SERMON XLII. 601 off, what should we do but run to the fountain ? If the stars vanish, we seek the sun-beams. And O may the sun arise, and shine upon our souls with growing light and comfort as the stars disappear ! While our friends or kindredwere alive, we made them our refuge in every distress ; we have trusted in them perhaps too much; we havé lived too much upon them, with the neglect of God. A parent; a brother, or perhaps a dearer relative; these were our high tówer, our defence, our sun, and our shield : These assumed that station in our hearts, and that high place in our esteem; which is due to God only. But, when this tower is battered down to dust, when the shield of clay is broken to pieces, and this dim and feeble sun turned into darkness, then we make God alone our sun, our shield, and our high tower of de- fence. Then we search out earnestly, what kind and condescen- ding characters, and.relationsGod has assumed in his word ; and we read andsurvey the gracious titles of our Lord Jesus Christ, with new and unknown delight. Have any of you lost your earthly parents ? Then you read with pleasure those words of the Psalmist, If my father or my mother forsake me, as they must do at the hour of death, then the Lord will take me up ; Ps. xxvii. 10. And you rejoice in that glorious promise, Be ale separate from idols, saith the Lord; that is, separate yourselves from thesinful practices of the world, and Iwill receive you, and Iwill be a Father to you, and ye shall be my sons and my daughters, saith the Lord Almighty; 2 Cor. vi. 17, 18. Idas death entered into a family, and taken the head, the husband away? The words of Isaiah grow sweeter than ever ; Is. liv. 5. Thy Maker is thy Husband, the Lordof hosts is his name, even the God of the whole earth. Are the widows and the fatherless children in danger of oppression, because they have lost their defender ? They run to the lxviii. Ps. and live upon the 5th verse of it; A Father of the fatherless, anda Judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation. Is a brother summoned away by the stroke of death? But the Lord Jesus is alive still : He that took flesh and blood upon him, that he might be made like the rest of the children of God, He is not ashamed to call them brethren ; Ileb. ii. 11. This is a brother that was bornfor the day of our adversity; this is the friend that sticks closer than a brother, and abides with us when a brother departs, according to the expression of the wise man Prov.. xvii. 17.. and xcüi. 24. Thus thenames, and characters, and relations of God the Father, and of our Lord Jesus Christ, acquire a new sweetness, and appear with greater love and glory in them, at the death of our earthly relatives. There is many a christian can speak feelingly, and say,
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