bountifully with thee," Psal. cxvi. 7. I have all the desires of my heart in the covenant of God, though he take away the desire of mine eyes upon earth with his stroke. In this covenant my soul is at rest, and my very heart is centred. No affliction can be great enough to make the consolations of the Almighty seem small in mine eyes. Worldly sorrows may swallow up worldly comforts, but no sorrows upon earth can swallow up the consolations of the covenant.

I know many Christians droop and are dejected under the rod, notwithstanding such sovereign cordials are prepared for them in the covenant; but this is not for want of efficacy in the covenant, but for want of faith to clear their interest, and draw forth the virtue of it to their relief. Some are ignorant of their privileges, and others diffident about their interest. It is with many of God's children, as it is with our children in their infancy, they know not their father, nor the inheritance they are born unto.

That which remains, is the improvement of this truth to our actual comfort and relief in the day of trouble. And this I shall assist you in, as God shall assist me, by way of Information, Exhortation, Examination, and Consolation.

I. Take these inferences for Information.

1. By what has been discoursed from this text, it appears, that God governs the spiritual part of the world by faith, and not by sense. He will have them live upon his covenant and promises, and fetch their relief and comfort thence, under all their sorrows and distresses in this life.

God never intended temporal things for his people's portion, therefore from them they must not expect their relief in times of trouble. He will have us read his love to us by things within us, not by things without us. He has other ways of expressing his love to his people, than by the smiles of his Providence upon them. How would earthly things be overvalued and idolized, if besides their convenience to our bodies, they should be the marks and evidences of God's love to our souls! A Christian is to value himself as the mer

chant or the husbandman does, the merchant values himself by his bills and goods abroad, not by the ready cash that lies by him; and the husbandman, by his deeds and leases, and so many acres of corn he has in the ground, knows he has a good estate, though sometimes he be not able to command twenty shillings. Christian, thy estate also lies in good promises and newcovenant-securities, whether thou hast more or less of earthly comforts in thy hands.

Every creature feeds according to its nature. The same plant affords food to several sorts of creatures: the bee feeds upon the flower, the sheep upon the branch, the bird upon the seed, and the swine upon the root. One cannot live upon what the other does. So it is here. A Christian can feed upon the promises, and make a sweet meal upon the covenant, which the carnal mind cannot relish. "The life that I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God," says the apostle. This is that mysterious and excellent life of faith, and the test of true Christianity, to relieve ourselves by our hopes of things to come, against present evils; to balance the sorrows and losses of this life, with the promises and expectations of the next. Thus did the renowned believers of the first age. Whenever they felt a pang upon their hearts under their trials and sorrows from the world, they would presently run to their cordial, the promises, and, by faith, from thence would refresh and invigorate their souls with new life and power. "We faint not, whilst we look not at the things which are seen, for they are temporal; but at the things which are not seen, for they are eternal," 2 Cor. iv. 16, 18; and so truly must we also, when our hearts are faint within us in days of affliction, or our spirits will fail, and we shall go away in a fit of despondency.

2. Learn hence the sovereign efficacy of the word, and what a choice privilege it is to have these lively oracles of God in our hands, in a day of distress and trouble.

It is no ordinary mercy to be born in a land of Bibles and ministers; to have these choice supports and reliefs at hand, in all our fainting hours. "This is my comfort in my affliction, for thy word hath quickened me," Psal. cxix. 50. It was no small mercy gained by the reforma

tion, that it put the oracles of God into our hands. It affords us many cordials for the support of our souls. For this, among other great and excellent uses, the scriptures were written, "that we, through patience, and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope. In other parts of the world, it is a sealed book; bless God it is not so to you. All creature-comforts have a double defect, they are neither suitable nor durable; but the word is so. Compare the arguments that have been urged from the covenant with such as these-it is in vain to trouble ourselves about what we cannot help-we are not alone in trouble; others have their losses and afflictions as well as we. Alas! what dry and ineffectual comforts are these! they penetrate not the heart, as pardon of sin, peace with God, and sanctification of troubles to our salvation do.

And no less is the mercy of an able new-testament ministry, to open, apply, and inculcate the consolation of the scriptures, to be esteemed. It is no common favor to the afflicted soul to have with or near him an "interpreter, one among a thousand, to show unto him his uprightness," Job xxxiii. 23. O England, prize and improve these mercies, and provoke not thy God to bereave thee of them.

