his promises, and his faithfulness, is not to be cast away in time of trouble, but it is to be exercised as in Paul’s case, (27th _Acts_) when on board a Ship, he said, _but I believe it shall be as God has told me_—and no matter what Satan, carnal reason, unbelief, ill-natured professors, nor mistaken possessors would say about the matter, What saith the scripture? “Fear not to go down into Egypt; I am with thee; I will help thee;”—and “because he hath set his love upon me, I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him.” And this is as true as God is God; and so you will all find it some time or other. _The Lord will be a light unto me_: This was the Psalmist’s comfort, _The Lord is my light and my salvation_, _whom shall I fear_? Christ is the light of life, and all the light we have in a way of covenant grace, we have from him; he is the glorious luminary which creates the present, and he will be the future, day of his church; their sun then shall no more go down. This term, _light_, is perhaps one of the most comprehensive—it includes all that a gracious God and father is to his chosen people. God is love—God is light; he is the light of grace in the covenant, the light of truth in the scriptures, the light of life in the heart, and the light of love in the church. In his light we see light; by his own beams we see his glory, we see his person, we feel his love, and by the light of his countenance we know we are pardoned and justified, adopted, and chosen; and this honour have all the saints, more or less: Hence that most invaluable promise, _Unto you that fear my name_, _shall the sun of righteousness arise_, (the sun of _justification_, the learned say) _with healing in his beams_. For every ray of light, every influence of his love, every manifestation of his favour, is a ray or beam from him who is our justification before God, and whose dear, gracious, glorious, and precious name is _Jehovah our righteousness_. What God is to us in all his covenant characters, what Jesus is in all his excellencies, and what the holy and eternal Spirit is in all his blessed offices; this is our light, our joy, our strength, and our all in all. And very frequently the Lord takes the opportunity of manifesting himself the clearer, when the church is in her darkest state—man’s extremity was ever God’s opportunity. May he be our light in the present darkness, and may the light of his countenance shine upon your souls when I am separated from you. Farewell, my dear friends! forbid even the whisper of complaint— _Tho’ painful at present_, _’twill cease before long_, _And then_, _O how pleasant the conqueror’s song_.