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Forgetfulness of God in the Eafe and Sun- SERMON fhine of a fatal Profperity, who have been brought to feek the Lord by a gracious Adverfity! What Inftances of Perfons being deprived of their most valued temporal Bleffings, their dearest Friends and nearest Relations for their good, when these Comforts have become Snares to them and ftolen their Affections from God? And how has a Fit of Sickness, or being brought into Peril of Death by any other Means, ferved,, like an Angel with, his Sword drawn in the Way, to ftop thofe in the Career of their Wickedness who were rushing violently upon Destruction! Thus does the Lord bring us low, that He may bring us near to Himfelf, and humbleth us that He may exalt us in due Time: Were we not made fenfible of our own Infufficiency to help ourfelves, we fhould not flee to Him for Suc cour; and were He not to fuffer us to come into Trouble He could not be a Deliverer in our Distress, that fo we might learn to praise Him.

We read that the Mariners in Jonah's Ship, upon occafion of the Storm, feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered Sacrifice and made Vows; the Sense of their

Danger

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SERMON Danger excited that of their Dependence and their Deliverance ftirred them up to the Exercife of Gratitude and Praise to that God who fhews his Wonders in the Deep, and commands the Winds and the Sea, and they obey Him. It would be well, if the many Thousands amongst us that go down to the Sea in Ships, and occupy their Bufinéfs in great Waters, thus feated the Lord and reverenced his Holy Name inftead of pol luting it with their horrid Oaths and Impre cations: It is indeed a fad Confideration, that they who stand indebted to the Good→ nefs of Almighty God in a more peculiar manner for Prefervation in Dangers, fhould be obferved in general to live under lefs Senfe of Religion than any o thers. AAN AdmenT 4 H

But if Sufferings are defigned to be of general ufe in bringing Men to Serioufnefs, they are in a more particular manner ufeful to the Sons and Daughters of God, in exercifing their Virtues, and to prepare them for greater degrees of Grace. Thus David could fay, it was good for him that he had been afflicted, and every Saint befides David that has been afflicted in like manner, has Reason to make the fame Acknowledgment,

ledgment, or if he knows it not now, he SERMOS thall know hereafter,.

The Lord is oftentimes pleased to withdraw his Divine Comforts from his Servants after large Vouchfafements of his Favour, that they may not be exalted with their Gifts, nor afcribe that to Nature which is wholly of Grace, Inftances of which we have many in the holy Men of Old, particularly Elijah, David, and Jeremiah, whofe fore Tryals of this kind fetched from them very forrowful Complaints, not without a great Mixture of human Infirmity; for at fuch Times they were alfo left in Darkness, and therefore loft Sight of the Reasons of the Divine Oeconomy: But yet to convince both them and us that tho' many are the Troubles of the Righteous, yet the Lord delivereth them out of all, we find that in the midst of the Sorrows which they had in their Hearts God's com forts did fooner or later refresh their Souls, and that even in the darkest Night of their Affliction the Lord did appear unto them if not in the first or fecond, yet in the third or fourth Watch, faying, It is I, be not afraid; "it was I that fuffered this Difcomfort to befal thee for the Tryal of thy

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SERMON Faith, or for thy Improvement in Humility,

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and therefore thou oughteft not to have given way to Impatience and Diftruft, nor to forrow as Men without Hope; and it is I who am now come to thy Relief; therefore be of good Courage."4 gatĪ DIL

I come now to confider the Infide of the Narrative of which the Text is Part for every Miracle that our Saviour wrought, and every Parable that He fpake, reads us a Spiritual Leffon. The Ship in the midst of the Sea is an apt Emblem of Chrift's Church in this temporary State of her Paffage to Eternity, as the ftormy Wind lifting up the Waves thereof is of the vari ous Tryals and Perfecutions the must expect to meet with in her Voyage to that Haven of Reft where he would be; and our Lord's walking upon the Sea to the Relief of his Difciples, and his ftilling the Raging of the Tempeft, emphatically denotes his watchful and protecting Care of his Church in the worft of Times, and that He is always with it even unto the End.

That the few faithful Servants of God have in all Ages of the World met with a ftormy Paffage thro' it, the Scripture Account of the Church, as far as it comes

down,

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down, abundantly teftifies. The Oppo- SERMON fition which the Children of the Kingdom were to expect from the Children of this World began to fhew it felf fo early as in the Days of Cain and Abel, and fo far did Ungodlinefs prevail in the Earth that we read of but one Family fearing God remaining upon it after an Increase of Mankind thro' the Space of Two thousand Years, and that Family doubtlefs fuffering more from the Wickedness of the Times, than when afterwards toffed in the Ark upon the Waves of an Univerfal Deluge, After the new World was repeopled we find but Threefcore and ten Souls Worshipers of the true God, and their Seed foon after brought under cruel Bondage to Ægyptian Tyrants: And when the Ifraelites were fet free and conducted into the promised Land, how were they oppreffed and perfecuted by the idolatrous Nations round about them, Moabites and Ammonites, Philiftines and Syrians, as if the Church of God had been the Antitype of Noah's Dove that could find no refting Place for the Soles of her Feet; and as if the Fidelity and Obedience of one entire People had been too compleat a Sacrifice for Adam's fallen Race

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