A supplement to the several discourses upon various divine subjects

5. What a strong ground is here for trust! Look not so much upon the condition of Zion's Walls, as upon her Foundation; not upon her present posture, as upon her promise-Charter; not upon her as a weak Vine, but under the hand of the Highest, as the Vine-dresser; look not upon the feebleness of the Flock, but upon the care of the Shepherd; nor upon the fierceness of the Lions, but upon the strength and affection of her Guardian.

5. What a strong ground is here for trust! Look not so much upon the condition of Sion's Walls, as upon her Foundation; not upon her present posture, as upon her promise-Charter; not upon her as a weak Vine, but under the hand of the Highest, as the Vine-dresser; look not upon the feebleness of the Flock, but upon the care of the Shepherd; nor upon the fierceness of the Lions, but upon the strength and affection of her Guardian.

(1.) Let not our Faith rest upon appearances. Flesh will then make a wrong Judgment of God. Providences are various, and should our Faith be guided only by them, it would have a liveliness one moment, and faint the next. As the Promise is the stability of the Church, so it is only the stability of our Faith. The Authority of the Word is the Life of our Faith, and not the sense of any particular Providence in the world. A Faith built upon protecting Providences is a sensitive Faith, a Faith built upon the Promise, is a spiritual Faith.

(2.) Yet the Experiences God hath given us hitherto of the continuance of the Church, may be called in to bear witness to the Truth of the Promise. He hath before conducted his Israel into Canaan, when Pharaoh meditated their utter ruin, or their continuance under his Chains; he fed them with Manna, and watered them with a Rock in a desert, that afforded no earthly assistance. The preserving the Vine could never be ascribed to the Vine it self, in