night amid the ruins of their habitation; or that a virulent disease breaks forth upon his own person from the sole of his foot unto the crown of his head; whether it be that his dearest friends, and his nearest relatives, turn against him in his calamities, yet will the believer look above all these second causes, and recognize in each event and circumstance the hand of God. He will not say, "the wind happened to blow; the house to fall; the lightning to strike; and the enemy to despoil." On the contrary, his language is, "The Lord hath taken away." Say, then, with Job in all thy sicknesses, “Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil ?" Job ii. 10. Yea, say with thy suffering Saviour in every affliction, "The cup which my Father hath given me" to drink, "shall I not drink it?" John xviii. 11.

Diligently consider thy diseases, oh believer! that thou mayest thankfully consider thy deliverances. Regard God's hand in the one, that thou mayest acknowledge His hand, also, in the other. How many sicknesses hast thou seen? Of what nature were they? How violent? And of what continuance? Let all these several inquiries be distinctly answered in thy remembrance, that with the deeper gratitude thou mayest bless thy good and great Physician. Each sickness has made thee a debtor to thy God; and each deliverance has doubled that debt. Defraud not, then, thy He condescends to ac

Lord of the glory that is His due.

cept through Christ the poor payment of thy praise: "Whoso offereth praise glorifieth Me, saith the Lord, and to

him that ordereth his conversation aright will I show the salvation of God." Psa. 1. 23.

Art thou as one of the ten that were cleansed? Be not as one of the nine that went away. The moment thou perceivest that thou art healed, turn back, and give glory to God with a loud voice, Luke xvii. 15. Be not ashamed to proclaim thy obligations to the good Physician. Amidst thy family, amongst thy friends, and within the house of God, declare alike His healing power, and thine own fervent gratitude. Again and again return to give glory to God. Offer thy praises unceasingly, like David. Peruse this hundred and third Psalm frequently in thy closet. Close up thy weekly account with praise, as each week closes upon thee with mercy. Yea, let not a single day of spiritual or temporal health pass over thy head without saying, in most fervent gratitude, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless His holy name-who healeth all thy diseases.

IV.

The Life redeemed from Destruction.

Who redeemeth thy life from destruction.-Verse 4.

FROM his earliest days the Psalmist was the child of Providence. Many were the hair-breadth escapes, and the wonderful deliverances, which he experienced. Dangers of various kinds presented themselves as his years advanced. The paw of the lion, and the paw of the bear, at various times threatened to terminate his existence, and at others the ruthless hand of man. The same God who delivered him from the sword of Goliath, rescued his life from the javelin of Saul. That almighty Friend who had covered his head in the day of battle, delivered him, at one moment, from the lords of the Philistines, saved him at another out of the hands of the men of Keilah, and again preserved to him his life and throne from the unnatural rebellion of his own son. Well, therefore, might the Psalmist stir up his soul, and all that was within him, to bless the Lord with most fervent gratitude, who, by so many signal deliverances, had "redeemed his life from destruction."

The term "redeemed" is of high and holy import. It

leads the mind far above the mere fact of preservation, and sets before it the wondrous means, the glorious reason, why any sinner obtains deliverance from destruction. Few of us sufficiently realize the position in which Adam's sin and Christ's redemption have placed us. Our lives are forfeited. The transgression of our first parents brought them, and all their family, under the attainder of the curse. Every sin we commit deserves our immediate condemnation and death. The original law under which our race was created, pronounced this sentence, "In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." And why was this decree not executed upon our first parents? and why is it not executed upon ourselves? The only true answer that can be given is this: Because of the gracious interposition of that Redeemer, who is emphatically declared to be "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." Rev. xiii. 8. The Son of God caught up our falling world. The second Adam offered himself as a substitute to die for the first Adam. And by virtue of His blood, shed for our guilt, the blood of man flows not for his own guilt. The original law was express and universal: Die through sin. The redemption law is also express and universal: Live through righteousness. Because the first Adam sinned, we have all fallen under the sentence of that original law. Because the second Adam sinned not, its execution is stayed, and we are all spared under the power of this redemption law. The suretyship of Jesus is the only legal ground on which. mercy can be shown to an attainted race. His redemption is the just and righteous cause of the prolongation of our

forfeited existence. It is, therefore, with peculiar and expressive fitness that David here applies that term to himself as a sinner obtaining mercy, when he thus addresses and instructs his soul to bless the gracious God" who redeemeth thy life from destruction.”

The statement of this truth might thus be drawn in parable. There was a wise and gracious monarch of a mighty empire, whose subjects lived upon his smile, and placed their supreme delight in giving obedience to his will. There was but one law promulgated in his kingdom-it was the law of love. There was but one sentence published throughout its vast extent-it was the sentence of death. Love and live: disobey and die.

Throughout the whole of this great king's dominions, loyalty and harmony prevailed. But suddenly the inhabitants of a distant province, seduced from their allegiance by misrepresentations of his character, revolted against this gracious Sovereign, repudiated his authority, and formed an alliance with the enemy of their King and country. Every faithful subject rose with indignation at the tidings of their rebellion, and demanded that the sentence of the law should be enforced against the rebels. The royal mandate was issued for their immediate extermination. But before the execution of that decree, the Prince approached his Royal Father with a counsel of peace. "These rebels deserve the death decreed. I offer no apology for their crime. The laws of the empire must be maintained inviolate. But if the lives of so many may be spared, I will lay down my own. Let them live. Let me die. Thus thy mercy and