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UNREASONABLENESS OF COMPLAINT. 881

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.II.

IN PERFECT PEACE.

ISAIAH, xxvi. 3.

p him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee, eth in thee !"

the holy and happy beings that surround the one of God, were to concentrate their energies and resources, for the purpose of keeping a single human soul in perfect peace, they could not do it. This is work for an almighty arm; this requires the omnipotence of Jehovah! "For Thou, and Thou alone, O God, canst keep the soul of man in perfect peace!" Yes, my friends; He who at first created, and has since redeemed, the human soul, can alone keep it in really-tranquillizing peace, and impart to it really-satisfying happiness. He made it for Himself to find its rest and blessedness, only in Himself! so that the possession of all in

or should it be the language of the humblest, deepest, warmest gratitude? Cast yourself then, I conjure you, even now, on the mercies and merits of that Saviour-God, whom you have so long cast off, but who, by His very chastenings, is showing you how unwilling He is to cast you off for ever. Kiss the chastening rod, which smites in mercy; and exchanging, at the foot of His cross, the spirit of rebellion and repining, for that of loyalty and love; and the murmurings of complaint, for the song of praise, you will have cause now and throughout eternity to say "it is good for me that I have been afflicted; before I was troubled, I was going astray, but affliction led me to Christ, and through Christ to heaven. Therefore, for all His chastenings, bless the Lord, O my soul-and all that is within me, praise His holy name-by sanctified affliction He weaned me from earth, He made me meet for heaven-therefore will I bless the Lord, even for ever, and ever! Amen."

SERMON XVIII.

THE BELIEVER KEPT IN PERFECT PEACE.

ISAIAH, xxvi. 3.

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in thee !"

If all the holy and happy beings that surround the throne of God, were to concentrate their energies and resources, for the purpose of keeping a single human soul in perfect peace, they could not do it. This is work for an almighty arm; this requires the omnipotence of Jehovah! "For Thou, and Thou alone, O God, canst keep the soul of man in perfect peace!" Yes, my friends; He who at first created, and has since redeemed, the human soul, can alone keep it in really-tranquillizing peace, and impart to it really-satisfying happiness. He made it for Himself to find its rest and blessedness, only in Himself! so that the possession of all in

earth and heaven-the sovereignty of all created worlds the homage of all created beings-unhallowed by the blessing, and unsweetened by the smile of the ever-blessed God, would leave in the human heart an aching void, which never could be filled with all the fulness of joy, till "filled with all the fulness of God!" So true is that beautiful exclamation of the Christian poet

"O! Thou bounteous giver of all good,
Thou art of all thy gifts, Thyself the crown!
Give what Thou canst, without Thee we are poor,

And with Thee, rich; take what Thou wilt away!"

We see then, that it is the exclusive prerogative of God, to keep the soul of man in perfect peace; but whom does God keep in this blessed state? The text answers "the man whose mind is stayed on God." And why? "Because he trusts in God." The soul then is kept in peace, by staying itself upon God, and trusting in Him. This is in accordance with an immutable law of our nature, stamped on it by its Divine Author, that our happiness necessarily partakes of the essential character of the object on which we rest, and in which we trust for that happiness. Trust for happiness in an uncertain, unsatisfying, transitory world; your happiness must be as transitory, unsatisfying and uncertain. Trust for it in the affections of some dying fellow-worm; with the death of that fellow-worm your happiness

must die! Trust for it, in the holy, unchangeable, immortal God. It will be as unchangeable, as immortal as God Himself! Its nature, like His, will be holiness; its duration, like His, eternity.

I. But here a difficulty seems to present itself. How can a holy, sin-hating, offended God be an object of confiding trust to an unholy, sin-loving, rebellious worm of the dust? Is there not every thing in the character of such a Being as God, to inspire terror, not trust, into the heart of such a creature as man? Here, my friends, is the glory of the cross. The stupendous mystery of redeeming love there displayed, with a lustre so altogether surpassing every other manifestation of God's love, of which we have received any intelligence, is God's own wondrous plan-worthy indeed of His infinite wisdom-for winning back to Himself the alienated affections and confidence of an apostate world. And surely it is affectingly calculated to persuade every inhabitant of our world, who has ever heard its glad tidings, to repose the most grateful and confiding trust in God, and thus by being stayed upon Him, to be kept in perfect peace, when it is considered, that this most glorious and gracious scheme of salvation originated in a spontaneous movement of love towards a lost world, in the bosom of the Eternal Father, leading Him to send His well-beloved Son, the voluntary and self-devoted ambassador and accomplisher of the Father's purposes of mercy, to

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