Religion & morality > Last publick sermon, being a faithful and free one, preached by Mr. Hugh Mackaile ... upon the Sabbath immediately preceeding that 8th of September 1662, the day affixed for the removing of the ministers of Edinburgh from their kirks

Compafs of the Curfe, ‘Jer. xvii. f. Curfeibe the Man
who tru/Ieth in Man, andmaketh Fle/h his Arm. Ah ! thefe
broken Cifterns can hold no Water; thefe are not Wells
of Salvation but Confufion.
idly. This may difcover, how unreafonable it is to turn
afide even in the Midft of Tribulation, that no Affliction
cometh upon the People of God but by his fpecial Provi¬
dence ; therefore he can aggravate, limit or remove it at
his Pleafure : Even as the Sun is fixed in the Firmament
ofHeaven, and the Influence thereof directed, by his Provi¬
dence ; to warm or fcorch, nourifli or corrupt Things in
this inferior World, according to his Pleafure, lb, like-
ways, Enemies have no Power, nor can they afluate the
Power that they have, to the Prejudice of his People, w ith¬
out his Permiffion. That which Chrift faid to Pilate may
be accommodate to all Powers on Earth, Thou can
have no Power over me, except it be given thee from above.
He commandeth the Sun and it rifeth not, he fealeth up
the Stars. True it is, the Wicked are a raging Sea, cafting
forth Dirt and Mire, but he alfo lets Bounds to the Rage-
ing of the Sea, faying, Hitherto Jhalt thou come, and no
further. As how hidden are the Goings of the Lord in
his Difpenfation towards his People, in nothing more
than in this may it be faid, that he dwelleth in thick
Daiknefs ; though Enemies fflould wrap up their Defigns
in deeped Secrecy, doth not God difcover deep things out
of Darknefs; and bring to Light the Shadow of Death ?
Why then Ihould the People of God be amazed at the Ap-
prehenfions of Tribulation? Were it handlbme for a Child
to weep to the Whip that drikes him, and not to the Fa¬
ther in whofe Hand it is.
o,dly, Confider that the Tribulations of the Children of
God will certainly come to a Period, and the more violent
they be they are nearer to an End ; therefore they be
here emblematized by the Sun, who, as he hath bis Times
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