who have surmounted the difficulties under which you now labour, and who may be able to comfort you with the same consolation wherewith they have been comforted of God.

Finally Resolve to wait upon God, whatever may be the issue, saying with Job, Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.

"Ye humble souls that seek the Lord,

Chase all your fears away:

And bow with pleasure down to see

The place where Jesus lay.

Thus low the Lord of life was brought;
Such wonders love can do!

Thus cold in death that bosom lay
Which throbb'd and bled for you.

A moment give a loose to grief,-
Let grateful sorrows rise;
And wash the bloody stains away
With torrents from your eyes.

Then dry your tears, and tune your songs,
The Saviour lives again;

Not all the bolts and bars of death
The conqueror could detain.

With joy like his shall every saint
His empty tomb survey;

Then rise, with his ascending Lord,
To realms of endless day."

Spiritual Bondage.

SERMON XIV.

PSAL. CXLII. 7.

Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name.

WHILST we are in the body, the care of it is both natural and necessary. No man ever yet hated his own flesh; but cherisheth and nourisheth it. But the good man is chiefly concerned about his soul; and when he thinks that no one cares for it he goes to God, and begs that he would exert his power and grace for its preservation and happiness. I looked on my right hand, says David, and beheld; but there was no man that would know me ; refuge failed me; no man careth for my soul. I cried unto thee, oh Lord! I said, Thou art my refuge, and my portion in the land · of the living. Attend unto my cry, for I am brought very low: deliver me from my persecutors, for they are stronger than I. Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name.

From the title of this psalm we learn that David was in the cave when he offered

up this prayer, and the language therefore was peculiarly adapted to his situation. We may here notice the mercy implored, and the end for which it was desired.

I. The mercy implored: Bring my soul out of prison.

David was now in a very distressed condition; neglected by his friends, persecuted by his enemies, and seemingly forgotten of God. Personal, family, and national troubles beset him on every side, and he was ready to sink under them. Like his great antitype, he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He was fast bound in the fetters of adversity, and the iron entered into his soul. His way was hid, and God had hedged him in. He neither knew the reason why he had contended with him, nor what would be the end of the contention. Whichever way he looked, scenes of horror and distress presented themselves, and he saw no probable way of escape, no promise to support him, no openings of providence to direct him. His unhappy situation is represented by his being in a prison; for he now sits in darkness, and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron.

The prayer of David may apply to the case of an awakened sinner, as well as to that of a disconsolate saint.

1. It may be considered as the language of an awakened sinner. Such a one is ready to say as the church of old, Surely against me is he turned, he turneth his hand against me all the day. He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old. He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy. He hath enclosed my ways with hewn stone: he hath made my paths crooked. The sinner feels himself as it were in a prison; not indeed in a state of unalterable misery, such as is the prison of hell; but he is in a state of slavery, and in the house of bondage. He is under the power of Satan, that formidable tyrant, who is king over all the children of pride; and sin also has the dominion over him.

He is held fast by the cords of his sins, and his iniquities have taken hold upon him. The bonds of love and of duty he has broken; and now he is in other bonds, which he would break but cannot. All his efforts are unavailing, and he cannot deliver his own soul-He is also a prisoner to the divine law, and justice demands his life as a sacrifice. There is a debt owing which he cannot discharge, and a punishment to be inflicted which he cannot endure. He is straitened in his affections and exertions, so that he can neither love nor obey as he ought, nor as he now most earnestly desires. He sits in darkness, works hard for a livelihood, yet sees no fruit of all his labour. He hears the scorning of many, feels unhappy, and lives in daily dread of greater misery to come. From this miserable condition he earnestly desires to be freed, and feels that none can deliver him but God. The Lord executeth judgment for the oppressed, and giveth food to the hungry: the Lord looseth the prisoners. The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind: the Lord raiseth them that are bowed down. To him therefore the penitent directs his prayer; for he can deliver him speedily and effectually. Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee: according to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die. Let my soul be set at liberty free me from the guilt of sin, and break its reigning power. Let the prey be taken from the mighty, and the lawful captive be delivered. Knock off my fetters, bring me out of this thraldom, into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Deliver me from a spirit of fear, that I may receive that of power, of love, and of a sound mind. Enlasge my heart to run in the way of thy commandments, and let me enjoy that peace which they have who love thy righteous law. Let me be no longer an alien or a stranger, but made nigh by the blood of

:

the cross. Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name.

2. This may be considered as the language of a disconsolate christian, when oppressed or persecuted, or under trouble. Such was the prayer of David : Attend unto my cry, for I am brought very low: deliver me from my persecutors, for they are stronger than I. And when restrained from attending on public ordinances, he pours out similar complaints: When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me; for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God; with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holy day. Such also was the language of Hezekiah when confined by sickness: I said, I shall not see the Lord, even the Lord in the land of the living. Absence from public worship is a kind of imprisonment to a gracious soul; and his attendance upon it is but little better when he finds himself contracted and perplexed. In that case the end is not answered by it; he is not benefitted, and God is not glorified. But this may be further illustrated in the following particuJars

(1.) The christian considers himself as in a prison when he is in an unbelieving frame. We read of some who are concluded in unbelief, and shut up unto the faith that is to be revealed. Nothing more fetters the powers of the soul, and prevents a proper exertion of them for God, than unbelief. It naturally leads to sloth and indolence, hardness and stupidity; and where it wholly prevails, no grace can be exercised, and no duty can be performed aright. A distrustful unbelieving heart is the direct contrast to that enlargedness of heart which is necessary to run the way of God's commands. In this prison some of God's people are confined for a long time; and if not in the prison itself, yet at least in the court