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and then his heart fretteth against the Lord. * For if a diftreffed and miferable condition be the confequence of Extravagance and Profufion; if we are deprived of the comforts of old age, by the follies of our youthful days; if we fuffer the pains of Imprifonment, and are faft bound by the ignominious chain, by reafon of our often repeated tranfgreffions, we may reft fatisfied with the truth of this obfervation, for our own benefit and the benefit of others, that they who plough Wickedness shall reap Iniquity and they who fow Iniquity fhall reap Vanity. t

The good Prophet, whose words deserve every attention, was himself an Inftance of the moft cruel treat

ment and unjuft imprisonment. He had prophefied the captivity and conqueft of his countrymen; he had preached

Pro, xix. 3.

ibid. xxii. 8.

preached a doctrine they did not like to hear, he had informed them that their Sins and Iniquities had occafioned thefe national diftreffes. The minds of the Jews were too tender upon this fubject, to bear the reproofs of Jeremiah. Under the pretence of treafon against the State, they took him and caft him into a dungeon that was in the court of the prifon, and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water but mire-fo Jeremiah funk in the mire.* How diftrefsful was this Situation to fo good a man! He felt it no doubt with all the keenness of Senfibility-he felt it not, however, with murmuring and difcontent, but with all that manly firmness, and patient forbearance, which confcious Innocence infpires. Tho' he began the Song of his Lamentation with, "I am the man that hath feen affliction

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* Jer. xxxviii. 6.

"affliction"-yet he knew on whom he fhould rely, and "that the Lord "would not caft him off for ever; but tho' he caufe Grief yet he will

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have compaffion, according to the "multitude of his mercies, for he doth "not willingly afflict nor grieve the "children of men. To crush under "his feet all the prifoners of the "Earth, the Lord approveth not." + Pursuing this train of thought, he begins to reflect on the offences of his life, for every Son of Adam is a Child of tranfgreffion. Wherefore "then, he proceeds in the words of "the text, doth a living man complain, "a man for the punishment of his "Sins? Let us fearch and try out "our ways, and turn again to the “Lord. Let us lift up our heart with "our hands unto Godin the Heavens. So fuitable are these, and the following Expreffions to your prefent Situation, that I pray God you may

+ Lam. iii. 1, 31, 32, 33.

reap

reap all the confolations from them which they are capable of adminiftering. "They have cut off my life "in the dungeon and cast a stone up66 on me. Waters flowed over my "head, then I faid, I am cut off. I "called upon thy name, O Lord, "out of the low dungeon. Thou "hast heard my voice, hide not thine "Ear at my breathing, at my cry. "Thou dreweft near in the day that "Icalled upon thee, thou faidft, Fear O Lord, thou haft pleaded "the cause of my Soul, thou haft "redeemed my life." +

"not.

In contemplating this Example, do not your hearts burn with religious Zeal, and are you not ready to join the forrowful Sighing of this holy prifoner of hope? Many, I may add, all of you want confolation. Take it then in the person of the Prophet. But I have an higher

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Lam. iii. 40, 41, 53, &c.

higher Example to lay before you, and higher motives to enable you to bear the fevereft human afflic tions. With this view holy men have fuffered and bled. With this view, the wicked man hath turned away from his wickednefs, and done that which was lawful and right. The Example I recommend to your thoughts, and to your Imitation, is that of Jefus Chrift, the Son of God and Saviour of the World: for whether we confider him here as an illuftrious Inftance of fuffering Virtue, or a propitiation for our Sins, in either cafe he is entitled to the Love, the Gratitude, the Veneration of Mankind. I prefent not here before you an Inftance of a perfon infenfible to the Impreffions of human calamity, one who fortifies his mind by falfe reasoning, or deceives his own heart by never reflecting. On the contrary, our Saviour's Love

Ez. xviii. 27.

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