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hensible power, and wisdom, and goodness of God. Even the very small part of his ways, and of his doings that man can survey, fills the mind with admiration and astonishment; and these wonderful works of the Creator, which have existed from time immemorial, and which have observed such amazingly minute exactness in their manifold motions for thousands of years, seem destined to last for ever. The speculations also of philosophers on the progress of society and human improvement, and the perfectibility of man, and the hopes of the benevolent and pious, seem to lead to the same anticipation; or if not, to a settled belief that the world shall remain eternally as it is; at least these things lead to a forgetfulness that "all these worlds shall be dissolved, that the heavens and the earth, which now exist, are, by the word of God, kept in store, reserved unto fire, against the day of judgment, and perdition of ungodly men; when the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burned up."

I take these expressions of Holy Writ, my brethren, in their literal acceptation, and do not think that they refer figuratively to the dissolution of the Jewish dispensation; nor do the new heaven and new earth refer to the introduction of Christianity, nor to the millennial glory and happiness; but I believe the whole refers, as St. Peter expresses, to the antecedent and subsequent circumstances of the final judgment.

I do not know that the Mosaic records of creation teach that in the beginning of the world matter was then first of all called into existence, but only that the present system of the universe was then formed, and fashioned as we now behold it: so also St. Peter does not teach that the existing universe will, at the last day, be destroyed and annihilated; but only that it shall be melted down, and remoulded; it shall be burned, and from its ashes shall spring a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness, and where righteous persons shall be for ever happy.

DISCOURSE XXII.

TRUST IN THE MOST HIGH, THE BEST DEFENCE AGAINST FEAR.

PSALM LVI. 2, 3.

"O thou Most High,—whut time I am afraid I will trust in Thee."

THESE are the words of one of the most extraordinary men, whose names, from a high antiquity, have descended to us, either in sacred or profane history. In early life he was a simple shepherd, on the hills of Judea. Whilst yet young, his musical talents, under Providence, caused him to be brought to the court of king Saul; from which time. he became a warrior, and the leader of a brigand. After being long persecuted, and hunted from place to place by the jealous monarch, he at last himself ascended the throne of Israel; where war, and poetry, and sins, and reverses filled the latter period of his days. David, the beloved son of Jesse, and the sweet singer of Israel, the devout poet of Judea, penned the words of our text.

The commencement of his exaltation was the beginning of a continual series of anxieties and difficulties. His heroic conduct in the affair of the gigantic Goliath, excited against him the envy of his sovereign, who foresaw that the young shepherd, the fair and ruddy minstrel, was destined by Providence to succeed to the throne; and, with a sort of fatuity, he sought to thwart Providence, by attempting the life of David with his own hand; and,

subsequently, by sending in pursuit of him detachments of troops. When this persecuted youth had resolved to flee from the face of Saul, and had parted with his beloved. and most attached friend, the king's son, he took refuge in Gath, a foreign kingdom, and the native place of the mighty warrior whom he had slain. Here he was recognized by the people, and information against him given to the king, and his person seized and brought before Achish. The history, as given in the First Book of Samuel, states, that when David overheard the accusations against him, made by the servants of Achish, he "was sore afraid." And it was under these circumstances, "when the Philistines took him in Gath," that he composed the ode which, in our collection of Psalms, is numbered as the Fifty-sixth; and which contains these words, "O Thou Most High, what time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee :" or, "In the day of fear I will cling to Thee," as the ivy clings to the oak, or the vine to that which supports it.

Fear is the apprehension of some evil likely to befall us, accompanied with a desire of avoiding it. In prosecuting this subject, I shall arrange my thoughts and remarks under three heads, for the sake of assisting the memories of the young.

In the first place I observe, that Fears are common to all men, at one time or another.

Secondly, That improper and inefficacious means of removing fear are often resorted to. And, in the

Third place, There is a true and effectual method of removing fear, suggested by the text.

I. Fears are common to all, and conscious guilt is the origin of feur.

As when children have violated the commands of their parents or guardians, a fear of detection and chastisement follows; and when members of human society have broken the just laws of the land or of their own consciences, they are haunted by fears concerning the result;-so all mankind, in consequence of their revolt from God, and dis

obedience to heaven, are universally liable to fears and apprehensions concerning possible or probable evils. Much suffering and manifold calamities have been induced by sin. Our bodies are liable to numerous diseases, painful and distressing, and to eventual dissolution and death, at which nature usually shudders and shrinks back. There is much injustice and violence in the earth, and there are millions, in various lands, who tremble at the oppressor's frown. A little experience in the world teaches the uncertainty of every thing future, and exhibits many instances of the most afflictive changes, and sad reverses, by which a prosperous family, with an affectionate and powerful protector at its head, is reduced to want, and to widowhood, and to a fatherless or orphan condition.

And there are moral causes of fear, when convictions of sin wound the troubled spirit, and perhaps keep it in a state of dejection for years, or rouse it at once to acute and scarcely tolerable anguish.

But the prevalent defect in human nature is, that it fears the less evil, and is fearless concerning the greater. It is often afraid on account of apprehended natural evils, such as sickness, poverty, man's contempt or scorn; whilst it remains callous as to spiritual evils, unremoved guilt, impending eternal death, and the wrath of God.

The fear of man, how prevalent in our day, both with the pious and the impious. With many pious people, and pious ministers in the land, how much trimming, lest ecclesiastical dignitaries, or those in affluence and authority, should think them righteous over much! And with men, who seem to have no fear of God, how much dread of man's opinion. The unfortunate tradesman or merchant, the proud man in military or other professions, fearless of the displeasure of the Almighty, often rushes headlong on death by self-destruction, because of the fear of disgrace, or the bad opinion of fellow mortals; and those fellow mortals, not the wise and good, but rather the impious and profane. This is one of the instances of fear, which is wholly without a true and justifiable foundation, more so perhaps than the visionary fears of the superstitious, who tremble at the

signs of heaven which indicate nothing, or the terrors of those, in many parts of the world, who dread the wrath of dumb idols, which can do no harm. There are, it is manifest, times and occasions of fear, either well or ill grounded, to which, more or less, all human beings are subject, in every period of life.

I was, in the

Second place, to notice some of the improper and inefficacious means resorted to for the removal of fear.

Some endeavour to work up their minds to a proud self-confidence, and a fool-hardy denial that they are afraid; or they boldly, but without reason, affirm that there is no cause of fear. The fear arising from a guilty conscience, and anticipated death and judgment, they attempt to get rid of by adopting the gratuitous assumptions of infidelity, on the one hand; or by trying to forget and disregard the subject for the time being, and so put the evil day afar off.

Many of the well-educated and opulent drown all serious reflection in a whirlpool of giddy, unintermitted amusement, and frivolity; whilst men of business produce the same effect, by immersing themselves in worldly affairs, and schemes and speculations, to increase their wealth, which pursuits and anxieties swallow up all other considerations.

And there are those who confide in their riches, and vainly expect that wealth will ward off every evil, and remove every cause of fear. "The rich man's wealth is his strong city, and as a high wall in his own conceit."

Some bolster up their spirits by the vain imaginations of self-righteousness. They think they have not been very great sinners. And to help out this idea, they cherish partial views of the divine character, forgetting his holiness, truth, and justice, and remembering only that he is merciful.

There are those of our fellow creatures who possess authority, and power, and influence, who seem to forget that they also are under authority, and have as much

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