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God has arbitrarily and without any particular cause withdrawn himself from them. But it may well be doubted whether in any case God ever dealt thus with any of his creatures. Our blessed Lord, when he cried, "My God! my God! why hast thou forsaken me?" was suffering the punishment due to those whose iniquities had been laid on him. And Job, whose expression, "I shall die in my nest," we have before noticed, had evidently a measure of carnal confidence which wanted to be mortified and subdued. With the exception of his case we are not aware of any thing that bears even the appearance arbitrary proceeding on the part of God: the constant tenor of his acting is that which was proclaimed to Asa, "The Lord is with you, while ye be with him: if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you." Learn then to trace your sin in your punishment: and, if you cannot find the immediate cause of his withdrawment from you, pray to him, with Job, " Shew me wherefore thou contendest with me." The prayer which David offered under such circumstances, will assuredly, if offered up in faith, bring down upon you the blessings of peace and joy. This God himself has promised1— — and you may be as fully assured of its accomplishment to your soul, as the promise and oath of God can make you m

i 2 Chron. xv. 2.

1 Isai. lvii. 16-18.

-]

k Ps. cxliii. 1-8.

m Isai. liv. 7-10. with Heb. vi. 17, 18.

DXLIV.

OUR TIMES IN GOD'S HAND.

Ps. xxxi. 15. My times are in thy hand.

TO the ungodly it is a satisfaction to deny the providence of God, and to cut him off, as it were, from any connexion with his creatures. But the saints find a rich consolation in the thought that God reigneth. This it is which reconciles them to the evils they endure, and fortifies them against those which they have reason to apprehend. David, in the psalm before us, complains that there were many who "took counsel together against him, and devised to take away his life." But he comforted himself in the reflection, that, however man might be his enemy, God was "his God;" and that however bitterly his enemies might be enraged against him, "his times were not in their hands, but in God's ;" and,

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consequently, that they could do nothing against him but by His permission.

From this view of the text we are led to notice, I. Our dependence on God

God is the Governor of the universe: he appoints the stars their courses; he makes the raging elements to fulfil his will; he imposes a restraint upon the most savage beasts, causing them to suppress or forget their instinctive ferocity, or overruling the exercise of it, for the preservation or destruction of men, as he sees occasion. The affairs of men he more especially controls. In his hands are,

1. The occurrences of life

d

[There is nothing really casual or contingent in the world. It is God that disposes of us from our earliest infancy to the latest hour of our lives. "He determines the bounds of our habitation." If we are called to the possession of wealth, or deprived of it by any untoward circumstances, it is "the Lord who gives, and the Lord who taketh it away." If we enjoy health, or pine away in sickness, it is "the Lord who both wounds and heals, who kills and makes alive." "There is neither good nor evil in the city, but the Lord is the doer of it." Even the falling of a hair of our head, trifling as it is, takes not place but by his appointment*.]

2. The seasons of death

[To every man" there is an appointed time upon earth1:" there are "bounds which he cannot pass "." "God holdeth our souls in life":" and "when he taketh away our breath, we die, and return to the dust"." Youth and health are no security against the stroke of death: the most vigorous constitutions are soon broken, when God is pleased to afflict us: the skill of physicians, however useful when attended with his blessing, is of no avail. So numerous are the occasions of death, that no caution can possibly avoid them: a man may flee from a lion, and a bear meet him; or he may go into a house for safety, and a serpent bite him." When God "requires our souls," we must surrender them at his calls." Our days are protracted to an advanced age, if he be pleased to uphold us;

a Ps. cxlviii. 8.
d Jonah i. 17.
g Job i. 21.
k Matt. x. 30.
n Ps. lxvi. 9.

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b 1 Kings xiii. 28.
e 2 Kings ii. 24.

h 1 Sam. ii. 6, 7.
1 Job vii. 1.
• Ps. civ. 29.

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c Dan. vi. 22.
f Acts xvii. 26.

i Amos iii. 6.

m Job xiv. 5.

P Job xxi. 23-25.

s Luke xii. 20.

if not, our course is finished as soon as ever it is commenced. It is "in God, and in God alone, that we live, and move, and have our being."]

