storms, that he may be ready to meet them when they come. In like manner you also will do well to prepare for seasons of adversity and trial. The seaman takes with him his compass, his chart, his quadrant ; and makes his daily observations, that he may know where he is, and not be driven from his course. So likewise do you take with you this proverb; which will ever be of use to you in the most trying hour, and enable you to steer your course with safety to the haven of rest.]
2. Those who are under any great and heavy calamity —
[The Lord's people are no more exempt from trouble than others. When most in the path of duty, storms and tempests may overtake you, and menace your very existence: yea, and in the midst of all, your Lord and Saviour may seem regard- less of your trouble. But remember, that, embarked as you are with him, you can never perish. In the fittest moment, he will arise and rebuke the storm ; and both winds and waves shall obey himb. Go forward, as Abraham did, in the path of duty, and leave events to God. Do not be impatient because God does not appear for you so soon as you could wish. Per- haps you have not gone above one day's journey yet in the path assigned you : if so, you have another and another day yet to go. Possibly you may have been long tried, and are got to the very mount : but you are not yet got to the top of that mount : much less have you bound your Isaac, and lifted up your hand to slay him. If not, the time for the Lord's inter- position is not yet come. See how it was with David. He fled from Saul — The Ziphites came and informed Saul of the place where he was hid — Saul blessed them for the intelligence they had brought him : and set out immediately and encompassed with his army the very spot where David was. Alas ! David, thy God hath forsaken thee ! No : not so : in that critical moment, " a messenger comes to Saul, saying, Haste thee, and come ; for the Philistines have invaded the land." And thus was the snare broken, and the persecuted saint delivered0. Thus also shall it be with you. Only stay till the critical moment has arrived, and you shall find the proverb true : "In the mount the Lord shall be found." Whatever you may imagine, the Lord is not an inattentive observer of your state. He may suffer you to be cast into the tempestuous ocean, and to be swallowed up by a whale, and yet bring you up again from the very depths of the sea, and advance his own glory the more in proportion to the greatness of your deliverance11. Trust then in the Lord, and let your mind be stayed on him.
b Mark iv. 35—39. c 1 Sam. xxiii. 19, 21, 2(5, 27.
J Jon. ii. 1—9.