High, thy habitation, there shall no evil befall thee'*." Truly, " his name is a strong tower, to which you may run at all times, and be safe':" and whatever your cuxumstances may be, " he -will be to you as a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest, as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land"^." Enjoy, then, the exalted privilege which is here vouchsafed unto you. And let there not be a day, or an hour, wherein you do not resort to God under this endearing character, dwelling in him, abiding in him, and finding in him all that your necessities can require.]
^ Ps. xci. 9, 10. i Prov. xviii. 10. ^ Isai. xxxH. 2.
THE king's accession.
Ps. Ixxi. 7 — 9. I am as a ivonder unto many : hut thou art my strong refuge. Let my mouth he filled vrith thy praise and with thy honour all the day. Cast me not off in the time of old age ; forsake me not when my strength faileth.
THIS day being called The Jubilee % it will be pro- per to inform you whence that name is given to it. By the Mosaic law, every seventh year was a sab- batical year, or year of rest. At the end of the seventh sabbatical year, that is the 49th, there was a year of universal rest, not to the land only, but to persons of every description : debtors were released, captives liberated, and inheritances restored. This was, as might be expected, a season of peculiar joy. The connexion between that day, and this which we now celebrate, is only in the time, the grounds of joy being altogether different. We are called to cele- brate the fiftieth year of our Monarch's reign. On this account, I have chosen a subject which I con- sider as appropriate to the occasion. The psalm before us was written (we apprehend) after Absa- lom's rebellion. In discoursing on that portion of it which we have read to you, it will be proper,
I. To consider it in reference to David —
Absalom being dead, and the rebellion suppressed, David finds himself firmly seated on his throne ; on which occasion,
a Oct. 25, 1809.
61().1 THE king's accession. 523
1. He acknowledges the mercies he had received —
[He felt himself most peculiarly circumstanced : his trials had been great, and his deliverances most extraordinary. His hair-breadth escapes from Saul, and afterwards from foreign
and domestic enemies, were very numerous He had
recently been even driven from his throne by his son Absalom, the partisans of whom were ordered to direct their efforts exclusively against him : yet from this danger also had he been delivered : so that he seemed to all to be under the peculiar protection of Heaven. His mind too had in all these trials been wonderfully preserved from any thing vindictive, or un- worthy of his high character. On all these accounts he was " a wonder unto many."
There was indeed a reason for these mercies, which his enemies had no idea of: " he had made God his refuge." When persecuted by men, he betook himself to prayer, and " encouraged himself in God." Thus, under all circumstances, he had " God for his glory and defence."]
2. He makes a suitable improvement of them — [He renders thanks to God for his past favours. — In this
the Psalmist was so exemplary, that he seems frequently to
breathe almost the very language of heaven itself In
this too he is distinguished from almost all other saints : others
abound in prayer, but he in praise
He next prays for a continuance of these favours. — He well knew that he could no longer be safe than whilst he was under the care of the Almighty ; and that now in his advanced age he needed, if possible, more than ever the guidance and protection