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of all created things. Hence will arise a distrust alike of them and of ourselves. Hence will originate a lively confidence in the All-wise and Almighty Lord-in that Jesus to " whom all power in heaven and earth is given." That it is our duty to repose in Him (what St. Paul terms)

our hope," our only hope-is grounded equally on reason as on the command of God; and to act otherwise, is no less a manifest folly than a palpable injury to God. For what created thing possesses authority not derived from Him-which is not continually, both in its very existence and in its efficacy, subject to Him-which, at His pleasure, may not be diminished or destroyed? "No king," says the Scripture," is saved by the multitude of a host:" "A mighty man is not delivered by much strength;" and "a horse is a vain thing for safety." It is obvious, then, that no created power can supply a solid bulwark of security, or communicate a firm assurance of success. The contrary belief is "to lean upon a broken reed"-it is, indisputably, a vain and mischievous dependence, which will hurry us into disappointment and guilt. It will cause us to wrong the Lord, by arrogating to ourselves, or by assigning to others, that which belongs by peculiar right to Him alone. It would imply, that He was unable or unwilling to assist usthat He neglected to use that strength which He purchased at such an exorbitant rate.

On the other side, trusting only in our everblessed Saviour, we act wisely and justly and gratefully. We build our hopes on sure and steadfast grounds-on wisdom that cannot be deceived-on strength that cannot be withstood -on goodness without bounds, and on fidelity without end or diminution. We act with a humility and sobriety of mind, which suits our low condition, and which is also consistent with propriety. We assert thereby our strong assurance of His capability and readiness to benefit His creatures; we render due honour and homage; we comply with His earnest solicitations, and we promote His gracious designs of mercy and of kindness. It is for such reasons that the Scriptures everywhere so highly commend, and so warmly exhort us to practise, the great duty of implicit reliance upon God-that the breach or omission of it, is so keenly resented and fearfully chastised. "Thus saith the Lord, Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord: for he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh. But he shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited." And again, "Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is: for he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall

not see when heat cometh: but her leaf shall be green, and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit." Thus, my brethren, whilst, on the one hand, we are threatened with severe disappointments and terrible afflictions, if we have recourse to other aid, or if we neglect and distrust the aid of God; on the other, we are encouraged with the prospect of distinguished success, and of the ultimate certainty of glorious rewards, if in all our proceedings we adhere pertinaciously to Him. Nor should our conduct be thus directed only on important and particular occasions, but in all our most ordinary affairs. St. James severely reprehends the arrogance of those who cry-" Tomorrow we will go into such a city and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain. Whereas, ye know not what shall be on the morrow." And he adds, that instead of such language, "ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this or that." For it must ever be by submission to the will of God, and by dependence upon His providence, that human affairs can possibly be conducted. Impotent and unfit as we ourselves confessedly are, we need an especial assistance from the Lord; and since the success depends on Him, to Him should the glory be especially ascribed.

As it is folly and a crime to imagine that anything can be achieved without God, so is it

infinitely foolish and criminal to suppose that we can do GOOD without Him. The very idea touches at the summit of arrogant presumption. It is idolatry-it is sacrilege of the vainest and most wicked description. And if it be vanity to expect the happy termination of a great undertaking-if it be madness to contemplate the prosperous result of dangerous battles, simply by the aid of "our own bow and our own spear," still more vain and distempered must be the conceit, which hopes to overcome the fleshly desires the menaces and allurements of this world -the delusions and powers of darkness, by the single force of human reason and human resolution! Experience plainly testifies, and our Saviour Himself has expressly declared, that in these things, without His especial influence and blessing, we can do nothing. He assures us that we are but branches grafted on His stock; so that without constantly drawing due supplies of invigorating sap from Him, we can have no spiritual existence. The best and wisest men have by their practice taught us to acknowledge thishave enforced the necessity of depending wholly upon Him, and of ascribing all to His pervading power. "Why," said St. Peter and St. John, "why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man walk?” "His name"-the mighty name of Jesus Christ

through faith, "hath made this man strong." "Yea the faith, which is by Him, hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all." The acknowledgment, my brethren, in this passage, relates, it is true, to a miraculous operation, but the works of the Spirit, in fact, are not less miraculous. They require an interposition of the hand of God, equally supernatural and extraordinary. And though the outward effect is indeed less palpable, the inward agency is not less sure and efficacious.

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In short, to do all in the name of Jesus, implies a strenuous invocation-an earnest entreaty, that He would deign to be our continual helper. Pray," says St. James, "and anoint the sick in the Lord's name. Prayer is, in fact, the only means by which a blessing may be implored or obtained; it is that which adds a real sanctification to our actions, and prepares us for those undertakings which we design to carry into effect. Blind and ignorant as we are, we require the direction of a Superintending Power even in that which we ought to ask. We know so little what will tend to our own good-so little what will conduce to the honour of our Maker, that, without His guiding Spirit, we may be led to desire the very reverse. We are, moreover, so infirm of purpose, so inconstant even in our wishes, that when we design well, we have need of God's support in order that we may persist in it—that

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