he appears, as their guard, and their guide; he supplies all their necessities upon the journey, and conducts them in safety to their place of abode. Thus he dealt with Israel of old, in their passage, through the waste and howling wilderness, from Egypt to Canaan. And thus he is ready to deal with us all. "The world, (says an elegant writer,) is a great wilderness, wherein mankind have wandered about from the creation. We are not only passengers, or sojourners, but absolute strangers at the first steps we make in it." We are so, indeed; and too often, through our own fault, continue such to the last; we find not the way which leads to heaven, nor, if we did find it, have we strength to travel in it, without the viaticum which comes from thence, and which alone can bring us thither. Fervent and importunate prayer to the God of our salvation will procure, from above, knowledge to dispel our ignorance, and grace to help our infirmities the former will discover to us our road, the latter will enable us to walk in it; and both together will carry us, in due time, to "the city of our eternal habitation."

8. O that men would praise, the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! 9. For he satisfieth the longing, or, thirsty, soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.

The former of these two verses is a chorus, repeated after the celebration of each of the four mercies here related. Literally it is, "Let them acknowledge to Jehovah his mercy, and his wonders for the children of Adam." And what can better deserve our acknow

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ledgment, than the provision made for the bodies and souls of Christian travellers, in their way to that heavenly country and city, "where they shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat; for the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." Rev. vii. 16.

10. Such as sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron: 11. Because they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the counsel of the Most High: 12. Therefore he brought down their heart with labour; they fell down, and there was none to help. 13. Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses. 14. He brought them out of darkness, and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder. 15. O that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! 16. For he hath broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron in sunder.

In this second piece of divine scenery, we behold a people groaning under all the miseries of captivity, deprived of light and liberty, chained down in horrid dungeons, and there expecting the day of execution. These calamities they are represented as having brought upon themselves, by their rebellion against God, who takes this method of humbling them. It succeeds, and brings them upon their knees to Him, who alone is able to deliver them. Moved by their cries, he exerts his power on their behalf, and frees

them from the house of bondage. To a state of corporal servitude the Israelites, for their transgressions, were frequently reduced, and many times experienced, upon their repentance, the goodness of Jehovah in rescuing them from it. But the grand and universal captivity is that of sin and death; the grand and universal deliverance, for which all the redeemed of the Lord ought to praise his mercy, is that by Jesus Christ. Adam and all his posterity" rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the counsel of the Most High." By so doing, they subjected themselves to a slavery the heaviest and bitterest of all others. The devil led them captive at his will, and set over them their own insatiable lusts and passions, as so many taskmasters, to afflict, and keep them under. By these the soul is confined so close in prison, and bound with so many chains, that it cannot get forth to do the will of God, even when that is made known to it. Of mankind in this state how truly may it be said, and how often in Scripture is it said, under these and the like figures, "They sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, being fast bound in misery, and bands stronger than iron-He also brought down their heart through heaviness, they fell down, and there was none to help!" A sense of this his woful condition forces the sinner to "cry unto the Lord Jesus in his trouble," and to say, "O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death! Bring my soul out of prison, that I may give thanks unto thy name." And now his prayer is heard, the grace of Christ comes to his assistance, and he is made free indeed.

His chains, like those of St. Peter, fall off at the word of his deliverer; he is saved out of his distress; he is brought out of darkness and the shadow of death, into the glorious light and liberty of the sons of God. The joy consequent upon such a deliverance, will be exceeded only by that which shall take place in the hearts, and be expressed by the voices of the redeemed, on the day when Christ shall accomplish the redemption of their bodies also, as he has already affected that of his own, from the power of the grave; when he shall dash in pieces the brazen gates and adamantine bars of that prison-house, put an end for ever to the bondage of corruption, and lead captivity captive into the highest heavens.

17. Fools, because of their transgressions, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted. 18. Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat, and they draw near unto the gates of death. 19. Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their distresses. 20. He sent his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction. 21. O that men

would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! 22. And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing.

The recovery of men from sickness affords a third image of the benefits conferred on our nature, by the Redeemer. Sickness, as we are here informed, is the punishment of human folly and iniquity. When it is extreme, it deprives men of all relish and appetite for his food; nay, it makes him loath and detest the very

sight and smell of that which should nourish and support him; in which case, he must waste away, and soon draw near to the gates of death. But from those dreadful gates the power of God can snatch us, when we are just about to enter them. To an infirm and emaciated body he can restore health, strength, and beauty; for diseases are his ministers and messengers; they visit us at his command, and at his command they retire, and we recover again. The Israelites in the wilderness, "because of their transgressions, and because of their iniquities, were often afflicted" with a plague. But when they repented, and atonement was made, the plague ceased. They were stung by fiery serpents; but when they cried unto Jehovah, he sent his word, and healed them. "They were troubled," as the author of the book of Wisdom observes, "for a small season, that they might be admonished, having a sign of salvation to put them in remembrance of the commandment of thy law. For he that turned himself towards it, was not saved by the thing that he saw, but by thee who art the Saviour of all." Sentence of death was passed upon Hezekiah; he already saw himself at "the gates of the grave," and expected: no more to "behold men with the inhabitants of the world." Yet his prayer prevailed for a respite, and fifteen years were added to his life. Now the mind, by reason of sin, is not less subject to infirmities than the body. These infirmities reduce a man to a state of languor and listlessness; he finds himself incapable of action, indisposed for the reception of divine truths, without taste for knowledge, or inclination for virtue;