here; how very small a portion of the human species, comparatively, lives to be old; and to how much smaller a portion can their length of days be called a blessing. Too many have reason to wish, either from crimes into which they fall, or misfortunes which they undergo, that it had pleased God to take them to himself in their prime. If the dying person be unfit for a change, it is his own fault; he must endeavour to do what he can, and others must take warning by him; but if he be prepared, how happy is his case;" speedily, perhaps, he is taken away, lest wickedness should alter his understanding, or deceit beguile his soul." Such are the virtues which we should practise, and such the sentiments which we should entertain in the hour of sickness. I do not, however, pretend to have exhausted the subject; much more might be said on it; and when you come to the last scenes of this life, much more may be necessary for you to know and to practise you will do well, therefore, to consult on that awful occasion with your prudent and sincere friends, and more particularly with your minister. It is clearly his duty, and I should hope that in most cases it will be his pleasure, to be of all the assistance to you in his power. We would not intrude ourselves upon any one; but when we are actuated by feelings suitable to our sacred office, we cannot but experience the greatest satisfaction in having our assistance called for, and in enjoying the opportunity of smoothing

the bed of sickness, and preparing, to the best of our abilities, the dying person to stand before his judge.

I shall conclude with earnestly requesting you frequently to place before your minds the solemn period, concerning which I have been discoursing; a period, to which we are all hastily approaching, and at which some of us, most probably, shall very soon arrive. Such meditations, frequently repeated, will be the most powerful motives with us, so to conduct ourselves, as can alone give us fortitude to support the bodily pains to which we may be doomed, alone enable us to meet our dissolution undisturbed by anguish and terror, inspire us with a decent confidence to stand before our judge, and afford us a wellgrounded expectation of receiving a favourable

sentence.

SERMON XXI.

OF CASTING YOUR CARE UPON GOD.

Casting all

I PETER V. 7.

your care upon him, for he careth for you.

To cast their care upon God, is one of the duties which the Apostle enjoins his disciples, towards the conclusion of this epistle; and he persuades them to the observation of the injunction by the strongest of all arguments-" for God careth for you."

In the following discourse, I shall explain what is meant by casting your care upon God; secondly, what you are to understand by God's caring for you; and, lastly, I shall endeavour to shew the force which there is in God's caring for you, to induce you to cast your care upon him.

No command can be so plainly given but that some will mistake it; and there have been persons who have imagined that, by being ordered to cast their care upon God, is meant that they should take no care or trouble, themselves, of any

kind-that they should be altogether idle-and not in any shape concern themselves with earthly affairs; but this is both contrary to reason and to many express commands of Scripture:-it is contrary to reason to suppose that we should be sent into this world and be required to pay no attention to its concerns-it is contrary also to reason to suppose that so many faculties, so many talents, so many passions, so much ability to be useful to our fellow-creatures, should have been bestowed on us to no end; and it is contrary to many express commands of Scripture, by which we are enjoined to provide for ourselves and our families, and to be industrious, that we may have it in our power to be charitable; neither of which can be done without some sort of care. God expects from us exertions of this kind, and has made it a part of our duty to use them; but the care which the text commands us to part from, is that over-solicitude, that anxiety about the things of this world, which entirely absorbs our attention and takes it off from the things of the next-this the Apostle exhorts us to banish, and to leave the object of it to the providence of God. We may, with propriety, do all we innocently can, to procure the good and avoid the evil of this life; but when we have done all, we must leave the event to Heaven, and not disquiet and torment ourselves about it. The nature and meaning of the command of "casting our care upon God," being thus shortly explained, the argument by which we are

persuaded to obey it, follows-" for he careth for you."-God observes, minutely, the affairs of men, and orders them for the best; we ought, therefore, to leave our concerns in his hands; and to rest contented with his disposal of them.

If you allow that there is a God, and that he made the world, I think it will follow, of course, that he governs it; for is it credible that a Being who has been at the pains of raising such a magnificent structure, who has furnished it with such an infinite variety of creatures so admirably suited to the use and service of each other, should, as soon as he had finished it, entirely desert his own work? is it not rather to be concluded that he still continues to superintend it, that he still continues to pervade and attend to what he has formed, and particularly to that noblest part of it, man?

Such was always the opinion of the best and wisest of the heathens before the times of Christianity; they not only believed that there was an all-powerful Being, who created all things, but that he also perpetually had an eye to and directed them; and though perhaps some of them thought that this his providence was confined to considerable affairs, while those of less importance were left to their natural course, yet with us Christians the matter is otherwise; we are assured by Scripture, in many places, that not even the most inconsiderable thing happens without his agency or permission; that his observation and interference