fays the Pfalmift, therefore can I lack nothing-yea though I walk through the valley of the fhadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me, thy rod and thy faff comfort me. In allufion to the circumftances of the Patriarch Jacob, the Lord thus comforts his people by the mouth of his prophet Ifaiah But thou Ifrael art my fervant, Jacob whom I have chofen, the feed of Abraham my friend. Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof, and faid unto thee, Thou art my fervant; I have chofen thee, and not caft thee away. Fear thou not; for I am with thee: Be not difmayed; for I am God: I will ftrengthen thee; yea I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteoufnefs and again. Fear not thou worm, Jacob, and ye men of

Ifrael; I will help thee, faith the Lord, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Ifracl

and in another place. Hearken unto me, O houfe of Jacob, and all the remnant of the houfe of Ifrael, which are born of me from the belly, which are carried from the womb: And even to your old age I am he: and even to hoary hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you. Are we then like aged Jacob full of doubts and fears, let us comfort ourfelves with the remembrance of thefe promises, not made to us in the vifions of the night, like unto them that dream, but in the clear fun-fhine of the word of God. We have the more fure word of prophecy. The prophecies which are already accomplished, encourage us to expect the fulfilment of those which remain. The Christ, of

whom God fpake in times paft unto our fathers by the prophets, hath appeared in the flesh. On his merits we build our hope. He will be prefent with us, when we go down into Egypt, and defcend into the dark and dreary grave. Frail nature, like infirm and aged Jacob, may tremble at the journey; but where nature is weak, grace is ftrong; and the power of God is then moft prefent with us, when moft we ftand in need of fuccour and fupport. With what courage and fortitude, with what calm refignation and holy fubmiffion, do fome perfons meet the near approaches of death, who, at a distance, have regarded it with terror and dismay! How admirable the power of faith, which encounters this king of terrors with a Beady eye which looketh unto Jefus,

the conqueror of death and the grave, triumphant over this laft enemy of man, and receives from him, an affurance of the like victory and fuccefs! Who would not wifh for fuch a friend, when flesh and heart fhall fail? Make him then your friend, while yet you may, while yet the day of your falvation lafts, before your feet ftumble on the dark mountains, or the night of death furprise you in the midst of your fins. In all your dealings, in all your outward conduct and demeanor, in all the inward difcipline of your thoughts and affections_fo act and comport yourself, as you would wish to have done, were you now fummoned to give an account of your works. Think what fin is how momentary, how tranfient its pleasures -how eternal that mifery and woe

which is the portion of the impenitent. Think, how the finful inclination leads to the action_the acts of fin to the habit and the habit of finning, once confirmed, becomes a fecond nature. Think that you read of fome given over to a reprobate mind that there are fome perfons who seem to be paft feeling, with whom the most alarming confiderations have no effect

who have no heart to repentor if they do rouse themselves a little, their efforts are weak and ineffectual, and they foon relapfe into their former evil courses. The way of the finner is a flippery descent, which becomes fteeper the farther he proceeds. There are thofe, of whofe reformation we have fcarce any hope: Yet these began by small and scarce perceptible deviations from the right way: Once per