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Lord reigneth who is their Rock, and the moft SERM. high God who is their Redeemer. Reason likewise joins her voice with that of religion; forbidding us to make peevish and unreafonable complaints of human life, or injuriously to afcribe to it more evil than it contains, Mixed as the present state is, she ces, that generally, if not always, there is more happiness than mifery, more pleasure than pain in the condition of man.

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SERMON XIV.

On the divine GOVERNMENT

PASSIONS of MEN.

of the

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PSALM 1xxvi. 10,

Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee; the remainder of wrath fhalt thou reftrain.

THIS

SERM. HIS Pfalm appears to have been compofed on occafion of fome remarkable deliverance obtained by the Jewish nation. It is generally understood to have been written in the reign of Hezekiah, and to refer to the formidable invasion of Judæa by Sennacherib; when the angel of the Lord, in one night, difcomfited the whole Affyrian hoft, and' fmote them with fudden deftruction. To this interpofition of the

divine arm, thofe expreffions in the context may naturally be applied; Then brake he the arrows of the bow, the field, the fword, and the battle. The flout-hearted are spoiled; they have flept their fleep; and none of the men of might have found their hands. At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, both the chariot and the horfe are caft into a dead fleep. In the text we have the wife and religious reflection of the Pfalmift upon the violent defigns which had been carried on by the enemies of his country, and upon the iffue to which Providence had brought them.. Surely the wrath of man fhall praife thee. By the wrath of man, we are to understand all that the impetuofity of human paffions can devife or execute; the projects of ambition and refentment, the rage of persecution, the fury of war; the disorders which violence produces in private life, and the public commotions which it excites in the world. All these shall praife God, not with their intention and design, nor by their native tendency; but by thofe wife and good purposes, which his providence makes them accomplish;

SER M.

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SERM. accomplish; from their poifon extracting health, and converting things, which in themselves are pernicious, into inftruments of his glory, and of public benefit: So that, though the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God, it is nevertheless forced and compelled to minifter to his praise. The Pfalmift adds, the remainder of wrath fhalt thou refrain; that is, God will allow scope to the wrath of man as far as it an fwers his good purposes, and is fubfervient to his praise; the reft of it shall be curbed and bound up. When it would attempt to go beyond itsprescribed limit, he fays to it, as to the waters of the ocean, Hitherto balt thou come, but no farther; and here shall thy proud waves be stayed.

All this fhall be fully verified and declared by the last issue of things; when we fhall be able more clearly to trace the divine administration through its several steps, by feeing the confummation of the whole. In fome cafes, it may be referved for this period to unfold the mysterious wisdom of Heaven. But in general, as much of

the

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the divine conduct is at present manifeft, as SERM. gives juft ground for the affertion in the text. In the fequel of this difcourfe, I fhall endeavour to illuftrate and confirm it. I fhall show in what manner the wrath of man is made to praise the power, the wisdom, the juftice, and the goodnefs of God.

I BEGIN with this obfervation, That in order to accomplish the great purposes carried on by the Government of the Universe, it is necessary that the divine perfections be displayed before mankind in a fenfible and ftriking manner. We are not to conceive the Supreme Being as hereby feeking praise to himself, from a principle of oftentation or vain-glory. Independent and self-sufficient, he rests in the enjoyment of his own beatitude. His praise confifts in the general order and welfare of his creation. This end cannot be attained, unless mankind be made to feel the fubjection under which they are placed. They must be taught to admire and adore their Sovereign. They

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