declare his Wisdom, Goodness and Power; and the Voice of Nature, in all her Works, fpeaks in the Language of the wife King, Truft in the Lord with all thine Heart, and lean not to thine own Understanding. Happy are they who listen to this ftill Voice! they will act not only the fafeft, but the most rational Part; whilft others, full of themfelves and their own Wisdom, are daily condemning what they do not understand: And if ever they recover their right Reason, the first Step must be to see their Weakness, and to join with the Pfalmift in his humble Confeffion, It is my own Infirmity.

DISCOURSE

DISCOURSE XII.

PSALM XCIV. 19.

In the Multitude of my Thoughts within me, thy Comforts delight my Soul.

The old Translation renders it thus:

In the Multitude of the Sorrows that I had in my Heart, thy Comforts have refreshed my

Soul.

T

HESE Verfions, as they both very well express the Sense of the Original, so they give Light to each other. The Multitude of Sorrows, mentioned in one Tranflation, must be the Sorrows, in fome Sort, peculiar to the Men of Thought and Reflection; fince in the other they are called, The Multitude of Thoughts. That there are

fuch

row.

fuch Sorrows we learn from one who was himself a Man of great Thought, In much Wisdom, fays the Preacher, is much Grief; and he that increafeth Knowledge increaseth SorIf we follow the Train of Thought which he has marked out, and view the Life of Man under all the various Circumstances incident to it, every Step we take will yield a Proof of his Propofition, every Discovery will bring its Torment, when we find, That all the Days of Man are Sorrows, and his Travel Grief; yea, his Heart taketh not Rest in the Night.

But there is no End of fuch Inquiries; and indeed not much Reafon for them: We may fit ftill, and our own Experience will bring this Knowledge home to us, without giving us the Trouble of looking abroad into the World to find it. Cares and Anxieties will make their Way to us, though our Doors are guarded within and without. We need only have common Understanding to fee the Evil that is in the World; and we muft want common Senfe, if we feel no Share of it ourselves.

The Distemper then is plain: But who is he that can cure it? Who can administer a Remedy fufficient to the Evil, and give Ease to an Heart oppreffed with Sorrows, and weighed

weighed down with a Multitude of tormenting Thoughts? To find a Cure for the Evils. of Life has employed the Thoughts of the wisest Men in all Ages; and the Employment was worthy of all their Care: But yet the World is where it was, nothing happier for their Enquiries; ftill complaining, ftill calling out for Help, and finding none. Some bid us lay hold of the good Things of the World, and open our Hearts to the Pleasures of Life. Wholesome Advice! but where are the good Things to be purchased, the Use of which they prescribe? What Merchant can furnish us with fincere Pleafures, and Ease of Mind which knows no Grief? Others bid us be above Pain and Sorrow, and call ftrongly upon our Reason to reject these Phantoms of the Imagination, which can have no Effect upon a wife Man. An hard Leffon! For, though the Master may forget common Sense whilft he is teaching, yet the Scholar will find it hard to forget it when it comes to feeling. What must we do then? Must we give ourselves up to Defpair, and as a Prey to the Calamities of Life? No: One Remedy there still is, unknown to the Wisdom of Greece, unfought for by the Men of this World, capable of adminiftering Pleafure and Delight to our Minds,

T

Minds, amidst all the Uncertainties and Vexations that furround us. What this is, you may learn from the Words of the Text, Thy Comforts have refreshed my Soul.

The plain Meaning of this is, That Religion, or a juft Senfe of our Relation to God, is the only real and folid Support against the many Evils of Life: This is our Sheet Anchor; with this, no State of Life is infupportable, without it, no Condition is tolerable.

Give me leave to examine before you the Truth of this Affertion.

Some Evils there are which are natural, which are born with us, and from which not Circumftances or Condition of Life can ever deliver us. Such is the Fear of Death: It is a Fear common to Young and Old, to Mafter and Servant, King and Subject: It arifes with the first Dawnings of Reason, and continues with us to its laft Decay: It lives with us when we are poor, and forfakes us not when we are rich: It imbitters the Misery of the Oppressed, and corrupts the Pleafures of the Mighty. We bring with us into the World fuch an Averfion to the going out of it, that, to speak in the Language of Scripture, Through Fear of Death we are all our Life-time fubject to Bondage.

4

Now