I can find no such settlement made of the gospel and ministry upon any place or people, but that God may remove both on their abuse of them; and if he do, sad will the case of such a people be, especially when a day of distress and trouble shall be upon them. It is sad to be in a storm at sea, without a compass or pilot to direct and advise the distressed passengers. Much so is the ease of the afflicted, when deprived of the word and ministry.

Let it therefore be your care to hide the word in your hearts, and get the teachings of the Spirit; that whatever changes of Providence be upon the world, you may have the light and comfort of the scriptures to direct and cheer your souls. Sanctification is the writing of God's law in your hearts; and what is written there is secure and safe. The word within you is more secure, sweet, and effectual, than the word without you. Jerome says

of Nepotianus, that by long and assiduous meditation of the scriptures, his breast was at last become the library of Christ. O that the breast of every Christian were so too. 3. How sad and deplorably miserable is their condition, who have no title to, nor comfort from the covenant of God, when a day of affliction and great distress is upon them!

Unrelieved miseries are the most intolerable miseries. To be overweighed with troubles on earth, and want support and comfort from heaven, is a dismal state indeed; yet this is the case of multitudes in the world. If a believer be in trouble, his God bears his burden for him, yea, he bears up him and his burden too; but he that has no covenant-interest in God, must say as it is in Jer. x. 19, "This is my affliction, and I alone must bear it."

There are but two ways they can take for relief, either to divert their trouble by that which will inflame them, or to rest their burdened spirits upon that which will fail them. To run to the tavern or ale-house, instead of the closet, is to quench the fire by pouring on oil and to run from one creature which is smitten and withered, to another which still continues with us, is to lean upon a broken reed, which not only deceives us, but wounds and pierces us. What a miserable plight was Saul in, and how doleful was his cry and complaint to Samuel! "I am sore distressed, for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answereth me no more," 1 Sam. xxviii. 15. Heaven and earth forsook him at once. Reader, if this be thy case, I advise thee to rest no longer in so miserable a condition. Thy very distress seems by a happy necessity to put thee upon God, and drive thee to him for refuge; and it seems to be the very aim and design of God in blasting all thy earthly comforts, to necessitate thee to come to him, which thou wouldst never be persuaded to do, whilst thou hadst any creature-prop to stay and rest upon. And think not that thou shalt be rejected, because thou art brought by a plain necessity to him. Come sincerely, and thou shalt not be upbraided because a necessity threw thee upon him.

II. Seeing then that the covenant of God is the great

relief and support of all his afflicted people, let the afflicted soul go to this blessed covenant, study and apply it in all distresses. It is in itself a sovereign cordial, able to revive a gracious spirit at the lowest ebb; but then it must be studied and applied, or it will never give forth its consolations to our refreshment. Extreme sorrows are apt to deafen our ears to all voices of comfort. The loud cries of affliction too often drown the sweet still voice of spiritual consolation; but either here or nowhere our redress is to be found. Why seek we the living among the dead? comfort from things that cannot yield it?

The covenant can discover two things which are able to pacify the most discomposed heart, the good of affliction and the end of affliction.

It will discover to us the good of affliction, and so rectify our mistaken judgments about it. God is not undoing, but consulting our interest and happiness in all these dispensations. It will satisfy us, that in all these things he does no more than what we ourselves allow and approve in other cases. It is not merely from his pleasure, but for our profit, that these breaches are made upon our families and comforts, Heb. xii. 10. Who blames the mariner for casting the goods overboard to save ship and life in a storm? or the surgeon for lancing, yea, or cutting off a leg or arm to preserve the life of his patient? or soldiers for burning or beating down the suburbs to save the city in a siege? And why must God only be censured, for cutting off those things from us which he knows will hazard us in the day of temptation? He sees the less we have of entanglement, the more promptness and fitness we shall have to go through the trials that are coming upon us; and that all the comforts he cuts off from our bodies are for the profit and advantage of our souls.

Here also you gain a sight not only of the good of affliction, but also of the comfortable end and issue of affliction. This cloudy and stormy morning will wind up a serene and pleasant evening. There is a vast difference betwixt our meeting with afflictions, and our parting from them. "You have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord." O get but Job's spirit