Watts - Houston-Packer Collection BX5207.W3 S4x 1805 v.2

SEAM. XXXIt.3 OR REMEDIES AGAINST FEAR. 25 you may have some suitable word ofrefuge and support. From the xl. to the xlv. chapter of Isaiah, there is a va- riety of rich encouragements against slavish fear : And there is another treasure of them from the 1. to the Iv. Many a christian has been able to live upon them, in the -most dangerous and distressing seasons. They are divine springs of courage, and they overflow with consolation. The assurances of holy David in the midst of his perils, have been a glorious support to the fearful soul. Seve- ral of his psalms are filled with the same heavenly cor- dials. You can hardly find three of them together, without some triumphs of faith in them. In the writings of the evangelists, and in the epistles, you may read many precious promises scattered abroad, to allay your fears. In the second and third chapters of the Revelation, they stand thick as the spangles ofheaven : They sparkle like stars in the firmament at midnight, and they ever shine brightest in the darkest sky. It is with unknown pleasure that the soul of a christian contemplatesand surveys those heavenly lights in his most gloomyand dismal hours,' and they turn the shadows of death into morning. Though it is of excellent use, to have the mind and memory well stored with the various promises of the co- venant, -yet in some special seasons of trial, it is of emi- nent advantage to keep the mind and thoughts fixed upon some single promise, that is most suited to the present danger or suffering; and to the present taste and relish of the soul, In such a season, the running speedily from one promise to another, and skimming over them with a slight survey, will not be so effectual a relief, as fixing upon some peculiar and proper word of grace, and living upon it for a whole day together. Thus every morning you may take some new comforter with you, and let it abideupon your heart all day, and it will whisper to your soul with divine sweetness in the dark and solitary watches of the night. 'When some special terror pos- sesses your thoughts, and the heavy oppression returns often upon your spirits, or when any fresh assault comes on you from without or within, fly to the word you have hoses for your refuge ; repeat it often, and cleave to it by meditation. Theoratne ofthe Lord is a strong tower . Ore righteous runnetlt into it, and is safe; Prov. xviii. IQ. Andjemember God has magnified his'own word above all

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