Yet, thro' the Redeemer's love,
These afflictions blessings prove;
He the wounding stings and thorns
Into healing medicines turns.

From the earth our hearts they wean,

Teach us on his arm to lean;

Urge us to a throne of grace,

Make us seek a resting place.

In the mansions of our King,
Sweets abound without a sting;
Thornless there the roses blow

And the joys unmingled flow.

LXVI. O how safe is the christian in the love, and covenant, and arms of an almighty God, whom he hath made his refuge! Our trials are many, and grace received is small, in the best; but our God is great; He that made all things-sustaineth all things-governeth all things and possesseth all things, is our God. Surely, "his grace is sufficient for us," 2 Cor. xii. 9; and his arms can bear us up, Deut. xxxiii. 27. He can recover us from our falls, and lift us up over all our difficulties -if we could but rest upon his word, and lean upon his power. Why should we be discouraged? O let us then not only rejoice in the goodness, but the greatness of that God, "whose we are, and whom we serve," Acts xxvii. 23. The stability of His works showeth how stable the workman is. Heaven and earth continue by virtue of His word, that man may have the benefit of it from generation to generation; that the continual vicissitudes of day and night may be continued; that man may have light to his labour, and darkness drawn about him as a covering for his rest; and also that there may be a continual succession of summer and winter, to pre

L

pare and ripen the fruits of the earth. Now if Go dforsake not the world, will he forsake his own people? For the benefit of mankind he preserveth the courses of nature, and keepeth all things in their proper place, for their proper end and use-and will he not much rather preserve his own children? Shall there be a failure in the covenant made with his dear Son, when there is not a failure in common providence? As if God would satisfy the expectations of heathens, that look for a constant succession of day and night, and summer and winter, and would disappoint the expectation of his own children, when they look for a blessed morning after a dark night of trouble and conflict: and the light of his countenance, after the storms of temptation. God's appointment giveth laws to all; there is not the least thing done among us, without his prescience, providence, and wise disposal, to which all things in the world are subjected. The Lord's will and pleasure are the only rule of his extending his omnipotency, and are the sovereign and absolute cause of all his working, for all is done in heaven and in earth, according to his ordinances; no creature can resist his will, therefore, let us submit to this will of God. If God take anything from us, let us bless the name of the Lord, he doth but make use of his own. "It is the Lord," 1 Sam. iii. 18. It is none of ours, but God's, let him do with his own as it pleaseth him. God is the disposer of man, as well as other creatures, and must choose their condition, and determine all events, wherein they are concerned. We often murmur at God's disposal of us, though it be so wise and gracious; but consider his sovereignty-can you deliver yourselves from the will of God, and get the reins into your own hands? And could we do so-alas! we are as unfit to be the disposers

either of the world or ourselves, as an idiot is to be the pilot of a ship: therefore, let God govern all, according to his own pleasure; say, "Lord, not my will, but thine be done." We are safer by far in God's hands, than in our own. All creatures do serve God as his word hath ordained, so should we; we have law and ordinances too. Shall men alone be eccentric and

transgress his bounds? Winds and sea serve Him that made them, only man, made after God's own image, disobeys him. All creatures serve him for our benefit :when all things are created and continued for our use, shall we not serve our bountiful Creator? We are sensible of the disturbance of the course of nature, when floods increase, or rains fall in abundance. Oh! let us then bemoan our own irregular actions, which are a greater deformity to the beauty of the universe.

In short, no creature is at his own disposal; he is subject to God, by whose word and commandment he must rule his actions; surely, none of us are too great, or too good, to submit to God. Angels enjoy immunities, yet are not exempted from service; let man obey God, and humbly submit to his will and pleasure, though contrary to his own perverse inclinations.

LXVII. If to Jesus for relief

My soul has fled by pray'r,
Why should I give way to grief,

Or heart-consuming care?

Are not all things in his hand?

Has he not his promise pass'd?

Will he then regardless stand,

And let me sink at last?

While I know his providence

Disposes each event,

Shall I judge by feeble sense,

And yield to discontent?

If he worms and sparrows feed,

Clothe the grass in rich array (Matt. vi. 26),

Can he see a child in need,

And turn his eye away?

When his name was quite unknown,
And sin my life employ'd,

Then he watch'd me as his own,
Or I had been destroy'd :

Now his mercy-seat I know,

Now by grace am reconcil'd;

Would he spare me while a foe,

To leave me when a child? (Rom. v. 10).

LXVIII. It doth concern us to consider the voice of God in all afflictions; and to improve them, so as to make God in Christ our only standing refuge. And certainly, if afflictions do cause us to turn our eyes

directly upon him, and to centre in him alone, we shall find him, what he hath promised to be, "The husband of the widow, and father of the fatherless." In every trouble, our wisest course is, to endeavour to learn what God is pleased to say to our souls therein; which is to get the hearts of his people more united to himself by faith and resignation: for though the things and persons of this world do wither and fade, yet God himself is the Rock of Ages; and hath promised, “The righteous shall not be utterly desolate ;" for in the fire and in the water he will be with them. And, therefore, let us endeavour rather to improve our affliction by faith, for spiritual uses, than waste away our thoughts unprofitably through unbelief, in pondering and dejecting our hearts, under these outward trials, though they be great. Therefore, let us read and meditate the word, where provision of support is made, to answer all cases of distress. Let us spread our souls often before the Lord-open the bottom of our hearts to him-fly to the blood of Christ for daily atonement-give ourselves up to him, who has said, "Cast thy burden on the Lord, and he shall sustain thee ;" and then we shall see reason, at length, to say, "It is good for me that I have been afflicted," Psalm cxix. 71; and, that they are blessed whom God afflicts, and teaches his law. For this purpose, let us pray, that we may have the gracious shelter of his love and compassion in every condition.

LXIX. The faithfulness of God, in his nature, should move those whom he hath called and justified to trust in him, as a faithful Creator. He is, I AM, always like himself, immutable, unchangeable. The word that comes from God is an expression of that faithfulness, as the Psalmist saith, "Thou art good and doest good," Psalm