But though these ideas are certainly comprehended in the text, its more immediate scope is to declare, II. Our security in God—

We have already observed, that the words of the text were introduced by David as a consolatory reflection, under the cruel treatment which he had received from friends and enemies. We are therefore taught by them to assure ourselves,

1. That none can destroy us before our time—

[We appear to be, yea, we really are, in the midst of many and great dangers. But however we may be encompassed with enemies, they cannot prevail against us till the Lord's time for our removal is come. David was continually exposed to the rage and jealousy of Saul, who repeatedly cast a javelin at him, and hunted him incessantly with armed hosts "like a partridge upon the mountains." Yet though he was often in the most imminent danger", and certainly would have been betrayed by the men of Keilah, yet God watched over him, and kept him in perfect safety. Many sought to apprehend our Lord; but "they could not lay hands on him till his hour was come:" and even then Pilate "could have had no power against him, unless it had been given him from above." Paul was in perils innumerable, "and in deaths ofta:" once he was stoned, and even left for dead"; but none could take away his life, till he had finished the course marked out for him. Thus we also are immortal, till our work is done. We are surrounded with "chariots of fire, and horses of fire :" yea," God himself is a wall of fire round about us." And sooner shall successive bands of enemies be struck dead upon the spot by fire from heaven, than one of the Lord's little ones shall perish."] 2. That none shall hurt us without his permission—

[As we depend on God for our happiness as well as for our existence, so are both our being and our well-being secured by him. Satan could not touch the person or the property of Job, till he had obtained leave of God to do so. "Nor can any weapon that is formed against us, prosper," any further than

t Acts xvii. 28. u 1 Sam. xxiii. 26. X 1 Sam. xxiii. 11, 12. y John vii. 30. and viii. 20. Luke xiii. 33.

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z John xix. 11.

c 2 Kings vi. 17.

f Matt. xviii. 14.

"His angels encamp

our God shall see good to permit it. round about us," and have an especial charge to "keep us in all our ways, that we dash not our foot against a stone." "Neither the arrow that flieth by day, nor the pestilence that walketh in darkness, can hurt us. Thousands may fall at our side, and ten thousands at our right hand; but it shall not come nigh us."

We are not indeed at liberty to rush needlessly into danger, from an expectation that God will deliver us; (this were to "tempt the Lord our God";") but in the path of duty we have nothing to fear: we may "tread upon the lion, the adder, or the dragon";" we may drink poison itself, or suffer ourselves to be committed to the flames, without experiencing the smallest injury: nothing in the whole universe can "harm us, if we be followers of that which is good :" if God see fit to keep us, we are as safe" in a den of lions" as in a house of friends.] From this subject we may LEARN,

1. To seek God without delay

[There is no period of life when we can call one day, or one hour, our own. We are altogether "in God's hands;" and, if he withdraw his support for one moment, we perish, as certainly as a stone gravitates to the earth. Shall we then, when so entirely dependent on our God, provoke him to cast us out of his hands? Shall we continue to despise his patience and forbearance, till he swear in his wrath that our "time shall be no longer?" Think, how many have lost the time afforded them, and how bitterly they now bewail their folly and beg of God, that he would "so teach you to number your days, that you may apply your hearts unto wisdom"."]

2. To serve him without fear

[We e are too apt to keep back from serving God through fear of the persecutions we may endure from man. But, if our times be in God's hands, all our concerns must be there too; and nothing can befall us but by his appointment, "Who art thou, then, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and forgettest the Lord thy Makert?" Are we not told, that "the wrath of man shall praise him; and that the remainder of it he shall restrain"?" Be bold then for God; 66 set your face as a flint against the whole world," and trust in him for protection. He will not indeed screen you from all trials; because it is on many accounts necessary that you should feel them":

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but he will suffer none to come upon you which he will not enable you to bear, none which he will not sanctify to your eternal good.

3. To trust him without carefulness

[It is foolish as well as impious to distrust God, or to murmur at any of his dispensations. In whose hands could the disposal of all events be placed so much to our advantage, as in his, who possesses infinite wisdom to devise what is best, and infinite power to effect it? Would we be made the sport of chance or fortune? Or would we have our present and everlasting concerns left wholly to our own management? If we are not fit to regulate our temporal affairs till we attain the age of manhood, how much less can we ever be competent to take the reins of God's government into our own hands, and to order the affairs of his kingdom? But our times will be in God's hands, whether we acquiesce in it or not. Let us therefore contentedly leave ourselves to his all-wise disposal, assured that "he doeth all things well," and will make "all things to work together for good to them that love him."]

z 1 Cor. x. 13.

DXLV.

THE GOODNESS OF GOD TO HIS BELIEVING PEOPLE.

Ps. xxxi. 19, 20. Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee, before the sons of men! Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.

It is

THE salvation of the Gospel is a present salvation the "godliness which it inspires is profitable unto all things, having the promise of the life which now is, as well as that which is to come." needless to say that the trials of life are great; and that men in every situation of life need the supports and consolations of religion to carry them through the difficulties which they have to encounter. of the extent to which these supports and consolations are administered to God's chosen people, very little idea can be formed by those who have never experienced a communication of them to their souls. David was highly favoured in this respect. He lived in a state of near and habitual fellowship with

But

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