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SERM.'VI.1
SINS AND SORROWS
SPREAD BEFORE GOD.
]65
salvation, and my defence,
I
shall
not
be
moved;
there-
fore
my
soul
waits
upon
God
;
my
refuge
is
in
him. lxv.
1,'
2.
He
is
a
God
that
hears prayer, therefore unto
him
shall all
flesh come:
God
will
not account
our
complaints troublesome, though they
be
never
so
often
repeated;
whereas
menare
quickly wearied
with
the
im-
portunities of
those
who
are
poor
and
needy.
Great
men
are
ready
to
shut their
doors against
those who come
too often for
relief; but God
delights to
hear
often
from
his
people, and
to
have them ask
continually
at
his
door
for
mercy.
Though
he has Almighty power with
him, saith
Job,
Jet
he
will
not
plead against
me
with
his
great
power;
No,
but
he
would
put
strength
in
me;
he would teach
me
how
I
should answer him
;
how
I
should answer
his
justice,
,
by
appeals
to
his
mercy;
and
how
I
should
speak
prevailingly before
him.
5.
Lastly,
A
saint
tells
God
all
his
circumstances
and
sorrows
at
such
a
season,' because
he
hopes for
relief'
from
him,
and
from
him only
;
for
it
is
impossible
crea-
tures can
give
relief under
any trouble, unless
God
make them instruments
of. relief.
And there
are
some
troubles
in which
creatures
cannot
be
our, helpers,
but
our
help must come only from
God, and
that
in
a more
immediate
way.
Whatsoever
be
our
distress,
whether
it
arise from
past
guilt,
and
the
torments
of
an anxious
and troubled conscience;
or
whether
it
arise from
the
working
of
in- dwelling
sin,
the
strength
of,
temptation,
or
the violence
of
temporal
afflictions, still.
God
is
able
and
willing to give
relief.
Call
upon
me,
saith the Lord,
in the
day
of
trouble,
Twill
deliver
thee,
and
thou
shalt
glorify
me,
Ps.
1.
15.
And
he
bath never
said to
the
seed
of Jacob,
seek ye
my
face
in
vain,
Is.
xlv.
19.
IV.
The fourth
general head
of
discourse
which
I
pros
posed,
is
to
shew,
How
a
saint,
near
the mercy-seat,
pleads
with
God
for
relief.
Holy
Job
tells
us in
this
text,
that if
he was
got
near
to
the
seat
of
God,
he
would
fill
his
mouth
with
argu-
ments.
Not
as
though
'he
would inform
God of
the necessity,
or the
justice of
his
cause,
beyond what he
knew
before;
no, this
is
impossible:
He
that
teacheth
,man all things,
shall he
not
know
Ps.
xciv.
9,
10.
He
who
orders all
the circumstances
of our
lives,
and
every
stroke
of
his