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DISCOURSE VII.

OUR PEACE WITH GOD NOT DEPENDENT ON OUR FEELINGS.

IN MY PROSPERITY I SAID, I SHALL NEVER BE MOVED. LORD, BY THY FAVOUR THOU HAST MADE MY MOUNTAIN TO STAND STRONG: THOU DIDST HIDE THY FACE, AND I WAS TROUBLED.—Psalm xxx. 6, 7.

MAN is a short-sighted creature. While his hours glide cheerfully away, and his desires are all gratified, he seldom thinks of moderating his happiness by calculating on its probable interruption; and when trouble overtakes him, he feels much more inclined to abandon himself to despair, than to mitigate his sorrow with the hope of relief. He is carried on through life, in one direction or another, by passing events, without looking beyond the present period, the object immediately before him, or the circumstance that for the moment engages his attention.

Nor can Christians be always acquitted of the censure implied in this reflection. Too often are they found taking the same contracted view of

their religious state and prospect. Sometimes their affections are warmed in devotion, and in their meditations on the truth and love of God. But they have not always equal enjoyment iņ those sacred exercises. There are times when the Lord seems even to hide His face from them. If, then, they rely too much on the state of their feelings when favoured with His presence, they cannot but be depressed when it is withdrawn. This alternation of a Christian's spirits, invariably results from a partial view of the ground of his confidence. It is not possible, in such a case, to preserve that peace of mind which it is the devout and steadfast believer's privilege to enjoy. When favoured with the Lord's presence, when we can feel that He is holding communion with us in prayer, we may well be happy. This is to enjoy on earth an antepast of heaven. But there is danger of our resting too much in these emotions. The experience of ourselves and others should remind us, that they are generally of short continuance; and hence we ought not to be surprised or distressed when they are interrupted. It is generally observed, that those Christians who are sometimes the most easily excited, from slight causes, are at other times sooner depressed than persons of a calmer temperament. In my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved. Lord, by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong: thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled. He who lately imagined himself

as secure as a rock in the ocean, now feels as unstable as the agitated waves. If religion is supposed to consist in such emotions, when they are suspended, it is natural to conclude that there is no religion in the heart. This is to substitute feeling for principle, and to prepare a rod for our own chastisement. For can we be surprised if our heavenly Father, who loves His children too well to suffer them to impose upon themselves, should hide His face from those who thus idolize their feelings? This He does, not to trouble, but to undeceive them; to teach them the folly of thinking that affections so liable to vary, can form a mountain too strong ever to be moved.

Let us learn, then, the danger of placing too great a reliance on mere impressions, and the necessity of resting on a firmer foundation to support our peace of mind. Our feelings are. fluctuating at the best. It is obvious, therefore, that to trust therein, must expose our peace to the danger of perpetual disturbance.

It is true, the Lord does sometimes try the faith of His most devoted servants, by hiding His face from them. Satan is permitted to buffet them, and to sift them, as he did Job, St. Peter, and St. Paul. Then are they troubled indeed. All the waves and billows of the Almighty seem to pass over them, and they are tempted to despair. They cannot find, nor should they wish to find, peace, until they once more behold the. light and the smile of their Father's countenance.

Such an exercise of the soul is not incompatible with the experience of the most faithful and sober-minded Christian. But this appears to be very different from David's case, when he contrasted the sorrow of his heart under the hidings of the Lord's face, with the confidence which he expressed in the stability of his happiness during his prosperity. It is folly to think any thing here below absolutely essential to our peace; and still more foolish to imagine that the prosperity of our circumstances, and our happiness in any created blessing, are beyond the reach of interruption.

And as of our earthly situation, prospects, or possessions, so of our religious affections. Every one who is accustomed to suppose that there can be no religion in his heart, without the constant excitement of his feelings, will be liable to similar alternations of ecstasy and depression. The state of our feelings is dependent on a variety of circumstances frequently beyond our control. How often is the mind cast down by nothing more than a derangement of the animal functions. We are variously constituted, and while one Christian can draw nearer to God, in sickness than in health, another feels a languor of spirit, and all the energies of his mind oppressed, when his body is weak and suffering. Many other causes, in a world like this, will account for that interruption of the pleasures of religion which occasionally all Christian's experience, without attributing it to

the decline of their love to God, or to the want of religious principle.

But while anxious thus to dissuade the inexperienced Christian from trusting so exclusively to his feelings, as though they constituted religion, I would also caution him, with equal solicitude, against a contrary error, which is much more dangerous to the soul. Man, fallen man, is a feeble, blind, erring creature, and ever flying off into opposite extremes. Offended at the fanaticism of ignorant or designing men, whose misconduct has been a reproach to Christianity, some have raised the cry against all religious impressions, and have not known how to avoid the shifting sands of enthusiasm, without casting anchor on the hard, cold, and barren rock of religious apathy. These depart as far from the truth as those whom they condemn, though in the opposite direction. Is there no medium? There is, and one that every Christian, who is true to his principles, will endeavour to attain. Neither the head nor the heart is exclusively the seat of religion. No dependence is to be placed on the feelings of the man, however ardent, who is ignorant of the fundamental truths of the gospel; and as little can the religious knowledge of those be relied on, whose affections remain uninfluenced by what they know. It is with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Rom. x. 10.) This confession cannot be made

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