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near and said, "Oh Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel." Such as are near to God have the most blessed opportunity of knowing his mind and will: the secret of the Lord is with them, and he will shew them his covenant.

ven.

4. Being near to God, they are also near to heaThose who come to him are come within sight of it; yea, have already entered into the suburbs of heaven. "Ye are come (saith the apostle,) to mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven; and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant." The presence of God on earth is heaven begun, and the full enjoyment of it hereafter will be heaven com plete. Heb. xii. 22-24.

IMPROVEMENT.

(1.) How vain are all our hopes of happiness without God! While far from him, evil is near to us, and we are near to the greatest of all evils-hell and eternal destruction. They that are far from thee shall perish. Psal. lxxiii. 27.

(2.) Let us be reconciled to those providences which tend to bring us near. The severest trials are often among the means which God employs to bring us to himself; and had it not been for them we might still have been afar off, and without hope. Nor are we likely to be kept near without a similar discipline. Afflictions make us feel our need of mercy, and lead us to seek it. How often, when the christian has departed from God, is he brought back by means of the rod! He restoreth our souls, and leadeth us in the paths of righteousness, for his name sake.

(3.) Let nearness to God be the object sought after in every holy duty, both public and private. Rest not satisfied in acts of worship, but labour to get near to God in them; all else will be unprofitable and vain. We may as well be in Geshur as at Jerusalem, unless we see the king's face.

(4.) Not only let us desire to be brought near in a way of interest, but to keep near in a way of communion. Let our hearts be sacred to the Lord, and neither suffer the world nor sin to have any place there. Continued nearness to him will be our greatest honour and happiness: it will soften afflictions, heighten our mercies, fortify us against the fear of death, and be our best preparative for heaven.

(5.) If the Lord's people be near and dear to him, let them be so to us. Consider them as objects of his love, and learn to love them for his sake. How kind and affectionate ought we to be towards those who are thus precious in his sight! By this also we shall know that we are passed from death to life, because we love the brethren.

For thee, my God, may my whole soul,

Bound by a thousand ties,

Be firmly fix'd, and day by day

To greater nearness rise.

Begone, vain world, with all thy charms,

Nor more disturb my peace;

Ye inward lusts, infernal powers,

Your fruitless efforts cease.

Fly swiftly hence, ye joys of sense,
Let every sin depart;

The God of heaven asserts his claim,
And grace commands my heart.

Divine wrath an object of fear.

SERMON VII.

JER. xvii. 17.

Be not a terror unto me: thou art my hope in the day of evil.

EVERY believer can adopt the former of these ex

pressions, but not the latter. In the one, the prophet deprecates God's wrath; in the other, he declares his confidence in the divine mercy. It was an evil time in which he lived, a time of great calamity, when his country was ripe for ruin and going into captivity. He warned them of the danger; but they hated him for it, and put him into the dungeon. Under these persecutions, he appeals to God, and implores his protection. "Behold, they say unto me, Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come now. As for me, I have not hastened from being a pastor to follow thee; neither have I desired the woeful day, thou knowest that which came out of my lips was right before thee. Be not a terror unto me: thou art my hope in the day of evil."

This prayer was peculiarly suitable at such a time; and as there are many days of evil to which we also are exposed, it is suitable for us. Let us consider what is implied in the petition-and in the confidence which is here expressed.

I. In the petition the prophet deprecates divine wrath: Be not a terror unto me.

1. We may observe, that the awful majesty of God is in itself an object of fear and dread. He is indeed the exceeding great joy of his people, and their supreme delight; yet when they consider his infinite understanding and unbounded power, in connexion with inflexible justice and righteousness, as of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, and who will by no means clear the guilty, he is also the object of their fear and dread. Moses loved the Lord God of Israel, and was indulged with such intimate communion that he spake with him face to face; yet when at Sinai he saw the lightnings flash, heard the thunders roar, and perceived the mountain tremble under the weight of a descending God, "so terrible was the sight that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake." And when Isaiah saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, his train filling the temple, and the seraphims crying one to another, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory,-he said, "Woe is me, for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!" Habakkuk could rejoice in the Lord, and joy in the God of his salvation, and that even in the absence of all created good; and yet the awful displays of divine majesty, and the threatened vengeance to his enemies, quite overwhelmed him. "When I heard (says he) my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself." Even the mercy of God is awful; for "they shall fear the Lord and his goodness:" how much more his greatness! The nearer our views of the divine Being, the more awful and impressive will they be. Yet it becomes us

not to entertain a slavish fear of him, or that which hath torment; but to mix our reverence with faith and love, and to adore as well as fear.

terror unto me, oh Lord. Hab. iii. 16. Hos. iii. 5.

Heb. xii. 21.

Be not a

Isai. vi. 5.

2. Divine chastisements are also to be feared. The prophet does not pray to be wholly exempt from chastisement, but that God would not deal with him so as to be a terror to him. "Oh Lord (says he) correct me, but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing." Thus David prayed: "Oh Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger; neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure." Also Job: "Let him take his rod away from me, and let not his fear terrify me-Withdraw thine hand far from me, and let not thy dread make me afraid." In the present state, afflictions are useful and necessary; and God has declared that if his people forsake his law, he will visit their iniquities with stripes, and their transgressions with a rod; and that whom he loveth he chasteneth, and rebuketh every son whom he receiveth. It does not therefore become us to pray absolutely against affliction; that would be to deprecate some of the special instances of love and mercy, for which we might have reason to be thankful all our days but to desire that all our trials may be so mixed with mercy as that God may not be a terror to us in the day of evil, is right and proper. Many have had to say with David, "It is good for me that I have been afflicted;" and with Joseph, "The Lord hath made me fruitful in the land of mine affliction." The cross is the way to the crown; but while we bear the cross, it is good to have a sight of the crown. While afflictions lie heavily upon us, we may pray to have them lightened, to have the curse removed, and the bitter ingredients mingled with love, so that all may be salutary and medicinal, purging away our

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