and

grace,

which the counsels of God saw necessary for the religious instruction, and final salvation of man. How then should we glory in that cross, on which the last sacrifice was made, and rejoice to be accounted his disciples, who endured the cross, despising the shame, that he might give glory, honour, and immortality to all those who should seek them by a patient continuance in well-doing! To his teaching, connected with his death and resurrection, we owe that assured hope of mercy and of life eternal, which enables us to see, in the removal of parents and friends, not the cruelty of everlasting separation, but a momentary absence, which will enhance the joys of re-union. Our fathers are gone, and we are following. One generation succeeds another in its passage to the grave. But the night of temporary destruction will be followed by the day of everlasting restoration; and that day will deliver us for ever from sorrow, sin, and death.

SERMON

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SERMON IX.

AGAINST EXCESSIVE GRIEF.

Psalm 1xxvii. 7-12. Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more? Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High. I will remember the works of the Lord; surely I will remember thy wonders of old. I will meditate also of all thy works, and talk of thy doings.

THE occasion on which this psalm was written is altogether unknown. It was evidently dictated by the pressure of severe distress upon a feeling and pious heart. In the hour of sud'den reverse, when the arm of flesh can bring

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no help, though natural to look up to the Father of spirits, it is difficult to address him in any language, but that of lamentation: “ I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed." One might suppose, that in remembering God and complaining before him, as a sorrowful but submissive sufferer, the soul would find relief and be restored to quiet. But this, though the ultimate, is not always the instantaneous result. For amidst the first and strongest emotions of grief, we are apt to think of God, only to contrast his former goodness, with the severity of the present visitation; and the utterance of complaint seems to deepen, for the moment, the impressions of grief. In such a state, nothing can be more true to nature than the language of the text: "Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more? Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies?" This is the genuine effusion of a heart depressed by sudden calamity, or overwhelmed by unexpected deprivation;

deprivation; and he who knows our frame, instead of condemning the expostulation, list-, ens to it with all the indulgence of paternal love.

Happily these first bursts of grief soon exhaust themselves by their own violence, and: reason gradually regains at least a partial con trol over the feelings of the heart. Then we begin to be sensible, that we have been charging God foolishly; and in reflecting upon our ingratitude, we say within ourselves, "This is my infirmity"-the impatience of human frailty, dwelling upon one loss, and forgetful of ten thousand mercies. "But I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High;" those years in which he guarded my health, upheld my prosperity, and put into my mouth the song of thanksgiving: "I will: remember the works of the Lord; surely I will remember thy wonders of old." I will trace in my own history, as well as in that of the world, the testimonies of thy benignity, and say with renovated confidence, "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I

shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance and my God."

It is the wisdom of them who labour and are heavy laden with grief, to cherish these returning sentiments of humble resignation and cheerful piety: and I propose on the present occasion to offer a few considerations, calculated to encourage this purpose, and to aid them in carrying it into effect.

I observe, first, that the grief which nature dictates, and which, in moderation, the God of nature does not prohibit, becomes, in its excess, a tacit and practical accusation of the conduct of Providence.

The psalmist admits, that in uttering his complaints, he was showing his infirmity; and were we to consider the subject with the coldness of a stern philosophy, it must appear an act of the greatest weakness, to bewail events, which in the common course of things must happen, and against the occurrence of which we cannot promise ourselves the security, not even of a single hour.

"Man is born to die. Why then weep

and