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greatest fury of winds and waves can give but a very faint and imperfect image. God grant you may escape it! and may his grace awaken all your consciences, who sleep in sin! may the infinite love of the blessed Jesus open your eyes, and shew you your danger, that you may be led to cry unto him for deliverance! which is the

Second remark I have to make. And this relates to those persons among you, who find they are in a storm, and are willing to come to Christ, as these redeemed of the Lord did in the text, that he may command the winds and the waves, and there may be a calm. If you can but once see your danger, your are safe: for your distress cannot be greater than the Redeemer's mercy. Although you find yourselves sinking in the mighty waters, yet you have only to cry with Peter on the same occasion, Lord save me, and Jesus will certainly stretch forth his almighty arm, and you shall be saved. If you do but see your danger, and out of the deep sense of it cry unto him for help, he will not cast out your prayer! for he is a God of love, and his love is almighty to save. Be your sins ever so great, ever so numerous, your danger from them ever so imminent, fly but to the altar of his mercy, and take hold of the merits of that most precious blood, which was shed upon it, and then you are safe. For the blood of the lamb of God was shed for sinners, and no sinner ever sought aright to partake of the merits of it, and was cast out. I came not, says the blessed Jesus, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.. Sinners alone want a Saviour, and our God was therefore called Jesus, because he was to save his people from their sins, and he has promised in the text, that so soon as they cry unto him out of the deep sense of their distress, he will hear and answer: for he is always more ready to save, than they are to cry unto him for salvation. And may these considerations hasten you to seek this help: into whatever distress sin may have thrown you, if it has exposed you to all

the storm and tempests of the world, yet here is an almighty deliverer. The winds and the waves know his voice, and when he commands, they obey. At his word the jarring elements are silent in the natural world, and they will be the same in the spiritual. If he speak peace unto your souls, there will be a calm indeed. The rage of conscience, agitated by the dark blasts of guilt, and by the horrible waves of misery, will presently subside, all the inconstant tempers, and ruffled passions will be composed, and a serenity, but little short of heaven, will ensue.

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Such is the God of our salvation; whoever among you then sees your danger, and wishes for deliverance, come to our God and he will save you. Come to the Lord Jesus, with strong crying and tears, and you have his word for it, that you shall find in him an almighty deliverer. O ye poor distressed souls, whom conscience and guilt torment, here is your only remedy. Look up to your redeeming God: for his mercy is above your distresses. Your offences may be great against him, but they cannot be so great as you will find by faith his love is to you. He loved when you left him, how much more will he love now you are returning? Remember what he suffered -for you: for your sins he sweat drops of blood-for your sins he endured the torments of his bitter passion -for your sins he bled on the cross-and for your sins he died-his love to you was stronger than death: and therefore be not discouraged at the sight of your own wickedness. He will receive you, be ye ever so sinful he will not shut out, if you have been ever so ungrateful. Only come to him this day, and let there be raised in your hearts a strong cry for his salvation. Now try the truth of what you have heard. Seek him with your most fervent desires and earnest prayers, and see whether he be not the almighty Saviour of sinners. And if you come believing, as these redeemed of the Lord did in the text, who, when they saw no way left to escape, at last looked up to him,

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then he will as certainly save you, as he did them. O may his blessed Spirit put it into all your hearts to seek his love, until he bring you to the haven, where you would be, first to the holy haven of the church militant, and then to the happy haven of the church triumphant! And

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After you have received his mighty deliverance, after he has brought you safe from the storms of the world, and has calmed the winds, and composed the waves, which opposed your voyage to the desired haven, has made you a just and holy member of the ark of his church, and has placed you securely in it; after he has done these wonders for you, is it possible for you to be silent in your deliverer's praise? While you have a grateful sense of his benefits fresh in mind, you will certainly be celebrating them. You cannot refrain from the just tribute of thanks. And this is the third and last part of the beautiful painting in the text, "O that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the chil"dren of men." And they who have been in danger, and they who have been delivered, and now live in safety and joy, they must be telling of his salvation all the day long. Their hearts overflow with gratitude and praise. Redemption is their favourite subject, and the very name of their Redeemer is dear and precious. JESUS is a word that sounds exceeding sweet and pleasant in their ears: they find continual delight in speaking of their redeeming God, and in declaring the wonders which he hath done for their redemption. And they praise him with the gratitude of the heart, and with the thankfulness of all the affections, not only in private, but also in public, not only with their lips, but with their lives; for the praises of a pure and holy life are the best sacrifices of thanksgiving which we can now offer. And may our almighty God and Saviour grant, that every one of you may thus praise him! O blessed Jesus! let this scripture be fulfilled to day in this whole congregation. Let not

one of them depart until they see upon what a stormy ocean they are all embarked, and what dreadful winds and waves sin, and Satan, and the world, have raised against them. Shew them their danger, that they may fly unto thee for help. And the moment they cry unto thee, be at hand, O God of love, to hear and answer. And bring them safe by thy good Spirit from the storms and tempests of this world unto the desired haven. Blessed Jesus say unto our troubled souls, peace, be still. Let thy grace calm all our passions, and so smooth all our ruffled tempers, that every one of us may go out of the church in perfect love with thee, and with one another. Hear us, most adorable Saviour, and answer us to the glory of the Father, and to the honour of the eternal Spirit, three persons of one undivided essence whom we worship and adore now and for ever. Amen.

SERMON VII.

PSALM CVII. 33-39.

He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the water springs into dry ground: a fruitful land into barrenness for the wickedness of them that dwell therein: he turneth the wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground into water-springs, and there he maketh the hungry to dwell, that they may prepare a city for habitation and sow the fields and plant vineyards, which may yield fruits of increase: he blesseth them also so that they are multiplied greatly, and suffereth not their cattle to decrease.

In the former parts of this divine hymn we have seen the misery and distress of mankind in their fallen state, from which, so soon as they were made thoroughly sen sible of it, and humbled under it, our gracious Redeemer delivered them. He came upon their first cry, and his almighty arm brought salvation. And his love was equal to his power: for he not only saved them from their misery and distress, which was indeed a most adorable act of free and unmerited grace, but he also enriched them with his divine and heavenly blessings, which, since they could never merit, they could therefore have no reason ever to expect. But mercy is the distinguishing attribute of our Lord Jesus. He is free to pardon-free to give. Whosoever cometh unto him, he will in no wise cast out, neither out of his love here, nor his glory hereafter. And shall not they, who have tasted of his redeeming love, comply with the prophet's request in this psalm? Shall not they be thankful? Consider from what a depth of misery his free grace has raised them, and then judge how it is possible for them to refuse their due tribute of thankfulness? You saw them first in the wilderness, lost and starving tra

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