SERMON IV.

Support in the last Conflict.

PSALM lxxiii. 26.

My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.

I HAVE selected these words as a directory for this discourse, because they have afforded so much consolation to many while closing the last period of life. This Psalm was composed by David, and sent to Asaph for the public use of the sanctuary ; and, from the language of the text, 1 presume it was written either in some severe illness, or under decline, in his last days. The fretful temper which David indulged on seeing the prosperity of the wicked, and which he has so frankly acknowledged in the Psalm, is a proof of the imbecility of the mind when under affliction, and more commonly so in the decline of days, when objects, whether real or imaginary, too often produce a painful discomposure. In the text, however, he has strongly expressed those keen feelings which are incident to

the infirmities of advanced life; as likewise those kind supports which are to be derived only from the Lord our Saviour.

Let us first enter into the COMPLAINT-My flesh and my heart faileth-and then explain the RELIEF -The Lord is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.

I. THE COMPLAINT. My flesh faileth. The flesh, the whole animal body, or that part usually denominated flesh, covered with skin, and which forms a covering for the bones, and a sort of bed in which the veins and arteries are placed in order to preform their respective offices, all these fail. In consequence of this, the appetite and strength decline, the usual moisture is reduced, the circulation of the blood is more cold and languid, the lungs debilitated in their action, and the whole system becomes a burden, and at last sinks into the grave. The moral reasons for all this destruction of the human fabric are, man is born in sin; the seeds of mortality are sown within him, which produce the variety of diseases, and these bring forth the fruit of death, according to the just sentence of God for transgression, dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return. Contemplating the decay of bodily strength, we perceive that it is sometimes occasioned by long continued sickness, aided by external afflictions; both which were the lot of Job, and formed the subject of his extreme complaints. Indeed, with very few exceptions, as in the case of Moses, whose

strength and faculties continued unimpaired to the last, a gradual decay of flesh is an unavoidable attendant on old age; the strongest description of which may be read in the last chapter of Ecclesiastes. These infirmities and pains can be realized only by those who feel them, having an indescribable sensation attached to them altogether different from those we endure in the previous stages of our lives. Such calamities, for the want of experience, the young know not how to pity, nor the physician's skill to effect a cure. Painful as may be the decline of the body, this forms but the lesser part of the complaint of David, for, says he, my heart faileth. By this is intended a decline of the animal spirits, which are produced by the circulation of the blood flowing from the heart, as a fountain, enlivening or depressing the senses in proportion to its own state and degree of activity. To this languor of the vital fluid may be materially attributed the cause why the objects of sense, once so highly gratifying, now loose their relish and their charms; and to the same cause is owing the failure of the mind, memory, with the powers of recollection and retention; all which become gradually visible in proportion as we advance to old age. Who but must here perceive the strong connexion which exists between the body and the mind, which generally share with each other, whether in sickness or health, the vivacity of youth, or the decrepitude of age! a case this not dissimilar to the tree in autumn, the leaves of which first lose their beauty, then contract their fibres, tremble in the breeze, and finally fall to

the earth! Ah! my reader, what is man in all his boasted prime? By time, disease, and sins, he wastes away, and death concludes the scene. By the failure of the heart, a still more important subject demands our attention; it is the languor of the SOUL: for the heart being the seat of animal life, and the spring of action to the whole body, it is used in the Scriptures as the most expressive emblem, and indeed the only one, to describe the soul of man. Every one that believes he has a soul within him, is equally conscious that, according to its own principles and qualities, it is the spring to all actions in life, whether good or evil. Now, although the heart, the soul of a Christian, be regenerated by the Spirit of Christ, and enriched with his celestial grace, while it inhabits the body, and is in conflict with a corrupt nature, and a variety of temptations, it is too frequently subject to depression and failure in its exercises; the truth of which is shown in the history of every saint recorded in the Scriptures, as well as in the experience of every one who has received the grace of God in truth. Such depressions not unfrequently attend the Christian the nearer he advances to his last conflict in death. A review of the errors and omissions in life, the violence of temptation, the absence of the sensible presence of God, the rising powers of unbelief, which call in question the certainty of an interest in Christ, the apprehensions of death and eternity; these, aided by the infirmities of the body, and reduction of the animal spirits, all these, whether severally or combined, are causes

sufficient to lay the heart prostrate in the sight of God. Still, under all these clouds of darkness and anguish of mind, it is worthy to be observed, that such persons will not resign their hope, nor let their Saviour go, but with confidence adopt the resolution of Job, though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.-This leads me to explain,

II. The RELIEF which David enjoyed, the Lord is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. This was not only adequate for David's present support, but formed a strong excitement to his prospect of eternal felicity. God is the strength of my heart. This is true of the Lord, as he is the God of nature, the Creator and Preserver of the animal body; for in him we live, and move, and have our being. Under the variety of our pains and sufferings, he cherishes the animal spirits, and gives strength to the system to bear the pressure of our burdens. This he sometimes performs by his secret hand; and not unfrequently by external means, which he is pleased to bless to answer the design. Thus the Lord strengthens them upon the bed of languishing: and makes all their bed in their sickness. Psalm xli. 3. These natural supports, communicated to the feeble constitutions of men, however valuable, are but as a shadow when compared with those which the Lord, as the God of all grace in Christ Jesus, communicates to his children in distress. However severe and weighty their burden, Christ is the rock of the heart; and by his Spirit he creates in them that confidence in his immutable promises which