SERMON XXV.

CHRIST A COVERT FROM EVERY STORM.

ISAIAH Xxxii. 2.

And a man shall be as an hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest.

SHALL he so? Is there a man-(who or where he is, we do not now inquire)-is there a man who can shelter us from trouble; and, in spite of dangers, death, and devils, will undertake to guide and guard us safe to heaven?-Then, we will not be afraid of evil tidings. Then, let the rain descend as soon as it will; and the winds blow as hard as they will; and the floods come, and beat as furiously as they will: none of these things move us: we have now an anchor to our souls sure and stedfast, entering into that within the vail.

There are some storms against which nothing in the world can defend you all creature dependencies fail, and leave you exposed to the fury of the tempest, after all that you can do yourselves, or friends can do for you; and if you have nothing better to depend upon in the day of visitation, you will find, to your confusion and cost, that you have been trusting to a broken reed, that will not merely not support you, but will pierce and sorely wound. the hand that leans upon it. It is a troublesome

world we live in; and many a storm we must expect to pass through, if we stay any time in it;and no wonder, when we consider how full the world is of wicked men, and how wicked we ourselves have been, and are.-Well, let the world be never so wicked and tempestuous, I am now sent to inform you of a refuge, suitable and sufficient for every distress and danger: "And a man shall be as an hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest.

A man! (you cry, with visible disappointment.) Is all your boasted refuge come to this?-A man? • What can a man do-what can all the men in the world do, to screen me from trouble, or support me in it?—Ah! if you can tell me of nothing bet⚫ter than a man, there is no hope! No!-A much 'less storm than this before me, would crush me to atoms.A man my hiding-place! You do but mock my woe. If you had told me of Michael the Archangel; or if you could have assured me, and convinced me, that twelve legions, or one legion, of angels, that excel in strength, would 'be instantly dispatched for my relief; that would have been something. But to bid me be easy, and "fear nothing; and then tell me of a man that will undertake to secure me! How can you expect

that I'

Not so fast. I did say, "A man shall be a hidingplace from the wind;" and I say it again: and when you come to know who this man is, you will be satisfied I could not have directed you better ; and that it is the same as if I had said, "Turn ye to the Strong.hold, ye prisoners of hope."-Know, then, that the man here alluded to is no other than

the Man Christ Jesus"-the same as is called the "Son of man"-such a man as never before was heard of. When his birth was foretold, it was in these words: "Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel”— ("which, being interpreted, is God with us"): and, "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." (Isai. vii. 14, and ix. 6.) A man in whom dwelt all "the fulness of the Godhead bodily."

"This is the Man, th' exalted Man,

Whom we, unseen, adore:

But when our eyes behold his face,

Our hearts shall love him more.'

Now, then, I hope your fears are a little subsided; and you begin to think, that, if you are found in Christ, no storms can hurt you. And now I may enter upon the subject: where all that I propose is, to mention a few of the principal storms we must expect to pass through, and show, as we go along, what a blessed covert Christ is in all of them. And here I mean not to confine myself to those temporal judgments which have been so long hovering over us-though we shall find that in these, Christ is the only ark to save us, when the world around us are drowning. There are other trials, greater and more distressing than either famine, pestilence, or sword, and in which no creature can afford us thé help we want. For instance:

I. Deep convictions.

I could almost venture to say, that you all know

something about convictions. It is impossible, one would imagine, that, having sat so long under the Gospel, you should never have been uneasy.— What! were you never alarmed with a sense of guilt and a fear of damnation? Did conscience never tell you that you were sinners; and did the word of God never tell you, that, then, you were children of wrath, and condemned already?—Yes, yes you have had convictions, though you soon found means to drive them away again: and many of you know by experience the truth of what the Wise Man said; "The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who can bear ?” (Prov. xviii. 14.) The Apostle compares it to the pangs of death: "For I was alive without the law once but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died." (Rom. vii. 9.)-At first, perhaps, it is only some one particular sin, that lies like a mountain of lead upon the conscience; and like a spectre haunts us wherever we go; so that, look which way we will, our sin is ever before us: and it seems too great for the mercy of God to forgive, or the merits of Christ to atone for; and too deeply rooted in our nature even for Omnipotence to pluck up. But after a while we look beyond this one sin, and see many others, that we had never heeded before: we see sin in almost every thought, word, and action and old sins, arising to remembrance, seem as if they had been committed but an hour ago; while the wounds formerly made by them bleed and smart afresh. At length we perceive that our very nature is corrupt; that our heart is a fountain of sin; that the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint; and that even the mind and conscience

are defiled:-in short, that we are depraved, deformed, and ruined.

In this dreadful situation we look upward; and there we see an holy God, a just God, an angry God. We turn away affrighted, and look downwards; and there we see a bottomless pit, a lake burning with fire and brimstone, and all the flaming terrors of divine vengeance. We start back from the frightful scene, and look inward, to see if we can find any ground for consolation there; but, alas! within is guilt and gloom. The outcries and agonies of the soul hereupon are beyond description. You may form some idea of them, from what the Psalmist expresses of his feelings: "O Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath; neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure: for thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore. There is no

soundness in my flesh because of thine anger; neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin. For mine iniquities are gone over my head as an heavy burthen, they are too heavy for me. My wounds stink, and are corrupt, because of my foolishness. I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long." (Psalm Xxxviii. 1.)

This is the first tempest we meet with; and a terrible tempest it is: and wherever it rages, the poor, distressed soul must needs fly somewhere for shelter. -Some, unhappily, attempt to extenuate their sin, and so to reason themselves out of their foolish fear, as they call it Why art thou cast down, O my soul; and why so disquieted within me? I have C sinned, it is true-who hath not?--but I am not

so great a sinner as such-an one, and such-an-one,