poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the lieat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall"." Go to him then ; take refuge in him ; cast yourselves upon him ; and let him give you rest, in his own time and way. Then will he walk with you in the furnace, as he did with the Hebrew youths; and in due season add you to the happy number of " those who have come out of great tribulation, and washed their robes white in the blood of the Lamb°." Then will your rest be glorious indeed : for " then you will hunger no more, nor thirst any more ; neither shall the sun rest on you, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed you, and shall lead you unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from your eyes p."]
n Isai. XXV. 4. o Rev. vii. 14. p Rev. vii. 16, 17.
vows TO BE PERFORMED.
Ps, Ivi. 12. Thy vows are upon me, 0 God; I will render
praises unto thee.
VOWS were encouraged under the Mosaic Law**; and many particular rules were given in relation to them^. Nor are they altogether discouraged under the Christian dispensation. On the contrary, they are spoken of by the prophets as no less adapted to our state, than they were to the state of the Jews under the Mosaic economy''. Where they relate to any particular act which is not otherwise required of us, I confess I think them not very advisable. They are for the most part calculated rather to ensnare than to edify the souP. But, where they are only a more solemn way of binding ourselves to the per- formance of acknowledged duties, they are as useful to ourselves, and as pleasing to God, as ever.
The particular ordinance which has recently been administered amongst us will lead me to shew you, L What vows are upon you —
There are vows of a more particular nature, which may have been secretly made by different individuals ;
a Numb. vi. 2, 5, 21. ^ Numb. xxx. 2 — 15.
'^ Isai. xix. 21. and Nahum 1. 15. '' Prov. xx. 25.
595.] vows TO BE PERFORMED. 433
which are more fit for our own personal consideration before God than for any notice on a pubhc occasion hke this ; and the rather because the points that would be interesting to one or two might excite no interest in the minds of the generality amongst us. But there are vows common to us all ; for instance, those made by us,
1. At our baptism —
[When presented at the sacred font, we were, as the Scripture expresses it, "baptized into Christ*^." As the Israelites, in their passage through the sea, were " baptized unto Moses," whilst, with a wall of water on their right hand and on their left, they were sprinkled with the surge, and con- secrated, as it were, unto the Lord, to embrace the revelation which was then made known to them, and to obey the laws which were then delivered them*^; so we, in our baptism, pro- fess to regard the Lord Jesus Christ as our mighty deliverer, and to obey him as our only Lord. As it was not uncommon in the Apostolic age to baptize also by immersion, St. Paul represents it as being " buried with Christ in baptism into his death; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in new- ness of hfe^." In both these views, we see clearly what our vows have been ; to believe in Christ, to follow Christ, dying ^mto sin as he died /or it, and rising to anew and heavenly life, as he on the third day after his crucifixion rose to a life of blessedness and glory at the right hand of God. This was renewed,]