blessing, "Peace be within thy walls, and plenteousness within thy palaces '."

Oh blessed Lord God, "what prayer and supplication soever be made by any man or by all Thy people,... which shall know every man the plague of his own heart; then hear Thou in heaven, Thy dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways 2;" through Jesus Christ our Lord; to Whom, in the unity of the Father, and of the Holy Ghost, be ascribed all honour and glory, henceforth and for ever.

Amen.

1 Ps. cxxii. 7.

2

1 Kings viii. 38.

SERMON VIII.'

ON THE PRESENCE OF GOD'S JUDGMENTS.

ISAIAH XXVvi. 9.

"When thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness."

By the term "judgments" are meant the afflictions and calamities which Almighty God sends upon nations and individuals, either for the purpose of proving their faith and dependence upon Him, as in the case of Job; or, more frequently, for the sake of recalling them to a sense of their duty, of awakening in them religious feeling, and serious thoughts, and good resolutions, and the fear of God, and sorrow for sin, and amendment of life. He sends these judgments and visitations upon nations and individuals when He sees them erring, and going astray from

'This Sermon was published soon after it was written, and went through three editions.

the right way; when He sees them making ill returns for His mercy, and abusing His fatherly Providence ; when He sees them caring more for the things of this world than for those of the next, pleasing themselves and neglecting Him, running in their own ways, and forsaking the ways of God. When Almighty God sees nations and individuals pursuing this line, living to the world and not to Him, He sends afflictions, visitations, and judgments upon them, not so much in anger to punish them, as in sorrow and mercy to recall them from the paths of carelessness and sin, to a remembrance of God, and to walk in His fear; that being the true wisdom, whose "ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace He desires to recall them from the ways of carelessness and sin, because, not only are they a dishonour and offence to Himself, but productive of the most certain and fatal misery to those who walk in them: "There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked 2." That by fear and alarm and temporal suffering, He may awaken to religion, and bring to heaven those who will not be moved by the gentler methods of mercy and kindness, is the object of Almighty God in sending the "judgments," of which the prophet speaks in the text; saying, "When thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness." And what he means by this sentence is, that in many cases these judgments will

1 Prov. iii. 17.

2 Isaiah lvii. 21.

produce the desired effect; and that many persons who, but for them, would have continued in their careless and wicked courses, will, by means of them, be awakened from their stupor, and learn righteousness. And surely then, if ever, they will be awakened; when the proofs of God's existence, when the signs of His power, when the effects of His anger, are brought home to their senses; and their eyes see, and their ears hear, His tremendous doings; when distress and anguish come upon all people, "distress of nations with perplexity, men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming upon the earth';"-when they see, and feel, and are convinced of the vanity of human wisdom, the insufficiency of human protection, the weakness of human strength, when separated from God; then, surely, at last, if ever, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness; then, surely, if at all, they will be awakened to the belief that there is a God. I do not mean to that cold assent of the understanding by which the wickedest men on earth, those who are most sunk in the ways of sin, those who daily outrage their Maker by preferring their earthly interest to their heavenly, those who live in the general or constant neglect of the ordinances of religion, and the means of grace, will tell you that they "believe in God;" but to that warm, active, and heartfelt belief in

1 Luke xxi. 25, 26.

God, which obliges those who entertain it to be at some cost to serve Him, and to be at some pains, not only to prove the reality of their belief, but to secure, through Christ, the love and favour of Him in whom they believe. Surely nothing will so effectually produce this true belief as the presence of God's "judgments in the earth," and the conviction which they will force upon those who think at all, of how utterly unavailing human means are to avert them. Surely, then, at last, they will learn, not only that there is a God, but that none but He can protect them; that they are entirely dependent upon Him; that therefore the highest, the only, wisdom, must be to fear and serve Him above all things, and the greatest and most stupid folly be to neglect Him.

It is a sad consideration, and a melancholy proof of the corruption of our nature, that such steps should ever be necessary on the part of God to bring men to a right mind, and right understanding in matters of religion; sad that He, who would willingly lead men to safety by the tender voice of mercy and lovingkindness, should be forced to make bare His right arm, and to execute wrath and severity upon them, that fear may do what gratitude was unable to do; sad that men's hearts should be so perverted and estranged from all good feelings, as to force their heavenly Father to change His conduct, and alter His countenance towards them, and to use the tone of anger, instead of the