles of contrary qualities and dispositions, from whose contending influence resulted the mixed and chequered state of things on earth; the one unhappy and malignant, the author of all the evil which

we see; the other blessed and benevolent, continually resisting that evil, and author of all the good which prevails in the creation.

Modern infidels, indeed, have dropped the idea of two independent warring powers: but they still account for the evil on principles much the same, as originating against the will of the supreme and merciful Creator; as what he is continually opposing, and will certainly at last destroy. They do not look upon evil as inflicted immediately by God, but rather as an imperfection, the ground of which was laid in the very constitution of moral beings; and which, though it cannot be entirely prevented, will yet be graciously overruled in the issue, to the production of a much greater degree of good.

I would earnestly warn you, my brethren, against admitting any representation of God, as a good and merciful being, which does not clearly and fully acknowledge his justice also. Of the Divine goodness it is impossible to form conceptions too high, but it is easy to form false ones; such as are equally contrary to Scripture and to fact, and such as are of dangerous tendency, though masked under a specious appearance. His justice is full as important a part of his character; and it is as fully manifested to us. To trust aright in God, we must trust in a being such as God is described to us in Scripture; a being holy, and angry with the wicked; just in punishing transgression, though long-suffering and of great goodness to those who seek and serve him. Every thing in our religion depends on the kind of Deity which we frame to ourselves. Men may flatter themselves that they trust in God, when they trust only in a phantom of their own imagination; a being, perhaps, as unlike the God of Scripture, as the Jove of the ancients, the Allah of the Mahometans, the Brama of the Hindoos, or the Great Spirit of the American Indians.

To trust in God aright, is, also, to place a confidence in him which is warranted by his own word. Having just ideas of his nature, we must take care that we expect nothing from him which his word has not warranted us to believe he will do.

If a man depends upon him for that which he has not promised, such a confidence is likely to end in disappointment, and so to produce mistrust and infidelity, instead of cherishing faith, or promoting a pious frame of mind. Many there are who trust in God to deliver them from their temporal distresses; from pain, from sickness, or from death; who have no warrant from Scripture for any such expectations. And these persons, when disappointed, are ready to reflect on the blessed Promiser as unfaithful to his word; to feel towards him as if he deluded his suffering creatures; and, having invited them to rely on him for relief, only raised their hopes in order to aggravate their sorrows.

But how far then, it may be asked, and for what purposes, may we trust in God?

Here the first thing to be considered is, whether we have a right to trust in him at all; in other words, whether we are interested in the covenant of grace which he has made with those who believe in Christ Jesus.

Confidence in another is founded either upon his general character or upon some express promise which he has given. Now we who are sinners can have no access to God, and can expect no favour from him, except on the terms of that covenant of peace which he has made with us in his Son our Saviour. Upon that covenant, therefore, we must repose our trust; keeping it always in mind, that as without this we could have no claim to his blessings at all, so our claim to them depends on our possessing the characters to which they are promised in Scripture. Of these promises, some are general; belonging to every member of the visible church; indeed, to all mankind, who will hear, receive, and apply for them: such as, that "they who ask shall have; that they who seek shall find; and that to them who knock it shall be opened." "Return unto

me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord." "Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth."-Such promises as these are made without restriction. Upon them any man may safely rely; that is, he may be assured that if he desires, so as heartily to solicit them, his request shall be granted, and the blessing bestowed. He who cometh, that is, whosoever cometh to Christ, shall in no wise be cast out. But the greater number are of a less extensive kind of promises, made only to believers: to those who receive the truth in the love of it, and have experienced its power and virtue in the soul. Thus it is promised, that, "the Lord will be a sun and a shield," that "there shall be no want to them that fear him," and that "he will make all things work together for their good." There is encouragement for men to cast their burdens upon the Lord, with full assurance of support. There is hope given of direction in difficulties, of final victory over sin, and release from sorrow; of peace in death, and eternal blessedness beyond it. As it respects this class, we have, of course, no claim, and can indulge no reasonable expectation, till we have ground (such as the Scripture itself will allow) to judge ourselves true disciples of the Redeemer, possessing the seal and witness of his Spirit, and interested in all the fulness of the blessings of the Gospel of peace.-Nay, many promises, have a still further restriction; and are addressed, not to believers in general, but to such only as excel in some specific grace, or are exemplary in some duty of the Christian life; as to the meek, to the faithful, to the merciful, to the liberal. And for want of attending to this, good men themselves may be disappointed, nay even be deeply discouraged, because promises are not made good to them which, in reality, were given to a disposition, or a course of conduct, which is not yet theirs. The great point, however, is to be true disciples of Christ. What, then, is implied in this: